When Caitlin and I were working on our Grim Peeper Panorama, her candied pecans fueled our creative endeavors.
This recipe also encourages creativity, as you can vary both the spices and the type of nut, if desired. Candied pecans make a great snack on their own. They can also be added to mashed sweet potatoes, or used to add a little extra punch …
Whenever I think of endives, I think of the year I spent in France.
During my junior year of college, I studied in Paris, at the Institute of Political Science, or Sciences-Po, as they called it. While there, my classes were entirely in French – it being a french university and all. I even took a Russian language course: nothing beats learning a foreign language in a different foreign language.
For the first semester, all of the international students – and there were a few hundred – went to lecture with the native French students, but then had smaller discussion groups among themselves. The idea was to allow us to develop our French skills sufficiently, so that we could be fully immersed in the regular discussion groups by second semester. It also allowed us a chance to meet the fellow international students struggling to learn the History of the Second Republic in French.
My Russian class, however, was the one class …
In addition to cranberry sauce, cornbread and turkey just seem like one of those perfect pairings.
Cornbread is a so-called quick bread, because it doesn’t contain yeast, and doesn’t require any rising or kneading. These traits make it perfect for Thanksgiving, when the number of dishes and burners going at once can be overwhelming. Beyond being quick and easy to prepare, its hearty, yet uncomplicated – requiring basic pantry staples.
Another advantage to cornbread is its adaptability. Cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt are a given, but beyond that, …
During the Thanksgiving rush, the night before can sometimes be your only friend.
Wednesday night, I made this cranberry sauce in a matter of minutes. It was quick and it was easy, but it still meant one less burner, one less pot, and one less thing on my mind come Thursday. A full day in the refrigerator also gives the sauce and its flavors time to come together. It’s the perfect complement …
Thanksgiving is no time for experiments. On any regular Thursday, the pizza parlor is just a phone call away. But on Thanksgiving, there is no such luxury.
This year, I stuck with Ina Garten’s recipe for roast turkey. Though, unlike the two previous years, I decided to brine my turkey – a technique which I had not yet tried. Brining – the process of immersing the meat in a salt-water mixture – works to dry and salt the meat by osmosis. That is, excess salt from the juice flows into the meat, while excess water from the meat, flows into the juice. Which doesn’t sound great: who wants dry, salty meat?
Fortunately, the osmotic process is not finished. As the salt enters the meat, …
I’ve been feeling a little blue lately.
After making the blue cheese souffle, I wanted to find another recipe for the pungent cheese. With a crisp Fall day on hand, and several pumpkins beckoning, I decided to throw some pumpkin slices on the grill. I marinated the pumpkin slices with ginger, olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then tossed them on the grill. A few grill marks later, I combined the hot gourds with blue cheese and the salad regulars, for a real American salad.
Indeed, pumpkins are one of the continent’s oldest crops, having been first cultivated thousands of years ago by Native American tribes. During the colonial era, the tribes routinely prepared …
Every good party deserves a good dip.
When we hosted the Halloween Party – complete with Tarantula Treats and Bloody Lady Fingers – Caitlin and I also served this dip. Unlike more traditional dips, we allowed this one to set, though it was still soft enough to accommodate our assortment of chips.
If you prefer a truly soft and creamy dip,…
No one would ever accuse blue cheese of being timid.
With its blue veins and pungent smell, blue cheese is not hiding from anyone. And yet, for centuries, it was. That is, blue cheese developed when farmers left the cheese in damp and cold caves, letting the bluish-green mold create the distinctive flavor we now know.
This soufflé was not intuitive. When I first unwrapped the Roquefort, half of me wanted to return the cheese to that far-off cave. But somehow,…
Cooking is inherently creative.
Standing alone, butter, flour, and bittersweet chocolate chips are nothing to get excited about. No one clamors for a cup of fresh flour or a few handfuls of unsweetened chocolate. But combine these three ingredients with sugar and an egg, and suddenly, you have chocolate chip cookies. After vanilla extract and salt, you can really get creative. Add toffee chips. Or white chocolate chips. Or maybe crushed Girl Scout cookies.
Halloween offers the opportunity to get even more creative in the kitchen. On any other day, …
When you think finger food, you think small appetizers sitting on a counter top. Maybe vegetables and dip, or cheese and crackers.
These scary cookies give a whole new meaning to the term “finger food.”…