Food, Photography and Bons Mots
I have a brunch coming up next week and I’ve been experimenting with breakfast stratas (Is that the correct plural for strata? My spell checker is being a little edgy about the “s”.) There are, I’m finding, a lot of mediocre strata recipes…
I’m in love with this dish. What’s so special? First, it is a gratin. What is not to love? Second, it has hints of lemon and thyme–a flavor combination that elevates just about any dish in my opinion. And, then, there is the cheese–the…
The vocabulary word for today is umami. Now don’t go getting all “low energy” on me. I really don’t want to see any of you putting your heads down on your desks and hyperventilating like this is just too hard. …
Do you have PDA (phyllo-dough anxiety) ? A lot of people I know do. They get quiet and their eyes take on that glassy far-away look when we have “the talk” about phyllo. My stock answer is that phyllo is very very forgiving. Rip…
Does your food smile? Superstar (and perfectionist) chef Yotam Ottolenghi has been known to empty shelves displaying food in his delis because of the smile factor (actually, the no smile factor). In Ottolenghi’s food world, you have to be able to taste the food before…
Do you have a bucket list? Mine is a culinary bucket list and my list is extensive. So… the good news for me is that I can’t, as they say, lay down my knife and fork for a very long time. My list, as you might…
I’m in love. OK. Not in love in love. I’m in love with this white bean ragout. It is spectacular–garlicky, cheesy, beany spectacular. Ragouts haven’t always been held in high esteem,though. Notably, eighteenth-century Tom Jones author Henry Fielding blamed Britain’s declining military prowess on the…
Years ago, a friend from school went chasing his dreams and moved to Alicante, Spain. We travelled there to visit and the four of us spent long leisurely afternoons laughing a lot, eating paella and drinking lots of red wine. In the late…
Easy peasy. This soup couldn’t be easier to prepare–or more delicious. The link to the original Marcella Hazan recipe from which this dish was adapted appears at the bottom of this post along with a link to heirloom bean supplier Rancho Gordo which markets…
This savory pasta pie was featured on David Lebovitz’s blog yesterday. While I am looking far and wide for great recipes to try, I confess that I’m a Lebovitz “groupie.” If he posts it, it must be good. So, I gave this recipe a quick…
