We focused on eggplant for this first video of the week because they are still so beautiful AND I made a discovery. Find the long, snaky purple eggplant often referred to as Chinese or Japanese or Asian eggplant (Solanum melangena) and follow the video to make this amazing appetizer. You’ll be amazed. Go to Recipe …
Dessert
When my son was born, I had just moved to Maine and was mourning my home in Brooklyn. When Joe came into the world, my literary agent called from New York to congratulate me. “What can I send you?” she asked, the soul of sweetness and generosity. While I might have answered “A chef,” because …
You can take the cook out of America, but no, you cannot take America out of the cook, I think each time I make a cake like this one. It is SO American! Not at all French!! Not that I don’t love all those creamy, swirly, crispy, yummy French confections like Napoleons, and Paris Brest, …
Go to Recipe Go to Video Most every culture has its retinue of cold soups to chase away the heat of summer, from the beloved gazpacho of Spain and Mexico, to vegetable-rich Russian Okrochka with its garnish of hard cooked eggs, to the famed Vichyssoise of New York. Who Wants Hot When it is Hot? …
Go to Recipe Go to Video Today, the pecan is a luxury but long ago – VERY long ago, more than 8,000 years – indigenous people in what is now the swath of land from Illinois through the southern United States and into the river valleys of Mexico took much of their nutrition from this …
Go to Recipe Go to Video Oh, autumn! It is the BEST season, and one of the longest because it comes in slowly, and takes its sweet time to segue into winter. At this point, when colors everywhere are burnished russet and gold, deep red and speckled green, our thoughts to turn to holidays of …
Go to Recipe Go to Video From the minute I had the first bite of this cake, on a farm in the hills of Montana, I was in love. There was the setting, of course, which was a an old-fashioned, light-filled kitchen on the farm of Aili and Bill Takala, who had raised animals and …
Go to Recipe Go to Video Just as strawberries hit their seasonal stride – late may to early June – apricots arrive on the scene. As the strawberry season lengthens, so the apricot season seems to come earlier each year, which may be because those who tinker with the fruit we eat are always trying …
Go to Recipe Go to Video Impromptu meals are one of my favorite kinds for neighbors or friends, visitors who arrive early or are hungrier than they expected to be. And then there are the meals that are planned but a day is much busier than expected. In either case there is often little time …
Go to Recipe Go to Video When I first met Forest Collins of 52Martinis fame I was intrigued. She has the style of a French woman blended with an unmistakable American openness. She is whip smart and friendly yet reserved enough that she draws attention. And she has her name, which fits in every way. …