A Duet cake from La Tulipe, a hazelnut dacquoise with hazelnut and citron mouuse. A svelte Ferrero Rocher vacationing on the Cape. Mom's Maxims on Food and Eating: Eat it while it's fresh. Don't use a whole napkin when a half-napkin will do. And c...
Read MoreShrimpy Eggplant & Wood Ear Mushroom // Home Alone Food
I was that person in the cafeteria. The one with the salmon salad, the prawn crackers, and the pomegranate for lunch. (ie: The Weird Girl.) Even though those mean-kid days are over, I still feel funny eating certain foods in front of others. But t...
Read MoreHoneyed Avocado Popcorn Ice Cream
Warning sign #1 your dessert is very rich: The lightest part is the Corn Cookie from Momofuku Milk Bar. This started with a frozen avocado. I thought it'd be too heavy as a straight ice cream, but yogurt was too sour. Bananas too assertive. So I t...
Read MoreOranges Suspended in Bourbon Gelatin
I first had a version of this plush, fresh dessert in Paris, in a crowded second floor dining room. People passed giant wicker cheese trays from table to table. There were red and white ch ecks involved. It was there I had my first whole grilled s...
Read MoreEarl Grey & Marmalade Muesli
Guess which books are Julian's and which is mine. This is not a trick question. Like Marmite, Worcestershire sauce, and other obscure English food products, Earl Grey tea has a distinctive, singular flavor with a name that doesn't give you a clue ...
Read MoreLayered Magic Muesli
While Julian studies for finals, I'm trying to funnel my energies towards things that will make him smarter and happier. Listening to NPR: yes. Watching American Idol: no. Spontaneous back massages: yes. Spastically tapping utensils on pots and pa...
Read MoreCreative Refraction // Alec Baldwin, Patti Smith & Dan Barber Read Me Their Favorite Poems
I saw all these people share the same stage last night. Despite what you might think, the Poetry & the Creative Mind Benefit is not some gimmick or PR stunt, like celebrities writing cookbooks or making appearances at children’s hospitals. The nig...
Read MoreBlay Report Street Style // My Feature, for the Record
Today I was featured in the super-slick beauty/fashion blog, The Blay Report as this week's Street Talk! Check out the full post here, but here's an abbreviated version below, with my annotations in brackets. STREET TALK: JESSICA TOM BURSTS WITH "...
Read MoreMidnight Chili
Almost as good as 1 o'clock Beef Wellington. Midnight chili is named after its mysterious, transformative qualities. No wait, sorry, it's named that because I made it at midnight. I always bring lunch to work and try to devote certain nights to ma...
Read MoreChocolate Espresso Muesli
Perhaps you are an adult who wants to eat your vices for breakfast. Or perhaps you are a sophisticated horse who'd like something special for his feedbag. Either way, this is for you. The drama in this muesli is in the espresso powder, cocoa powde...
Read MoreRaw Cauliflower Manchurian & Zinfandel Blueberry Sorbet
Happy Easter! My Mom, uncle, and two brothers came in to have an Easter lunch in Brooklyn. We ate a Thai restaurant. Random, but good! The day was so bright and beautiful, a light dinner seemed most appropriate. I made that classic Chinese-Indian ...
Read MoreJeweled Quinoa Timbale
What to bring to a dinner party of hungry, healthy, NYC dancers? This potluck dish was inspired by Suvir Saran's Chaat Salad of Chickpeas and Yogurt with Baby Spinach (recipe here), an elaborate, elegant salad that I will make someday when I have ...
Read MoreCrimson Pomegranate Molasses Muesli
This idea for this muesli came from a single rubied ingredient: pomegranate molasses, lustily purchased last night after my transglutaminase class at Brooklyn Kitchen. What is this stuff? It's like a fruity ketchup, enriched with sweetness and uma...
Read MoreAdventures in Transglutaminase (Meat Glue)
As tonight's instructor, Michael Cirino of A Razor, A Shiny Knife said, modern cooking isn't about recipes. With more toys, more chemicals, and more scientific knowledge about our ingredients and the way cooking changes them -- it's about techniqu...
Read MoreDark Chocolate Ice Cream (Made with Black Beans)
A yum yum yum. What's creamy besides ice cream? Pureed beans! This ice cream is the fever dream of my Vitamix party dips and the sly healthifications of Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious (see: Triple Chocolate Chickpea Cookies) and Rocco Di...
Read MoreSpring Smoked Herring Salad on Brown Rice Fusilli
Today was funny, sort of warm and sunny but also cold and windy. So I made a dish that would suit the weather -- something in between a crisp summer slaw and a roasty winter stew. To keep the flavors warm and deep, I sauteed the leeks, asparagus, ...
Read MoreNeo-Neopolitan Strawberry-Vanilla Frozen Yogurt with Cacao Nibs
Day before tax day and what do you want? This is my version of a nostalgic Neopolitan. Voila, frozen strawberries, whole vanilla bean and Greek yogurt, spinkled with cacao nibs. This tasted remarkably like the classic, pink-white-brown version, bu...
Read MoreMiso swirled with Gingered Pear Frozen Yogurt
It's not all berries and mangoes here. Wanted to get a little more experimental. This is pears poached in leftover pinot grigio and ginger, whizzed with frozen yogurt (literally, yogurt frozen in a covered ice tray), and swirled with miso paste. A...
Read MoreCarrot Marmalade Sorbet with Roasted Hazelnuts
Julian and I had a major surplus of carrots. I bought a ton for the party, he has a thing for minerally heirlooms, and I like big, overgrown ones for soup. One whole crisper drawer was literally filled with carrots. So I took some baby carrots and...
Read MoreLeafy Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
This guy is just frozen bananas, tofu and all the leftover mint from my birthday party. It's super fresh but subtle, like a breath mint meets a pesto. I left a little bit of texture in the leaves, just to remind you that mint is an herb, not a can...
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