Here's a dirty trick. Ingredients can be shorthand for something more. Got a boring chicken dish? Add dried apricots and couscous, and it's Moroccan. Want to make your salad more interesting? Go Tex-Mex with black beans, guac, and salsa. French wi...
Read MoreCaramelized Onion & Mustard Green Yogurt Dip
The green one is the opener. The hearty one is the closer. The creamy oniony one? That's always the star. Caramelized onion has everything going for it. Through prolonged heat, the onion loses its bite and sweetens. Its aroma with beckon and taunt...
Read MoreKabocha Miso "Butter"
More dip wisdom. When you're serving dips at your party, it's important to have a hearty dip, one that "brings it home." Oftentimes, the satiation clincher is not the star. We ooh over the appetizers and amuse-bouches. We praise the delicacy of th...
Read MoreBroccoli Basil Parmesan Dip
Behold the broccoli basil parmesan dip, which I served at my 28th Birthday Party along with a caramelized onion, mustard green, walnut yogurt dip and a kabocha miso dip. (More on those later.) My dip philosophy is to have something green, somethin...
Read MoreChocolate Lacquered Clementines
M.F.K. Fisher has that quote about the tangerine segments on the radiator. The insides plump up and the outsides dry out. For her, there is no greater pleasure. Well, this is the inverse of that, clementines chilled on a metal pan, plumped by a wh...
Read MoreThe Roger Smith Cookbook Conference
Sake Red Bean Bun with Green Tea Sorbet I'm still reeling. I just spent two days at an amazing Cookbook Conference. It covered everything from apps and ebooks, cookbook propaganda and the immigrant experience. I saw legends like Judith Jones and M...
Read MoreWhipped Maple Mustard
Mustard used to be really big in the 90s. (Or was it just me?) My favorite was honey mustard. Honey mustard pretzels, honey mustard dressing, honey mustard ham. Mustard possesses a volatile pungency that tickles you in the nose, while honey plays ...
Read MoreA Snapshot of Andrew's 21st Birthday
Andrew will be turning 21 on Thursday (when we will celebrate in non-pajamas at Boulud Sud), but this is the real birthday celebration. Besides saving money and sparing yourself the lacerations of the cold, there are plenty of benefits to having y...
Read MorePickled Radish Gelatin
Pickles are controversial. Some people hate them. They take pains to remove slices from their burgers, leave them limp on their plates. I, on the other hand, have never encountered a pickle plate I have never ordered. I like classic pickles of the...
Read MoreKohlrabi Fenugreek Chips // Finding the Right Words
Why do you write? Maybe you have a story burning in your heart. Or a character with an unforgettable voice. Or maybe you like playing with words. That's why I like writing... and cooking, too. Dave Barry* once wrote that the reason he's a successf...
Read MoreChard & Sunflower Seed Furikake
Where the spice rack meets the crisper. Furikake is flavor. Traditionally, it has dried fish, sesame seeds, seaweed, puffed rice, and some other spices (including MSG). In other words -- pure umami. Steamed chard, on the other hand, doesn't have a...
Read MoreChickpea Butter
I know what you’re thinking... chickpea butter? Jess, sweetie, isn’t that hummus? No (darling) it’s not. Hummus is when you treat the chickpea like a bean. Butter is when you treat it like a nut. Here I pureed roasted chickpeas, which are hard and...
Read MoreOlive Onion Bean Cookies // Finding Your Voice
It helps to put olives and onions near this plate, or else people will think they are sweet cookies. Which might be funny, actually. Yesterday I got on the phone with my agent and the first thing she said to me was: I've been reading your blog. Yo...
Read MoreBerry Berry Muffin Biscuit
Most definitely not a scone! What in the world is a Berry Berry Muffin Biscuit? Well, allow me to unpack it for you. Berry Berry - It really should be Berry Berry Berry, but let's not be absurd. This snack contains blueberries, raspberries, and bl...
Read MoreCava Cranberry Pear Sauce
I loved cranberry sauce until I realized how much sugar it had. With some recipes, cranberry sauce is just an excuse to eat jelly by the spoonful. It seems people are afraid of the natural flavor of cranberries. Did you know Craisins contain mor...
Read MoreNew Year's Smoked Paprika Pea Soup
Southerners have Hoppin' John. Italians have cotechino con lenticchie or sausages and green lentils. Chinese have red bean soup with adzuki beans, peanuts, and chestnuts. Today around the world, people will be eating little seeds, nuts, pulses, an...
Read MoreBrooklyn Chirashi
When you don't want a bagel with your smoked fish. Brooklyn is pageantry. My pharmacist yells out my prescriptions, discretion be damned. My landlord smokes cigars all day in an art gallery he never opens to the public. Cashiers hit on my boyfrien...
Read More8 Rules to a Tang-Style New Year's Hotpot
Every year, my family has hotpot at my Uncle George and Aunt Shirley's house. Hotpot, also known as shabu-shabu, is an easy dinner to put together once you get all the ingredients. And yet New Year's at the Tang household has a special aura about ...
Read MoreSpecific & Pragmatic Writing Reflections
Seeing the light (through an almond croquant) In my last post, I wrote about big and abstract lessons I learned in the last year. That's the mantra stuff, stuff that I'd tell anybody pursuing any sort of creative endeavor or a teenage girl or real...
Read MoreBig & Abstract Writing Reflections
Dad's Oysters Rockefeller // Why, then the world's mine oyster/ Which I with sword will open.- The Merry Wives of Windsor, William Shakespeare 2012 will be a turning point for the book. I can say this without a doubt. But this year -- 2011 -- was ...
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