There’s a Key On My Piano That I Play For You
Start of the season always lends itself to minor extravagances. And so after a half-hearted forage for ramps, I found myself at the market overpaying for a soft shell crab and a bunch of the elusive ramps.
Wanting something bright and stringent to cut through the meaty soft shell crab, I quick pickled the ramps using my old standby recipe.
In the way that I rarely want an oyster that isn’t on the half-shell, or a broiled or stuffed lobster, I generally don’t pickle foods that are already delicious and special on their own.
And yet, in the days that followed, I ate these slimy strings of ramps over piles of arugula, buried in avocado sandwiches, sharing forks with rosemary panko pork and, too often, straight from the jar until my skin breathed garlic and vinegar.
I Should Have Known Better, But I Couldn’t Say Hello
There will be a sunny Saturday in April when you know you should stop craving shoyu ramen and meatballs and warm baguettes with Irish butter and saucisson sec.
On this day, you’ll think about making a righteous kale salad. And yet.
You’ll lay a fire in the stove, run an afternoon bath and camp under the duvet with your dog and a well-worn copy of The Secret History, waiting for this hearty strata to finish baking in the oven.
It Has a Nice Sound When You Laugh
I have a husband who eats cookies indiscriminately. It’s a nice trait, this ability to derive the same amount of pleasure from a noisy bag of Tates as from a sleeve of chalky Chips Ahoy.
But though it may be quaint, I also happen to think it’s very wrong.
In an effort to rehabilitate the problem, I made this mini batch of toaster oven cookies.
Perfect for late nite cravings, the recipe yields just three cookies and is fast and simple.
Oh I Would Not Give You False Hope
The Cantonese wonton soup at our local takeaway is one of my favorite lazy dinners. Two bucks is all it takes for a handful of bobbing wontons, a sprinkling of wilting scallions, and a bowl of clear broth made streaky with a side of chili oil.
Cantonese wontons resemble nothing of the thick skinned glob of dense meat found in a traditional wonton. To start, the skins are thin, wrapping around a tiny nugget of shrimp, pork and scallion. The filling so small, the excess skin boils to a dense and doughy tail, best bitten first, before the wonton itself.
I got to this recipe, not because I was craving wontons, but because I had a baguette burning a hole in my proverbial pocket. Bread so good it dictated a meal. And it demanded something saucy.
So I blended shrimp and ground turkey. Added more than a healthy dose of ginger and garlic and curry. Mixed, boiled, sauced and dipped.
Waiting For Someone to Come Out of Somewhere
It’s been a month’s worth of too little sleep, shamefully tight waistbands and meals eaten deskside, typing with one hand. Daily dense toasty bagels for lunch, late nite dinners of French fries and rosé and snacks of bodega sushi have taken their toll.
But this weekend I had some time. I got lost in a book. And knit my first hat. And practiced my French. And listened, really listened, to my favorite songs.
I also took the time to make something not only delicious, but wholesome and healthy. The antidote to the last few week’s convenience food, this pot of chili cooks slowly, in the most welcome way. Serve over a bed of arugula, skipping the chips, if you dare.
[How To] Perfectly Hard-Boil An Egg
In the perfect kitchens of our perfect lives, the shell of a hard-boiled egg slips off, yielding a white so jiggly it seems there is no possibility of a cooked yolk inside. And yet.
But the perfectly hard-boiled egg is easier than you think. See here.
Ingredients
2 eggs
Water
Method
1) Place eggs in saucepan.
2) Add enough water to cover eggs. Bring to boil over high heat.
3) Cover. Kill heat. Let sit for 10 minutes.
Blink Your Eyes, I Was Raised On Cakes
Last nite, our first NYC NYE in years, we indulged in:
+ A birthday party
+ A masquerade party
+ Last minute mask crafting involving exacto knives, cardboard bunny ears, Elmers glue and loads of pink glitter still stuck to the living room floor
+ Mother-in-law’s fur stole
+ Pre-game snacking at Ramen Yebisu (who is now (hurrah!) serving pork buns)
Because we weren’t up in the country for the eve, the first morning of the year included no groggy padding into the kitchen to grind coffee beans, no house warmed by the smell of bacon baking, no empty bottle reminders of why a houseful of six people is still as silent at 8am as it was at dawn.
Instead, January 1 was marked by a leisurely dog walk around the neighborhood, egg and cheese sandwiches (ok, and a tamale) from the Mexican deli, and The Royal Tenenbaums on repeat.
But before New Year’s Eve, there was Christmas. And we made eggnog. The Times titled this recipe “Eggnog, the Hard Way.” Although it is more involved than opening a carton of mix, it’s not particularly difficult. Below is the final with my minor tweaks.
Let’s All Get Up & Dance To A Song That Was A Hit Before Your Mother Was Born
Paté is one of those items I rarely order at restaurants because it is so bad for you. Not only is the chicken liver high in fat and cholesterol, it’s also made with decadent amounts of lard or butter.
Even worse, restaurant paté is not always worth it. Sometimes it’s a miniature loaf - like a soft deli meat, meant for slicing - not spreading. Sometimes it’s spreadable, but so rich and heavy - a kind of meat flavored butter. I like paté, not for its decadence and density, but for its earthy, very slightly sour flavor.
I Was Counting My Steps As I Made My Way Home
I used sliced red onions for these quick pickles. Onions, because they pickle quickly. Red, because they’re naturally sweeter and prettier than other varieties.
Since we still had jalapeños in our garden, I chopped up a few and dropped them in. Feel free to add any other items to the brine. Just keep in mind that the more dense and thick skinned your addition, the less quick of a pickle you’ll achieve.
These pickles are perfect with salads, burgers, burritos, hummus.
Not perfect with real pickles, yogurt or non-boiled eggs.
I Spent The Winter With My Nose Buried In a Book
Karin, Andy and Baby H at the house last weekend. We gorged on grilled steak, heart-shaped boar sausage, three-ingredient artichoke dip, and heaps and heaps of mac and cheese.
Though many mac recipes will tell you differently, this is not the time for fancy cave-aged gouda. Go for the cheap, processed block cheddar that’s in the non-organic milk aisle. And if you’re feeling spicy, buy one block of sharp and one of habanero.
Spicy Mac & Cheese
You Should Hear Me Play Piano
We were out of town and needed something quick to bring by a drop-in at friends’ family. Kristina had a rosemary bush (literally, a bush that any East Coaster would smuggle in her suitcase in November when all garden fresh herbs are dying), so did a quick mix of nuts, heat, herb and oil. Cooks up in a fast 20.
To A Room With a Cupboard Bare
Made these funny little cookies this week. Surprisingly nutty (without nuts), these salty, crunchy cookies resemble mini caramel popcorn balls pre-baking and Cracker Jacks pre-balling.
[How To] Perfectly Soft-Boil An Egg
My first soft-boiled egg was in Munich at a hostel in 1997. Picking at the shell, I was too shy to ask how to eat it. If I hadn’t been so embarrassed, maybe I wouldn’t have wasted the next eight years eating fried egg whites.
Though the soft-boiled egg may not be the crowd pleaser that pancakes or French toast are, I appreciate its simplicity and especially love how it makes room for smoked fish and a warm loaf of bread.
This Sunday morning’s cozy houseful of friends required just that: soft-boiled eggs, homemade turkey sausage, smoked salmon, and ciabatta from the farmer’s market.
How to Cook the Perfect Soft-Boiled Egg
Ingredients
4 large eggs
Method
1. Place eggs in pot and fill with enough water to cover the eggs. Remove eggs and set aside.
2. Cover pot, heat water to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Add eggs.
3. Simmer eggs, uncovered for 4 minutes. Remove from heat with slotted spoon and place in egg cups.
Kodachrome Cookie Recipe
I’m embarrassed to tell you the real name of these Dorie Greenspan cookies. But Jenna brought a superbly dry, extra crunchy batch over the other night and they were so reminiscent of the very best cookie ever (provenance: La Flor, Woodside, NY, who no longer makes them), I had to give them a swing, myself.
Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 ts baking soda
11 T unsalted butter (1 stick + 3 T), room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 ts vanilla extract
1/4 ts sea salt
2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
3 oz 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Method
1) Combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda into medium bowl.
2) Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth but not fluffy.
3) Add sugars, vanilla and salt; beat until fluffy, approx 2 minutes
4) Add flour mixture; beat until just blended (mixture will not be smooth)
5) Add chocolate; mix to distribute
6) Divide dough into 2 balls. Place each on a sheet of plastic wrap and form into 1 1/2” diameter log. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm (minimum 3 hours, max 3 days).
7) Preheat oven to 325 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
8) Cut logs crosswise into 1/2” thick rounds. Space 1 inch apart on prepared sheets. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies appear dry, 11 to 12 minutes.
9) Transfer to rack to cool. (Cookies are fragile until cooled a bit, so do this cautiously or you will end up with a tray of broken cookies that you will be forced to eat.)
Kodachrome, Simon & Garfunkel
