After seeing VerySmallAnna's cute paintings of animals and food, I knew I had to make a request. A week later, Monsieur Manatee was born. This red beret-clad manatee likes to nosh on crusty baguettes and bags of treats from Pierre Hermé—just like me!
Thanks so much to Anna for making my office space a little bit cuter. If you commission a painting from her, I'd love to see what you end up with.
Kerry had a little lamb.
But if it had been up to Mémé, I would have had a lot more.
Here in Paris, at cooking school, a chef told me this week to treat my food by its characteristics. Such a statement might seem vague and pedantic, especially when it was barked in French over the roar of ten boiling stoves. But Chef (who told me to be sure and write about him as soon as possible) approached my stove, and stood behind me as I successfully battered and broke another poaching egg.
“Kerry, Kerry!” he purred my name as the r’s rolled up from his throat like the bubbles rising in my simmering pot. I know he’s supposed to be a figure of authority, but that pronunciation reminds me of nothing but home, and the tears that began to surface in my eyes could have resulted from the drenching heat, the frustration of the damn egg, or just violent homesickness. No matter many how many times you turn your cutting board over in the kitchen, some emotional cross-contamination cannot be helped.
“Imagines que les oeufs sont les hommes.” Imagine that eggs are men. And then he said something that made me stop dead where I was. He opened his mouth, and murmured a phrase that Maman has been muttering to me with great unsuccess for the last fifteen years: “Les hommes sont comme les chiens. Il faut les traîner.” Men are like dogs. They must be trained.
He went on to tell me that poaching eggs are stubborn creatures; they go their own way as they please. But if you just take a spoon, and turn them about a bit, confuse them, then you are in control. Just like with a man. Now, they are trained and obedient, and all the more beautiful for it. Many of the students are offended by the French chefs’ constant parallels between food and gender-based metaphor, but I think there is something lovely and touching in the French way of confronting the basic differences between the sexes, and embracing them, laughing at them, admiring them, and extolling them. I used to think Maman was terrible to call men dogs. Now, I’m beginning to understand. They like it!
I'm not too crazy about room-temperature bean salads; I like my beans best when they're hot and refried. But I'm always tempted by legume recipes for their cheapness and healthiness, and it's the season for salads. I've also yet to meet a Jamie Oliver salad that I didn't like—the man has a knack. So when I saw this chickpea recipe, I took a chance. I liked that they are heated in a skillet to give them color and creaminess, similarly to another delicious recipe I made awhile back.
Shedding the usual trappings of lettuce and raw vegetables, this salad pairs the creamy chickpea against salty feta cheese and sweet cherry tomatoes; bits of basil and mint shoot it through with herby freshness. The dressing is bright and lemony, and a little hot from a fresh chili. It's not a revolutionary recipe, but it was simple to prepare and very appealing. The trick to take away is the heating of the chickpeas; beyond that, the spices and ingredients could be easily adapted.
Each week we round up our favorite posts and recipes from our friends at The Kitchn.
This week, the Kitchn goes on a baking rampage and produces a gorgeous Nutella cake. The chocolate hazelnut ganache is just the cherry on top of the this over-the-top sundae.
Also on the Kitchn, how to preserve fresh herbs, frozen nectarine-yogurt pie, cold-brewing iced tea, and using Japanese rock salt.
L to R: Strawberries on the honor system, Chef Geddes Martin and his garden.
Toni Hermansen popped open an tiny, briny oyster and handed it to me as I picked out a couple dozen bivalves at the Buck Bay Shellfish Farm on Orcas Island, a bucolic spot about three hours from Seattle. I slurped it straight out of the shell and thought: "Sold!"Actually, I had been thinking about taking home some Buck Bay oysters ever since devouring a half a dozen at the New Leaf Cafe at the historic Outlook Inn in Eastsound, the Island's biggest little city. The entire population of the laid-back island is about 4,500. And driving on the winding roads, you'd swear half the residents were farmers.
You can hardly go five miles without spotting stands selling strawberries on the honor system. Leave $3 in the box for these juicy gems. These teeny operations are surprisingly diverse, offering meat, eggs, produce, sometimes even yarn. Most products are organic and a fair amount of it is consumed on the island making menus hyper-local without tooting any horns about it.
Serious Eats contributor Daniel Zemans, our man in Chicago, checks in with another piece of intel from the road, this time in Iowa City. —The Mgmt.
1220 Hwy 6 West, Coralville, IA 52241 (map); 319-354-2767; wigandpeneast.com
Pizza Style: Thin crust, stuffed and Flying Tomato
Oven Type: Gas
The Skinny: The Flying Tomato is short on tomato, but will still appeal to those who like mozzarella in very large quantities
Price: Large Flying Tomato with one topping, $24.35.
On my way back to Chicago from Omaha a little over a week ago, I took a break from the rolling hills of young corn that were interrupted by the occasional wind farm to stop in Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa, for a late lunch that would get me through the rest of the drive. In doing my research before starting the trip, I discovered that Iowa City did not seem to be a particularly notable pizza town. That said, I did find a popular place that offered a new type of pizza: the Wig & Pen Pizza Pub.
In the 16 years since Dick Querrey took over the Wig & Pen and made significant menu changes, the popular Iowa City spot has expanded to three locations, one of which bounced back from some serious flooding last year. Querrey, who runs the place with help from his kids, serves three kinds of pizza: thin crust, stuffed, and the Flying Tomato Pie.
The Flying Tomato is a cross between a stuffed pizza and a pan pie that was invented by a cook at the Wig & Pen who was having fun experimenting in the kitchen. Since I am always eager to try new types of pizza, ordering a Flying Tomato was a no-brainer.
I love pretty much anything pickled, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, watermelon rind, okra, even pickled eggs. I have to say that my favorite pickled item is the onion. Those little pickled pearl onions in my jar of cornichons disappear way before the last pickle and when I'm in the mood for a cocktail, a gin gibson is my drink of choice. Those beautiful pink pickled onions that are served with some tacos are my absolute favorite.
With all of this love for pickled onions it's surprising that I have never thought to put them on a burger. It was only while flipping through the pages of Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes that I realized pickled onions might just be the prefect burger accompaniment.
This is a quick pickling recipe, no need for boiling jars or long curing time. Simple mix the thinly sliced red onions with some acid, in this case vinegar and lime juice, some herbs, and some chiles for spice.
As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes to give away this week. Enter to win here »
This video consists of 17 seconds of "Aww, cute!" followed by nine seconds of "OH MY GOD, oh god, so cute, SOOO CUTE," accompanied by squeals of delight. Or maybe that was just me. Watch the video after the jump.
What do you get when President Obama's favorite chef (Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia) decides to do a restaurant side project at an art museum? Based on my first visit to Chicago's Terzo Piano in the Art Institute of Chicago's new modern wing, pretty much the usual second-rate food at usually ridiculously marked-up prices ($17 salads anyone?).
That said, while my first visit was punctuated by disappearing waitresses and clumpy, grainy-sauced, overcooked pasta with 2.5 morels in it and an uninspired trio of $19 sliders, Chicago food-writing vets like Phil Vettel of the Chicago Tribune and Penny Pollack of Chicago Magazine were foaming with delight.
So, who knows. One thing I do know, much like Big Texan chef Tim Love of Top Chef Masters, is how to get my drink on. And like any good mixologist (which I am not—I just play one in print), one of my favorite tipples is the utterly bitter Negroni. It's a killer tongue set-up for any meal. After a few sips of one, you're salivating like Spuds McKenzie surrounded by a group of TV babes wrapped in bacon-clad bikinis. A great Negroni makes you want to munch like you just smoked a Snoop Dogg's bong worth of hash.
Food, Inc. director Robert Kenner is tonight's guest on The Daily Show, 11 p.m. ET. Related: A Preview of Food, Inc.
I buy free-range chicken, local apples, and strawberries only in season. But when it comes to desserts, whether or not they're made from all natural ingredients couldn't be further from my mind. After all, I grew up in the state that invented Marshmallow Fluff, on a steady diet of Pop-Tarts, Double-Stuff Oreos, and Hoodsie Cups.
But lately, I've noticed a lot of "healthy" baking mixes on supermarket shelves. I was curious: how would they compare to standard versions? I decided to put Nature's Path Organic Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix ($4.49) to the test.
Editor's note: On Thursdays, Babbo pastry chef Gina DePalma checks in with Seriously Italian. After a stint in Rome, she's back in the States, channeling her inner Italian spirit via recipes and intel on delicious Italian eats. Take it away, Gina!
I live on the top floor of our six-story building, which takes the heat of summer to another level. As soon as the temperatures get warm and the days get longer, our tar roof begins to sop up the heat and then pump it into our apartment with the full-force vengeance of a busted furnace. If there are any other roof dwellers out there, you know exactly what I am talking about. It is a miserable, stifled, intensity that makes even the slightest bit of activity seem like torture.
It reminds me a bit of the kind of heat they get in Sicily, where at the height of summer it is not uncommon to awake at sunrise to soaring temperatures. Sicilians have unique coping mechanisms in place to deal with the inferno. They drive like maniacs in the streets of Palermo and Catania. They take to the seashores as much as possible, gathering on beaches and promenades, dangling off the decks of boats and rocky cliffs. And they eat ice-cold gelato, granita, and sorbetto for breakfast.
Starting your day with a huge mound of ice cream may seem decadent and misplaced to our somewhat Puritan sensibility of sweets and when they can be enjoyed. Remember when Bill Cosby fed chocolate cake to his kids for dinner?
Photograph from What I'm Seeing, which has a nice piece on the California museum.
Laughing Squid points to a story in the San Mateo Times detailing the copyright-infringement suit that Pez has brought against the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia.
The giant Pez dispenser that Gary Doss and Nancy Yarbrough Doss created that got them into Guinness World Records is at the heart of the lawsuit:
Attorneys for Pez Candy Inc. argue that the 7-foot, 10-inch dispenser, which is topped with the head of a snowman, and other uses of the company's trademarked products by the Dosses "deceive the public into thinking that the museum is operating under the authority of Pez."
There’s no denying that we’re settling into summer. Over the past couple of years we’ve suggested a number of seasonal refreshers; here are a few to look into as you plan your summer activities.
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