One of the many things I like about Taming the Flame is that Elizabeth Karmel provides us with lots of easy-to-prepare grilled vegetable dishes. Here's her ingenious take on Fire-Roasted Succotash. Karmel says, "If you are phobic about lima beans, substitute edamame (fresh soybeans) for a new-age succotash."...
Continue reading »
Photograph from digitalprimate on Flickr Beer-Can Chicken has probably been around ever since folks started sitting around campfires or grills drinking beer, so Elizabeth Karmel wisely takes absolutely no credit for its invention. But she's also smart enough to recognize a winning recipe when she sees one. She has two versions in her book Taming the Flame, but I prefer the one with the simple salt-and-pepper spice mix. You won't believe how moist and flavorful the chicken meat gets using this method. Karmel also gives a recipe for beer-can turkey in her book, which you can win here....
Continue reading »
In a hilarious piece in yesterday's New York Sun, Paul Lukas discovers that some fancy-pants chefs love iceberg lettuce, too. I'm not ashamed to admit that I love iceberg lettuce. It's cool, it's crisp, and it's a perfect foil for blue cheese dressing. Don't get me wrong. I love a fresh, peppery arugula salad picked that morning from somebody's garden. But I don't much care for wilted organic arugula grown 3,000 miles from my house and picked two weeks before it finds its way into my hands. I also hate iceberg lettuce that is more brown than light green with tons of droopy outer leaves. C'mon, admit it. You like iceberg lettuce, too. Here's a great blue cheese dressing...
Continue reading »
Last week on the New York Times's Diner's Journal blog, Marion Burros opined that she likes her (local) asparagus snappy but not too snappy, somewhere north of al dente. I like to roast asparagus in a 450-degree oven for ten minutes, drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt. I then take the asparagus out of the oven and top it with flash-fried capers. I think I first found this recipe in one of Rozanne Gold's 1-2-3 Cookbooks. But now, I've found a recipe online....
Continue reading »
Because it spoils quickly and most people store it improperly,
dry vermouth has acquired an unsavory reputation over the years. With a little care, however, it can go from stand-in to starring role in recipes and drinks.
The Paupered Chef duo on storage and use—including
a recipe for mussels.
Continue reading »
