"Pumpkin pie in soup form? Should I sprinkle it with graham cracker crumbs instead of croutons?" [Photographs: Lucy Baker] Forget candy corn, fun-size Snickers bars, and caramel apples. What I really look forward to every October is the pumpkin. As soon as the leaves start turning, it seems like every coffee shop, craft brewery, and gourmet purveyor goes gourd-happy, offering up everything from lattes and ales to bundt cakes and whoopie pies flavored with the sunset-hued squash. Happily, for the next month I will be reviewing a host of festive foods that are easy to prepare at home using the season's best pumpkin mixes. Maggie & Mary's, a Minnesota-based specialty food company, has an inviting website, dotted with black-and-white snapshots...
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"I put the bottle of Belvedere—oh alright, it was Smirnoff—back in the liquor cabinet." [Photographs: Lucy Baker] I made vodka sauce once for a date. No, it wasn't Rachael Ray's "You Won't Be Single For Long Vodka Cream Sauce." I'm not that sappy. It was Sara Perry's recipe for linguine with bacon and vodka sauce from her book Everything Tastes Better with Bacon. It was a memorable night and while the gentleman and I have long since parted ways, from time to time I think fondly of the irresistible contrast of smoky bacon and fragrant basil, the kick of red pepper flakes, and the hint of spice that was so hard to name (dried fennel seeds). Gutsy and flavorful as...
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In the past several weeks I've had very bad luck with ordering food for delivery. As a New Yorker, this is particularly distressing, as we tend to order takeout more frequently than we turn on our own stoves. It all started with a grilled chicken salad: I asked for the balsamic vinaigrette on the side, it arrived soused in a dressing so thick it bordered on mayonnaise. I practically had to spoon through it just to find the lettuce. Then, I got a falafel platter with ho-hum hummus instead of the babaganoush I had been craving. Finally—and this was the worst of all—my sashimi entree arrived all by its lonesome, without the miso soup. I have no problem sending...
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I must confess I have never been a big fan of scones. Given the choice I'd much rather have a banana-nut muffin or a chocolate croissant. But recently, I discovered that my favorite specialty food store in Brooklyn, Sahadi's, carries clotted cream. And nothing is a better vehicle for thick, buttery schmears of clotted cream than tender, crumbly scones. While scones certainly aren't difficult to make from scratch, I was intrigued by the different versions of King Arthur mix available at my supermarket: cherry-almond, cranberry-orange, maple-oat, blueberry, and cream tea. (A quick online investigation revealed that the King Arthur website had even more enticing options, including peaches & cream, whole grain gingerbread, and even pina colada.) All are $6.95....
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Rose's Mojito Mix In last weekend’s Wall Street Journal, columnist Eric Felten addressed an interesting question—one that’s bugged me for some time. Why is it that in this fresh, local, do-it-yourself culinary age, otherwise skilled and intelligent adults are often considered incapable of mixing themselves a proper drink? In his piece, “Prefab Mixes: Buyer, Beware,” Felten visits a Williams-Sonoma—ordinarily a temple for ambitious home cooks—and finds that the beverage department's approach is considerably different, with premade mixes arrayed on the shelves. This isn't all that surprising: canned cocktails and industrial sour-mix predate television, and childhood memories of my parents’ parties usually involve boxes and bottles of Holland House whiskey sour, Tom Collins, and who-knows-what drink mixes....
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When it comes to pancakes, I've always scoffed at boxed mixes such as Aunt Jemima and Bisquick. With a basic formula of flour, sugar, baking powder, milk, and eggs, why not just make them from scratch on your own? And don't even get me started on artificially-flavored maple syrup—I'm from New England, where that stuff is practically illegal. But recently, in my quest to find mixes with a bit of magic—ones that taste like the real thing, cut down on kitchen time, and are inexpensive—I came across Stonewall Kitchen Blueberry Pancake and Waffle Mix ($10). The Stonewall Kitchen company is based Maine, a.k.a. land of blueberries. If ever there was a pancake mix out there with all the flavor of...
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