Posted by Lucy Baker, April 22, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Sometimes a few simple ingredients come together to create something spectacular. The individual elements compliment each other so well that, when combined, the results are so delicious they border on magical. Think bacon and eggs; chocolate and strawberries; hot dogs, ketchup, and mustard.
To my mind, few dishes are as effortlessly flawless as a classic caprese salad composed of tart tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, and fragrant basil. And while I wouldn't normally mess with perfection, I was intrigued by a recipe in the May issue of Bon Appetit that replaced the tomatoes with slices of fresh mango, and added radicchio to the mix.
A caprese salad with tropical and bitter flavors? I had to try it out for this week's magazine recipe review.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, April 21, 2008 at 4:15 PM
I just picked up some fantastic French feta from my local cheese-monger that’s changed my opinion about the stuff. Feta has never really tasted like much to me, but this one does—it’s still crumbly, but it’s not overly salty, and doesn’t have that slightly chalky aftertaste. It reminds me most of a buffalo mozzarella with its luscious body and tangy bite, even though it’s a crumbly goat-based cheese. The cheese inspired this warm spinach salad.
Most of my warm spinach salads have been meat affairs. You know the drill: cook up a whole heap of bacon, toss it on some spinach leaves, and watch them wilt. It’s a delicious winter salad, one that I do love to indulge in, but then I found this recipe that utilized sweet red onions and feta. I’m not sure if all feta acts like my insanely good French version, but mine became gooey and luscious. The sweet red onions provide the sweetness, and the feta gets creamy and gooey. Not exactly a light meal, but it’s a great alternative to the bacon-laden kind.
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Posted by Ed Levine, February 14, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Cheese fondue is good any day of the year as far as I'm concerned, but it's particularly and deliciously appropriate for Valentine's Day. It's creamy, tangy, and crazy good. It's easy to make, and it's the ultimate interactive food. We've made this recipe in my house any number of times, and it's always turned out great. We adapted it from Steven Jenkin's terrific book, Cheese Primer
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, February 13, 2008 at 4:15 PM
Most of my experience with tossing raw eggs on pasta revolves around pasta carbonara, one of my very favorite meals. I eat it a lot. Because it requires only some eggs, bacon, and pasta, it is my go-to meal when the fridge is running low. What makes it great is not just the ingredients, but how they are added. When tossed in at the last minute that raw egg yolk lovingly coats every strand of pasta in a perfect, luscious sauce. When I saw this recipe I got very excited—here was another recipe that added the egg at the end. What kind of wonders would it hold?
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Posted by Robin Bellinger, February 8, 2008 at 11:30 AM
This week UPI reported that sales of boxed macaroni and cheese increased by 10% in 2007 (story via Jezebel). Furthermore, “half of the country's children will feast on macaroni and cheese at some point during the next two weeks.” Wow! This news will be welcomed by my sister, whose favorite way to tease me about my efforts to buy organic and/or responsible groceries is to describe what she’ll feed her hypothetical nieces and nephews when they come to visit her someday—Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Cheetos, doughnuts, soft drinks—and how much they’ll love her for it. She’s 27, the same age I was when I made a pot of Kraft Mac & Cheese on a lark and realized I had finally outgrown it. The blue box had served me well during my first few years in New York, but my experiments with homemade macaroni and cheese eventually robbed it of its appeal.
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Posted by Jamie Forrest, February 1, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Try out this blue cheese dip recipe after reading my associated post: The Best Blue Cheese For the Ultimate Super Bowl Blue Cheese Dip.
The Ultimate Super Bowl Blue Cheese Dip
Adapted from Saveur, Issue #31
- makes about 2 cups -
Ingredients
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. sour cream (or a strained yogurt like Labneh)
1/4 lb. Mountain Gorgonzola (a.k.a. Naturale), or other cow's milk blue
2 scallions, finely chopped
Procedure
Gently beat together the cream cheese, the heavy cream, and the sour cream. (I used a food processor, but only pulsed it briefly; you could probably also use an electric mixer on a slow speed.) Add the crumbled cheese and the scallions and stir to mix, making sure to keep some of the crumbles intact.
Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, January 7, 2008 at 4:30 PM
I still can’t believe the fiancée cooked this for me. When I’m working late, it’s par for her to shun bacon, eschew oil, and cook as many vegetables as possible. So I was a little surprised when I came home to a bacon laden gratin with half a wheel of cheese melted on top. I kissed her immediately. I mean, really—what a wonderful thing to do. She found it in the North Market Cookbook. The cheesemonger said he got the recipe “from a French customer.” How intriguing.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, October 3, 2007 at 3:00 PM
Today's Cook the Book recipe is one that the late James Beard, "the dean of American gastronomy," recommended as a dish to serve "at a buffet party, with cold meats for luncheon, or to take on a picnic." (Of course, you better hurry on that last one.)
As with all the Cook the Book entries this week, this recipe comes from Beard on Food.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, August 28, 2007 at 2:30 PM
If you missed yesterday's intro post on it, this week's Cook the Book features Jenni Ferrari-Adler's Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, a book in which food writers and food-crazy authors share what it means to cook for one or dine alone. Today's recipe accompanies an essay written by Marcella Hazan, the woman credited with almost singlehandedly introducing Americans and Brits to traditional Italian cooking.
Hazan declares that she will eat "almost anything enclosed between two slices of bread," and offers her recipe for tost, "a grilled cheese sandwich whose ideal components are fontina cheese and cooked Parma ham."
It's no surprise that a sandwich would appear in a book dedicated to eating alone, but unlike that old solo-dining standby, the PBJ, this one is anything but dull—and is almost as quick to make.
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