It seems like everyone has their own ritualistic practices surrounding food as remedy. If you're into brothy soups, one of the easiest and most savory broths to brew up with on-hand ingredients is miso broth. It has a satisfying flavor of its own but still accommodates a wide variety of soup ingredients. What are you favorite get-better foods? More
The definition varies from person to person, but in general a raw foods diet consists of whole vegan foods that have not been heated over 115°F. Raw enthusiasts prefer these foods because their natural enzymes, phytochemicals, vitamins, and minerals have not been altered by cooking. I found myself allocating an entire weekend to the Raw Foods Masterclass at Saf Restaurant in London. Saf is often named among the best vegetarian restaurants in London, with a totally vegan menu and many raw options. More
No matter the reason and no matter the season, sometimes you just want a big bowl of salad for dinner. Come share your favorite ingredients, tips, and tricks for a really great dinner salad. Whether it's simple or elaborate, we want to know how you make your salads into a main course. More
This pizza clearly originated in the mind of a Jersey girl. But now I can vouch for the fact that it tastes just as good no matter where you are—and no matter what you call a zucchini. Like many pizzas, it's a flexible recipe. Just make sure you slice the zucchini as thin as possible so it will be tender by the time the pizza is done. More
Blueberries. Coffee. Cake. On a short list of things you can never have too much of in this world, this has three of the heavy hitters right in its name. More
Even if you like to put your best foot forward on vacation and seek out the most delicious-tasting fare your destination has to offer (regardless of its ANDI score), it's worth making room for the foods that will keep you feeling healthy and energetic. Even if it's only to ensure you have space in your belly for those world-famous fried clams at dinner. Here are five of my favorite tips for fitting in fruits and veggies on vacation. More
Shopping for the bulk of your fruits and vegetables (and beyond, if you're lucky) at the farmers' market takes a handful of different skills than cruising the Piggly Wiggly. Because the availability of individual foods ebbs and flows in a wonderfully non-industrial pattern, you'll have to go with the flow MacGyver-style instead of pre-planning every detail of your meals for the week. Duct tape (while never discouraged) is not an essential tool for your market tote, but here are a few ideas that are. More
Local berry season is easy to look forward to. But since most types of berries are only ripe for the picking for a few weeks, it's also incredibly easy to miss. Luckily, with just a bit of planning, you can not only notice berry season but totally own it—and extend its singular pleasures all year long. Here's how. More
For those of us with minimal outdoor space who still want to grow a few herbs and even a handful of vegetables, window box gardening can pack a surprising punch. From herbs galore to strawberries and even mini carrots, come see what you can grow right outside your kitchen window. More
Sure, fruits and vegetables are good for you. But just like the eating of them, there's no reason the growing of them needs to be all serious and virtuous. Why not plant a little fun in your yard or containers with one of these themed gardens? More
This week in the edible garden series: 15 of the easiest vegetables to grow at home. Even novice gardeners should get some satisfying results with many of these relatively unfussy plants. More
The first thing to know about growing an edible garden is that no matter what you think, and no matter where you live, you can do it. The second thing to know is that even though it's still winter, it's time to start scheming. What do you feel like eating this summer? Here's how to get started. More
As the "mostly plants" approach edges its way into the popular mindset, it's been a kick to see vegetable-heavy cookbooks by well-known authors springing up from the verdant ground of the major publishing houses. These two new books (one very new, one a rock star from 2010) are among my favorites in this category. More
A frittata is the Oprah of the scrambled egg world—strong, unfussy, and forgiving. And one that's light on the eggs and bursting with vegetables is a smart, satisfying way to start the day. Here are five savory variations featuring winter produce. More
Whatever your food-related goals for 2011—even if you haven't got any—there's always room for a few more fresh vegetables in your diet. You know, "mostly plants" and all. And the easier it is to reach for a healthy meal or snack, the more likely you are to do it. That's why I highly recommend the Big Bag of Salad approach. Read on to see how ridiculous(ly easy) it is. More
If you (along with the rest of us mortals) live in a place where fresh tomatoes are out of season, it's time to reach into the pantry and starting loving those canned beauties. Here are my top five ways to enjoy them. What are yours? More
Let me begin by saying this: If you're a squash, you'd better start sleeping with one eye open. And if you wake up in the morning full of savory, custardy bread cubes or currant-studded farro, don't say you weren't warned. People don't stuff squash as often as they should. But that's about to change. Do you have a favorite stuffed squash recipe? More
This week's column goes out to all you brave soldiers of turkey day who volunteered to bring the vegetables. Sure, you could have made the stuffing to end all stuffings, or the deep-fried turkey that blew a hole through the backyard shed. But you're making the vegetables instead. And with these recipes in your arsenal, you'll blow away your friends and family anyway. More
Not every beautiful, brainy head of cauliflower would admit that she likes to be Buffaloed. Some like to keep it under wraps, perhaps for good reason. I say, let the demure demur. I'll be over here with a stick of butter and a bottle of Frank's Red Hot. Care to join me? More
Red, green, or in between, grape season is in full swing through the fall. While grapes are perfectly suited to fruit salads, cheese plates, and eating straight out of hand, they also shine in cooked and savory capacities. Do you have a favorite savory or cooked preparation for grapes? Let us know in the comments! More
Homemade vegetable stock is a happy medium between the more laborious and expensive homemade poultry stock and its boxed counterpart. It's also a great way to use up your vegetable scraps and slightly past-peak produce. These five principles will yield great results without a recipe. More
Ever since the moment I wriggled into my brand new stretch pants, two pairs of slouch socks, and oversized T-shirt on the first morning of fourth grade, fall has been my favorite season. Becoming a produce obsessive has done nothing to dampen my love for this crisp, Technicolor season we're about to enter. But do you notice how the blue potatoes and butternuts on that roasting pan are—ahem—raw? That's because I have no kitchen this week, and I need your help. Please share your favorite ways to use fall produce in the comments. More
This summer I've been thinking a lot about how to imbue vegetables and vegetarian food with the same joy factor that would come from tossing a bunch of burgers and dogs on the grill. Do you have favorite ways to make veggies fun and festive or avoid an overly earnest vegetarian meal? Share them in the comments before summer officially fades away! More
When your crisper is jam-packed, the basic tools in your kitchen can make or break your relationship with those vegetables. With the right set of equipment, most of which is not particularly fancy, you can show your produce who's boss, and do it in style. And when you come right down to it, what else is summer for? These are my top 10 tools for keeping things under control in the passionate heat of summer produce season. Did I miss anything? Let us know in the comments! More
When seasonal veggies abound (such as, for example, now), it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, or how good you are with a julienne attachment. Once in a while you're going to need a little help taking your produce to inspired heights. These ten websites, many of them lesser-known, are among my current favorites when I'm staring at a full crisper and need a little jolt of creativity. Behind each site is a person or team who knows how to find extraordinary beauty in ordinary vegetables. More
@Leo_G Yup, totally agree. Miso should not be boiled. The method you suggest is the same one I use in the recipe!
@Daniel C Sorry, I can't remember! Strikes me as the type of thing I would've violated the first rule of photo propping for and bought at a national chain -- Sur la Table? Anthropologie?
@harrylu More greens? Are you trying to kill me with kindness? I love it! Glad you liked the recipe. Thanks for reporting back.
@BeerBoy Especially because of the lemon, this is significantly less sweet than the average strawberry-banana. If you want a sweeter green smoothie to get you started, try this one with spinach instead of arugula and swap in a couple of dried dates for the lemon. Or try this one, which isn't technically green but is loaded with spinach.
@eliza422 Good question, though hard to answer really well these days since apples are (happily!) such a regional phenomenon. I used Braeburns, which turned out very well. Any type or combination of types that you would use for pie would work well here. SE has addressed this before, here and more recently here. Good luck!
Wow! Looks like I exposed a few nerve endings with this one. As always, thanks to everyone for expressing your thoughts and getting involved in the discussion -- especially the parts where many of you provided additional insight without condemning a way of life that other people have chosen for themselves. (That latter part, on the other hand, is by far my least favorite part of contributing to this site.)
Kenji, I really appreciate your scientific analysis. I think it can be incredibly difficult for non-scientists to weed through all the dietary information/disinformation that's out there these days. I know SE isn't really focused on nutrition, but since literal nourishment is an important part of why we feed ourselves, I love that you're willing to spend some time applying your abundant knowledge to that side of the discussion.
I'm surprised, though, that you would label raw foodism as the most utterly bullshit/dangerous food trend. In a society trending sharply toward premature death from diseases caused in large part by overconsumption of processed "foods" devoid of nutritional value, how can a fringe trend that encourages eating whole plant foods be our biggest threat? If I had to pick a winner for an utter bullshit trend, I'm pretty sure it would be this Timeline of the Standard American Diet, presented in graphical format for your viewing pleasure by the New York Times. :)
Okay, that's all the controversy I can handle for one morning. Off to make some pretty pictures of tacos.
@::minijen:: Keeping the foods whole as long as possible and blending right before drinking would preserve more nutrients and make it taste fresher. It's a little more work but worth it, I think.
Happy to see so many green smoothie enthusiasts and all of your great suggestions!
@Jbout I'm not a protein powder enthusiast myself -- I like to get my protein in the form of whole foods and have been learning more about how our bodies generally don't need or want nearly as much protein as we've come to believe they do, even when we're working out a lot. Hope you find one you like, though, if that's your thing.
@KarmaFreeCooking That's interesting about the dates. I realized when I read your comment that I only started adding dates after getting my Vitamix, which does a great job with them (and everything else). I wonder whether soaking them in advance would help?
Hi @conky, thanks for checking in after making the recipe! Dumpling squash doesn't need to be peeled, and I didn't peel it. I think the skin is pretty delicious and totally agree with you that convection roasting makes it extra bizzatch-licious. :)
@JulietRomeo, any winter squash with mild, sweet flesh and edible skin would work well here, or even one with firm flesh and inedible skin, as long as you peel it first. Acorn, delicata, red kuri, and buttercup would all be great choices. Dumpling squash are on the smallish side (similar to a small acorn squash -- the one I used was under two pounds), so you can use that as a reference. Squash sweetness varies a lot between varieties, so you might want to up the lime juice a bit if you use a really sweet variety.
Thanks, Maggie! I had a pretty model. :)
Thanks, everyone, for sharing your salad thoughts. Fun to see so many varieties and approaches. I'm hungry....
I love everything about this post, and especially that first photo. It's a really beautiful portrait.
Hi, Marisa! Love your new column. Just as you say, I've pickled green tomatoes and canned tomatoes in many forms, but I've never pickled red tomatoes. These look fantastic. Looking forward to giving them a try, probably as fridge pickles since I am not yet full-on canning equipped in London.
Funny, I've been thinking about meta foods and Pomo pancakes for like a week now, because I made a frittata out of leftover bread pudding the other day. Starting to wonder why I bother to think for myself at all anymore with a fully staffed SE out there to do it for me....
@cdemers Yikes, thanks. All fixed.
Zucchini are courgettes and eggplant are aubergines, like the French. Peppers, even sweet ones, seem to be capsicum, but only sometimes. The Jersey trifecta by any other name would taste as sweet....
@Ny155 Yup, exactly what @ob1canobeans said. And can I please add a moment of silence to praise the username @ob1canobeans?
@karen1monger That is just awesome. I've heard of air-drying fruit leather, but the dashboard tactic is new to me!
@eshlemouisa Blueberries.
@Lorenzo You can absolutely use a dehydrator, but the oven works just as well. For me, keeping the oven on a low temp for a few hours is easier than buying and storing another single-purpose appliance. Choose your poison, I guess.
@PSFam Some recipes do call for thickening up the puree on the stove. I prefer having fewer steps and a puree that's easier to spread evenly on a baking sheet by tilting it. In my experience, using a spatula makes it hard to get an even layer.
Ooh! I might be a little too excited about this. The Americano is one of my favorite summer cocktails, too -- the ideal point on the spectrum between the Campari and soda and the Negroni. What a celebratory use for those fleeting sour cherries. Thanks for the inspiration!
Well, I didn't grow up in Kennett Square, and I was pretty psyched to see this post. My in-laws just moved to a town nearby, and I've already started hounding them for a mushroom country tour. Now I have documentary evidence of the need to go. Thank you!
Love this post, Max. Some great ideas here!
@MariaVII How long did it take you to bake it? It definitely takes longer with the blueberries than without -- original recipe says 25 to 30. 35 did it for me, but of course your mileage may vary!
This is the funniest thing I've read all week. And I'm reading a David Sedaris book right now.
I stopped in last week with William Nazar, the Service Director and Assistant Sommelier to see what was going on behind the bar at Blue Hill Stone Barns. As luck would have it, he was just finishing up his newest cocktail, the Sour Cherry Americano, and was happy to share the recipe. More
This recipe with white beans is probably my favorite farro salad yet. The creamy beans play a huge role in that, along with the sweet tender leeks and fresh parsley. But it's the chunks of salty, citrusy preserved lemon, a condiment often used in Moroccan cooking, that really takes this salad to the next level. More
When you've reached the end of your box from your local Scouts, there's a surefire solution for sweet gratification: make your own batch of Samoas! Or Caramel de-Lites, whatever you want to call them. More
"In the midst of so many other big flavors, rosemary's tendency to overwhelm is muted to a pleasant back note." Previously Zabaione, My Way » All Seriously Italian recipes » This past weekend I was given my annual windfall of... More
The best pizza, burgers, bagels, cupcakes, and more—check out the winners of the 2010 People's Choice Awards! More
These crab and chickpea "sliders"* start with a slightly streamlined, miniaturized version of Mantuano's Falafel Crab Cakes (I use canned chickpeas, tweak the spice blend to make it more sandwich-friendly, and add a tiny bit of flour to help the patties hold together more easily during the frying stage), which he describes as from "southern Spain, which owes many culinary inspirations to the Moors of Northern Africa." More
Add this peanut butter mixture to a warm fondue pot, and serve with skewered marshmallows, apple chunks, sliced bananas, hulled strawberries, or whatever dippable snack you're nuts about. More
Enter Provencal Deviled Eggs from Cooking Light. Filled with bits of olive, caper, sun-dried tomato, Dijon, and various herbs, it's a fabulously briny, lighter twist on the classic appetizer. More
Whether you do an official cocktail hour or just want something festive to share with your fellow cooks in the kitchen, here are a few autumnal cocktails to help you celebrate Thanksgiving. A touch of ginger, a hint of apple, smoky liquor, tart cranberries...these drinks are a tasty start to Thanksgiving (and worth keeping on file for post-Thanksgiving parties.) More
Having just adopted a French bulldog named Dumpling, I'm quickly finding out that taking care of a puppy is very similar to taking care of a good cast iron pan, and in some ways, almost as satisfying. They both require a little work, a little patience, and a whole lot of loyalty. The main difference is that in return for my investment, my cast iron pan gives me golden-brown fried chicken, sizzling bacon, corn bread, apple pies, charred hash, perfectly seared steaks, bubbly pizzas, and, yes, crisp dumplings. Dumpling the puppy, on the other hand, gives me mostly licks, chews, and a whole lot of poop. You do the math. More
Just because it's summer doesn't mean our obsession with Grenache has to end. We've told you about our favorite grenache-based wines under $25, those under $10, and now it's time for the Grenache rosés. Winemakers all over the world include Grenache in delicious dry and tangy rosé blends. Don't be put off by the pinkness: these are serious wines, full of flavor and regional character. More
We rounded up 24 specially-released-for-summer beers, but more are showing up in the stores every day. The best of the bunch are refreshing, flavorful and fun. Good summer beers aren't just light beers to keep you company while you're mowing the lawn; they're food-friendly options to pair with curry and sushi, barbecue and burritos. More
For my money, grilling pizza is by far the best way to cook pizza at home. The basic theory is easy. Take a round of pizza dough, expose it to the intense heat of a grill, flip it, top it, char the bottom, and serve. Because grills can reach upwards of 600°F and emit radiant energy like a motherfu**er, the pizzas bubble, crisp, and char in about 45 seconds flat per side. That's timing that rivals the hottest wood-burning oven, and just like those pizzas, the result is a crust that is soft and chewy in the center, with a crisp, crackly shell that's deeply charred in spots. More
For this loaf, I used a pale chocolate malt. The grains smelled a bit like chocolate with a hint of coffee. One of my previous loaves used a darker roasted malt called Pearl Black that smelled very much like roasted coffee and had a much stronger flavor in the finished loaf. If you don't have dark malted barley, you could simply leave it out and use this recipe to make a standard rye. It will be a lot paler, and not as complex, but still a nice loaf of rye. More
By this point, there is absolutely no question that the method of cooking foods at precise low-temperatures in vacuum-sealed pouches (commonly referred to as "sous-vide") has revolutionized fine-dining kitchens around the world. But the question of when this technique will trickle down to home users—and it certainly is a question of when, and not if—remains to be answered. The Sous-Vide Supreme is certainly a big step in the right direction. But at $450, for most people, it still remains prohibitively costly. In an effort to help those who'd like to experiment with sous-vide cookery without having to put in the capital, a couple weeks ago I devised a novel solution to the problem: cook your food in a beer cooler. I put the hack method head-to-head against the Sous-Vide Supreme. More
The ingredients in Sriracha chile sauce are quite straightforward—just chiles, vinegar, garlic, salt and sugar. So it was a normal aspiration for a Sriracha addict like myself to try making homemade Sriracha, taste-testing the differences between the fresh and fermented versions. More
This recipe, adapted from Martha Stewart, is kind of a noodle frittata, filled with ginger and scallions and crunchy sprouts. Doused with soy sauce and plenty of vinegary hot sriracha, it's delicious if a little ungraceful. More
Colorful, fresh, and slightly spicy, one-skillet brik-inspired eggs with potatoes, feta, and harissa will be welcome at brunch or at supper. More
With a jar of fresh homemade Caesar dressing in the fridge, you'll be ready to conquer the world. And with spring and summer on the horizon, their vegetable bounties looming large, you may actually have to. More
Only in Japan have they taken the simple concept of bar snacks—small, often salty treats designed to get you to drink more—and transformed them into a culinary and social art form. Try one of these Japanese Izakaya dish recipes: Karaage, Agedashi Dofu, Tuna and Avocado Nuta, or Yaki Nasu. More
Derived from the great Niçoise traditions of chickpea pancakes, fried afternoon snacks, and fresh lemons, these crispy chickpeas are a salty, citrusy alternative to chips. More
The iPhone app based on author Michael Ruhlman's book Ratio is now available in the Apple App Store. I've downloaded it and messed around with it. It's a pretty handsome and very well thought-out lil' app. I think I'm going to put it to the test tonight in preparing cookies for our office cookie swap tomorrow.... More
This week at The Food Lab, we explore the importance of resting meat. You mean I have to wait before sawing into that perfectly charred ribeye? Unfortunately, yes. Asides from over or under-cooking and seasoning issues, not resting meat is probably the carnivore's biggest blunder of all. More
We've all experienced dry turkey. The kind that's just bad enough, you wonder why the pilgrims didn't eat prime rib during that first fall. The solution? Brining. And here's why. More
[Photograph: Jason Fulford] Kids will eventually want to know where donuts come from. This is actually a bag of Cheerios, the perfect gag gift for any donut-loving gardener in your life. The photograph was taken by Jason Fulford for Kenny Shopsin's book Eat Me. [via Laughing Squid] Related 'Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin' Kimchi Donuts from Dunkin' Donuts in Korea Quote of the Day: Donut vs. Doughnut Spelling... More
Hi, Maggie! These look so delicious and springy.