Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I love steaming mussels in beer, my favorite being a couple pounds steamed with some garlic, shallots and a bottle of Victory Golden Monkey (the brewery is within walking distance of my in-laws so we try to visit when we're in the area). You can serve it with fries, with bread, or over pasta or couscous--it's pretty versatile as an appetizer or turned into a main course: http://themanhattanfoodproject.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/02-21-10-dinner-le-victoire-le-victoire-yay-victory-beer/

Oh, you guys... :) Hilarious!

We haven't tested making pizza in our new, less-awesome oven yet, but now I really, really want to try. The last two we made in NYC were a roasted duck/caramelized onion/fontina cheese pie and a roasted garlic/herb/cacio di Roma pie: http://themanhattanfoodproject.wordpress.com/2011/05/17/05-01-11-dinner-garlic-cheese-and-herb-pizza-and-duck-fontina-and-onion-pizza/

I left a comment yesterday that I think was eaten due to the link I placed in, but anyway--while I turn to our big encyclopedia-esque books (Gourmet, I Know How to Cook, The Silver Spoon) one of the more surprising essential cookbooks for me is The Barcelona cookbook. I got it not long after we moved to NYC because we went to the New Haven location of the restaurant all of the time and wanted to create some of the tapas we always ordered, but it really did turn into a resource for easy meals and light main entrees in the summer. Molto Italiano is also a key resource because of Mario's header notes--more often than not you feel like he is guiding you through the recipe (especially the difficult parts) and the results are always so satisfying and worth the effort. The same can be said for the Les Halles cookbook--it's where we got our first good roast chicken recipe, and the writing style is so authentically Bourdain you feel compelled to try everything once.

We actually made Barcelona's wild salmon paillards this week and it was a really nice, simple recipe that simply relied on great ingredients to pull off in less than an hour: http://themanhattanfoodproject.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/06-16-11-dinner-wild-king-salmon-paillard-sweet-and-sour-shallots-and-bloomsday/

The big encyclopedia-style books like Gourmet and The Silver Spoon are handy when I want to idly flip through a book for inspiration, but one of my more surprising cookbook essentials is the Barcelona cookbook. I got it right after we moved to New York because the restaurant was one of the things I'd miss most about New Haven, but it's become a great go-to resource for interesting weekday meals as well as for making tapas spreads. Yesterday we made salmon paillards and it was such an elegant little plate, but it really didn't take all that much work to pull off. Molto Italiano usually has more complicated recipes, but there is something to be said for that feeling of accomplishment after spending an hour hand-rolling fresh penne, and I love reading his header notes because his enthusiasm is so contagious that he can talk me into trying such a task in the first place.

I've seen it at Whole Foods and Westside Market.

Apologies for a double comment--I got an error the first time. In short, a vegetable tortilla that is particularly delicious that I want to fold into our recipe rotation:

http://themanhattanfoodproject.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/03-06-11-dinner-vegetable-tortilla-and-a-revisit-of-catalan-meatball-soup/

Kenji, this is really great, and I completely agree with you on trying to enjoy them to the fullest during their short-lived season. I got another few bunches of them today at the market (dedication is getting up on a personal day to not only work out early but then go down to the greenmarket to grab some by 10:30!) and will probably make some ramp salsa to share with in-laws this weekend.

Love you guys--happy April Fool's Day! :)

I apologize if this is a double-post (I saw a strange error message when I submitted earlier today--maybe it was related to my link?) but I have to share a Greek-style roasted chicken that the husband made a few weeks ago. If it were up to him we'd have roasted chicken at least once a week (and I'm convinced if he could live on it alone he would) but this was one of my favorite ways for him to make it--simple but flavorful: http://themanhattanfoodproject.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/02-19-11-dinner-roast-chicken-greek-style

It would be a toss-up between our hardy Kitchen Aid mixer (hardy because it survived a fall off our counter after a particularly unstable focaccia dough) and the pasta machine--we still go old school on that one and we get such beautiful pasta from it...will be back to determine the all-star.

During the week, the time between 7 and 8 is our dinner time, depending on my train and the subsequent bus, and on weekends we strive to eat between 6:30 and 7. Any later and it screws with my workout plans (during the week) and gives my husband nightmares. This way we can watch Simpsons repeats and either Emeril Live or The Office repeats while we nosh on dinner.