Cook the Book: Wine Bar Food
Almost anything with cream- fettucine alfredo, strawberries and whipped cream, chips and sour cream onion dip.
Almost anything with cream- fettucine alfredo, strawberries and whipped cream, chips and sour cream onion dip.
As an avowed omnivore, I often- more often than not- prepare meatless food, which is often even vegan. This is not intentional; it just so happens that there is a lot more non-meat food in the world than meat-based food. And for dinner parties and the like, it's often a lot cheaper to prepare meatless food or dishes in which animal products are only in a sauce or condiment of some sort, and how hard is it to make two versions of a sauce?
That said, the trickiest part of totally veggie cooking for me are seasonings- like bonito flakes, oyster sauce, fish sauce. I have yet to find really good vegan alternatives for these flavors.
I did a variation on this last week. I blanched the ramps and ground them in the food processor with butter, salt, and a bit of olive oil (for flavor and texture, as I wanted an easily spreadable butter). Adding the ramps after blanching made the butter a brilliant green that was gorgeous on sandwiches with tomato confit and sliced Yukon Gold potatoes.
For my 1st b-day, my mom made a whole-wheat cake frosted with cream cheese that was colored with beet juice. Even I refused to eat it, so every year after that I got a homemade gingerbread house covered with sugary frosting and tons of candy. Because when you get right down to it, sometimes sugar really does equal love.
The reason that I find ramps so spectacular is that they are the very first green thing available in the spring, and here in the Frozen North where we had snow last week, that's cause for major celebration.
Fresh homemade bread impresses the hell out of almost everyone. If I don't have the time for bread, crepes are almost equally impressive, despite being so simple.
Matza brei, matza balls, gefilte fish are all great, but the last few years I've made kishke for the seders and I LOVE it!!!
Right now, it would be any steak someone else cooks, especially if they also wash the dishes
Bagel with a shmear and a babka chaser
I made this this week and loved it. I toast my breadcrumbs in at least a tablespoon of olive oil and find that they add lots of flavor as well as texture. I did wish I had added some pasta cooking water for the final tossing--I set a bit aside but forgot to throw it in. Anyway, YUM, thanks for the recipe, and the clue about what to do with the famous ramps.
A flute of Champagne with pomme frite (it must be fried to perfection) with an anchovy mayonaise to dip into.
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