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Dessert pizza by the slice Three people in my life are cherry enthusiasts: my dad, my husband and my daughter. Those three dream all year long of the few weeks in July when the cherries are really ripe and exquisite. All three could sit down with a bowl of cherries and eat until they had a [...] In my personal life, I crave stability. You could count the number of serious boyfriends I’ve had on one hand. (Actually, Rahm Emmanual could count the number of serious boyfriends I’ve had on one hand.) I’ve lived in the same metropolitan area for the past ten years. After my judicial clerkships, I’ve had exactly one [...]
Zuzu accompanied me to the Oak Park Farmers’ Market last Saturday morning in exchange for the promise of a powdered doughnut. (I wish I had taken a picture of her face covered in powdered sugar — she looked like a half-made up Geisha girl) We were in the market for cherries, but we quickly [...] Pizza with scapes pesto, tomatoes and fresh ricotta Because it is the season right now, I am reposting this piece from last June with two ideas for using garlic scapes, a fun farmers’ market find. Chances are, if you have a share in a CSA (community supported agriculture) or are a farmers’ market regular, you have [...] A savory potato, asparagus and cheddar tart As a weeknight dinner solution, a savory tart has much to recommend it. It’s a quick and cheap one-dish meal much of which can be prepared in advance. Moreover, a savory tart requires only ingredients that you are likely to have on hand – namely milk, eggs and cheese — and is infinitely adaptable, [...] Yogurt cake with lime zest and strawberries A few months back there was an article in The New Yorker about food allergies called “The Peanut Puzzle” by medical writer Jerome Groopman. Needless to say, my husband and I read the article with avid interest and at least a dozen friends and relatives called or emailed to [...] Moroccan meat ball stew When I was a junior in college, I spread the year studying abroad in Paris. I had many wonderful, unique experiences that year, from traveling all over Europe, to eating marvelous food to getting to know the ins and outs of one of the world’s greatest cities. But one of the most [...] A quick and easy fish stew is a great weeknight meal My husband doesn’t eat fish. Seriously, if it grows or lives under water, he’s not having any of it, thank you very much. (My husband also doesn’t eat pork, mushrooms, eggplant, bananas, avocado, mayonnaise, sour cream — should I go on?) I, on the [...] For me, grocery shopping is a race against the clock. I have to get everything in my cart and check out before either 1) the child riding in the cart turns into Damien or 2) it is time to pick up said child from preschool. As a result, my basic M.O. is to grab stuff off the shelves and run, and occasionally [...] Chicken pot pie with a biscuit crust I grew up in a house where dinner did not come out of a box or the freezer. My mom cooked meals from scratch and actually my brother and I longed to try the exotic products that we saw advertised on television, like Stove Top stuffing or Rice-a-Roni. (To this day, I have never [...] It all started with the Meyer lemons. I was doing my just-buy-the-necessities-because-we-are-leaving-town shopping trip last week when a display of vibrant yellow Meyer lemons caught my eye. I cannot resist Meyer lemons, which are bigger and sweeter than typical lemons with an especially shiny smooth rind, because they make an exceptional lemon curd. (For the lemon curd recipe, go [...] Pepperkakor with crystallized ginger When cooking and baking for a family member with a tree-nut allergy, the cook has three options. One, avoid recipes with nuts. Two, make recipes containing nuts but simply omit the nuts. And three, make recipes calling for nuts and substitute another ingredient. I use all three of these options at [...] Grown-up dinner: squash soup with fried sage leaves Last night, at about 7:30 pm, I put out a desperate plea for help on Twitter: “Quick! Want to fry sage leaves as a garnish for butternut squash soup. Advice needed ASAP.” My friend Caitlin from Wee Windy City responded with instructions and then a postscript: “P.S. [...] Sunday dinner: flank steak, potato-celery root puree and creamed kale. We have come so far with Zuzu’s food allergies that I am in danger of becoming complacent about them. In the past six months, she has been cleared to eat wheat, eggs that are baked in a batter and now milk that is baked in [...] My maternal grandmother, whom I called Nome (“no-me”) was a wonderful woman. She adored children and could not get enough of them: indeed, after raising six (!) of her own kids, she worked in a nursery school. She was the kind of grandmother who knew the name of every shell on the beach and every wildflower in the field. She knitted [...] Beef stew made my way In one of my first posts on this blog, I defined what I like to call “the confident home cook:” someone who, like me, has no professional training, but is nonetheless a good cook and moves about the kitchen with ease and – dare I say it? – joy. One of the defining [...] Blueberry muffins with a crunchy, lemony streusel top Now that Zuzu has been cleared to eat wheat and baked eggs, my assistant pastry chef, J.R., and I have been baking up a storm. The only ingredient that I now have to avoid is dairy — other than nuts and peanuts of course – and it is quite easy [...] Apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah As many of you know, today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year celebration. It is a joyous holiday, but it makes the beginning of a solemn period of reflection, known as the 10 Days of Repentance. This period culminates in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, during which [...] Was this corn picked this morning? Here it is almost Labor Day and I have yet to write about the most iconic of American summer foods: corn on the cob. Well, how much is there to say about corn on the cob? More than you might think. First of all, you should know that I am [...] Chocolate zucchini cake Last week, my Rabbi and his wife hosted a cookout at their house as a social event for our temple’s governing Board. As I do in any potluck situation, I signed up to bring a dessert. I thought about what to make all week. Southern-style jam cake? It does show off my homemade jam, but remember last time I [...] Stuffed zucchini can easily be made vegan by omitting the cheese on top Recently, I was out with a group of moms at a social event for our preschool board and I took it upon myself to order some appetizers for the table. Without asking if anyone was a vegetarian, I ordered some chicken kabobs, and [...] Pretty farmers' market green beans One of the best parts about canning, to my mind, is making things that you couldn’t buy at the grocery store, not even for ready money. To that end, I love making jams with unusual and hard-to-find fruits, such as tayberries, which are a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry, [...] I pride myself on being an adventurous eater. I love to try different ethnic cuisines, from Ethiopian — which is really outstanding in my hometown of DC — to Filipino to Lithuanian. (The Lithuanians put sour cream on everything, which makes me wonder: am I part Lithuanian?) I love organ meats, from liver and kidneys to rich, [...] |
  
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