How-To: Soffritto

10th Jan 2007

Library_4881 I've been reading Thomas Keller's two cookbooks lately, one for each of his Napa Valley restaurants--Bouchon and The French Laundry--and I've doing a lot of drooling.  First off, they are probably the most gorgeous cookbooks I've ever seen, physically.  From the text design to the layout, paper quality, printing colors, it's all overwhelming. Then, of course, there is the matter of Keller's r...

Return of the Brussels Sprouts

13th Dec 2006

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Brussels Sprouts have quite an affect on people.  After seeing me mess up some perfectly fine sprouts , the people spoke and they resoundingly told me to roast.  The comment section offered no less than 5 different versions of this affair, and not knowing exactly where to start I went for the simplest recipe.  Meg's recipe called for nothing but a little olive oil, salt and pepper, an...

The Mean Green Brussels Sprouts

1st Dec 2006

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These are called Brussels sprouts, and unless you had some especially mean parents growing up, this might be your first time together.  Even I, who had been force-fed green beans for the first 10 years of my life, never had to touch them because my dad hated them so much.  I don't think I'm the only one.  I've never seen them on a menu, and have never been confronted with them at a friends...

Skirt Steak with Haughty Green Beans

30th Oct 2006

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I had no idea.  Abby and I are staring at this picture of skirt steak with string beans with mouths agape, salivating over the chance to make this fine meal , when we notice that nowhere in the ingredients are those beans listed.  We double check, and then wonder what it was exactly that we were looking at.  All they they had was something called haricot verts.  "I'm not sure what that...

Roasted Squash Salad with Bacon and Dandelion Greens

11th Oct 2006

Squash_salad_1 Someone is really concerned about us. We eat a lot of meat and not enough vegetables.  Nick spent a week devouring ham and now his face is the color of plain file folders .  (I'm in the office--this is the only simile available to me.)  We're facing vitamin deficiencies, colon problems.  We're afraid to go outside.  Because if we just ate a bunch of raw vegetables, we'd have nothing...

Jacques Pepin''s Corn Chowder

Possibly the easiest corn chowder recipe on the planet

4th Apr 2006

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A warm comfort food that, in this case, is remarkably easy to make. Generally chowder is thick and hearty with bacon and potatoes and thick creamy base, but this version instead goes for elegant. It’s almost (but not) too thin, almost silky, surprisingly tasty considering the lack of any complicated seasoning.
By Blake Royer

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On a Sunday afternoon, corn chowder is the idea.  A soup bot...