Sunday, September 23, 2007

Ice cream season isn't over...

...at least, it won't be when you try this. I saw this at the very cool Star Provisions and finally tried it yesterday: vanilla soft-serve ice cream topped with olive oil (small drizzle) and sea salt (a sprinkle.)

Whoa. Buttery, salty-sweet goodness and the feeling of trying something that the less adventurous would dismiss with a "gross" and a grimace. Easy enough to replicate at home also...I'd bring home the soft serve and garnish since I lack the patience to fire up the ice cream maker when a craving strikes.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Polish pleasure


To piggy-back on the last post (or chicken-back, as the case may be),roast chicken is a wondrous thing. Not only cheap and tasty, but bones for stock and soup the next day. Plus, it's getting very close to that time of year (in the North) when you don't mind turning on the oven for an hour or so.
I read an article in Food and Wine about comfort foods by the Chicago wunder-chef Grant Achatz where he served Roast chicken with homemade pierogies (polish potato dumplings). I made them, and they are great. Plus it solves the "should we have potatoes or pasta?" dilemma. Try this link for the recipe: www.foodandwine.com/recipes/mustardy-potato-pierogies

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Tasty Stories

I'll admit, my slender cookbook collection doesn't get nearly the use of the righteously food-spattered library that belongs to my sister. But I do like to read them...the ones that have really good stories instead of an overload of glossy pictures (those can get depressing.) I just heard about this one that has just become available in the US: a British hit called ROAST CHICKEN AND OTHER STORIES. Head Butler quoted the following passage, which made me drool a little even though I am sitting in Florida in the exact opposite of this kind of weather:

My mother makes really good potato cakes. They are sort of misshapen, soft, gooey, and floury. They are at their best eaten on a Sunday afternoon, melting in front of the fire in their pool of butter. It should be winter, about 5 PM, dark outside, and a Marx Brothers film has just finished on the television.

Maybe it's just that butter. What little nugget of a setting could you give your favorite recipe? Bring 'em on!