Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!! Jamie and I will be out in East Hampton and Southampton this weekend. We will be deep frying a turkey again, because wow they're so good. We're also continuing a tradition started last year of inviting all of our friends over the day after Thanksgiving to reuse the turkey frying oil and fry a whole bunch of things. Last year, the best items were the deep fried grilled cheese and the deep fried oreo stuffed with chocolate chip cookie dough. This year, I went to Trader Joe's and loaded up on a bunch of their frozen appetizers (samosas, tater tots, mac and cheese balls, dumplings...) so we'll see how those go!

Happy eating!

Roasted Acorn Squash with Spicy Maple Butter

When the weather gets cold, I love roasted acorn squash. It's so good roasted with just butter and brown sugar, but I played around with that mix a little last night. I made a compound butter with butter, maple syrup, cayenne, chili powder, and smoked paprika, and a few other spices. You could also use chipotle powder - anything really. It's so easy, and the squash is tender and flavorful. Great side dish.

Sous Vide Pork Chops with Hard Cider Glaze

I love pork chops and apple. Apple-stuffed might be my favorite, but this recipe is delicious and simpler. If you don't have a sous vide, you can just cook pork chops normally and finish with the glaze. They're really juicy and flavorful and a great fall dinner. I served them with Ina Garten's roasted cauliflower with pecorino and panko - a great side! (Taken from this recipe.)

Classic Carbonara

On a cold or dreary day, there's nothing like a creamy plate of spaghetti carbonara. I know I've made the leek carbonara before, but I wanted to go for a really basic, classic carbonara. Usually you're supposed to use dried pasta, but after watching Master of None all weekend, I was inspired to make it with fresh spaghetti. Yum! It's so good and creamy and salty and delicious, and the little bites of crispy pancetta are just the best. This is easy and cheap, too, so a great weeknight dinner. 

Pink Applesauce

It seems that half the people I've spoken to recently have a plethora of apples from either weekend apple picking, or someone else's weekend apple picking. My sister-in-law gave me a whole bunch of apples from her uncle's apple tree - thanks Uncle Bobby! They were little and bright red. Not entirely sure what kind of apples they were. I've made a few things, but this weekend I made some really delicious, and pink, apple sauce! I read somewhere that as long as you use a food mill, you don't need to peel or even core the apples. Makes it so much easier, and you also get all the good flavor (and in this case color) from the skins. The bright red skins gave the apple sauce such a pretty color, and the cinnamon stick I cooked them with gave it just a little bit of a cinnamon flavor. Yum! Also, it's only three ingredients. Very simple. 

Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup

The Indian spices in the soup really make it. I saw the recipe on NYTimes.com and thought it looked great. I tweaked it slightly, but it's a really nice, flavorful soup. Stirring in the buttery toasted mustard and cumin seeds at the end gives it a great bit of textured crunch. Next time, I might add some shallots and another chile, but it's still great as is. Feel free to use chicken broth instead of water if you prefer. 

Serves 4 (probably more)

Lime Ginger Soda

My brother in law got me the Thug Kitchen cookbook for Christmas last year, and it's hilarious. (Read more about it here.) It's totally vegan and has lots of healthy recipes, but it's riddles with curses words and is fun to read. I made this fresh soda from their recipe. It's so fresh and tasty and bright; great plain with soda water or with a little booze thrown in. 

Wine Tasting on the North Fork

This post is about a month late. Every September, Jamie and I go wine tasting on the North Fork. It's so beautiful and a great way to bring a Saturday, and Petunia can come too (most wineries allow dogs). It's such a fun fall activity.

Homemade Green Hot Sauce

This summer was a tough one for the garden. The deer ate everything and we were pretty much left with just marigolds, some herbs, and the occasional cucumber. Towards the end of the summer, my parents put up a deer fence around the yard. It was too late for most of the garden veggies, but suddenly the peppers did really well. Jamie and I went out last weekend and picked about 20 peppers - a mix of jalapeños, birds eye, and habanero. All were still green. Since there was no way we could eat them all while they were still fresh and good, I found this hot sauce recipe - it's great! I love green hot sauce, and this one is really great. The green peppers are so vibrant and fresh tasting and the vinegar gives it a great tang. Can't wait to put it on tacos! It's a very simple recipe, but it does take about a week to make. I used the peppers we had on hand, but feel free to use whatever mix of green peppers you want/can find. 

Cosme

Finally tried the infamous Corn Husk Meringue at Cosme last night - yum! It was amazing. Food & Wine actually published the recipe so I'm now dying to try to make it. Cosme was really delicious. If you're looking for regular Mexican food, this is not it. This is really fancy, creative food with a Mexican influence. The duck carnitas is amazing, but definitely have at least three people to split it, it's huge! Mmm. Dinner was amazing. Still dreaming about this dessert. It's crunchy, creamy, and rich and has a little salt on top. So great. 

Gluten Free Plum Torte

One good thing about the end of summer is that it's time for plum torte! The little Italian plums come into season and this amazing dessert can be whipped up in a little over an hour. It's so good. The plums are tart and the torte is buttery and cakey. You can read the torte's history here. I've put this recipe on the blog before, but this time I tried it with gluten free flour. It was my first foray into gluten free baking and I was surprised - it was actually great! (A girl in my office is gluten free and can never eat any of the snacks I bring in so I wanted to make one she could eat.) I wouldn't choose it over regular flour, but it was surprisingly fluffy and nice. 

BBQ Chicken

Yum! I tried out the New York Times style of watering down the BBQ sauce to 50/50 sauce vs water. This is supposed to make it so the flavor slowly concentrates and caramelizes without burning. It's great! I made my own BBQ sauce, but you can either make your own or just use store-bought. 

Ingredients:

8 pieces of chicken (ideally 4 thighs and 4 drumsticks)

1 cup BBQ sauce mixed with 1 cup of water

salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat up half of a charcoal grill to medium heat and leave the other half without coals. (On a gas grill, leave one burner off.) Season the chicken with salt and pepper and put over the hot part of the grill. Cook for 15 minutes, turning every 5 minutes or so, and basting continuously with the watered down BBQ sauce. After they are brown, move them to the other side of the grill and cook them there for another 15-20 minutes until cooked. (Peek inside and make sure it's no longer pink.) Finish them up over the hot coals for another couple of minutes, basting with sauce. 

Raw Tomato Pasta Sauce

Tomatoes are so, so good right now, I'm eating them as much as possible. I usually make raw tomato sauce like this, but this time I took one big tomato and grated half of it on a box grater and chopped up the other half. The shredded part makes a nice, juicy base. I added some olive oil, a capful of balsamic vinegar, a drizzle of honey, fresh pepper, a big pinch of red pepper flakes, one grated garlic clove, and some basil. Mix it all up and let it sit for 10 minutes to a couple of hours. 

Nectarine Shrub

I tried the shrub recipe with nectarines (instead of blackberries) last weekend - yum! It's also the most beautiful color, a bright pinky peach. I topped these with a little soda water to lighten them up. 

Tomato, Watermelon, and Feta Salad

I had tomatoes and watermelon and thought they would make a great, light summer salad with a little feta to add saltiness and some dukkah for some extra flavor. This was super refreshing and light and would be perfect for a hot weather lunch.

Ingredients:

Ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced

watermelon, rind removed and thinly sliced

red wine vinegar

balsamic reduction

olive oil

salt

feta

dukkah*

Garam Masala Skirt Steak

After thinking of making Indian corn, I wanted some meat to go with it. Skirt steak is perfect for weeknights because you can quickly marinate it after work and it cooks so quickly. The mixture of garlic and the fragrant garam masala and dukkah was really great and unusual and went nicely with the corn. The steak was tender and tasty. 

Ingredients:

1 skirt steak

1 clove of garlic (more for a bigger piece)

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tsp dukkah

1 tsp kosher salt

olive oil

Directions:

Mash the garlic into a paste. In a small bowl, mix the garlic paste, remaining salt, spices and enough olive oil to form a loose paste. Smear it all over the steak on both sides. 

Curry Corn

This is amazing! Make this ASAP! I would eat this all summer. Wow. I don't know why I never thought of curry and corn before. The sweet corn and the spicy fragrant curry make a great mix. I cleaned out my cabinets this week and reorganized all my spices and when I saw all my curry and Indian spices, I thought I'd try them with summer food. I finished off the corn with a smattering of nigella seeds (an Indian spice that tastes a bit like toasted onion) but don't worry if you don't have any - it'll still be great. 

Tomato Sandwich

I was irrationally excited for my lunch today - a tomato sandwich. It sounds simple (because it is - only four ingredients: bread, tomatoes, mayonnaise, and salt) but it's heavenly. I know there are some crazy non-tomato-eaters out there (both of my brothers-in-law), but for everyone else this sandwich is the best thing to eat in the height of summer tomato season. Instead of a traditional sandwich, I made these like a tartine. Mayo on both slices of bread, topped with tomatoes, and sprinkled with salt. It was a little easier to eat this way because with a traditional tomato sandwich the tomatoes often slide out. I tried two ways here. One with grape/cherry tomatoes first topped with slices of bigger tomato, and one with bigger tomato slices topped with cherry/grape tomatoes. The first version was slightly less messy to eat. I want to eat this every day until October. 

Blackberry Shrub

This is such a great fruity but not-too-sweet summer cocktail. I saw the Bon App's Shrub Recipe and given my propensity for vinegar, I could resist. You can use any ripe summer fruit. I chose blackberries because they're Jamie's favorite. They were so light and delicious, and dangerous because you hardly taste the alcohol. Don't let the vinegar scare you. No one knew there was any vinegar in them until I told them how the cocktails were made. Can't wait to make them again, and try with another fruit! Maybe nectarines??

Kiki's Greek Tavern in Chinatown

Found such a great spot! Kiki's Greek Tavern in Chinatown. The Times wrote it up two weeks ago so I tried it out with my friends Kara and Alice. It's adorable! It's down a tiny street in deep Chinatown (off the East Broadway stop) and to fit in with the neighborhood, the awning says "Kiki's Tavern" in Chinese characters. The inside is sparse and charming and the waiters are so friendly and don't rush you at all. Most importantly, the food is fantastic. 

July 26 - Vegetable Garden Week 17

The garden is looking pretty sad. The deer have eaten almost everything. Even though we have about 13 tomato plants, we do not have any tomatoes - just stalks of where the flowers and baby tomatoes once were. So depressing! I think we're getting a deer fence so maybe next summer we'll have better luck. The above picture was our whole haul - a cucumber, some basil, and a handful of green beans. 

At least it was a beautiful weekend!

July 11 - Vegetable Garden Week 15

The garden has seen better days. The deer are out of control. They've been eating everything, and things they haven't eaten in the past like snap peas, tomatoes, and even hot pepper plants. 

Grilled Porgy

I bought some porgy at the union square market and grilled it up last week. It's cheap, easy, and very tasty. It was so fresh and the olive oil/lemon/herb mix is a perfect accompaniment. 

Ingredients:

1 small porgy, less than a pound

1 small spring onion, cut into quarters (using part of the green shoots)

olive oil

lemon juice

fresh oregano, chopped

fresh parsley, chopped

salt and pepper

juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

Grilled Green Beans and Garlic Scapes

I love garlic scapes in the early summer. The other night, I cut them into pieces about the size of green beans and grilled them with green beans and served them together. Yum! The garlic scapes are sweet and tender and the green beans are fresh and crunchy. Great mix!

Pretty Salad

Want a really quick way to make a simple salad really fancy and beautiful? Top it with nasturtiums. They're perfectly edible and taste a little bit like watercress. This is some fresh lettuce from the garden and I tossed it with dressing then put some nasturtiums on top. Easy and so pretty and colorful. 

Pork Tenderloin Sous Vide

Another sous vide recipe! I tried it with pork tenderloin. It's great! It's so easy to dry out pork and this was extremely juicy. I took the advice of this Gizmodo article and tried a pre-marinated tenderloin from Trader Joe's and just kept it in the pre-vacuum sealed packaging.

Sous Vide Steak

I bought a new toy! It's a sous vide machine. Instead of a giant machine, it's about the size of a pepper grinder (a big one) and clips to the side of the pot. It regulates the water temperature while you cook something in a vacuum sealed bag. It's great! It makes it so the whole piece of meat (or anything) cooks perfectly evenly and doesn't over cook. 

Summer Party Idea

I love having outdoor parties in the summer. A few weeks ago, we had a birthday party for my friend Bettina in the backyard in Southampton. With a few simple touches, it was super festive. We got 18" white balloons at a party store, ordered wine labels from Pinhole Press, put out tiki torches, and got a fire pit at a yard sale (and Kara brought some adorable hats, the cute white banner, and some sparklers). It was a great success, mostly because of the beautiful night, and all of the rose didn't hurt. I tied these tassels to the balloons to add a little flare. I highly recommend the big, white balloons - so festive!

Strawberry Balsamic Pie

I love pie season. Some people think it's in the fall or winter, but for me, summer pies are the best. I love a good lattice-topped berry pie (strawberry rhubarb is my reigning favorite). I've been wanting to try this recipe from Four and Twenty Blackbirds but kept forgetting about it during the short strawberry season. Not this year! I finally remembered, bought a bunch of strawberries from the market, and made this delicious pie. It's so good! Even the drippings that come off the pie onto the cookie sheet taste like wonderful, sophisticated fruit roll ups. Strawberries and balsamic go so well together, and the little tiny bit of pepper is not obvious but gives the mix a tiny kick. I used my new favorite cornmeal crust, but you can use regular crust, too (or store-bought if you want - I recommend Trader Joe's). 

Hashbrown Fondue

I have been looking for an excuse to make this recipe for years, ever since I saw it on Alex's Day Off 5+ years ago. Last weekend, a whole big group of us went to my friend's house in the Poconos, I finally had a group big enough, and I was assigned breakfast duty - perfect! They were so, so good. So decadent and perfect for a group. This is not light in the least, but with enough people you're not eating too much of it. The wine adds a really nice flavor, but if you don't have any around, you can swap in chicken broth with a little vinegar in it. I used a mix of potatoes, including purple, just because they had them at the market, but any regular potato with do. 

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp butter

2-3 large potatoes, cut into 1 1/2" cubes

Kosher salt and black pepper

1 bunch scallions, halved and thinly sliced

1/2 cup white wine

1 small wheel of Camembert or Brie with the rind cut off the bottom

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Once it starts to lightly smoke, add the butter and potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until they become tender and crispy. Add the scallions and the wine. 

Season again with salt and pepper and increase the heat. Cook for 5-8 more minutes so the potatoes are browning, adding more butter if needed. 

Put the cheese on top of everything in the middle of the skillet, open side down.

Pop the whole thing in the oven until the cheese melts, about 10 minutes. 

The potatoes should be tender when pierced with a knife. 

We had a nice al fresco breakfast with some delicious strawberries and blueberries. 

And, of course, some bacon and eggs. Also, our friends got ENGAGED later that day. Congratulations Lane and Burgee!!