beach blondies with corona and lime

Believe it or not, I actually made these Corona Blondies back in January for an Oscars party. I added lime zest and juice to the original recipe and called them Hawaiian Corona Blondies in honor of nominee The Descendants. It was a pretty tenuous link to the film, but Corona does like to market themselves as a beer to drink while lounging at the beach, so I figured it sort of fit together with the film's paradisaical setting. 

game day snacks

I am, in general, a pretty big sports fan. As a child, I may have asked my grandma to read me recipes instead of stories, but once I learned to read I also used to pour over the sports sections of Newsday every morning, obsessing over baseball standings.

So obviously, giant game-day feast, combining two of my earliest loves, hold a special place in my heart. Above, you can see my spread for Super Bowl Sunday, which Laura and Jess so kindly helped me to prepare. I basically made everything delicious and decidedly not healthy that I would want to eat at my ideal Super Bowl party, plus the markedly more elegant brie en croute. I don't know about you, but for me the menu would include guacamole, taco dip, penne alla vodka, swedish meatballs and spinach dip.

cast iron skillet salsa fresca "tomato cobbler" cornbread with ground beef, sour cream and guacamole

When I found this recipe for tomato cobbler, I was intrigued. It definitely was way different than everything else I had been making with my summer tomatoes, and that alone was enough to recommend it to me. Basically, its a simple skillet corn bread with a tomato salsa baked right in. Pretty neat sounding, right?

stone fruit salad with ginger, lime and mint

I don't think that I have anything else like this on the blog: peaches and nectarines with ginger lime syrup. How good does that sound?

I'm sorry that I didn't post this back when we all actually eat delicious summer peaches and nectarines. I have to work on updating this blog in a more timely fashion, but it's just so easy to fall behind. I'm sorry; I will try to be better.

sunset tomato salad (with mushroom risotto)

I didn't get a great picture of this tomato salad, which Nathan and I made a couple of months ago. I normally make tomato salads with balsamic vinaigrette, basil, garlic and parsley, but when we didn't have garlic in the house, Nathan picked this out of his Sunset cookbook, and it proved to be a great alternative.

Unsurprisingly, considering it comes from a California lifestyle magazine, this tomato salad has a distinct Mexican flair, with spicy polano pepper and zesty lime juice, but make no mistake, this is tomato salad, not salsa. It was fresh and delicious, if slightly spicier than I would have liked.

Also, it was an excellent accompaniment to our famous mushroom risotto.

creamed corn two ways/warm corn and tomato salad with sesame oil and soy sauce

It's still pretty warm here in New York. Yesterday it was like 65 degrees, and as I sat outside in a blazer at lunch and read my book, and I could almost imagine it being a cooler June day! But alas, it is November, and the holidays are rapidly approaching, and beautiful fresh summer corn is a distant memory....

But I am still going to talk about it. Three different recipes for it, no less.

citrus sriracha mayonaise over scallops and avocado salad

I am pretty sure that I have never said this before on this blog: drop what you are doing and make this right now. For reals. Your day off plans for Labor Day are now to make scallops with this awesome sauce. I promise that you'll thank me.

This sauce recipe comes from The Amateur Gourmet, but it's definitely something you can imagine emerging from a professional kitchen, and it's simultaneously really easy to prepare. This was hands down the most elegant thing I've ever made on a weeknight, and Nathan and I couldn't stop exclaiming how good it was.

Of course, it all because clear when you read further and learn that Mr. Amateur Gourmet actually jacked this recipe from none other than famous chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten after NYT restaurant critic Sam Sifton selected it as one of his favorite restaurant dishes of 2010. That certainly goes a long way towards explaining this recipe's brilliance-- and if that's not good enough for you, I don't know what else to say.




So I guess you want to know how to make the dish already, right? Well you better be down to make your own mayo*. Don't worry, your arm might get a little tired, but it's totally doable. I have faith in you. Whisk together a splash of sriracha, pinch of salt and egg yolk, adding your oil drop by drop until you get a nice thick mayo. Then you stir in orange and lime juice to thin it out and add some of that citrusy zing and acidity that pairs so nicely with seafood.

The original sauce was served over big, seared, sea scallops, but as much as I love them, they are a bit rich for my blood. I went for cheaper bay scallops, which had sadly been frozen. Obviously, I didn't achieve that nice golden brown carmelization that you so often see on scallops (I cooked them in butter over medium high heat), but I think that's just fine for these little guys. The sauce went SO SO well with these scallops. A little sweet, a little spicy, and a whole lot of creamy deliciousness. So perfect!

To go with our scallops, we had a bright green salad, tossed with our spicy citrus mayo and topped with slices of orange and avocado. It was an excellent accompaniment. You might find that you don't need a rich mayo based dressing on avocado, but the citrus cuts the richness, and the sriracha adds some bite. It really hit the spot.

So, what are you waiting for? Go make this now!

PS. In a pinch you could probably just add sriracha and citrus to regular Hellmans mayo. Don't tell Jean-George I said so.

sunset sticky ribs

Well guess what I have for you today? An actual recipe! Are you excited? Well you should be– ribs make me think of summer and with the weather in New York finally heating up, I am ready to turn on the grill! Of course, since I live in a small 5th floor walk up, I don't actually own a grill, which is why I love these sweet and sticky oven roasted ribs.

This recipe comes from The Sunset Cookbook, which was published last fall. Sunset Magazine is a Western lifestyle magazine that has been published since 1898, and they've always published lots and lots of recipes featuring fresh, local, seasonal ingredients. As an East coast girl, I didn't grow up reading Sunset, but it seems like it would be right up my alley. I mean, they are responsible for the first known published recipe for pesto way back in 1946! Clearly, this is a publication that I should get to know.

Of course, Nathan is from California, and it was his mom, Tenli, who first brought Sunset to my attention when they published their first ever cookbook last year. Tenli bought the book for Nathan, and it's chock full of tempting recipes for dishes that typify California cuisine. Plenty of Mexican and Asian influences, and all the wonderful vegetables and produce that you would expect from this type of cookbook.

In paging through, I am really impressed with all the recipes. They are simple and straightforward, without any fussy ingredients or techniques. These are meals with big, bold flavors that can be prepared without exotic ingredients, specialized equipment or undue stress. Sure, sometimes it's fun to challenge yourself in the kitchen, but these dishes manage to be exciting, delicious, but also utterly approachable.

I am really excited to cook more with Sunset, especially when my CSA starts back up. But seriously, with recipes like Fennel-crusted Trout with Lemon-Ginger Vinaigrette, Gin and Spice Flank Steak, Roasted Kohlrabi and Eggs with Mustard and Honey, Baby Pumpkins with Garlic Custard and Salt-Crusted Beets with Avocado, Lavender and Thyme, who wouldn't want to put this book to work in their kitchen?

So far, the only thing we've tried are these Sweet and Sticky Ribs, but if the other recipes are as good as this, I am sure we'll be getting a lot of use out this book. The ribs are first rubbed with chili powder, salt and cumin seeds. For extra flavor, you can toast the seeds in a frying pan to bring out their fragrance. After roasting the ribs, you top them with a glaze of honey and lime juice. The lime, chili powder, honey and cumin flavors all go really well together, making a nice mix of sweet and spice and acidity. If you like cumin, this is definitely something you will enjoy.



Sticky Ribs
adapted from The Sunset Cookbook, p. 421

Brush a sweet, tangy glaze over ribs coated with a a mix of spices, then roast instead of grill to get crispness and good flavor without the risk of burning. The original recipe called for 8 lbs. of meat, so it can certainly be scaled back up to feed a crowd.

Serves 2 to 3 | Time: 1¼ hours

1 rack pork loin back (baby back) ribs or ½ rack pork spareribs (about 2 lbs. total)
¾ tbsp each chili powder and kosher salt
½ tbsp cumin speeds
¼ cup honey
1½ tbsp fresh lime juice
olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 425˚. Trim fat from ribs.
2. In small bowl, mix chili powder, salt and cumin seeds to make the spice rub. In another small bowl, mix honey and lime juice for the glaze.
3. Rub spice mixture over both sides of ribs.
4. Line a baking pan with foil. Set a flat rack in it and lightly coat with olive oil. Set ribs, meaty side up, on rack and roast until lightly browned on top, 20 to 30 minutes. Turn slabs over and switch pan positions. Roast until other side is browned, 20 to 30 minutes longer.
5. Brush generously with glaze. Continue to roast, basting occasionally, until glaze is browned and bubbly, 6 to 12 minutes. Turn ribs over and brush generously with more glaze. Roast, basting occasionally, until glaze is browned and meat between ribs is no longer pink in center (cut to test), 6 to 12 minutes longer.
6. Transfer ribs to a board. Let rest 5 minutes. Cut between ribs.

cilantro lime coleslaw

coleslaw with a kick

This was my first foray into the world of slaws, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. This mammoth bowl of coleslaw is only half of what I made. A head of cabbage goes a long, long way!


a brightly colored slaw

I decided to make this coleslaw because there was a big old head of red cabbage languishing away in the back of the fridge. Back when Nathan and I made our second bagna cauda pasta dish, I had been in charge of the grocery shopping. I was tired after a long day of work, so when I went to my local Key Food I half hoped/half believed that the red cabbage they had on display in the produce section was actually radicchio. When Nathan arrived he quickly set me straight, and was so kind as to head back out to try his luck at Fine Fare. We both feared the mission would prove fruitless, but he inexplicably found two lonely radicchio heads, sitting in the produce case as if they were waiting specially for us. Indeed, the cashier had no idea what they were, nor how to ring them up, and the manager was equally flummoxed. After much discussion, it was determined that they must be runty red cabbages, so they ended up costing about fifty cents collectively.

That worked out great for the bagna cauda dish, but it also meant that I wound up with a totally superfluous head of red cabbage. Fast forward to my first food co-op pick up a few weeks later, and I've got a fridge full of veggies and a barbecue to attend at my dear friend Christine Jones nee Flood's house. I know I want to bring something to eat, and when I remember I have the cabbage, coleslaw is the obvious choice. I also still have winter food co-op carrots that aren't getting any younger, so I'm thinking this is perfect.


coleslaw close-up

When it comes to finding a recipe, I turn immediately to the smitten kitchen, where Deb has a well established love for slaws. This basic Ina Garten recipe seemed like it would work well enough, but then I dug a little further and discovered this cilantro-laden variant. Since I had gotten a bunch of cilantro from the co-op, I decided to go in that direction.

I chopped up a full head of red cabbage, about half of a small red onion, and then I peeled and thinly sliced 7 or 8 little carrots. This took forever and a day, but I like to think my newly acquired knife skills would now speed up this process considerably. I also decided to add some garlic scapes, which I sliced into little rounds. Then I chopped up some of the cilantro. After all the slicing and dicing was completed, I packed all my chopped veggies into the biggest tupperware I had, which was fit to burst.

I brought this home to Long Island and dressed it the next day, about a half an hour before the party. I was in a bit of a rush, so I ignored the recipe's measurement and just mixed together some mayo, salt, pepper, sugar, lime juice, cayenne pepper and dijon mustard. This only lightly coated my slaw, which was actually what I was aiming for. At this point I realized that I had enough coleslaw to feed a small army, and that only about half of it was going to fit into the largest salad bowl my parents had. Needless to say, I had a lot of leftovers. This slaw is great, but it gets soggier and more liquidy as the days go by, so unless you're having a party of 20 people, stick to half a head of cabbage. That being said, cilantro and lime are a kick ass way to jazz up a typical slaw. It was a great take on a traditional summer dish, and I would certainly make this again.

The whole barbecue was awesome, although I'm sure any Southerner worth his salt would have had a few choice words with us for calling it that. Mrs. Flood served up a typically impressive spread, including amazing brats. Meaghan made some delicious orzo salad with chickpeas, grape tomatoes and basil which would have totally housed Jimmy Bradley's lentil version. It was a delicious dinner, and not bad to look at either— and neither were the lovely guests! It's always a blast to get back together with my high school friends, and I only wish it could happen more often.


it may not be real barbecue, but it still looks like summer to me!

mojito

Mojitos are my favorite drink ever. I do not remember where or when I had my first one, but I do know that I fell in love with mojitos in Madrid, when Marianne, Becky, Laura and I all ordered them at some random bar we wandered into off the street. I usually drink wine or beer, but that night I wanted something a little different, and something about a mojito just seemed so continental and sophisticated. Not to mention that a well made mojito is just so perfect! It's sweet without being syrupy, and I love the squirt of acidic lime juice. Of course, there's also the mint leaves, which make the drink what it is— amazing.

Since that time, I've discovered that mojitos aren't all that easy to find outside of Cuban or Spanish establishments, and that their quality can really vary. (The best ones I've had were the blackberry mojito they used to serve at the otherwise unimpressive Sweet Emily's, and the super affordable $6 one at Esperanto). Nothing is more disappointing than a bad mojito, and there's so many things that can go wrong. It's all about balance: too much sugar, or not enough, or an excess of lime juice or rum can totally destroy a mojito. Because they're hard to find and so often butchered, I've always wanted to make my own.

When Nathan and I bought a huge bunch of mint for our first Master Meal several weeks ago, I jumped at the opportunity to try my hand at my favorite drink. Nathan promised to pick up the seltzer, so I only needed to grab the traditional white rum and limes. I ran to the liquor store at 6:00 on a Sunday, and was thrilled to find they were still open. I walked one block north, and found that the supermarket had just closed for the night, and there was not a lime in sight. You know its a great neighborhood when they'll sell you liquor but not bread on a Sunday evening. Every bodega I entered seemed to sell lemons, but nary a one had limes. Despairing, I headed back to Nathan's, where I had one final burst of inspiration. Hoping against hope, I tried the Harlem BBQ in Nathan's building, going up to the bar with my sob story, clutching my bottle of rum and begging for a lime or two. The female employee was sullen and skeptical, but one of the guys got me a little plastic cup and tossed in a handful or two of lime wedges. Success! I was ready to begin.

Now, I've had some tragically bad mojitos in my day, so I was anxious not to repeat the mistakes that have left me so devastated in the past, (I'm not joking: good mojitos are transcendent, and knowing how good they can be, I want to cry when they fall far short of my lofty expectations). In order to prevent a mojito disaster, I read a couple recipes, and was confident that with a little trial and error, I could properly recreate my favorite drink.

This first thing to do is to make a simple syrup from equal parts sugar and water, heated in a small sauce pan until the sugar dissolves. This takes like 30 seconds of stirring, but you can use regular sugar if you think it's easier. Then you'll have crunchy grains of sugar in your drink, but I actually kind of like that. Anyway. Pour a small amount of simple syrup into your glass and add a bunch of mint leaves. Use a muddler to bruise the mint leaves, releasing the mint oils. We have muddlers we got for free at a Yelp event, but the back of a spoon would work too. Don't be too rough or vigorous, or the mint will turn bitter. Next, squeeze in a wedge or two of lime, and fill the glass two thirds of the way with crushed ice. I tried the first time with big ice cubes, but crushed ice has more surface area and keeps your drink colder. Finally, top off your glass with club soda or seltzer, (or champagne or prosecco to be really fancy), and stir. You can also add an extra sprig of mint for garnish, gently rubbing it between your hands to release the minty scent and flavor.

What I discovered is that while finding a good balance between the rum, sugar and lime is not rocket science, it was difficult to replicate the same perfect blend when making multiple drinks. I used to have two shot glasses, but I threw out the hot pink plastic "girls night out" one when I moved, and the glass one I got at a Yelp event broke in transit. Nathan doesn't have shot glasses either, so I had to eyeball it. Of the three I made that first night, the first was too strong, (I gave that one to Nathan), the second was perfect (and I selfishly drank it myself), and the third was too sweet (and I valiantly struggled through it). I still had plenty of mint leftover, so I made them again the next night with Grace and Laura. This time I made a small pitcher's worth, so everybody's was equally balanced and delicious. Love!

I'll leave you with this fun list of mojito dos and don'ts, (who knew a drink could have so many rules?) and this rather sad photo of the mojito I made. Indoor lighting is a bitch.


it was tastier than it was pretty!

buttermilk carrot pancakes/cilantro ginger and lime marinaded chicken, and orrechiette with bacon, wilted radicchio and cabbage/pork fried rice

These three dinners are quick things I've whipped up in the last few weeks based on what I've had lying around in the fridge. The pancakes were only alright, but the other two meals were definitely winners.


carrot buttermilk pancakes with sour cream

These I made to try and use up some of the extra buttermilk I had after I made Irish Soda Bread. I was in a rush to get out the door, so I was just trying to do something simple and easy. Pancakes are the obvious use for buttermilk, but I wanted to make them a little more substantial for dinner, so I decided to grate in two carrots from the co-op to make them into a sort of latke. I also added two eggs, a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil, and enough flour to make it into a spoonable batter. Fried in butter and served with a hefty dollop of sour cream, these were palatable enough, but I'm sure I could make better pancakes if I gave it another shot.


cilantro ginger and lime marinaded chicken, pasta with cabbage, radicchio and bacon

This was my favorite of the three meals. Laura had cooked some chicken earlier in the week, but there was still one breast in the fridge, begging to be cooked rather than be left to spoil. I had a bunch of cilantro and some limes left over from making spinach dip for my birthday party, and we still have a huge ginger root in the fridge that we are only slowly chipping away at. A little fresh ginger goes a long way. I had an inkling that I could combine the three ingredients with some white wine, sesame oil, garlic, salt and pepper for a decent marinade, as it was similar to a preparation my mom uses. A quick peek in my Flavor Bible confirmed my suspicions. I let the chicken marinade for about 45 minutes, and then I just cooked it in the cast iron skillet. SUCH a good flavor combination. I only wish that I had had more than one measly chicken breast.

Meanwhile, I also had half a head of cabbage leftover, and small amount of radicchio from that bloggers' favorite pasta dish. I thinly diced three or four slices of hearty bacon, and fried that up til nice and crispy. I removed that from the pan and cooked half of my remaining cabbage, a fist-sized head of radicchio and some sliced garlic with salt and pepper in the drippings. I added some balsamic after it was starting to get soft, which reduced nicely. I also cooked some orecchiette, and just tossed that with the bacon, cabbage and radicchio. I think I added a little butter to make sure the pasta was all coated, and to make the dish even less healthy. I probably could have sprinkled on some romano cheese, but it didn't occur to me at the time and it was still pretty delicious. Oreccheiette is a pretty hefty pasta, so it stood up well to the hearty mix-ins. Even though I completely winged this and it seems like a strange dish, I would definitely make this again. More specifically, I would highly recommend cooking radicchio with balsamic, as it loses all its bitterness and becomes so sweet and delicious.

The pork fried rice I did not photograph, but it was very similar in spirit to the Mark Bittman recipe that I featured on the blog last month. Once again, I minced up garlic and ginger and fried them in vegetable oil. I used the sesame seeds once again, but I dry toasted them in the pan, in the hopes they'd be crunchier. I think this worked better than frying them with the ginger and garlic. Next I defrosted an old pork chop and and diced it up, sauteing it with scallions, salt and pepper. Then I scrambled an egg and chopped it up. Finally, I took some old rice from the fridge and cooked that until it dried up and got sticky. I still didn't have soy sauce or sesame oil, but I went out and bought some the next day, and they made a world of difference on the leftovers. Fried rice is a great, versatile dish, and I look forward to experimenting with it more in the future.