Eat Bang Us

Summer summer summertime! Yes, it's almost over, but shhhhh! don't tell the farmers' markets that! Maybe it's just the weather here, but white corn, cherry tomatoes, and sweet and hot peppers are just littering the stalls every Wednesday morning. I'm not a big bell pepper person and I'm not wont to munch on jalapeños, but for some reason shisito and pardon peppers hit the spot for me. They're sweet but still vegetal, and every now and then they have a kick. And who doesn't love a little bit of danger with a bar snack?

That's essentially what this dish is: bar food. Spicy and salty, it's begging to be washed down with something. And since it only takes about 10 minutes to make, everyone will be happily snacking in no time. Plus, they look gorgeous, don't they? The ombre reds and greens with the black grill marks are so vibrant and striking, no one will be able to resist at least a curious bite. Enjoy!










1 lb padron and/or shisito peppers
2 tablespoons sesame oil
Skewers

Chili Mint Salt (combine everything)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon mint, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Heat grill to high. Skewer the peppers (this makes them super easy to flip on the grill) and drizzle with sesame oil. Grill for about 2-3 minutes per side, or until grill marks form. Take off the grill, and while they're still warm sprinkle with chili salt mixture. Pluck off the skewers and devour, preferably with a nice pale ale.

Some exciting news: I'm working on my first cookbook! (With the amazing team at Emily Bestler Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster)

And if you've been following my instagram, you've probably been inundated with photos of roasted vegetables with salsa verde, blueberry pancakes piled high, and at least one photo of a cute dog a day. The reason? I was holed up in a Brooklyn apartment for a month, testing the first 70 recipes of hopefully 200.  My thought process was, if I can cook it in a small apartment kitchen with just some kitchen essentials, so can anyone. Now I'm back home finishing up the rest of the manuscript, but I thought it would be fun to put together a little photo album of some of my favorite recipes and memories from my month away from home.  I'll keep you posted on how the cookbook is coming together, and might even share a sneak peak of some of the recipes!

For the recipes at the top, clockwise: Smoked salmon board; Roasted vegetables Three ways with chimichurri, salsa verde, and Moroccan spices; Braised chickpeas, kale, and lamb meatballs over cous cous; Mozzarella all year.



Going counter clockwise: Chili Shrimp over black rice; Trio of salsas: Smokey Chipotle, Classic Dried Chili and Tomato, and Pineapple Jalapeño; Crostini all year: Shrimp with smashed pea pesto, Roasted Cherry tomato and roasted garlic, Goat cheese with prosciutto, nectarines and arugula, Bosc Pear with ricotta, honey, and thyme, and Sauteed spinach with parm.



Some of my favorites! Clockwise: Pimenton breakfast potatoes and Cheddar chive grits with a poached egg; Callie's rice bowl; Baked eggs three ways, Epic Blueberry Pancakes.





I'm a bit pre-production obsessed, so picking out the perfect cutting boards and setting up my super professional "studio" between my bed and window were some of my favorite moments. Having to sacrifice  a few pairs of shoes in favor of mixing bowl on the other hand, not so much.



Even though I spent most of my mornings in my kitchen, I would escape every now and then for a NOLA iced coffee at Blue Bottle or an afternoon with a friend.  Whitney, from Brunellos Have More Fun explained the wonders of orange wine to me, and I don't know what I would've done without Callie's help in the kitchen.





Cooking might be my job, but eating is my hobby, and dear Lord, the eating! Freshly shaved ice with plum syrup from People's Pops at Smorgasburg, the tres leches doughnut at Doughnut Plant, and the out of control polenta board from Sauce in the Lowe East Side were some highlights.



My instagram feed is probably 60% food, 5% randomness, and 35% other people's pets. I'm a huge animal lover and am counting the days until I can call one my own. But until then, I'll just live vicariously through these photos.  A special shout out goes to Cindy, the lovely one-eyed cat who's the snuggliest beast roaming Brooklyn. What a little love bug!



Waking up every morning to a weather report of 95 F and thunderstorms isn't the dream summer experience, but 9 times out of 10 the clouds separated into cartoon-like confections or gave way into glorious sunsets would even be the envy of JMW Turner. My favorite moment was watching the rooftop performance of the Brooklyn Peaches, an infinitely charming synchronized swimming team, as the leaped into the water at sunset.


I'm lucky enough to visit New York a few times a year, so it's a great opportunity to revisit favorite spots or to discover new ones.  Wandering through the Natural History Museum with my brother and watching Top Gun at McCarren Park were some firsts for me, but my favorite spot in New York was, and remains, Bonnie Slotnick's Cookbooks.  It's come up a few times that I collect vintage cookbooks, so in true nerd form I found myself gravitating to this little slice of bibliophile perfection. Bonnie is a lady after my own heart, and shares my same uber-specific passion: American regional cuisine from the 1930s and 40s and etiquette books from the 1920s and 30s. Yup. Big nerds. And it's awesome. She knows practically everything about every cookbook ever written, and her shop is filled with neighborhood well wishers and curious by-passers. Oh, and Max.  Max is the toy poodle enjoying a little fan-action on a hot day in the bottom left corner. So yes, definitely my favorite spot in the city.

It was an amazing month filled with great moments. I have to give a shout out to some of my New York friends who made it so special: Jackie Wasilczyk, Kristin Appenbrink, Emily Cavalier, Jenn Camp, Drew Villani, the ladies at Simpatico and so many more. Thanks Guys! xoxo

I need to get better at naming recipes.  Usually, I just list the ingredients in a tasty sounding matter, but for this recipe...there's too much tasty! Obviously I have to mention the blueberries, but what about the brown sugar, giving it a deeper, almost maple-y flavor? I should also bring up the sour cream, adding a tangy richness.  What about the cinnamon streusel? Nah, you'll find out about that soon enough.

This recipe is a play on my mom's sour cream coffee cake, also known as the BEST CAKE EVER.  My brother had it as his 18th birthday cake.  It's moist, a little tart, and laden with cinnamon and pecans.  I thought, why not merge this awesomeness with my other favorite baked good, blueberry muffins.

So I give you: Brown Sugar Sour Cream Blueberry Coffee Cake...with cinnamon streusel!






Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
8 oz unsalted butter (two sticks)
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 cups Sour Cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 half pints blueberries

For Cinnamon Streusel:
1/2 cup flour
2 oz butter, cold and cubed
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together (it should be a creamy, consistent texture and blonde looking). Add the eggs, one at a time until fully incorporated. Sift together the dry ingredients and add a quarter at a time, alternately adding the sour cream. Lastly, add the vanilla. Pour into a greased sheet cake pan.

To make the cinnamon streusel, cut together the butter, flour, cinnamon, sugar, and salt until the butter is the size of small peas.

Sprinkle the batter blueberries, and then the streusel on top. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow it to cool completely, then slice and serve. Enjoy1

There are a lot of different ways to come up with a recipe.  You can try to replicate one you try at a restaurant, or give a group of ingredients you love a difference spin (For instance, I dare you to find a scenario where Caprese doesn't work: pasta, sandwiches, alone, it's always awesome), or sometimes you treat it like a math equation. If x and y are both delicious, then z will be awesome (given that x + y = z).  I mean, I wouldn't try it with roast chicken and chocolate cake, but with roasted pineapple, jalapeno, and citrus, yeah, the math comes out alright.


It's about understanding balance and what "goes."  Sort of like how Jonathan Adler can merge 70s tackiness with Palm Springs and it looks amazing, or JCrew mixing plaids.  Sweet with acid and spice always works.  It's always exciting, and I'm yet to meet someone who doesn't like that combination. Slam dunk, every time.


This is one of those situations.  It could've just as easily been mango lime with thai chili, or pear lemon and ginger, so if you're feeling creative, go for it! Come up with your own "perfect" combination.  Enjoy! 















For 1 quart (4 cups)

The inspiration for this light and refreshing dessert was my sister's planned hairstyle for Coachella. Pink roots! What's delicious in the desert? Ice cold dessert. How to I mimic pink roots on a blondie? Strawberry syrup of course!


Raspado, if you're not familiar, is just shaved ice with syrup on it. So simple, and yet something that had never occurred to me to make. Now that I've been bitten by the bug, I can't stop. Shaved iced tea with lemon infused syrup? It's a frozen arnold palmer. Shaved pineapple juice with jalapeno mango syrup? A spicy yet refreshing treat. I am going to be all over this recipe once I get to enjoy a sunny day.














1 pint strawberries, quartered
2 tablespoons basil, torn (about 4 large leaves)
1/2 cup sugar
1 pint coconut water (from a box is fine)

Pour coconut water into ice cube tray and freeze.

Cut strawberries into quarters. Combine in a pot with sugar, basil and 3/4 cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat, turn heat to low and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, until tender. Strain and discard solids, and refrigerate syrup until completely chilled, at least 2 hours.


Pop the coconut water cubes into the blender and crush until fine.  Scoop into a cup or bowl and drizzle with syrup.  Enjoy!

I am my father's daughter. Ever the bibliophile, this is a man who owns the entire 1911 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica because "It's the best ever, hands down. You can curl up with it in bed!"; has never found an 19th century book on ship-building he didn't like; and owns books about...making books. I can't tease him too hard though, his tomato is my to-mah-to. 1930s etiquette is my 19th century shipbuilding. His Encyclopedia Britanica is my MFK Fisher. He collects flags and military patches, I collect Depression glass and pre-war ceramics. We're weird, but it works.


I love vintage cookbooks because they're as close to a culinary time machine as I'll ever get. The attitudes, the aesthetic, the ingredients, they all paint a specific picture of what goes onto a plate. And I actually cook from them too. Some of the recipes have been divine (baked gnocchi with thyme beschamel anyone?) and others...not (cornmeal hush puppies cooked in bacon fat sound awesome in theory, but not if "Cookbook of the Stars" has anything to do with it), but either way I love attacking them, playing some era appropriate music, and tucking in to a plate of vintage fare.


Today's recipe is actually a take on Welsh Rarebit (which I keep reading as Welsh Rabbit), which apparently my Grandma used to enjoy when she was a happening single lady in the late thirties. I found a recipe for it in a 1935 etiquette book for the "live aloner" (so much better sounding than "single," amirite ladies?) and it was listed as a great last minute party snack or part of a simple dinner. As I read the ingredients, it occurred to me that it was fondue, just switch out the gruyere for American cheese and white wine for beer. I'm not a huge American cheese fan, so I thought cheddar would bring a bit of edge to the whole thing. Paired with a malty, hoppy beer, this is the ultimate guy snack.


It takes about 10 minutes to put together and you can keep it warm in the oven if you don't want to dig in right away. So whether you're a live-aloner looking for a quick meal, or a happening lady making snacks for her guy friends, this recipe is totally aces.
















1 tablespoon butter
8 oz grated cheddar, melted
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
1 large pinch cayenne (1/4 tsp if you like is very spicy)
salt and pepper
1/4 cup pale ale
chives
baguette, cut into 1 inch thick slices


Preheat oven to broil.
Melt butter and add the cheese. Add the spices and a pinch of salt and pepper. As the cheese melts, gradually add the pale ale, stirring to combine. Place the sliced baguette on a baking sheet. Spoon on the cheese, coating the toast in the middle and broil on bubbly and browned. Top with chives. Enjoy!

Consider this the anti-classic sweet potato side dish. Yes, it's filled with that squash-y yammy sweetness, but without the marshmallow intensity you'll find with most side dishes. Subtly spiced and all about the vegetables, this kabocha squash, yam, and celery root soup, with hints of smoked paprika, cumin, and coriander, is the perfect Thanksgiving appetizer. Enjoy!




1/4 cup olive oil, plus two tablespoons
2 onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons coriander seeds, crushed
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, crushed
1/2 teaspoon chile powder

For Meringue
(1 large or 6 small)
4 large egg whites
1 cup superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
Pinch salt

For Filling



Preheat oven to 275F. Sift the sugar, cream of tartar, and cornstarch. On low mix the whites and salt for 1-2 minutes or until frothy. Go up to medium high, gently adding in the dry ingredients in a stream. Once the meringue is glossy and forming soft peaks (anywhere from 4-10 minutes, depending on your mixer), finish on high speed and add the vanilla. Meanwhile, on a piece of parchment paper, draw your heart shape as a template.  You don't have to do this, but it definitely helped me. Spoon the meringue onto the shape, and spread so it forms a 1/4-1/2 thick layer (thicker for larger pavlovas) and then add more meringue around the edge, forming a border of little peaks. It should be anywhere from 1-3 inches high, depending on how large your pavlova is.

Pop in the oven and turn down the temperature to 250F.  Bake for 30-40 minutes for small pavlovas and 1 hour for a large pavlova.  It should be a slight beigey-pink and definitely NOT toasted. Turn off the heat and crack the oven open.  Let the pavlovas cook to room temperature and remove (this is to prevent cracks and to cook it totally through).  You want it crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

For filling, whip the cream, sugar, vanilla, and rosewater until soft peaks form.  Fold in the raspberries (do more if you like a lot of raspberries).  Mound the whip cream in the middle of the meringue and top with fresh raspberries and pistachios.

NOTE: Do this just before serving since the whipping cream will dissolve the meringue over time.

For a quick raspberry sauce, combine the raspberries and sugar over low heat (add a spoonful of water to get things started) until saucy (about 5-10 minutes).  Let it cool a bit and drizzle over the pavlovas.

Let me repeat this just in case you didn't get the picture: Chocolate with brown butter, made into bread pudding. Total deliciousness. What I love about brown butter, which is just butter melted until the milk solids turn golden brown, is that you get a very special flavor with very little effort.  In French cookery it's referred to as Beurre noisette, literally "hazelnut butter," which speaks to the aroma, taste, and depth one little step adds.  Sweet, simple butter is transformed into a rich, nutty ambrosia, delicious in sweet and savory dishes alike.  I love the interest it brings to chocolate, so for my first attempt at bread pudding I thought "why not?" and I'm so glad I did.


When it comes to chocolate, embellishments can be wonderful but if it's a richer dish I sometimes like to keep it simple.  Chocolate is one of those stand alone ingredients, like a steak, where when it's good, it's really really good.  You're just there to make sure it's seasoned properly, otherwise, it does its own thing.


For this bread pudding I used brown butter and brown sugar to bring out the depth of the chocolate and highlight the maple/coffee notes that sometimes come through.  Served with a dollop of whipped sour cream, this dessert is decadent, but perfectly balanced, and even better the day after.  Enjoy!

Christmas Eve dinner sort of popped up out of nowhere this year. We usually have a little more of a to-do, but by the time the 26th rolled around my mom and I could build a bridge we were so over it. So what's an easy, relatively "make ahead" dish that could feed everyone and leave left overs for days? A massive "kitchen sink" style pasta.

I say "kitchen sink" because I put the entire contents of the fridge in this pasta. Chopped butternut squash? Sure! Leeks? Why not? Kale? OK! It's kind of ridiculous. But the lovely thing about this pasta is that it all works together. Winter vegetables are just meant to be roasted and combined: fennel caramelizes like candy, and we all know about butternut squash. Kale adds a bit of crisp texture and sunchokes bring some earthiness to the party. In the spring asparagus and pea tendrils could make an appearance and in the summer fresh corn and artichoke hearts with a basil pesto would be delicious. The idea is to just put them all together, and let them do their thing.

You also might have noticed that the pesto isn't...pesto-y. It's not even green! This is because it's about the walnuts. Combined with the garlic, nutmeg, and milk, this sauce takes on an alfredo quality but without the heft. It's just really awesome. Enjoy!

Note: This is the PERFECT dish for vegetable leftovers because the walnut pesto goes with practically everything. So add and combine away!







Walnut Pesto
yields 1 1/2 cups pesto, or more if thinned out
1 1/2 raw walnuts
3/4 cups cubed bread
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
1/2 cup milk, or however much you need to cover the bread
1/4 cup Parmiggiano, freshly grated

Soak the bread in enough milk to cover the cubes, and soak the walnuts in enough hot water to cover them for 15 minutes. The bread should be soft and the walnuts should have turned the water a brownish hue. In a food processor, add the walnuts, drained with the liquid reserved, the bread and milk, and the other ingredients. Pulse to combine. Add a 1/4 cup of the walnut water and pulse until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper. If you want a thinner, sauce-ier pesto, add more of the walnut liquid.

For the Pasta

For 4
2 cups butternut squash, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cups sunchoke (aka Jerusalem Artichokes), chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 bunch kale, vein removed and roughly chopped
1 leek, cleaned and chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch of chili flake
1 tablespoon lemon juice
olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 lb pasta, such as penne
3/4 cup walnut pesto, more if you like more
Toasted breadcrumbs, optional

Preheat oven to 425 F

On a baking sheet, drizzle the butternut squash, sunchoke, and fennel with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the fennel for about 15 minutes, or until the edges turn brown, and remove from oven. Continue to roast the sunchoke and butternut squash for another 20 minutes, flipping once. You want them to be really caramelized so if they need to get a little browner, leave them in for another 5 minutes.

In a large sauté pan over medium heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil and then the leeks. Season the leeks with salt and pepper, and after 5 minutes add the garlic. Cook for another 5 minutes until wilted and browning and add the kale. Stir in the kale so that it's coated, add more olive oil if necessary. Add the chili flake and lemon juice and cook until the kale is just wilted.

Meanwhile, heat up a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta. In a small saucepan heat up the walnut pesto over medium low heat.

Once the pasta is cooked, add it to the sauté pan with the kale, add the roasted vegetables, and add the walnut pesto. Stir to combine and coat. Garnish with a sprinkle of breadcrumbs and a drizzle of olive oil. Enjoy!