let them eat cake! food & class

Why wasn’t Dirty Sugar Cookies lauded all around on all the foodie this that and other sites I come across? Hail Halliday, down with snobbery. Her irreverent stroll (I’m sure she’s sick of being called irreverent) through midwestern picky-eater youth to NYC omnivore will send the germ-phobic unsettled and the Martha Stewarts a-eye-rolling. She’s a Hip Mama, Bust and Bitch contributor but you never feel chastised or anti-feminist for wanting an easy-bake oven. Food lust trumps politics in one vignette after another, except perhaps for her waxing and waning vegetarianism. Highly reccomended and each chapter ends in an as cleverly written recipe.

Along these lines, a playful slap on the wrist from the Guardian: “You delight in dining off-menu. Your knives are worth more than your car. Self-confessed gastronome Tim Hayward on 10 tell-tale signs that you love food a little too much.” Click here for the full article.

 

stop cooking! eat salads

When the temperature goes up, it helps to keep the flames to a minimum. My little window a/c is no match for the stove. So my interest was peaked when I came across this lovely new book on entrée salads. Salads are also great because you can substitute and experiment without much fear, especially convenient if you’re missing one or two ingredients.

Some recipes include:

• Watermelon, Feta, and Basil Salad with Pumpkin Seeds on Shrimp Crackers
• Crayfish, Avocado, Grapefruit, and Ginger Salad
• Poached Chicken, Hazelnut, Watercress, and Pea Salad
• Thai-Style Beef Salad with Cilantro, Mint, Lime, and Peanuts
• Broiled Banana and Mango Salad with Vanilla-Poached Peach

Click here for a printer friendly version of Tuna, Quinoa, Wild Arugula, Olive, and Blackened Tomato Salad with Chopped Egg and Parsley Dressing

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coast to coast: a handful for the road

If you’ll be anywhere near Traverse City, MI this July 1-8 you should find yourself at the National Cherry Festival and dripping with ruby deliciousness.

Over at Mighty Foods, a celebration of cherry season:

• Rice Pudding Cake with Cherry-Apricot Compote
• Fresh Cherry Preserves
• Fresh Summer Cherry Sauce
• Cherry Pie with Chocolate Lining and Almond Streusel

Out west, the LA Times has some fresh ideas about leafless salads.

On the road again, with Jane & Michael Stern. I will have these books at my side for the next week as I roadtrip from San Diego to Austin!

If you can’t make it down south, Cook’s Illustrated rates bottled BBQ sauce.

Over at D magazine, the D is for Dallas, the hunt for the perfect burger is the cover of their May issue. Declaring all chains ineligible, they focused only on local talent. Triumphing over 39 contenders, Wingfield’s Breakfast & Burgers (above) was declared champion. 2615 S. Beckley Ave., (214) 943-5214

Happy summer!

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thought for food: TIME’s Eating Smart Special

natural The June 12 issue of TIME magazine has hit cyberspace already. This is some essential reading for those of us juggling the constant flood of information on how America does food.

The foremost expert on the subject, Marion Nestle, weighs in with Decoding the Grocery Store, her newest book What to Eat is a 600-page investigation of exactly that. She answers such simple mysteries such as Why don’t more Americans eat more fruits and vegetables?

They don’t always taste good, and people don’t know what to do with them. Look, there are seven kinds of apples here, but there’s no one to give you a sliver so you know which one you’ll like. Also fruits and vegetables are perceived as expensive. But a USDA report found you could eat five servings a day for under a dollar. I didn’t believe it until I tried it.

Other highlights: The Grass-Fed Revolution, How Sweet It Isn’t, The Menu Magician, The Lure of the 100-Mile Diet, and Get To Know Giada

In other news, Michael Pollan looks at the mixed blessing of Wal-Mart’s shift to organic in the New York Times Magazine

Technorati tags: food, nutrition

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wednesday links: for the sake of tradition & kicks

Brush up on proper sushi etiquette, for example It is OK to eat nigiri-zushi (sushi) with your hands. Sashimi is only to be eaten with your chopsticks.

On the cover of “500 Tasty Snacks — Ideas for Entertaining” (1949) is my very favorite food photo: A circle of beige appetizers and canapes on a platter. In the center, toothpicks speared with olives, pearl onions and cheese cubes have been stuck into what looks like a mutant purple brain from a science-fiction B movie. Maybe it’s purple cabbage?, one co-worker suggested. Eggplant? Tinted cream cheese? I couldn’t find a recipe in the book, but every time I look at it, I expect the mound to hop off the cover and chase teenagers down to the local movie theater, where they will meet an untimely death after putting up a terrific fight for survival of the human race.

That’s Suzanne Boyle, a writer at the Belleville News-Democrat in her whimsical look back at vintage cookbooks, including recipes for such delicacies as Peachy Bacon Skillet (1966) and Coconut Prune Whip (1953). Pick up your own long-lost cookbooks at OldCookbooks.com.

Last but not least, excite yourself with Flickr’s Food Porn Photo Pool.

Technorati tags: cookbooks, food

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thursday: food & wine

Barbara Kingsolver learns that making a pound of mozzarella at home is even faster than baking a cobbler, but speed is not the only reason to try it. Click here for the full article in F&W.

This month Food & Wine launches its annual Best of the Best cookbook, a collection of the best recipes from the year’s best cookbooks. Here, a sampling of never-before-published recipes from each author.

 

this week’s bumper crop of chow lit

Lars Klove for The New York Times

The NYT’s Adventure Cooking and Xtreme Eating roundup includes, among others:

EAT THIS BOOK Ryan Nerz, St. Martin’s Griffin, 308 pages; paperback, $14.95.
HORSEMEN OF THE ESOPHAGUS Jason Fagone, Crown Publishers, 302 pages; $24. THE NASTY BITS Anthony Bourdain, Bloomsbury, 288 pages; $24.95. TWO FOR THE ROAD Jane and Michael Stern, Houghton Mifflin, 292 pages; $24.

Also out this week:
The Golden Pear Cafe Coookbook • Saucepans and the Single Girl • Heat : An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany

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friday eye candy

Edible photography at La Tartine Gourmande as well as a simple sorbet recipe

A letterpress vegan cookbook at Etsy

 

thursday cookbooking: Cooking as a Family

The Family Kitchen by Debra Ponzek (Clarkson Potter)
I’m sure every mom dreams of making one dinner that the whole family will enjoy. Debra Ponzek thinks she’s got it figured out. Ponzek is the chef and owner of the Connecticut specialty food chain Aux Délices and former executive chef of Montrachet in New York City. She is also the mother of three. The Family Kitchen does not cry out kid pleasers, all of the recipes — from Pan-Seared Pork Chops with Green Apple–Cranberry Compote to Double Hot Chocolate with Homemade Marshmallows — are sophisticated enough for an adult-only evening. She also includes Call The Kids boxes on each recipe page to suggest steps that the little ones can do to help and make dinner prep more fun for all.

Out later this month:

Sneaky Veggies by Chris Fisk (Sterling)

Everyone knows kids resist eating their veggies—but with these delicious recipes, six-year-olds will clamor for carrots and cauliflower. The secret? Dishes that feature popular seasonings, along with presentations that hide unpopular foods. Start with snacks and desserts, then move to sandwiches and pizza, and soon your family will be eating an entire healthy meal!

Second Helpings : Fresh Ways to Feed Your Family
by Jeanette Orrey (Transworld)
From across the pond, advice from the woman who inspired Jamie Oliver.

Jeanette Orrey was Catering Manager at St Peter’s Primary School, East Bridgford, Nottinghamshire for 14 years. Five years ago she brought the catering in-house, sourcing as much local, organic and fair trade produce as possible. Jeanette provides quick solutions for busy parents who want to feed their children well. She knows what children really like. Jeanette is making the recipes more adventurous to broaden the kids’ palates so there’ll be salmon fish fingers, curries and fruit smoothies as well as traditional old favourites like Lancashire Hotpot and Sticky Toffee Pudding, all using the best possible ingredients.

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monday recipe: dirty donuts

Voodoo Dirt Donut Glaze

…The glaze…is a full frontal homage to Voodoo. Be sure to make it at the last minute or your dirt will go soggy.

1 basic cake donut recipe (Edge reccomends his Zingerman’s Roadhouse donuts but alas, I am time pressed and will not transcribe here).

3/4 c. confectioner’s sugar
2 tbsp. whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
12 Oreo cookies

In a medium bowl, mix the milk with the confectioner’s sugar. Add the vanill and stir again. Crumble the cookies into the glaze, working to achieve Oreo particles of a size similar to what you would find in a Dairy Queen Blizzard. Trowel the mixture on the donuts and set aside for 15 minutes or so, until the glaze begins to set.

From Donuts: An American Passion by John T. Edge. Look for an excerpt from Edge’s book in the May issue of Saveur of the best 7 donut shops in the U.S.

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