Be back soon. Family business to attend to…

Cin Cin.

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Beet, Leeks and Goat Cheese Pizza

Every time you flip through your favorite cooking magazine or cookbook, you’re looking at a recipe that’s been tested and re-tested and then tested again, sometimes over generations. All of the kinks have been worked out—the ingredients measured to the tenth-of-an-ounce, the cooking times dialed to the second, the methods determined and then refined. When you’re making up the recipe yourself you have two options. You can wait to write about the dish until it’s all sorted out. Or, you can lay it all out on the table en medias res. A little peek into the oven while the dish is only half-baked, as it were.
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The subject of my first chef crush, Mark Ladner, now the executive chef at Mario Batali’s Del Posto, was the focus of a fantastic profile in the New York Observer earlier this week. It’s wonderful seeing this exceptional chef finally get a moment in the spotlight. Read more here.

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Strawberry Preserves with Black Pepper and Balsamic Vinegar

I can’t find my first sentence. Do you know where it went? I had it wrapped around my brain when I rolled out of bed this morning, but staring at the computer now, I can’t remember what it was. I had been dreaming about Top Chef again and Gordon Ramsey was the judge and Nancy Silverton had replaced Padma. We were getting ready to start the Quick Fire Challenge when G-Ram said…what?! Argh!

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Piselli con Asparagi e Basilco

Nature has put on her Technicolor dreamcoat and cast a verdant spell across California’s brown hills. Last weekend I found some gorgeous wild fennel tucked in amongst the daisies and sage in Runyon Canyon, it’s bright green fronds fanning the smaller plants in the breeze. I didn’t pick any, but fully intend to go back with a bag and a little gardening shovel to pluck out a licorice-scented bulb or two. I’ve also been on the lookout for ramps, the garlicky wild leeks prized by chefs; they’re bound to start popping up soon. Though, since there growing season is so short and the flavor so sought-after, I doubt any will remain in the ground long enough for me to find and pick. I’ll just have to watch restaurant menus to get a bite while I can.

The farmers market is awash in green, too. Fava tendrils hint at the broad beans to come, graceful, tender asparagus line stall after stall like crowned guards and snap peas and English peas pour out of baskets, crisp pods beckoning like the Jolly Green Giant’s fingers.

What? You don’t like peas? Continue reading »

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Tortellini en Brodo

Last Thursday was the Vernal Equinox, the day in the Northern Hemisphere when the night and day are essentially the same length. It is also the official start of spring and my second favorite time of year after fall. But living in Southern California, it’s easy to get a little detached from the seasons—the daffodils, cherry blossoms and tulips started blossoming at the end of February and I’ve returned to wearing flip flops most days—but I find that cooking always keeps me in time with the earth’s clock. Feeling springy, I decided to host “Easter” dinner for a few friends, a slightly surprising turn of events since I’m Jewish. Yet no sooner was the guest list confirmed than I found out I was supposed to work Sunday brunch at the restaurant I’ve been moonlighting at. Rather than cancel I decided to pick a simple menu, prep Saturday and have Neal do a bunch of the cooking while I was at work.

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This past week I had the opportunity to attend the Family of Winemakers tasting in Pasadena. Family Winemakers is an advocacy group for California’s smaller wine producers, protecting their right to make, market and sell their wines. The Southern California tasting is always a great opportunity to discover new wines and to taste some things we carry at K&L, but that are made in such small quantities that it’s hard to get to taste them. Continue reading »

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Egg Papardelle with Bagna Cauda, Wilted Radicchio and an Olive Oil-Fried Egg

I’m a culinary masochist. It’s taken me awhile to come to terms with this, but a few recent cooking endeavors have made the truth difficult to avoid. The facts are, perhaps, best exemplified by my new favorite cookbook: Nancy Silverton’s A Twist of the Wrist. Nancy’s book is designed to help home cooks create gourmet meals using the bevy of high-quality pre-packaged ingredients lining the grocer’s shelves. Sounds great, right? Used correctly, these jars, boxes and tins are timesaving complements to Nancy’s delicious, well-thought-out recipes. But in my DIY-addled brain I see Nancy’s timesaving devices as the opportunity to try making other, more time-consuming components from scratch. At my house, a meal from Nancy’s book that’s supposed to take a half an hour suddenly takes three— Continue reading »

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Didn’t get a chance to download the Celebrity Italian Table Cookbook yet? Pasta maker Barilla has extended their commitment to donate $1 to America’s Second Harvest through the end of March. Not sure what I’m talking about? Read my original post on the subject, Good Cooking, Good Deeds.

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I’ve been struggling this week. Fighting a cold, a migraine and exhaustion brought on by working an extra job to pay off my credit cards and writing a book proposal with Brooke of Foodwoolf, I must say finding time to blog, let alone rest, has been a bit of a challenge.

But tonight, with leftovers in the fridge, my boyfriend back east for a wedding and the first preseason Red Sox game on the TV, I can sit back and relax with a glass of wine.

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