I confess to being a tomato junkie.  I adore the fruit, and yes, botanically it is a fruit.   Nothing made me happier than the arrival of great little tiny tomatoes variously called ‘cherry’, ‘grape’ and most recently, ‘heirloom mixtures’.   They arrived in this country…

Chewing the Fat has been on a brief hiatus as I have been traveling gathering material for some new travel pieces for The Daily Meal. Pardon my absence but I think it will be rewarded with some new food ideas for you that will be…

         There are times when all I crave for dinner is a big bowl of pasta and the infinite possibilities it presents.  First of all there are almost unlimited varieties of pasta spanning all shapes and sizes and textures.  From tiny orzo all the way…

A short time ago, we went to the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan (344 Amsterdam Ave, NY NY 10023 Tel: (646) 505-4444). Judging from the smell of freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies, the place has a robust culinary arts program in addition to all its other…

     A great bowl of pasta is one of my favorite comfort dishes.  I must admit that this particular variation hits the mark. The fresh asparagus and mushrooms seem made for each other and for the Italian hot sausage I combined them with. There’s cheese…

Amanda Hesser of Food 52 and The New York Times         This terrific recipe checks off at least 3 boxes on my list. First, nothing is more comforting on a winter night than a bowl of pasta with a really great sauce.  This fits that…

   Julia Moskin of the Times When I was growing up, my WASP mother often made a dish called “Spaghetti Meat Sauce”.  I loved it.  The recipe came from a neighbor in our WASPiest of WASP enclaves. It later turned out that its author was a…

Florence Fabricant Is the asparagus better than ever this year?  Or is it just more welcome than ever?  How did it manage to poke its heads through ground that remained frozen far later this year than last?  And, once thawed, how did those same shoots survive…

         Food Trends are an annual pursuit for everyone from Bon Appetit to the BBC.  The list that intrigued me most, however, came from Pinterest, the on-line picture sharing site where anyone, anywhere can post any image at all that interests them.  “Food” makes up…

Here’s true comfort food that you can play with to your heart’s content.  It’s virtually impossible not to make something warming and filling out of this recipe because the recipe is as flexible as can be.  It’s also a great way to empty the fridge,…

    Who isn’t always looking for fresh, new ways to cook that workhorse of the kitchen, the skinless chicken thigh? How about pairing them with Figs and Almonds? That’s why I was intrigued by a recipe in October’s Food and Wine Magazine that was…

Last summer, in the course of one week, I saw three recipes posted for an identical dish.  Authored by Martha Stewart, it involved putting the entire contents of a pasta dinner into one pot and firing the stove up to create a meal that was…

A few years ago, I got a call from a guest who was about two hours away from coming to dinner.  He’d called to tell me that he and his new wife had become vegetarian.   Quite frankly, my initial impulse was to continue cooking the…

Paola’s Restaurant  1295 Madison Avenue at 92nd St. NYC Tel: (212) 794-1890 Reservations and Information: www.paolasrestaurant.com Paola’s Pici con Asparagi          Not too long ago, I was early for a lecture in Carnegie Hill, a family-friendly East Side Manhattan neighborhood known to tourists by…