Grits are about as southern as my Aunt Charlotte. She hailed from Huntsville, Alabama and yet never lost a syllable of her Southern accent despite living in Canada for decades.  But for all her southernism, Aunt Charlotte never introduced us to grits. That happy…

This is a one-pan wonder that comes together completely in just 30 minutes.  My experience with Spanish cuisine is limited to making an occasional Paella and even there, without a true Paella pan, I am not sure how authentic my version is.  But I’ve wanted…

Clamming, about as Long Island as you can get I am big fan of Linguine with Clam Sauce as our recipe search feature will confirm.  So when I saw this recipe for a variation on the theme in the July 2012 issue of La Cucina…

I have to admit, I don’t publish a recipe that doesn’t turn out right.  My whole premise is that if I can cook it perfectly, you can cook it perfectly.  So with all the 200 plus recipes on Chewing the Fat, if you can follow…

         Last weekend, we had close friends staying with us and this dinner really hit the spot.  It took no time at all to put together. In fact the whole thing took about 30 minutes.  The delicious and mildly coconut-flavored shrimp cooked took about 10…

        Before making this dish, I checked on the status of one of my most favorite of all seafoods, Swordfish. By 1999,  the North Atlantic swordfish was on its way to oblivion.  Years of overfishing had led to dire predictions.  Undaunted by high mercury levels,…

    Car-less Saltaire Years ago, I had a boss named Susanne who had a wonderful house on Fire Island.  She was very kind in opening the place up to her staff—particularly those of us juniors who had few options on summer weekends: broil in the…

        Ten years ago, I got a call from a friend named Ethel, who, at the last minute, couldn’t use her tickets to a big bash given by The Film Society of Lincoln Center.  My work partner, Cathy, and I promptly called our respective spouses…

          The summer of the Burger is fast coming to an end.  Out here on the East end of Long Island, the burger buzz has centered around a new entry onto the local dining scene, LT Burger, on Main Street in Sag Harbor.   The LT…

          Our friends Beth and Peter are with us from California for a few days and we’re anxious to share some of Long Island’s best with them. This will include the spectacular weather we’re experiencing, our glorious beaches—less crowded now that a lot of…

A perfect way to beat the heat… Today’s recipe requires no cooking at all, takes under 30 minutes to get on the table and the taste?  Lime makes this the most refreshing of dishes.  You can serve this tonight which is likely to be one…

        The Silver Palate was an iconic and tiny little take-out shop that opened on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1979.  It was the brainchild of two women: Julie Russo and Sheila Lukins.  Two years earlier, Lukins, divorced from her husband and mother…

        Anyone with even a passing interest in Indian food will surely cross paths with Madhur Jaffrey.  An accomplished actress, she has appeared in more than 20 movies and was muse to and star in Merchant and Ivory’s marvelous films including “Shakespeare Wallah”,…

You can’t sit down to write a recipe without wondering what constitutes out-and-out thievery.  There is no possible way that you yourself could invent something so absolutely new and startling that you could proudly call it yours and yours alone.   Everything has to have come…