Victor and Marcella Hazan There is a sad anniversary this week.  It’s been a year since the world lost Marcella Hazan, that wonderfully giving Italian food prophet with whom I struck up a friendship over the internet.  Fortunately, when you are as good as Marcella,…

Since we live in one of the great ocean fishing areas of the country, the temptation to eat the freshest seafood imaginable is an almost daily event.   The fishing boats go out early from Montauk and their catch is in our fish markets later that morning.   The…

           Not too long ago, my friend Susan wrote and asked me to send her the link to a very nasty article in Bloomberg News about farmed Asian Seafood.  I won’t go into the appetite suppressing details but the news was not good.  It…

                  This is one of Ina Garten’s most beloved recipes.  It dates all the way back to 1999 when it appeared in Ina’s first cookbook “The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook” (Clarkson Potter 1999).  Since I can’t think of  a better time for luxury foods like…

Marcella and Victor Hazan, as loving and giving a couple as one could ever hope to know. If I’d never been introduced to Marcella Hazan, my cooking would have been so much poorer for it.  Marcella died last week at her home in Naples, Florida…

                My first Cobb Salad was the first of many I ate on the terrace of the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel.  It was irresistible with its mosaic of ingredients that arrived at the table beautifully arranged on the plate.  The…

         Recipes that other cooks invent should be treated with great respect.  I’ve mentioned before that few things put me off more than someone commenting on a dish—very often negatively—that they have ‘doctored’ beyond recognition.   Still, if you do delve into the comments, you can…

         ROASTING A WHOLE STRIPED BASS IS A LOT EASIER THAN YOU’D THINK Long Island is surrounded by water and the East End, where we live, is particularly blessed.  Not two miles from our house is Peconic Bay, which feeds into the Long Island Sound…

Armani Ristorante hasn’t exactly barged its way into the New York culinary scene.  Some wags have even suggested that Giorgio Armani opened the place solely to be able to enjoy pasta his way. He’d made no effort to conceal his displeasure with the heavily sauced…

When I wrote about our culinary adventures in St. Barthelemy, FWI in March, one of our readers, “Mike”, got into a spirited discussion about how the scallops I’d waxed poetic over, were not local.  In fact, he was pretty irate about seafood in general and…

         No matter how gray a day it’s been, coming home to a dinner of beautifully pink and gold shrimp paired with sweet peas, fresh scallions and ginger medallions is a visual treat.  The simple salting and rinsing of the raw shrimp gives them a…

            Crab Cakes are one of those dishes that are just about perfect just about any time of year.  They’re a snap to make and you can have them cooked and kept warming in the warming drawer until you’re ready to serve your guests.  …

Cinco de Mayo is upon us.  It’s a once-a-year opportunity to salute Mexico with a purely American excuse to consume copious pitchers of Margaritas, mountains of tortilla chips and oceans of salsa.  Last year, I posted a recipe for Enchiladas Suizas, a wonderful gooey, cheese-y…

         My friend, Eric Lemonides, owns Almond Restaurant in Brideghampton and a second Almond on 22nd Street in the City.  Last Monday, when I went to his Bridgehampton address for dinner, he told me that one of the great off-season successes he’s had is his  “Meatless…