CHEWING THE FAT

Photo Courtesy of Fine Cooking Magazine. All rights reserved. Once again, I am sharing one of Andrew’s great summer desserts.   Surely one of summer’s great pleasures are its fruits and berries, especially when they are local.   And what can compare to any fruit dessert coupled…

           What is a “pluot”?, you may well ask. It’s the Labradoodle of fruits.  Actually it’s more like a Cockapoo or even a Maltipoo in size. The Pluot is a plum and apricot hybrid bred first in California in the 1800s.   Initially it…

HOME/TRAVEL On the Danube River with Viking River Cruises On this cruise, your next meal is right around the bend in the river 5 July 24, 2015 | 05:26 PM  By Monte Mathews, Special Contributor    Monte Mathews This cruise is one of the best ways to…

HOME/TRAVEL/CULINARY VACATIONS The Restaurant in Regensburg, Germany, You Must Travel For Don’t miss the bratwurst in this city by the Danube River 0 July 24, 2015 | 05:09 PM  By Monte Mathews, Special Contributor          Monte Matthews This wurst is the best. There are…

Several years ago we discovered the joy of watermelon and tomatoes combined in a salad that takes advantage of these summer favorites.  We enjoyed it again and again and if you haven’t tried it, you should too.  Here is the recipe that brought the salad…

Month after month, Martha Stewart Living takes us into the spectacularly photogenic homes of equally photogenic families. They share Martha’s passion for the domestic arts in their wonderfully curated and art directed living spaces.   And there is always a prominently featured menu item that is…

Garlic Scapes make their appearance once a year. There are cooks who wait all year to work with Garlic Scapes, the flower bud of the garlic plant.  The bud is removed about this time every year to encourage the underground bulb to thicken up.  They…

      The Comfort Family Farm Stand on Lumber Lane, Bridgehampton NY As much as I love sweet corn and as much as I’ll eat of it between now and the first frost, I am no fan of corn on the cob. I find…

What You Need to Know About Austrian Wiener Schnitzel For starters, it is never, ever served with noodles 5 July 11, 2015 | 06:57 PM  By Monte Mathews, Special Contributor    Photo Modified: Flickr / paulk / CC BY 4.0 You can bring some Austria into your home! If travel…

Spiced Lamb Burger Platter with Tzatziki and Sliced Tomatoes Bon Appetit’s Grilled Spiced Lamb Burger          Last summer, Bon Appetit’s Summer Grilling issue included a picture of a dish I found irresistible.  Granted it took me a year to get to it but I was…

Andrew is not the only baker in his family.  His sister Lauren is also a great baker.  So when her birthday rolled around, he sent her a great luxury: a case of Almond Paste.  Or so he thought.  The other day he got a frantic…

HOME/TRAVEL/GLOBAL CUISINE The Definitive Guide to Hungarian Paprika Impress the locals with your knowledge of paprika, and add one of these exquisite varieties to dishes back home 4.9   10 ratings June 26, 2015 | 12:00 AM  By Monte Mathews, Special Contributor          Shutterstock…

         Last week I went to see my friends Jane and John at The East End Mushroom Company.  Since the last time I saw them, they have been growing by leaps and bounds.  They now sell 13 varieties of mushrooms at their state-of-the-art facility…

  Today, we pair two recipes. One is from that doyenne of desserts, Martha Stewart in her “Martha Stewart Pies and Tarts” (Clarkson Potter 2011) and the other is from David Lebovitz in his “The Perfect Scoop” (10 Speed Press 2007).  The Paris-based Lebovitz knows his way…