CHEWING THE FAT

Sometimes when I write a post, the food gods seem to be hovering overhead.  This recipe came to my attention when it was posted as a great idea for a Mother’s Day meal. Talk about timely.  Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 12th this year.  Since presumably…

Italian Immigrants bound for the US. Notice the preponderance of men. If you frequent good old Italian-American Red Sauce restaurants, you may be well acquainted with a close cousin of this dish: Chicken Scarpariello.  Its origins, however, are not in Italy but in an Italian…

Sauteed Trout Photo Courtesy of Food and Wine Magazine Brook Trout I try to serve fish once a week.  Its health benefits are well known and even its fat content is healthy—it comes in the form of Omega-3 fatty acids which not only protect your…

I don’t know when sliders took over the world but they’re everywhere. And while they may have started out as mini-hamburgers, now you can find them on all kinds of menus, stuffed with everything from Turkey to Texas barbecue.  Let’s face it, their size is…

It’s awfully close to putting-away-the-pot-pie-recipes time.  But this one is so good, I hope it gets in under the wire and if not, do save it for a rainy day.  It’s that good.  The reason I rushed to make it was that I’d managed to…

Last week, I had the strongest craving for a Patty Melt.  I confess that the Patty Melt is far and away my absolute favorite chopped meat sandwich. You must never call a Patty Melt a hamburger because to purists, the Patty Melt is emphatically not…

Peppermint Patty Flourless Chocolate Cake decked out for Easter        One of my oldest and dearest friends, Michael, was the first person I ever met with Celiac Disease, the root cause of which is gluten.  He suffered terribly through college, fearing the worst and not…

Mix together the lettuce and the dressing and allow to sit, stirring            occasionally for 30 minutes.  Drain excess liquid.            This one of those food discoveries like tasting Burrata for the first time and wondering if you’ll ever go back…

Scott Conant, Chef and Pasta Tester             After I’d made this dish, it came as no surprise to learn that Food and Wine had named it one of 10 Best Pasta dishes when it first appeared in 2010.  Judging the 10…

       I posted this recipe last week and the response was terrific, particularly on www.sbhonline.com which is website completely given over to our favorite island.  When I did so, one of the most prolific contributors to the blog, AndyNap added something terrific to…

The Entrance to our Villa  Vive La France!          We just got back from our 20th visit to St. Barth, FWI, so you know we like it there.  You might say almost obsessively so.  But you can’t really improve very much on perfection.  Especially when you’ve…

         While we’re all anxiously awaiting Spring, Winter weather is still in our forecast.  Cold temperatures and Indian-inflected dishes seem made for each other.  This dish, which appeared in last month’s Bon Appetit, really drives that point home.  It’s a rich stew full of…

The man himself, Jim Lahey          Strip malls are not in the New York Architectural vocabulary, thank God. But there’s something that comes awfully close on Ninth Avenue between 24th and 25th Streets.  A long low building sits on the east side of the…

         Confession time: I used to loathe Brussels Sprouts. When I was growing up, I even made up a story to explain the Brussels Sprout.  It was, I told myself, a vegetable forced on wartime Europe.  I reasoned this lowly member of the cabbage family…