CHEWING THE FAT

         Our friend Michael of The Bridgehampton Florist, comes from a family of home bakers whose cakes are consistently the best things we’ve ever tasted.  We’ve featured the most famous, “Beatty’s Chocolate Cake” https://chewingthefat.us.com/2010/07/beattys-chocolate-cake.htmlwhich made its print debut in Ina Garten’s “Back…

Alice Waters’ Spicy Cauliflower Soup Above Cousin Bar’s Pear and Parsnip Soup with Red Pepper Puree          This morning I got an email from an old friend and devoted reader of Chewing the Fat.  He lives in Weehawken, NJ, which is one of the areas…

         There are certain recipes I obsess over.  I have folder marked “Re-Visit” and in it there must be at least five recipes for baked pasta dishes.  They all are fundamentally the same.  The pasta is cooked and then a sauce is mixed into it,…

            I love a little side of history when I am serving up a dish with roots as deep as Fried Green Tomatoes.  With the exception of grits and hominy, what’s more southern than this all-over crunchy firm tomato that’s been battered into a deep-fried…

Kristi          My friend Kristi is something else.  She lives in Dallas where she runs her own business finding “real people” for clients in Advertising and Marketing. She’s the best in the business so she’s in perpetual motion.  She travels all over the place for her…

         It was quite a coincidence when Andrew came back from his trip to Dallas with not one but two dishes his sister Lauren served him while he was there.  And that same day, my dear friend Kristi, sent along an original recipe of her…

I got over my fear of Phyllo and made this sensational pie.          I’ve been staring at a recipe for this pie for months now.  As appetizing as it looked, the main barrier to getting it made was a terror of working with Phyllo dough. …

         For all its popularity, ordinary supermarkets carry surprisingly few pasta shapes.  Granted, they do have a good representation of the types of pasta the home cook needs. But they never come close to the staggering number of varieties you’ll find at a pasta emporium…

            If you are thinking “native American”, this recipe probably wouldn’t raise an eyebrow.  But we’ve long since stopped calling Native Americans “Indians”.  No, the name of this dish refers to the Asian sub-continent of India.  And that may be even more surprising.  The…

         I love pasta and I am always on the lookout for a new and different way to prepare it.   There are sauces that require hours on the stove and that are best made in huge batches. “Bolognese” falls into that camp. Whatever the recipe,…

         When I started cooking Osso Buco, it was a sumptuous meal on a beer budget.  The Veal Shanks at the center of the dish were afterthoughts at the butcher’s counter.  It’s hard to imagine but I think they ran about $4.99 a lb. at…

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…

John Barricelli the baker behind this Classic Recipe           More often than not, when Andrew is baking I am dumbstruck by the effort he takes.  One recent project involved making three different cupcakes, getting up at 7:30 to do so and finishing the last of…

         If I could teach one technique that is perfect for weeknight cooking, it would be the stir-fry.  It is the absolutely ideal last minute dinner when you’re not entirely sure when everyone’s getting home.  You put everything in place in advance.  Then, when whomever…