food
Ellen Silverman
Hardware stores and art supply stores are great places to inspire your improvisational leanings, using a variation of the children’s game “inventing”: think of uses for things you may not be familiar with.
The other day, as I was browsing through bins of bolts, screws, hunks of pipe and gaskets in my local hardware store, I suddenly flashed on “egg cups!” as I played with a rather moderne-looking 2-inch length of threaded brass pipe. The idea of improvising an egg cup using found stuff became a lens through which I scanned the store. It turns out that egg cups are everywhere, just waiting to be discovered by lovers of perfect soft-boiled eggs (see recipe below). read more…
10.28.09 |
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in copy this!, food, housewares, materials, recipes, strategies |
David Saltman
As today’s guest blogger, David Saltman tells of his discovery of some inadvertent guerilla gardeners. He did some on-the-spot investigative reporting for ‘the improvised life’ and photographed the story with his i-Phone. Thanks, David!
“I was walking down the street in New York City recently when I ran smack into a cornfield. It was no hallucination — big, fat cornstalks were growing out of a tiny sliver of ground at the foot of a stone hillside in the northwest corner of the city. I walked further and saw another abundant patch of corn, then plantings of beans, herbs and a grape arbor, all butting up against the granite bluff on top of which sits my 25-story apartment building. read more…
10.26.09 |
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in community, food, garden, sightings, strategies |
Maria Robledo
One of my favorite cooking strategies is to a make a big batch of a mutable “base” with which I can improvise appealing dishes, in tandem with whatever is on hand. In fall and winter, that base is often Wild Mushroom Ragù, a rich, hearty, meaty (but meatless), stew-like sauce made with whatever cultivated “wild” mushrooms are available, such as shiitake, cremini, oyster, and portobello. It’s ideal for meals where you need to serve both carnivores and vegetarians. Because you can make it ahead and freeze it, it allows you to forge wonderful dishes even when life gets wild and you don’t have a moment to spare.
For dinner parties, I’ll use the ragù to make big pasta casseroles layered with shaved ricotta salata or fresh mozzarella cheese and baked until gratineed; my friend’s ancient Italian grandmother calls it “the Big Macaroni”. I can assemble it ahead and bake it at the last minute. And on nights home alone, the warmed ragu is wonderful scooped up with thick store-bought rosemary potato chips. Over the years, I’ve served the ragu in many ways… read more…
10.15.09 |
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in family + friends, food, recipes |
Susan Hochbaum
This morning Andrea Raisfeld alerted me to a perfect little film created by designer Susan Hochbaum. It’s called The Pastry Project and it begins:
“I came to Paris middle-aged, divorced, and newly in love. Granting myself a sabbatical and renting out my suburban home, I moved with my beau to this romantic city for a year of living shamelessly…Abandoning restraint, and with the appetite of a teenager, I’ve found my muse…”
What follows will change the way you view Paris forever…(click here to watch) Ed note 9/30/11: unfortunately, the perfect video has been swapped for a slideshow…And now a new book tells the story. read more…
10.14.09 |
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in art, food, gifts, projects + play, road warrior, sightings, travel |
I started viewing coriander seed as Instant Flavor Enhancer one day when I was testing a recipe and had a lot of cracked coriander left over. I tasted it on whatever came to mind to discover its slightly lemony-orange peel-herbal flavor and bit of crackle is wonderful on all sorts of foods, sprinkled on before serving, like pepper. It provides the perfect little alt-note on everything from smoked salmon to rice pudding to a cracker spread with crunchy peanut butter). My all-time favorite is on crushed new potatoes with crème fraiche and chives. (See the list and recipe farther down)
I was snooping around the internet hoping to find a coriander photo when I stumbled on this image and the big idea behind it: read more…
10.01.09 |
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in eating, food, housewares, recipes, repurpose, strategies |
Sally Schneider
At the end of an impromtu dinner party, my friend Josh served a chocolate cake with herbes-of-Provence salt his wife Ellen had made. To accompany it, he had whipped some extraordinary bio-dynamic cream from a farmer friend, and I popped a spoonful in my mouth, sans cake, to savor it. Perhaps it was the bowl of sea salt in my sight lines, or the conversation we’d had earlier about using an herb salt instead of regular salt in the cake that gave me the idea: I sprinkled a few grains of salt onto another spoonful of the whipped cream. And there, in an instant, was a completely “other” notion of whipped cream; the salt brought out the cream’s sweetness and nuance, without being salty, a perfect counterpoint to the rich cake. It was a revelation, and one that I’d use with future desserts.
Throughout my cooking life, this kind of fortuitous collision of two or three unexpected elements has often occurred often in the kitchen and at table. read more…
09.24.09 |
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in food, recipes, strategies, why not? |
Getty Images
One of the most pleasurable parts of cooking is the Eureka Moment, when an idea comes to mind unexpectedly that opens a clear path of discovery. The other night, a sudden brain-flash lead to discovery of a milkshake flavored with Amontillado sherry, a grown-up flavor to be sure, that in a milkshake makes an unbelievably satisfying dessert. It is so delicious and surprising, you could serve it at a dinner party (forget classic milkshake glasses – any cool glass will do). And it is something you could rely upon when your spirits need lifting. Fabulous Amontillado is not necessary; I use the stuff I keep around for cooking (barely decent enough to drink is the rule). Mixed into the shake, its flaws miraculously disappear.
The idea did not come out of the blue, rather was the product of several experiences that worked their way around my mind and memory until they evolved into the milkshake. Here’s the path, for those interested in how some recipes come to be (along with the recipe): read more…
09.10.09 |
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in family + friends, food, recipes |
Adam Kuban of Serious Eats’ Slice Blog has a compelling series about people who have built their own pizza ovens. His interview with Mark Wilkie, who created this beauty is in the backyard of his Brooklyn rental, comes complete with photos and drawings of the process. Wilkie found lots of practical resources at Forno Bravo, a California based pizza oven maker that offers free plans for building “Pompeii” brick pizza oven as well as forums where d-i-y oven builders can exchange info.
It seems the Forno Bravo can fashion all or part of an oven if you’re into designing your own. Their “Photos” section has inspiring photos of wood-fired ovens from all over the world, read more…
09.08.09 |
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in eating, food, how-to, living, outside, resources blogs + sites, rooms |
Introduction a La Flore des Environs de Paris
Corn on the cob is about the most perfect thing to eat on Labor Day weekend. Still, this simple surprising puree made with fresh kernels cut off the cob is a fine rival. A small amount of heavy cream and grated Parmigiano bind with the milky corn juices to achieve the texture of an ethereal polenta with a very pure, concentrated corn flavor. It is pure comfort food, summer-style. I have been known to eat it as a meal on evenings alone, made with 1 or 2 stray ears from a corn-on-the-cob feast. read more…
09.03.09 |
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in family + friends, food, recipes |
Sally Schneider
If there was ever a tea for an improvised life, it is verbena. Although it suits many purposes and moods, it is especially good for emergencies, when the shit is hitting the fan. When a friend calls in anguish or needing support from some trauma, I make verbena tea, or throw some dried verbena in a plastic bag to take with me and make tea on site; it’s famously calming.
It’s also great for less dramatic occasions, to serve after a dinner party, say, when you need something delicious and surprising for folks who don’t drink coffee. When you’re desperate for a house gift to take to someone you’re visiting, package up some dried verbena in a cello-bag or a canning jar, and get points for bringing something charming and real. Verbena is a useful flavoring in the kitchen, and be steeped into custard sauces, used to flavor jello and dessert syrups, or used sparingly to scent fish en papillote.
Drying fresh verbena could not be easier and is much cheaper than buying it from a good tea store like Takashimaya. The next couple of weeks is the time to do it read more…
08.29.09 |
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in family + friends, food, gifts, how-to, recipes, strategies |
Ellen Silverman
This summer, the field tomatoes that are the season’s perfect pleasure will be rare and expensive, due to the terrible blight that is causing enormous losses on farms across the Northeast. My advice, for the tomatoes you are lucky enough to find, is that they are best savored with little adornment – just enough to maximize the experience of ripe summer tomato. The gist: Every tomato needs a little bit of salt to make its flavor vivid. If you like, drizzle over excellent extra-virgin olive oil…maybe a drop or two of Sherry or balsamic vinegar…and/or a few torn basil leaves.
The best manifestation of this formula is the tomato salad recipe of Lucia Lo Presti, wine writer Anthony Giglio’s Sicilian mama-on-law. Its lushness that will make you feel intoxicated. read more…
08.14.09 |
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in family + friends, food, recipes, strategies |
Ruth Fankushen Kunkel wrote An Alien Robot’s Cookbook for her boys who were picky eaters; she needed to find a way to engage them in eating and making wonderful food. It begins:
”Due to a random mechanical error, I traveled to Earth without warning…I finally
crash-landed in a North American backyard. ”
So it was the Alien Robot Model #4U82 came to write a cookbook as a gift for an Earth boy named Eddie.
The book has the friendly feel of a homemade cookbook made by a thoughtful mom to engage her young kids in the kitchen. (Why not make a cookbook for or with your kids?) read more…
08.11.09 |
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in family + friends, food, kids, projects + play, recipes |
Maria Robledo
“I guess you win some and you lose some”, my friend Keith Stewart wrote in an email. “Last year was a winner. This year, I think, will not be.”
Like many farmers in the Northeast, Keith’s tomatoes have been hit hard by late blight, the same spore-born disease that caused the Irish Potato famine in the mid-19th century. The epidemic started with blighted seedlings sold to home gardeners by Walmart, Lowe’s, Kmart and Home Depot. Once the spores were released into the environment, relentlessly wet, windy weather encouraged them to spread and flourish: a perfect storm. A picture in the New York Times food section recently showed Keith hurling blighted tomato plants, that he’d grown from seed, into a deep pit (a grave, really). Keith estimates his losses will be around $40,000, which is not as bad as some.
Keith’s words remind me that to farm is to face uncontrollable forces – both natural and man-made – on a daily basis. Farmers solve problems, think on their feet, improvise constantly. Vulnerability and risk are part of the deal. read more…
08.09.09 |
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in community, food, garden, nature, paths + processes, people |
Bon Appetit
When I opened the little tin of Pimenton de la Vera, the aroma of sun-dried peppers, smoked-over-smoldering-oak-fires hit me full in the face. The pungent, vividly-colored spice from Andalucia that is the essential flavor in chorizo, triggered all sorts of associations and “what if’s”:
“What if I sprinkled some on warm smashed hard-boiled eggs, or a fried egg?…
…What if I rubbed a fat pork chop with it, along with salt and pepper?…
…Or stirred it into pasta sauce?…
…Or marinated a goat cheese or some Manchego in olive oil and pimenton?…
…or roasted almonds with a dusting of it….
…Or sprinkled on a grilled cheese sandwich…or macaroni an cheese” Mac-and-cheese!
I tried out all these ideas and more as the pimenton became my new favorite taste: a bit of smoke and earth. read more…
08.06.09 |
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in family + friends, food, recipes, strategies |
Maria Robledo
When her spirits were flagging, or she just needed a little vacation from everyday life, my mother would take me to a Greek restaurant near the theatre district in New York City. We would always order a rustic dish that is a classic in Greek cuisine: cold sliced beets with a garlic sauce known as Skordalia. It is an extraordinarily satisfying and somehow heartening dish. The beets, which taste at once sweet and fruity and slightly of earth, are a perfect foil for the mellow garlic sauce: a creamy base of mashed potatoes beaten with lots of olive oil and vigorously flavored with fresh garlic (an earthier version of egg-yolk based garlic sauces beloved in all Mediterranean countries). It was an early, enduring lesson about the ability of food to transform my view of things, and make me feel like a million bucks. read more…
07.31.09 |
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in family + friends, food, recipes |
