Some things just inspire curiosity. The Apple Tablet. Lady Gaga. Jamie Oliver’s Red Grape Pizza.

I saw this recipe on Jamie’s website and just kept coming back to it. Mini-pizzas brushed with rosemary and olive oil and topped with blistered (but still juicy) red grapes, a drizzle of honey and some bite, courtesy of a liberal amount of shaved Pecorino. The sort of fruit-and-herb combination you won’t find at Domino’s, no matter what they say about that new formula.

The flavors are complex, but the recipe is simple and ripe for variations. Add a few walnuts or pine nuts for a little crunch. Maybe some shallots to take things more savory. Replace the Pecorino with goat cheese, feta or blue cheese. You could even ditch the honey and trade the grapes for cherry tomatoes. I won’t tell Jamie.

Read More…

It’s been cold and gray for days on end here, and that has me craving vegetables. Not sensible wintry root vegetables but bold, bright, summery, grows-in-the-sun vegetables. Sunshine-get-in-mah-belleh vegetables. Red peppers and zucchini and summer squash. Vegetables that are notta so hotta right now.

Unless you roast them.

Roasting these out-of-season vegetables intensifies their flavors, bringing the best out of even the puniest squash. Just slice and cube your favorites until they fill a half baking sheet, and toss them with olive oil, garlic and seasonings. Ahhhh.

But then what do you do with all that goodness?

Read More…

Hello, you magnificent example of humanity! Did you have a spectacular New Year’s? Join the Polar Bear Club? Make any resolutions?

I know, lots of people don’t “believe” in resolutions. But what if – instead of swearing to lose this and quit that and organize everything – what if we resolve to do something fun? Plan our own film festivals. Master the chopsticks. Learn how to mix a monthly cocktail (or bake a pie). Take a weekly self-portrait. Fill a piñata with strange and wonderful things, and give it to a friend. Spring for concert tickets. Plan a road trip. Check out a new restaurant once a month. Go skinny-dipping. Keep the party going until everyone gets hungry for breakfast. Make out at the drive-in. Open an Etsy shop. Surprise the kids with our own killah Nerf guns, and show no mercy. Start planning our “Jersey Shore” Halloween costumes. Figure out what to do with agave nectar.

You get the idea. You’re perfect the way you are, so resolve to do something that actually gets you excited about the big, juicy year ahead. Oh, and learn how to make risotto. It scares people, but all it requires is a little patience. Think of adding each ladleful of vegetable stock to the risotto the same way you would add juice to a toddler’s sippy-cup. Wait until the rice has almost absorbed each small amount of stock before you add more to the pot, and keep stirring. Gently. And don’t stop until your name’s on a blimp! Go, 2010!

Read More…

Thanks for the question, Laura!

I think something like this Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes might work. You’ve got two family-friendly choices, pasta and chicken, and your friend can keep it in the freezer for up to three months. Ah, the luxury of knowing you have a homemade dinner waiting anytime you want it.

Now, let’s make you a goddess in her sleep-deprived eyes. Read More…

So, did you stuff yourself silly with cheese balls, sausage balls, meatballs and bourbon balls?

Me too! Since the last time we talked, it’s been a never-ending feast around here. Next year, I think I’ll walk around all holiday season a la the Ghost of Christmas Present, wearing a red velvet Snuggie™ and a holly wreath crown trimmed with Chex Mix® and chocolate-covered cherries.

After all of that glorious excess, my pendulum is swinging back toward lighter, fresher foods, and this Lentil Salad, a pimped-out variation on Alice Waters’ original, is hitting the spot nicely. And I just learned that, in Italy and Hungary, it’s traditional to eat lentils on New Year’s Day for luck and prosperity, since the lentils are round like coins. I think I’ll have an extra spoonful. Read More…

Every weekend as I’m writing the grocery list, I ask Jeff if there’s something special he wants for dinner the next week. Usually it’s roast chicken. Or roast chicken. We eat a lot of roast chicken. So last weekend, when he said he really wanted Boeuf Bourguignon, I reported this impostor directly to the police. No, I was more than thrilled NOT to be roasting a chicken, but I was a little intimidated by what the Boeuf Bourguignon might require. I imagined many little steps that would take many long hours.

If you’ve never made or eaten Boeuf Bourguignon, it’s not haute cuisine. It’s a French beef stew, a peasant dish that was probably originally slow-cooked for hours to compensate for the toughness of meat. In this version (from Ina Garten’s “Barefoot in Paris”), the beef is braised in red wine, beef broth and Cognac in a pot full of carrots, sliced onions, garlic, tomato paste and thyme and then garnished with pearl onions and sautéed mushrooms. So full of flavor. You just want to curl up with it on a cold night and watch “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” for the 15th time and debate whether a thick white sheepskin area rug would be too pimp for the living room or just pimp enough.

Layering this much flavor takes time – about two hours – but it’s worth it, especially if you’re entertaining a few friends the following night, when the stew will taste even better. You just can’t say that about a roast chicken.

Read More…

For lo these past 16 months, some of our neighbors have given us odd looks and not really said much. And I’ve been OK with that, especially since the day I saw a few of the men in their backyard hunting for something. With guns. In a fenced-in backyard spanning less than an acre of manicured grass and concrete lawn cherubs.

Bang! Bang!

So, we didn’t think they were quite right. And it turns out, they’ve felt the same way about us.

Read More…

A few weeks ago, my friend Karen Beth asked me to find her a recipe for a creamy tomato-basil soup without any cream. Or half-and-half. Or butter. Something with the flavor but not all the fat. And, preferably meatless, so no chicken stock.

OK. So. At first, I played around with just reducing the high-fat dairy or replacing some of it a healthier alternative, like Greek yogurt. But then I stumbled onto this Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup from Cook’s Illustrated. It’s like a very bare-bones Pappa Al Pomidoro, a Tuscan tomato soup thickened with bread. You make a very basic tomato soup, add three torn slices of white bread, bring it to a boil, and then either transfer the soup to a blender (in stages) or process it in the pot with an immersion blender. The bread thickens the soup and takes some away some of the tomato bite without making the soup dull.

Once you process the soup, you can strain it back into the pot to make it even smoother (if you so desire), and then add vegetable broth and brandy (completely optional). This recipe makes quite a bit of soup, so I like to make the basic tomato and then add the herbs (usually basil or chives) to each bowl for some variety. But if you taste the soup and you’re still missing the cream, stir in a spoonful. You’ll still be getting less fat than if you added the typical amount of cream to the entire pot. Baby steps, baby steps.

Read More…

I wasn’t raised eating venison, but Jeff’s dad and granddad are both hunters, so when I was offered deer for the first time, I guess you could say I was … game. The meat had been marinated and grilled and looked a lot like a grilled tenderloin. Very lean. So, I gave it a try, and it was good! I had a second helping.

Turns out, I’m not the only newcomer to the venison fold. This month’s “Field & Stream” is dedicated to “America’s Meat” and its newfound appeal to locavores and others looking for inexpensive, lean meat that’s “free of the pharmacological stew” that plagues some commercial livestock. The issue features venison recipes from chefs like Bobby Flay, John Currence, John Besh and Paul Kahan.

But, when Jeff’s dad gave us several pounds of deer meat to take home, we knew EXACTLY what we wanted to make with it: the Venison Lasagna from Hank Shaw’s blog, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.

Read More…

Once you’ve had three Thanksgiving meals in three different cities, you enter a zone where your next meal needs to be the complete and total opposite of turkey and dressing. A light palette cleanser, perhaps? Maybe a crisp, refreshing sorbet?

Oh, HELL no.

When you’re serious about hitting the reset button on your palette and your appetite, you’ve really got to go with something like a Philly Cheesesteak. Something packed with beef and onions and peppers and, yes, Cheez Whiz. DON’T YOU JUDGE ME. I’m not a huge fan of processed foods, either, but an authentic cheesesteak requires an ample slathering of the orange stuff. ‘Tis the season. When in Rome. Oh, just do it.

Read More…