Most days, I’m a big fan of the entire process of cooking. The whole peeling, slicing, steaming, baking, braising, parboiling, deep-frying, grilling, roasting shebang. But some days, a 30-minute meal seems like 25 too many.
That’s a sandwich day.
Since today’s Meatless Monday, I wanted to share a sandwich that’s truly vegetarian – not just a regular sandwich without the meat – because when you’re going meatless, it’s incredibly easy to get stuck in the “Can I get a turkey and cheese sandwich without the turkey?” rut. This Hummus Vegetable Sandwich has thick, creamy hummus on one slice of whole wheat; a somewhat pungent black olive tapenade on the other. In between, you get the raw crunch of thinly sliced cucumber and the sweet chewiness of grated carrot. Together, they give you a sandwich that’s defined by its own perfect balance of textures and flavors. Not by the absence of turkey. Read More…
Have you seen the episode of “No Reservations” where Anthony Bourdain goes to Uruguay? It’s the one where he gorges on grilled meat – steak, sausages, loins, armadillo – and then meets up with Francis Mallmann, the author of “Seven Fires,”
for more grilled meat!
Not long after we saw that episode, Jeff picked up a copy of “Seven Fires,” and I assumed I should be girding my loins for a total meat-fest of suckling this and chimichurried that. But then he opened the book and spun it around to show me the recipe he was obsessed with making: Potato Dominoes. Baking potatoes that are trimmed into potato bricks, sliced thinly, brushed with clarified butter and baked at an angle, so they look like rows of fallen dominoes.
I thought the domino arrangement was just for show, but I stand corrected. Since you don’t rinse the potatoes or place them in water after you slice them, the starch glues the potato slices together and allows each one to have a crisp top half, a soft bottom half and crisp brown edges. Mercy. Making these isn’t easy as throwing a potato into the oven, but once you start peeling away slice after buttery slow-roasted slice, you’ll be able to taste the extra effort. If the potatoes are this good, it makes me wonder about that armadillo.
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Have you had a Lazy Movie Day this summer?
I’m talking about one of those spectacular days where all you do is stay inside, camp out on the couch and watch movies. You don’t fold towels. You don’t return e-mails. You become one with your Inner Sloth, except for one tiny blip of productivity: making movie snacks.
Last Saturday, Jeff and I declared a Lazy Movie Day, and I finally had an excuse to make the Caramel Peanut Popcorn I’d bookmarked in “DamGoodSweet.”
Freshly popped popcorn enrobed in sweet buttery caramel and studded with peanuts. I thought I needed to wait for a special occasion to make it, but this stuff brings the party.
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A few weeks ago, I was having lunch at Mom’s with my nephews, Logan, 10, and Jack, 5. We were deep in discussion about exactly what it takes to get in trouble at school (talking during naptime) and what NOT to eat in the cafeteria (spaghetti) when Jack asked, “Who painted those?”
He was looking at the wall behind me, so I said, “You mean the painting of the people walking down the road?”
“No, the flowers. Who painted all those flowers?”
He was talking about the wallpaper.
Some things look more complicated than they are. Like wallpaper. And David Beckham. And this Vegetable Tian. Read More…
Congratulations to our Spike Your Juice™ giveaway winner, Bridget!
Here’s her winning entry:
Bridget: “I don’t know that this is particularly summery, but my favorite trashy TV show is ‘One Tree Hill,’ which, oddly enough, my husband got me hooked on.”
Excellent use of the blame-the-husband strategy, Bridget! Send your mailing address to me at rebecca@ezrapoundcake.com to claim your prize.
And, just in case you were wondering what trashy TV shows were everyone’s favorites, here’s the Top 5:
- “Real Housewives” (all cities)
- “True Blood”
- “Jersey Shore”
- “The Bachelorette”
- “Teen Mom”
What?!? I haven’t seen a single one of these! A friend loaned me the first season of “True Blood” on DVD, so I’m going to check out the first episode this weekend. Maybe I’ll try to catch at least one episode of each of these shows.
So much trash, so little time.
A few months ago, someone from Spike Your Juice™ asked if I wanted to try one of their kits. A kit that she said would transform the wholesome all-natural juice of my choice into fizzalicious boozy booze.
So, in the name of science and for the good of the land, I said, “Hell yeah!”
The process is simple. Pick up a 64-ounce bottle of your favorite all-natural juice (I chose a store-brand, ultra-cheap White Grape-Peach), pour the magical Spike Your Juice™ powder inside (it’s yeast, organic evaporated cane juice and an emulsifier), and seal it with an airlock and rubber stopper for at least 48 hours. Go, Science! Read More…
If you’ve never enjoyed a tender Tennessee summer, you should know that at a certain point, everything stops and it gets quiet. Cookouts stop. Mowing stops. The kids stop playing outside. Even the crazy-hardcore woman who does reverse lunges in long, jerky, backwards steps past the house twice a day suddenly disappears. The only sounds you hear outside are the crickets, the rustling of the dry grass and “Pop Goes the Weasel” blaring from the ice cream truck as it circles the neighborhood, completely uninterrupted. Because it’s just too hot. Unmercifully hot. Wringing-the-sweat-out-of-your-bra hot.
When it’s this hot, you just have to give in to it. Relent. Stay inside, get naked and catch up on “Shark Week.” And hook up some ice-cold adult beverages.
This Kahlúa-Spiked Frozen Mocha Latte requires a little preparation. First, you make espresso ice cubes by combining sugar, instant espresso powder, cocoa powder, water, salt and half-and-half and pouring the mixture into ice cube trays. Then, once your cubes are frozen, you can toss a few into the blender with a little (or a lot) of Kahlúa, and blend everything until it’s smooth and thick, like a milkshake. Pour the mixture into a chilled glass (or two), top it with a spoonful of brown-sugar sweetened whipped cream, and commence the sippin’. This is how summer was meant to be survived.
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I’ve eaten a slice of peach pie every day since Thursday.
I just can’t help myself.
In just a few weeks, the good peaches will be a memory. Like the afternoon I spent with my nephews, snacking on mini peach pies and playing “Connect Four.” Or the big summer lunch with all of the ladies in the family, eating warm peach cobbler while my baby niece squealed and flashed her new teeth.
The time to indulge is NOW.
I can’t think of a more indulgent peach pie recipe than Ken Haedrich’s Triple Vanilla Bean-Scented All-Peach Pie. Vanilla sugar sprinkled like fairy dust over the peaches in the filling, the pie crust – even the whipped cream. That combination of sweet, delicate vanilla and bold, sultry peaches is as heady and powerful and fleeting as a first kiss. Which is why one slice won’t do.
Thank God swimsuit season is almost over.
P.S. Wanna talk pie? Join the discussion on the EPC Facebook page.
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