Six cool new things for the kitchen from the International Home + Housewares Show 2011

Okay, I’ll admit it. The first cool thing about attending the world’s biggest marketplace of home and housewares stuff is getting to wander around it with an Internet Media pass slung around your neck. This was the third year Marion and I have done it and it was just as exciting as the first year.

Some 60,000 people attend the show at Chicago’s McCormick Place every year. Many are buyers, running the gamut from boutique owners to lead buyers for major chains. And while some of them are talking price points and delivery times, some, like us, are looking for what’s cool and new. Here are six things that caught our eye this year. Continue reading “Six cool new things for the kitchen from the International Home + Housewares Show 2011” →

No sauce needed on lively Meyer Lemon Pizza with Goat Cheese and Bacon

Four simple toppings work together beautifully on this light, flavorful pizza. Recipe below.

The new USDA dietary guidelines came down hard on pizza. In fact, as Jane Black reported in New York magazine, the report singles out pizza as one of the worst things we eat. It is “Americans’ No. 2 source of saturated fat and solid fats” and our “No. 3 source of sodium, beating out cold cuts and even bacon.”

Perversely, reading this made me want pizza. Not that I was craving saturated fats and sodium. It’s just that we rarely eat pizza, and this article reminded me just how delicious it is. So when I was looking around for something to do with the last of our recent windfall of Meyer lemons (thanks again, Christina!), I started thinking pizza. Continue reading “No sauce needed on lively Meyer Lemon Pizza with Goat Cheese and Bacon” →

Chicago chef Grant Achatz honored at USA Network’s Character Approved Awards

The 2011 Character Approved Awards will recognize 12 cultural trailblazers for innovation and contributions in their fields in a one-hour documentary that premieres Tuesday, March 8, at 11/10c. Grant Achatz will be honored for his groundbreaking molecular gastronomy.

In the space of a week last year, two different friends told me they’d just eaten the best meals of their lives. Both were speaking of dinner at Grant Achatz’s Chicago restaurant, Alinea. So it was no surprise that USA Network chose Achatz as a recipient of one of their Character Approved Awards.

Achatz is at the forefront of molecular gastronomy, a movement that is turning the kitchen into a lab, using scientific tools and techniques and changing the very idea of high-end dining. As USA Network’s Character Approved website reports, “With incredible imagination and whimsy, Grant Achatz re-envisions the way we experience food.” Continue reading “Chicago chef Grant Achatz honored at USA Network’s Character Approved Awards” →

Deliciously grown-up dessert: Meyer Lemon Sage Olive Oil Cake

Not-too-sweet Meyer Lemon Sage Olive Oil Cake balances sweet and tart beautifully, and the sage gives it a nice grown-up finish. Recipe below.

In case you’ve just tuned in, the lovely Christina over at A Thinking Stomach recently sent us a generous box of Meyer lemons grown on her own tree. We’ve been thoroughly enjoying experimenting with them. This cake Marion has now made three times is the best thing we’ve done so far. I’ll let her tell you about it.

A couple of days ago, in one of those far-ranging conversations about things that are delicious and things that are definitely not delicious, my colleague Melody pointed out that so many commercial pastries—and we are talking white-tablecloth-restaurant level, not six in a factory-sealed cardboard box for one US dollar level—are disappointing, just because someone thought it would be a good idea to save five cents by skimping on an essential ingredient. Cannoli rolled in peanuts instead of pistachios. Napoleons made with something that certainly isn’t butter and filled with something not unlike grout. Lemon bars overdosed with sugar to make up for not actually being very lemony.

Well, this is lemony. For some time now I’ve been thinking about a recipe that appears all over the Internet in many forms: Olive oil cake, and this week’s installment of our Meyer lemon festival gave me a reason to try it out. Continue reading “Deliciously grown-up dessert: Meyer Lemon Sage Olive Oil Cake” →

What Happens When: A restaurant experiment with a built-in expiration date

What happens when… That tantalizing question is the basis for an exciting temporary restaurant experiment in New York City. It’s also the name of the restaurant. What Happens When will be open for nine months and will completely transform its menu, its look and even its sound once a month. At the end of nine months, the building housing the SoHo restaurant will be torn down.

Opening even one restaurant is incredibly hard work, with tons of risk involved. What would possess someone to attempt nine restaurants in nine months in the same space? Continue reading “What Happens When: A restaurant experiment with a built-in expiration date” →

Weeknight simple, company elegant: Linguine with Scallops and Meyer Lemons

Sweet, seasonal Meyer lemons add a lively, bright note to Linguine with Scallops and Meyer Lemons, but regular lemons can be substituted. Recipe below.

When life gives you Meyer lemons, make lots of stuff. A couple of weeks ago, Marion made Cornish Hens with Meyer Lemons and Olives for our Valentine’s Day post here. We were pleased with ourselves for finding beautiful, seasonal Meyer lemons at a bargain price.

Then we got an email from the lovely Christina over at A Thinking Stomach. Seems she has a Meyer lemon tree growing right in her own yard, producing more fruit than she knows what to do with. She offered to send us some. Being no fools, we answered with a grateful, enthusiastic “Yes, please!” Still, we were unprepared for the bounty of fragrant, yellow beauties that arrived on our doorstep days later. Continue reading “Weeknight simple, company elegant: Linguine with Scallops and Meyer Lemons” →

Small bites: Drinking greener and finding umami in a tube

Recycling your wine corks and capturing that elusive fifth taste are the subjects of a pair of recent USA Character Approved Blog posts.

We recycle as much as possible. We dutifully save aluminum and tin cans, plastic milk jugs, all manner of paper and more wine bottles than I’m comfortable admitting to and haul them all off to a recycling center. But one thing we’d been routinely tossing until Marion figured out they would compost was wine corks. Now it turns out they’re also recyclable. And if that sounds a little trivial, consider this—every year, around 13 billion of them are produced. Continue reading “Small bites: Drinking greener and finding umami in a tube” →

A month of loving lamb: Lamb Chops with Cherry Marsala Sauce

Lamb chops topped with a sauce of dried tart cherries, Marsala wine, shallots, rosemary and garlic are a perfect way to celebrate Lamb Lovers Month. Recipe below.

THERE ARE LOTS OF REASONS TO LOVE LAMB. So many, in fact, that the American Lamb Board has proclaimed the entire month of February Lamb Lovers Month. All month long, you’ll find recipes, lamb trivia and more on their website. You can even enter a recipe contest and win Date Night Dinner Packages of lamb (of course) and paired wines. Continue reading “A month of loving lamb: Lamb Chops with Cherry Marsala Sauce” →

For Valentine’s Day, a pair of birds you’ll love

Cornish hens roasted on a bed of leeks, olives and Meyer lemons are an impressive, elegant dinner, sure to win hearts on Valentine’s Day. Recipe below.

Marion cooked for me on our first date. I cooked for her on our second date (which was the next night—was I moving too fast?). We only learned much later that cooking for someone this early in a relationship (is it even a relationship on the second date?) can be pitted with minefields. Somehow we survived. Thousands of home cooked meals later, when we want a romantic dinner, home cooking often wins out over restaurants. For this Valentine’s Day dinner, I’m turning the kitchen over to Marion.

When you are thinking about a romantic dinner, presentation is as important as taste. You want to create something that is delicious, but that also honors the beauty of the occasion. And it helps to have something that is easy to assemble, and that you can put together beforehand—no sense fussing around in the kitchen when you could be with your guest, opening the champagne. Continue reading “For Valentine’s Day, a pair of birds you’ll love” →

Harlem enjoys a restaurant renaissance

This week, the USA Character Approved Blog honors Black History Month with a series of posts celebrating African-American history, culture and contributions in many fields. For my post, I took a look at a restaurant renaissance going on in Harlem.

The Great Migration in the early 20th century brought an influx of African-Americans to Harlem from the South. This set the stage for the Harlem Renaissance, a blossoming of African-American culture that resonated not only through the New York neighborhood, but across America. Harlem’s new residents also brought their rich history of Southern cuisine with them. Continue reading “Harlem enjoys a restaurant renaissance” →