Tastes like… victory: Quick, delicious Potato and Cherry Tomato Salad

Fingerling potatoes and cherry tomatoes tossed with a lively mustard vinaigrette—something this easy shouldn’t taste this good. Recipe below.

Summer is drawing to a close—we have a real blanket on the bed, we are wearing sweaters in the evening, and we are casting around for ways to use the bits and bobs that we harvest here from our apartment garden. The nation’s corn crop may have gone to hell this year, but our tomato crop is record-breaking. Outside, we have just a tiny scrap of ground under cultivation, but it is giving us a quart of cherry tomatoes every day, on bad days—and that is to ignore the big tomatoes, which are coming in with a vengeance. Continue reading “Tastes like… victory: Quick, delicious Potato and Cherry Tomato Salad” →

Small Bites: The organic vs. non-organic story continues and the winner of our first giveaway

Feedback and fallout continue to follow the recently released Stanford study claiming that organic food is no more nutritious than conventional food. And we pick the winner of a copy of Minette’s Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat.

I love a good verbal dust-up, a spirited exchange of ideas. I’m not so sure a couple of Stanford University scientists would agree right now. They unleashed quite a torrent with their recent statement that organic foods were no more nutritious than non-organic foods. More specifically, Dr. Dena Bravata, an MD and the senior author of the study published in the September 4 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, said, “There isn’t much difference between organic and conventional foods, if you’re an adult and making a decision based solely on your health.” And that’s where the fun begins. Continue reading “Small Bites: The organic vs. non-organic story continues and the winner of our first giveaway” →

Flavor meets tender: Grilled Asian Flank Steak

Dry brining flank steak tenderizes it. Marinating it in ginger, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, scallions, hot sauce and more makes it a show-stopping main course. Recipe below.

I use the word flavorful a lot here, I know. Sometimes, I think I should reserve it for flank steak. Before going any further, let me share my own idea of what flavorful means. It’s not a one-note taste bud bomb, like a buffalo wing or a lemon wedge. To me, flavorful means engaging multiple corners of the palate at once, bringing layer after layer of tastes and combining them beautifully. If done right, flavorful means stopping conversation at the dinner table with the first bite. Which is what the flank steak pictured here did on Labor Day. Continue reading “Flavor meets tender: Grilled Asian Flank Steak” →

Organic vs. non-organic: A flawed Stanford study produces dangerous sound bites

A study just released by Stanford University scientists has found that organic foods—produce, meat and dairy—are no more nutritious than non-organic or conventional foods. The study also reports that they are no less likely to be contaminated. They’re probably right. They examined more than 40 years’ worth of research on the topic; the study used no outside funding to avoid any “perception of bias;” and, well, they’re scientists.

The problem with their research, as I see it, is that they asked the wrong question. No one has really seriously claimed that organic foods are more nutritious. And earlier studies on this very subject have already stated what the Stanford researchers were “surprised” to discover. To me, they missed the point. Their central question was kind of like asking if LED light bulbs are any quieter than conventional ones, or if fuel-efficient vehicles are any shinier than gas guzzlers. Continue reading “Organic vs. non-organic: A flawed Stanford study produces dangerous sound bites” →

Improvising with leftovers and sudden summer bounty: Tomato Fennel Soup

Fresh cherry tomatoes and a fennel bulb are the stars of Tomato Fennel Soup, a quick meal or starter bursting with summer flavors. Recipe below.

Every summer, it’s the same thing with our tomato plants. Nothing, nothing, nothing and then wham—tomatoes by the boatload. This summer, the timing coincided with having a leftover fennel bulb from last week’s caramelized fennel cooking adventures that wasn’t getting any younger.

Tomato Fennel Soup seemed like the obvious answer—except just about every version we found involved canned tomatoes; and most of them involved puréeing. I wanted something quick and easy, something a little on the rustic side. And I wanted to see the ingredients I was eating. So I improvised. Continue reading “Improvising with leftovers and sudden summer bounty: Tomato Fennel Soup” →

A book about Julia Child’s cat and Blue Kitchen’s first ever giveaway

I’m giving away a copy of this lovely book. Enter to win it for your favorite child—or for your own inner child. Details below.

Appropriately and charmingly enough, my review copy of Minette’s Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat arrived on the 100th anniversary of Julia Child’s birth.

Julia left behind her own tantalizing paper trail, with a mountain of cookbooks and the delightful memoir, My Life in France, that served as a source for Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia. (If you haven’t read My Life in France, do. It is wonderful.) And more than half a dozen authors have written books about her. There’s even a book about Julia and her cats—Julia’s Cats. But this is the first book about Julia’s first cat, Minette. And it’s for children. Continue reading “A book about Julia Child’s cat and Blue Kitchen’s first ever giveaway” →

Herb? Vegetable? Both: Caramelized Fennel with Fettuccine and Goat Cheese

An Italian favorite, sliced fennel bulb is sautéed until lightly browned, then served over pasta with goat cheese, lemon zest and fennel fronds. Recipe below.

The idea for this dish began with two words on a restaurant menu. We were having dinner a few weeks ago at Telegraph Restaurant and Wine Bar in our neighborhood, and Marion chose seared escolar with stuffed cherrystone clam, uni butter, caramelized fennel, orange vinaigrette and tarragon from chef Johnny Anderes’s inventive, seasonally driven menu. Caramelized fennel. It was buried in the middle of the description, but a standout on the plate.

This wasn’t the first time we’d eaten fennel (yes, I got a bite too). In fact, Marion has occasionally used it raw in salads. But caramelizing it—cooking it in a skillet until it browns, bringing out its natural sweetness—was something we hadn’t tried. Over the next couple of weeks, caramelized fennel kept popping up in our conversations as we tried to figure out what to do with it. We thought it deserved more than its usual side dish treatment. Marion suggested pasta, and a meal was born. Continue reading “Herb? Vegetable? Both: Caramelized Fennel with Fettuccine and Goat Cheese” →

The corn-free challenge: My week without corn

My week-long corn-free challenge is at an end, and these are the things I learned.

The food was the easy part. That’s the first thing I want to say about my week trying to live without corn.

During my corn-free challenge, I did have to avoid a lot of food items. Among the foods I did not eat were chicken, pork or beef unless we were assured it was grass-fed and grass-finished. I didn’t eat eggs, milk and most cheeses because they came from animals that had eaten corn. Continue reading “The corn-free challenge: My week without corn” →

Baked + grilled = easy barbecued goodness with these Chinese Spareribs

Pork spareribs are baked with a simple spice rub, then quickly grilled, basted with a mix of hoisin sauce, sherry, soy sauce, chili paste, vinegar and peach preserves. Recipe below.

For carnivores, barbecued ribs are about as good as it gets. Meaty, fatty, smoky, chewy, salty and slathered in sauce that’s a mix of tangy, sweet and spicy cooked to a sticky, finger-coating lacquer. Unfortunately—for me, at least—they’re also a challenge to cook. Continue reading “Baked + grilled = easy barbecued goodness with these Chinese Spareribs” →

Step away from the corn: The Corn-free Challenge

This summer’s drought and its devastating effect on corn points up just how much we rely on this single crop. Today, I’m beginning an experiment to see how long I can go without it.

The other day, my sister and I were noodling through the neighborhood farmer’s market and passed a farmstand offering fresh picked ears of corn. Look how small they are, my sister said. Tiny.

Yes, they are. The table corn we’ve been seeing coming to farmstands and grocery stores here in Illinois is not like last year’s. The ears are tiny, and the price is high. And that is just a glimpse of what is happening more broadly across the country, as record-busting heat and drought do their ugly work. The corn crop, Reuters wrote today, is harmed beyond repair.

This does not mean only that the price of table corn will rise. The price of anything that involves corn is going to go up. Field corn is one of the basics of industrial food, and the uses we have put it to are breathtaking. If you eat beef that is not grass fed, you will see prices rise. In fact, ranchers out west have been sending cattle to market for weeks now, way ahead of schedule, because of the murderous heat—a move that will make future beef prices even higher. If you eat grocery store chicken, you are going to see prices climb. Continue reading “Step away from the corn: The Corn-free Challenge” →