entertaining

Magic Trick: Divine Ice Cream Made In a Plastic Bag

At a dinner party New Yorker food critic Hannah Goldfield attended last summer, one of the hosts served ice cream that had the mind-blowing effect of a magic trick. Here’s how, with a recipe.

Key Lime or Lemon Hand Pies for Desperate Times

Wondering how could I quickly create the effect of great key lime (or lemon) pie without actually making a whole pie, I devised this delectable stripped-down hand pie, made of a few readily-available ingredients. Fast comfort for desperate times.

Roasted Lemons: 3 Ingredients Yield Mighty Dazzle

As my cooking gets simpler and simpler, I rely on easily-created hits of flavor to dazzle. A favorite of late is roasted lemons, which I often throw into the oven as I’m making the rest of the meal. They liven up ANYTHING. They are totally addictive.

Wines to Drink with Junk Food from Chitos to Pork Rinds (Anthony Giglio)

Wine writer Anthony Giglio was the first to really consider what wines to drink with the junk food so many secretly love. So we compiled a list of “the best of” his solid pairings, and the illuminating thinking behind them.

the thrills and miracles of ‘mystery’ wine dinner parties

It’s exciting to open mystery wines that promised to be great once but have languished so long, it’s impossible to know if there’s something delicious inside. When one proves to be lovely, it’s like a little miracles has arrived.

Foolproof Slow-Roasted Salmon: a Food 52 Genius Recipe + 5-Ingredient and Under Wonder

My go-to strategy for salmon, to make or to teach, is to slow-roast it accompanied by a simple sauce that I can make ahead. I’m thriled that Food52 considers it Genius…

A Sicilian Cook’s Perfect Tomato Salad

The most perfect tomato salad I’ve ever had was made by wine writer Anthony Giglio following the formula of Lucia Lo Presti, his Sicilian mama-on-law. Here’s her formula.

Ease and Many Pleasures in a Cookbook Pot-Luck

Our clever friend Fran Black’s brilliant innovation of the traditional pot-luck dinner party model where guests are asked to bring a dish to forge an entire meal, yielded a to-die-for party that felt like Sicily.

Simple Best: Brown Sugar Lightning Cake

About the simplest and best cake recipe I learned in my long cooking career is “lightning cake”: eggy, tender and fragrant with a fine texture that belies its ease. Recently a reader shouted out: “Hey Sally, why don’t you post the Brown Sugar Lightening Cake on Improvised Life?”, so here it is.

Write Guest’s Names On Their Glasses (And Save Your Sanity)

One of the simplest, hottest tips for holiday entertaining can be done with what you’ve got on hand and will cut down on busy work and stress.

How To Have Your Cake and Serve It Too (Fran Black’s Revelation)

Fran Black, known in Australia as Dr. Fran, for her wise counsel on health matters, is an unusually outside-the-box thinker on everyday matters. Recently, she shared her revelation about the dessert she’d made for guests who were coming to dinner, and her breaking of a social taboo.

pioneer woman with wild turkey, helvetia West Virginia

Improvised Life’s Thanksgiving Toolkit

If you’re still wrapping your head around pulling Thanksgiving dinner together, here is our toolkit of Improvised Life’s best ideas from Thanksgivings past.

Essential Recipe: Simple Roasted Pears Morph Into Dazzling Desserts

As is, roasted pears are wonderful with whipped cream, creme fraiche, or a custard sauce/creme anglaise*. But they can be the inspiration for all manner of desserts.

Pumpkin Seed Sauce for Shrimp, Fish, Pork, Chips, Eggs…

While traveling in Mexico, I learned a handful of sauces whose flavors I yearn for but seem unable to find in restaurants here. Pumpkin Seed Sauce is one. It has a delicate yet earthy flavor that is delicious on just about anything.

Rustic Bean Ragout with Many Embellishments

Recently, I was challenged with cooking for a mix of Paleos, vegetarians, and a person who could not eat beans or wheat. Sigh. I fell back on a wildly successful strategy I devised years ago to feed a crowd…

Improvised Kitchen: Summer Fruit with Feta, Olive Oil and Maybe an Herb

The Blueberries, Feta and Mint recipe I love from Mindy Fox’s Salads: Beyond the Bowl is a play on a classic pairing of watermelon with feta. The possibilities for improvising on it are endless when you’re shopping summer markets. Here are some ideas.

How to Make the Most of The Delicious End of Asparagus Season

Asparagus season, usually a fleeting few weeks in Spring, is peaking now. I recommend REVELING in them while you can. New asparagus has an extraordinary pea-like flavor that you can unlock by simply steaming them until crisp-tender. Add butter, or a fried egg and Parmigiano.

Earl Gray Tea (and Other) Butter Cookies

When I want a dessert for a dinner party, I often turn to this recipe for delectable, melt-in-your-mouth cookies fragrant with butter and the caramel flavors of light brown sugar and Earl Gray tea, with its citrusy-floral scent.

Hey Vegetarians and Lazy Dogs: Check out this Faux Veal Stock

Years ago, I learned an easy-to-make vegetarian broth from chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten that tastes remarkably like veal stock. The main ingredient: ordinary button or cremini mushrooms in league with a few other ingredients you probably already have on hand.

A Simple Formula for Sublime Macaroni-and-Cheese

My latest iteration of mac-and-cheese is a fast, ultra-simple formula that I can tailor as needed without using a recipe, with utterly delicious results. Win-win-win.

Posts navigation