food + cooking

Lucia LoPresti’s Secret to Perfect Tomato Sauce

I mark the day I started making great tomato sauce when I spent an afternoon in Lucia Lo Presti’s kitchen. The secret she taught me is simple and yields an astonishingly rich, silky sauce. With it came a glimpse of a unique way of life —Sicily in New Jersey— that her wine writer son-in-law Anthony Giglio first introduced me to…

Sandro’s Lemon Pasta Is Fast and Comforting

When I am feeling low, I often make NYC chef Sandro Fioriti’s lovely Pasta al Limone, It take no time or odd ingredients to make and is both comforting and divine.

Ways to Eat Cherries, With a W.S. Merwin Poem

Fruit eaten in its season is even better eaten with a poem. When we stumbled on this W.S. Merwin poem, we realized we were in the last moments of cherry season. It’s a perfect accompaniment to our favorite cherry feasts.

How to Eat an Apricot

Diane Ackerman’s poem “The Consolation of Apricots” gives a sense of just how far an apricot can launch you into reverie. It also gives instructions for how to eat one. I’ve added my own two-cents about how to find great apricots, and what to do if you can’t, along with a recipe for the effect of summer apricots all year long.

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.

Alice B. Toklas’ Asparagus in Salt & Pepper Whipped Cream “A Thing of Beauty”

In her famous cookbook, Alice B.Toklas called Madame Loubet’s Asparagus Tips “a gastronomic feast. And a thing of beauty.” They are. Here’s how to make them.

Cracked Coriander is the New Pepper

For years I’ve kept a small tin of toasted cracked coriander seeds in my spice drawer to use as an emergency flavor enhancer. Its slightly lemony-orangy-herbal flavor and pleasing crackle provides the perfect little alt-note on all sorts of unexpected foods.

Mallomar, the Seasonal, Interactive, Pop Culture Cookie

Available only in winter months when it’s real chocolate coating won’t melt, Mallomars are a deeply satisfying seasonal cookie that inspires very personal improvisation…(and has MANY cultural references to boot).

Miracle of Transformation: An Easy Way to LactoFerment Foods at Home

Having tried and failed with my own lacto-fermentation rig, I found a tool and two books that made for satisfying success in my fermentation experiments.

Secrets of a Divine Egg Salad Sandwich from Harlem’s Premiere Caterer

Although I cooked professionally for decades, I somehow never got how great an egg salad sandwich could be I tasted Amuse Bouche’s AND learned their secrets…

An Astonishing Poem of Instructions for Eating Persimmons and of Course, Way More

‘Persimmons’ tells a number of tiny stories, and lovely, very precise instruction about chosing and eating persimmons, which are in season now. It is one of the most remarkable poems I’ve read.

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…

Ode to Tomatoes, for the Last Days of Summer (Neruda with Recipes)

Every September, aware that the last moments of perfect summer tomatoes are imminent, I prepare them these simple ways in of advance winter, and remember Neruda’s lovely ode.

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.