Improvised Life has published A LOT of recipes in its long life, many geared to the holidays. We’re figuring that for many people, this year’s holidays are still going to be improvised and untraditional. Here are a few ideas for whatever form your fete takes. There are lots of ways to celebrate.
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In late September, as cool weather creeps in, I become aware that the waning moments of summer tomatoes are imminent. I hunger for a last bit of lusciousness that only food in its season can convey. I pick out some “real” tomatoes at the farmer’s market to savor the perfect, simple way I learned from my friend Anthony Giglio, and to preserve for winter enjoyment. And I read Pablo Neruda’s ode.
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We’re seeing apples everywhere and FEELING the yearly hunger for warm apple desserts…so we pulled out our most potent recipes…
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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.
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These tumultuous days, my hunger is for starchy things with deep savor that don’t take much work. And by necessity, simple ingredients. I turn frequently to a transformative formula.
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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.
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Years ago, I learned a simple recipe for boosting my immune system from a legendary homeopathic doctor. He swore by it, and I’ve come to too. I’ve been drinking it twice daily since the fierce virus scare started and each time, feel its strengthening effect.
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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.
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All over town we’re seeing signs of people felled by the stunning heat wave, sleeping on benches under shady trees, lounging lethargically on the grass in parks. We’ve compiled some unexpectedly refreshing ways to cope…
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Being a truly wild food that seems to defy cultivation of any scale, ramps are truly delicious and root me in the season. I especially love them braised in olive oil with bucatini or spaghetti and Parmigiano Reggiano, THE pasta dish for spring.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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.
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