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slinging slaws + summer salads

deb — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:18:06 +0000

I had a terrific and by no means life-altering discovery this weekend — er, unless you’re me, and the concept of ‘having a life’ is an abstract one, at best — which was that my favorite dead-simple green bean and cherry tomato salad was even awesomer when made with (I hope you’re sitting down this, people) a mixture of green and yellow beans. Really!

And I know, why on earth would I bog you down with my most snooze-worthy discoveries? Because yesterday morning when I received a call asking if I’d like to be on Good Day New York today demonstrating some July 4th-worthy salads and sides, my first thought was, “ooh, I can make the prettiest green bean salad!” Followed, of course, by “wait, I have like three hours of free time today and no groceries a doctors appointment and zillion things to do and even more things to cook and I’m overdue for a haircut and my fingernails look like they’ve been through a paper shredder and not a single cute dress to wear and zomg I am not ready for my closeup!“, or you know, the usual neuroses. I said yes, of course. I am pretty sure that’s what you’re supposed to do when a morning show asks you to be a guest, not that my life has given me a lot of practice pondering such weighty conundrums.

Thus, if you’re coming here today because you saw Deb and her double-chins on Good Day New York this morning, welcome! Here’s what else I showed off today:


Watermelon and Feta Salad with Chopped Vegetables	Not Your Mama’s Cole Slaw

Broccoli Slaw	Roseanne Cash’s Americana Potato Salad

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dead simple slaw + 6 heat wave reprieves

deb — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:05:48 +0000

I have paused before posting because I’m certain that if I tell you about yet another slaw recipe, you’re going to revolt. There’s been my favorite classic, a green onion slaw, an Indian version and then four additional ones (a blue cheese version of my favorite, a pickled slaw, a spicy radicchio slaw and a Asian-inspired napa slaw) in an NPR article. One could say I was just a little bit into coleslaw.

And you’d think with seven slaw recipes logged and blogged, I’d consider the topic of slaw done. Complete. It’s coverage exhausted. And yet, I am in no way capable of ignoring a new way to mix for ribbons of cabbage and dressing, especially since it has fewer ingredients and more punch than my standard, and it was designed to go dreamily on a bun with shredded barbecue.

Alas, you might be aware that we’re experiencing a barely-noticeable rarely-commented-on heat wave in these parts of the country. I find I am only able to discuss it sarcastically: the city smells magnificently, the humidity is totally manageable and, oh, I have cooked dinner every night. I mean, who doesn’t cook when there’s a heat wave?

... Read the rest of dead simple slaw + 6 heat wave reprieves on smittenkitchen.com

30 ways to be a good guest

deb — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:51:44 +0000

As Alex and I go into yet another summer without a patio to house an outdoor grill and a dozen of our nearest and dearest, this means but one thing: doing our best to get ourselves invited to as many barbecues, pot-lucks and patio parties as we can. Nobody can say that we don’t have goals.

Of course, when trying to convince people that you’d be a welcome guest at their party and not, say, the type of person who will drink all of their sangria, teach their children off-color jokes and ultimately pass out in a chaise lounge in the shade, not to be found until long after the shindig has wound down, it helps to have a cooking blog–the kind you’d like to bring samples from.

In fact, I find that the number of invitations we receive correlates closely with the number of times I promise to arrive bearing slaw, sides or cake. Especially the cake. (And to think people said you couldn’t buy friends!)

As we gear up for a barbecue a day this holiday weekend, I have rounded up some of the things I’m considering bringing along, but I think we all know that what I’m really going to do is make all new things because I am allergic to cooking anything twice. But don’t let that stop you from considering one of the things below (and then drinking all of the sangria, because they’ll be so in love with your cooking, they’ll forgive you.)

... Read the rest of 30 ways to be a good guest on smittenkitchen.com

17 flourless dessert ideas

deb — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:43:55 +0000

Every year, I see Passover-friendly recipes that frighten me: Brick-like honey cakes; “sponge” cakes that still haunt my mother, who was got these in lieu of birthday cakes most years growing up with the bad luck of an April birthday; dinner rolls that my father likens to “hockey pucks” and macaroons that nobody (besides me) likes. And every year, I wonder: what ever happened to impossible-to-hate flourless chocolate cakes and truffles? Desserts lifted with egg whites? Ground nuts instead of flour? Do people even realize that one of the most popular peanut butter cookies on earth has exactly no flour in it?

Well, you know what I say? This year in Dessert Epiphany. I promise to stop ranting from this point forward and instead use this post as a repository for the kinds of Passover desserts that you’d be proud to bring to dinner. And for those of you who do not celebrate Passover, fear not, matzo meal only shows up in one of these recipes, and even there, only in a crust. In short: you don’t need the reminder of 40 years in the dessert to find an excuse to make these, but if you ask me, it’s a good reason as any.

For example, did you know that Payard–yes, that Payard–makes a Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookie? It’s in his new book, Chocolate Ephiphany which New York Magazine gave us a preview of yesterday. I tried them out last night, and oh, an epiphany they were, and then some. I know what you’re thinking: just like chocolate meringues! Yet, they’re not–the egg whites are not whipped, just whisked with powdered sugar (a recipe for Passover-friendly powdered sugar is below) and really good cocoa. It couldn’t be easier, and it is gluten-free, dairy-free and a one-bowl (plus a cutting board) recipe to boot.

... Read the rest of 17 flourless dessert ideas on smittenkitchen.com

groundhog day

deb — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:46:08 +0000

All week, Alex has been sick with a cough, cold and scary-high fever, so it should be little surprise that I am now, too. What a sorry sight we are! Somewhere in the marriage contract should be a requirement that only one of us is sick at a time, or who will wait on us hand and foot? Anyone? Hello? [Radio silence.] Germophobes.

Nevertheless, this is a great time to catch up on some housekeeping, especially because I can do it from the sofa while Martha shows some beefy guys how to make brats-in-blankets–beefy guys, bratwurst… I’m starting to feel better already!

Death By Chocolate: Remember that Napa trip you sent us on last summer? Well, the good folks at Culinate are at it again and this time they want to send one food blogger and one reader on a trip for two to Napa Valley to attend the Copia Center’s annual Death by Chocolate Festival on Feburary 23, 2008 for a day of chocolate and wine tasting, demonstrations by pastry chefs and other sessions with chocolate junkies like yourself.

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viennese cucumber salad

deb — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:15:58 +0000

My first day back to work after New Years started with my laptop flat lining, having to clean the office pantry microwave after my oatmeal blew up in it, finding myself completely and frantically over my head in a new bit of work I personally requested the week before and a wind-tunneled trip to the new Apple store to gaze at the shiny brightness. In short, I had hoped to be gently eased into 2008, but since that wasn’t in the cards for me, I ended it with a dinner of French Toast. What? Tell me that you’re not jealous.

But you know what else I did, you know, in my maple syrup haze? I completed one half of one of my smittenkitchen new years resolutions! See that over there in the sidebar? Yup, that would be a cooking or kitchen Tip of the Day from little old me. (Hat tip to problogdesign.com for spelling this method out so clearly!) I’ve got a few kinks to work out–like an RSS feed for that category, as I’ve realized these aren’t working–but as I populate the archives, you should start seeing bits of information I’ve picked up over the years spit out to you in bytes. Comments are open, so if you find my Buttermilk Recipe, for example, to be totally off its rocker, feel free to tell me so. It wouldn’t be the first time.

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96 favorites

deb — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:44:27 +0000

Happy New Year!

I had no idea how busy I’d been in 2007–and this is just a subset of what was cooked in the Smitten Kitchen this past year! Dare we top this in 2008?

... Read the rest of 96 favorites on smittenkitchen.com

caramel cake

deb — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 22:04:24 +0000

I know. I know what you’re thinking: this is out of control. This non-stop sugar/butter/egg/flour assault needs to stop. Our hips! Our abs! For the love of all that was once taut and perky, Deb, no more desserts! And I want you to know, I couldn’t agree more. I, too, strive for balance. I, too, swore those jeans were looser before Thanksgiving.

Yet Dec. 30 is no time to be burdened with these lofty soup-and-salad goals. What else will we have to live down, and resolve ourselves better than, on New Years Day? Salad in December is like… mistletoe in January.

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israeli salad + pita chips

deb — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:53:33 +0000

First I talked about madeleines, and although they’re lovely (though mine were less so), they don’t exactly have a high originality quotient. Then I totally side-stepped my week of non-cooking by throwing some “new feature” at you, and now, well now I’m going to tell you that you can make a salad out of cucumbers, tomatoes and onions. And I know you’ve got to be thinking: you don’t say!

Although on another week–perhaps one without heaps of barbeques for all that red, white and boom spread about–I might skip over the simple Israeli Salad, I know that if you’re still looking for that easier-than-pie dish to bring to a pot-luck barbeque tomorrow, we really need to talk. Israeli Salad isn’t just as dish, as much as it is a palette to build your salad dreams upon.

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such a fine and natural sight

deb — Fri, 25 May 2007 15:43:11 +0000

As we often do at the end of a summery day, Alex and I had a barbecue last night. No, we haven’t moved out of our “penthouse,” nor have we figured out how to reappropriate our one square-foot fire escape landing as a deck, nor did we didn’t schlep out to Brooklyn where open spaces are less of an anomaly. Nope, we had it right inside our own apartment. Alex made a massive batch of “his” barbeque sauce, I made the baked beans, we slivered some cabbage and tossed it with coleslaw dressing, seared some chicken sausages from Whole Foods (that completely freaked me out because they had black beans, whole ones, inside–ew) and popped open a couple cold ones.

When you’re as barbecue-obsessed as we are, you can’t be limited by your lack of grill and patio. These everywhere-but-nyc standards are just minor setbacks, wee hurdles to overcome. The only thing you really need for an awesome barbecue is good company and failure-free recipes.

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