If we can cook it, you can cook it!

Year: 2011

New Year’s Day Black Eyed Peas, a delicious way to bring good luck and prosperity for 2012

When I was first learning my way around the kitchen, The New York Times Cookbook (Harper and Row, 1st published 1961) was my constant companion. Its editor was an immensely talented writer and cook named Craig Claiborne. So you can imagine my excitement when, quite…

Quebec’s Gift to the Holiday Table: Tourtiere du Porc Adapted from Martin Picard of Montreal’s Au Pied de Cochon

         In French Canada, Tourtiere, a wonderfully rich pork pie,  occupies a place of honor that’s likely unmatched by any other dish.  It is served ubiquitously on Christmas Eve. This holiday party even has its own name: “Reveillon“.  In French the word means ‘awakening’. This midnight…

Joe Beef’s Big Beautiful Roasted Mushrooms

  I’ve already waxed poetic over Joe Beef, that phenomenal Montreal restaurant where we craved everything we ate.  Almost everything we tried was truly over the top.  And Andrew and I were not the least bit surprised to see that “The World According to Joe…

Ina Garten’s Roasted Shrimp Cocktail with Spicy Cocktail Sauce

Flowers from the fabulous Bridgehampton Florist..where else? These shrimp are the center of attention on our Holiday Open House Buffett. Ina Garten is a goddess around here. She lives in the next town over and has for years and years. Before becoming the TV star and…

By Special Request: Monte’s Ham and Cheese Strata

By Special Request: Monte’s Ham and Cheese Strata

           Recently, I was in charge of a Church breakfast.  I chose to make this wonderful dish: a gloriously cheese-topped casserole with crisp oversized croutons over a creamy egg and tender ham filling. Well the result was spectacular and the requests…

Three authentic Austrian cookie recipes from Her Ladyship, Martha Stracey

Three authentic Austrian cookie recipes from Her Ladyship, Martha Stracey

From top to bottom: Husaren-Krapferln (Cavalry Puff-balls) Marillenringe  (Apricot Rings)   Vanillekipferln (Vanilla Crescents) Lady Martha is a hands-on cook As Christmas approaches, the bakers come out in force looking for cookie recipes.  By my count, Andrew has 6 new soft cover cookie cookbooks  and magazines stacked up and ready…

Spaghetti with Crab Meat, Cherry Tomatoes and Arugula From Florence Fabricant by way of Nick and Toni’s Café, Manhattan

         Of all the restaurants in the Hamptons, none is more reliably celebrity-packed than Nick and Toni’s (136 North Main St. East Hampton, New York 11937 Phone: 631-324-3550).  But unlike so many haunts of the rich and famous, Nick and Toni’s has spectacular food.  So between…

Baked’s simply incredibly delicious Sweet and Salty Chocolate Cake

Baked’s simply incredibly delicious Sweet and Salty Chocolate Cake

There’s a new shop that just opened practically across the street from us.  Across town, on the East Side, it’s called “The Best Chocolate Cake in the World”.  Somehow, on the West Side, it’s morphed into “Choco Bolo” (2058 Broadway between 70th  and 71st  Streets). Perhaps the…

Thanksgiving Way Out West: Cornbread and Sausage Dressing

        There are stuffing people and there are dressing people, but no Thanksgiving Dinner is complete without one of the two. Not even one in California. ( By the way, the only difference between stuffing and dressing is whether you put the stuff…

Thanksgiving 101: The Ultimate Cranberry Sauce

Thanksgiving 101: The Ultimate Cranberry Sauce

Jill Clark and I have been cooking together since she was in Dr. Denton’s. We’ve had so many great holidays together that The Making of the Cranberry Sauce is an annual event. And it’s taken place all over the map—even in Hong Kong. Several years…

Thanksgiving 101 – Brown Butter Pumpkin Layer Cake

The Comfort Family’s Farm on Lumber Lane in Bridgehampton. A great place to get your pumpkin if you are lucky enough to live on the East End.              Beyond Roast Turkey and Stuffing, there’s nothing that says Thanksgiving more than pumpkin.…

Lillian Hellmann’s Empanadas

Lillian posed for Blackgama Mink for which she was roundly criticized.  The late Wendy Wasserstein          Before you think I am fixated on Lillian Hellmann, Playwright, Author and Memoirist, I feel compelled to admit that you may be right.  Lillian Hellmann’s Pot Roast, which I…

Thanksgiving 101: Gratin of Sweet Potatoes and Leeks

Thanksgiving 101: Gratin of Sweet Potatoes and Leeks

          My friend Betty once told me a riotous story of being invited to a Thanksgiving dinner and being asked to “bring something”.  When she arrived on the big day, there were 12, count ’em, sweet potato casseroles.  Lesson learned: If…

To Montreal again and to Iron Chef Chuck Hughes’ newest hit “Le Bremner” plus his incredible recipe for Beef Short Ribs with Cambozola

            Andrew and I felt as if we already knew Chuck Hughes before we even arrived at his latest Montreal venue, “Le Bremner”  (361 Rue St. Paul East, Montreal H2Y 1H2 Tel: 514-544-0466 ) in the heart of Old Montreal.  We’d been following Chuck…