Gluten Free

Maple Ice Cream with Tipsy Raisins and Candied Cashews

Holy batman, this is delicious ice cream. I mean, seriously, criminally tasty. I am not trying to toot my own horn here, but I really need you to know—this one’s a keeper.

I am the first to admit that my previous ice cream attempts may have left something to be desired. I know that the heavy pounding of cinnamon, star anise and cardamom I gave my chocolate and spice was not, perhaps, the best. It’s all right. And let’s not dwell on my celery endeavor, which while it fulfilled Food52’s contest requirements, has also made it so I cannot stand the taste or smell of celery.

This though, this is a whole different situation. Read more »

Spiced-Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream

For my birthday this year, Paul took me to Craft and we did it up: oysters, suckling pig and a big red wine. To end the meal, we ordered a slew of ice creams engineered by Craft’s pastry chef/genius, Jenny McCoy. Her ice cream is like nothing I’ve tried before (and trust me, I have sampled my fair share of ice cream).

She makes a kiwi ice cream that not only tastes exactly of kiwi, but manages to capture the texture and bite of a kiwi too. It’s insane. When I decided to finally dust off the ice cream maker my sisters gifted me a few Christmases ago, I scoured the interwebs for some of her recipes. I found two, and this is what I learned: balanced proportions of cream + sugar + whole milk + egg yolks = deliciousness.

I also consulted David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop, and then I was off to the races. Although my first few attempts were flops (I was determined to use bar chocolate at first.…mistake), I eventually reached something I loved. By the last batch, I achieved my aim: airy, creamy, must-consume-immediately ice cream. Read more »

Halibut au Pistou with Shallots, Peppers and Fingerlings

Over the summer, I attended my first wedding. (I am twenty-six years old—it was a long time coming.) I am not sorry to say it set the bar quite high for all future nuptial celebrations. For one thing, it was held in the Irish countryside in the flush of summer. We heard mass in an aged church, led by the groom’s Irish-priest uncle. And then there was the party, impossibly posh and lovely, which continued far into the evening.

My mother is fond of saying that wedding food is terrible. “Enjoy the canapés,” she says, “because everything else will be awful.” But this is a false doctrine at 100% of the weddings I’ve attended so far. Yes, hors d’oeuvres were served, along with tall flutes of Cava on the patio (that is, before it started pouring; we were in Ireland after all). But a multi-course dinner (replete with fish forks and wine pairings) followed. And then there was a dessert bar. (Here the details start to get fuzzy. Can you blame me? It would have been a crime to let all that wine go to waste.) At some point I remember giggling with my sister over my parent’s, uh, spirited dancing. Around midnight, they set out fish and chips and other miniature fried things….Let’s just say this was not a wedding for the faint-of-stomach. Read more »

Pork Loin with Cider-Braised Leeks and Apples

Like all the best recipes, this pork looks like more effort than it actually is.  There are no fancy techniques here, no sudden movements. This dish will forgive you if you get distracted and walk away from the stove for a minute. Still, it looks pretty nice all plated up, either family-style on a serving platter or on individual dishes.

The best part? The whole thing is done in an hour, so it’s certainly manageable on a weeknight. You can use the final 20 minutes of cooking to throw together a salad, some potatoes or some other tasty root vegetable. Or you could pour yourself a glass of wine. Why not? It’s cold outside. You deserve it. Read more »

Sage-Candied Walnuts

I have never cared much for nuts. I know there are women who count small handfuls of almonds as a satisfying afternoon snack. Alas, I am not one of them. The addition of walnuts and macadamias have long been reason enough to snub my nose at salads and muffins alike. But I am starting to change. I blame it on a shop near my apartment, The Nut Box. I only stopped by in the first place because the store looked so.. well, organized. Blonde wood compartments house rows upon rows of neatly packaged and clearly labeled nuts, and I am the kind of person who stops into The Container Store for fun.

I was throwing a party over the weekend, so I thought, “what’s the harm in picking up a few things?” (Answer: there is never harm in picking up a few things, especially when “things” are obscure food items. Bonus points if you have no clear idea when or how to use them.) Read more »

Foie Gras au Gros Sel

My boyfriend and I are currently spending our second Christmas together at his family’s seaside home on the western coast of France. (I know, I have a really terrible life). We have only been here one day, but already I find myself one luscious recipe richer. Tonight we leave for his grandmother’s house, where I am hoping even more recipes await. Oh, they joys of Christmas!

While it might be shameful to admit, before last night, I never considered that one could prepare foie gras at home. I thought surely it was one of those things rendered by magical elves with fantastic meat-related powers. Surely it required chicken wire and microscopes and a secret family formula jealously guarded over five centuries. Read more »

Spice Rack, Yogurt-Marinated Chicken

I am not going to lie to you—my grilling skills are fairly nonexistent. Blame it on a lack of experience. Still, I harbor dreams of summers spent throwing everything on the grill, from peaches to pork chops, sardines to salad greens. Because let’s face it—grilling is cool. It requires knowledge of fire, how to build it and how to control it. A man (or woman) wielding tongs, intuitively determining when that rainbow trout is perfectly done—crispy on the outside and succulent on the inside—is impressive.

Fortunately for me, I have a few friends who know what they’re doing, and during a recent catch-up weekend my grilling fantasies were entertained at nearly every meal. For two days, my responsibilities were limited to languorous stretches in the pool, lengthy al fresco repasts and short trots to the fridge for another cold one. Not bad at all.

I also managed to come away with a new recipe, thanks to my friend Sonia and her excellent yogurt marinade. The dish is awesome, not just because it is delectable, and smells great, and is almost endlessly adaptable; but because it is totally forgiving for the novice grill master among us. The yogurt forms a moist seal around the chicken, and prevents it from drying out. I asked her for the recipe, and she amply provided: Read more »

Black Bean, Avocado and Pineapple Salsa

What is one to do when a fragrant pineapple and a tender avocado present themselves? Salsa seemed like a good option to me. I am a fan of this recipe for various reasons—first, I think it tastes pretty great. It is also breezy to pull together, helpful in the summer when there are far more pleasant occupations than loitering in a hot kitchen. It is also full of protein, fiber and antioxidants. So far, I have served it with halibut, swordfish and tuna, but I suspect chicken and pork would also marry happily. It tastes better after the ingredients have spent some time together, so feel free to bring it along to a BBQ, a picnic or camping. Read more »