News
My Favorite Summertime Lunch!
Here it is: salted tomatoes, red onion, extra sharp cheddar, (this year’s new addition – sliced pepperoncini), all arranged on sourdough toast and melted. The Husband calls it The Air Sandwich, but I find it very satisfying.
Green Chile Cheese Portobello Burger
Some of the greatest chiles you’ll ever eat hail from New Mexico’s Hatch Valley, which is why – naturally enough – tiny Hatch, New Mexico is known as “The Chile Capital of the World.” This being the season for Hatch chiles, I thought it might be fun to showcase them…
Crispy Tomato Salad
Even though fresh local tomatoes start popping up at the market in July, they don’t really hit their peak until August – and that’s when I get happy. The tomato is absolutely my favorite vegetable (even if it is technically a berry). This crispy tomato salad combines cooked tomatoes and…
Turkish Breakfast By the Water
When we were shooting Season 14 of my show in May I got to have breakfast at Digermen Diftlik https://degirmenltd.com/kahvalti/ an organic farm, cannery, restaurant and olive museum https://www.oleatrium.com/on the coast outside of Kusadasi, Turkey, where a women’s collective produces everything from cheeses to jams and canned olives. Turkish breakfast…
Blueberry Streusel Tart
If you happen to be one of those folks who’s daunted by the mechanics of pie-making – all that rolling out and crimping! –then this may be the tart of your dreams. The tin used here boasts a fluted edge, which means there’s no fancy crimp work required of y-o-u. …
Casa Gispert – One of Barcelona’s Oldest Food Stores
Not only do they roast all kinds of nuts in house (the place smells heavenly), they also feature many Catalan spices and ingredients as well as foreign delicacies. I may or may not have bought a ton of small bags of freshly toasted nuts to bring back home. We visited…
Three Melon Soup
This soup, a real showstopper, is as much fun to look at as it is refreshing to eat. The key, though, is to start with the ripest and most fragrant fruits available. In the case of the cantaloupes and honeydews, the first move is to smell the stem end to…
The Negresco! A Very Special Cocktail
In the early eighties I worked at a restaurant called La Tulipe on west 13th Street in New York City. It was a fine dining establishment, awarded 3 stars by the New York Times. Every part of the menu was well thought out including the house cocktail called the Negresco.…
My Jacques Pepin Dinner was a Hit!
On July 12 I prepared a dinner for 16 people at my house to celebrate Jacques Pepin’s 90th birthday and raise money for the Jacques Pepin Foundation. Not only did I bring in $1600 for the JPF but I also had a great dinner party. It made me realize how…
Tomato Mozzarella and Basil Tart
There are very few things more delicious than tomatoes in season. Sure you can buy them all year round, but these imports tend to be mealy and flavorless, so why bother? This tart is a celebration of the tomato at the peak of its perfection, namely right now. One important…