About
My name is Michelle but my friends call me Mitch. I live in New York City. These are my adventures (and boring weekday evenings) in home cooking.Find
As you can plainly see, this is among the least photogenic edible things I’ve made. I doubt anyone will be reblogging this one on tumblr. What it lacks in appearance it makes up for in flavor: a little sweet, gently garlicky, and brightened up by lemon juice. The recipe can be found here. I found that the roasted eggplant provided enough of its own natural sweetness that I cut the amount of honey called for by half.
I like potato salad, but I really like it when it isn’t loaded with mayonnaise and is full of a bunch of other vegetables. Here’s one I made recently with a tangy mustard, vinegar, and yogurt dressing and a whole lot of dill.
1 pound potatoes, cut into bite size chunks
1/2 pound green beans
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (I like the seedy kind for this)
1 1/2 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 teaspoons white wine or champagne vinegar
1 generous tablespoon of olive oil
1 scallion stalk, chopped
1 heaping tablespoon chopped fresh dill
salt and pepper to taste
a few dashes of paprika (optional)
Blanch green beans in boiling water for about 5 minutes, then dunk them in a bowl of ice water to keep their color pretty. When they are cool enough to handle, cut into 1-inch pieces.
Put potatoes in a pot of cold salted water and bring to a boil. Cook them until they are easily pierced with a fork (I think this takes about 15 minutes, but I never keep track). Drain and let them cool off a bit.
In a bowl big enough to hold all the green beans and potatoes, combine remaining ingredients. Add green beans and potatoes and toss it all together. Serve warm, cold, or somewhere in between.
Previously: new potatoes with peas and mint,
green beans and potatoes with basil pesto
I have another fresh, easy, interesting, everything-you-need-right-now salad to share. It’s from 101 Cookbooks, with a few tweaks: lime juice instead of lemon juice, and shredded coconut instead of big flakes. Be careful when toasting the coconut — it will brown pretty quickly.
And now, since it is too hot to even type, I must go lay in a bathtub full of ice water.
I am a fan of flor de pretty-much-anything: agua de flor de Jamaica, NYC Peruvian-Chinese restaurant Flor de Mayo, the Italian fior di latte, and of course, flor de calabaza. These are squash blossoms picked from summer or winter squash that are eaten before they open up completely. They have a delicately squash-y, sweet, slightly leafy flavor. One classic way to prepare them is fried, with a simple coating of eggs and flour.
To make it: Carefully wash about squash blossoms and remove the calyces/sepals (the little green things sticking out at the base of the flower), and stamens/pistils (the flower’s reproductive organs). Pat them dry. Optional step: stuff each one with a small spoonful of ricotta, goat cheese, or a little piece of mozzarella. Lightly dredge each flower in flour, then beaten egg (I used 1 egg for 15 blossoms and there was extra), then a separate coating of flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper. Shallow-fry in a pan of hot oil for a couple minutes on each side, until golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels, and season with an additional sprinkling of salt. Devour immediately. You can even dip them in tomato sauce.
You can also saute squash blossoms and tuck them into corn tortillas (to make tacos or quesadillas) or drape them over risotto, but I’m too hooked on frying them to try either of these options.
This is some of the freshest, easiest shit you can make yourself this summer. And it even looks pretty enough to present to, say, a ladyfriend or manfriend you are trying to impress. Or people who read your food blog. You can even dump it all in a bowl, where it will look ruffly and still pretty, and take it to a potluck or picnic. It takes literally a few minutes to put together if you have a mandoline (I actually have this one) to slice with, and not too much longer if you’re using a good sharp knife.
To make it: Slice zucchini (or any other long summer squash) crosswise, as thinly as possible. Arrange on a plate. Squeeze a good amount of lemon juice all over it, followed by a good amount of salt and black pepper. Top with some kind of nut and some kind of cheese (I did walnuts and feta this time, but pine nuts and shaved Parmesan work well too). Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the salad. Top with torn fresh herbs, such as basil (and/or oregano, mint, parsley, dill, thyme… almost anything).
This basic method of shaving fresh raw vegetables and tossing them with this combination of ingredients works with all kinds of things: asparagus, fennel, celery, even beets. You can also toss the vegetables with greens, cooked grains, or pasta. Do a quick search and you’ll find other variations on food blogs and recipe websites.
I had a whole bunch of fresh CSA herbs piling up, and a garlicky buttery cream sauce was the perfect repository for them. These noodles were lightly slick with cream, not creamy in the gloppy, mouth-coating, fettucine Alfredo kind of way. Basically, they’re not so heavy that you’ll need to unbutton your pants and take a sweaty nap afterwards, which is great because there is sunshine to be enjoyed outside, dammit. They are, however, just rich enough to go with a glass of crisp white wine and/or a crisp green salad.
[Updated on July 14 because I forgot to include cream in the recipe. Oops. Thanks to Cho for the heads up.]
(serves 1)
3 oz spaghetti, linguine, fettucine, or other dried noodle-shaped pasta
1/2 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons heavy cream
as much minced garlic (and/or garlic scapes, since it’s that time of year) as you’d like
a scant 1/4 cup whatever leafy fresh herbs you have, minced (I used sage, oregano, parsley, and summer savory)
a couple shaves of lemon zest (optional)
salt and pepper, to taste
Cook pasta in boiling salted water. Drain and set aside.
Heat butter and garlic in a small pan over medium-low heat until the butter is foamy but not brown. Add cream, herbs, and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper. Heat gently until sauce is slightly thickened. Add pasta and toss it around in the pan with the cream sauce. Top with grated cheese if you’d like.
Homemade pizzas are never as perfect as the stuff you get at all the well-known pizza places here in New York (I recently spent 15 minutes describing Di Fara pizza to someone… there was a lot of chest-clutching on my part), but hot damn are they fun to make! You can make them whatever size you want, pile on a bunch of vegetables, and make ridiculous/inappropriate-in-restaurant designs and shapes with the toppings. Hell, you can even make your own cheese. Here’s a run-down of this latest pizza of mine.
The dough:
I finally gave no-knead dough a shot because lazy-made baked goods? Yes please. This is my new favorite way to make pizza dough because all you have to do is mix 4 ingredients in a bowl, then let it hang out for at least half a day.
The pesto:
Garlic scapes are the curly stems that shoot out of garlic bulbs in the early summer. They are trimmed off so that the garlic can devote all of its energy to the underground bulb. Scapes are less pungent than regular garlic cloves, and you can eat them raw or lightly cooked. I combined them with toasted pine nuts and olive oil in the food processor to make a bright green pesto. Perfect for tossing with pasta or vegetables, mixing into salad dressings and marinades, or spreading on sandwiches or pizza dough.
The cheese:
I spread big dots of homemade ricotta (more on that later) all over the dough, along with pieces of mozzarella. Shaved Parmigiano Reggiano (or some other aged, hard cheese) would’ve also been a good finishing touch.
I’ve gotten into the habit of cooking pizzas on an upside-down baking sheet that has been sitting in my oven while it preheats on the highest temperature setting. The crusts get a little more crusty this way. Since I don’t have a pizza peel, I assemble the pizzas on a piece of parchment paper, then slide it onto the hot baking sheet. The better way, according to people who are far more experienced than I am (read ‘em here and here), is to put the dough directly on an overturned pan under the broiler.
For more basic homemade pizza tips, check out the New York Times’ short slide show.
This week’s issue of New York Magazine has a delicious recipe from ABC Kitchen (a new favorite) for a simple salad with lettuce, radishes, olives, and a nutty vinaigrette. Perfect for enjoying summer radishes and all the beautiful frilly lettuces piling up at the farmers’ market and CSA shares around here. I used basil instead of tarragon and skinny green onions instead of chives. Still delicious.
I’m still on this cold/picnic/unintentionally vegan food kick. Cold sesame noodles are a classic Chinese takeout dish that easily please. They also make good use of leftover cooked noodles and warm summer days spent indoors poring over class lecture notes (no one has to smell my spicy garlic breath). I like my sesame noodles extra spicy and without peanut butter. Strips of cucumber add a little textural contrast and help cool off your tongue a bit. You can also add shredded chicken to make it a full-on meal.
(serves 1)
4 ounces fresh wheat or egg noodles, (or you could even use spaghetti)
2 tablespoons well-stirred Chinese sesame paste
1/4 teaspoon finely minced ginger
1/4 teaspoon finely minced garlic
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
garlic chili sauce (Sriracha works too) and/or hot chili oil, to taste
julienne cucumber, scallions, and toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cool water. If you’re using leftover cooked noodles sitting in the fridge, loosen them up a bit by placing them in a colander and running some warm water over them. This way, you don’t get a giant, stuck-together clump of stiff and sticky noodles.
Combine remaining ingredients (except garnishes) to make sauce. Combine noodles with sauce and toss to coat evenly. Serve with cucumber, scallions, and sesame seeds.
I’ve always had a thing for tofu in all its forms. I kind of forgot about shredded tofu until I came across a small bag of the stuff at a supermarket in Chinatown. The noodly strands are served as a cold appetizer dish (sometimes for free) at casual Chinese restaurants here and there. I don’t remember exactly where I’ve had it, but the most memorable version had rice vinegar, sesame oil, edamame, shredded carrots, and scallions in it. I attempted to recreate it, with mixed results. How do they get such bland tofu so tangy? I feel like I dumped an awful lot of vinegar into mine but couldn’t taste it very well. In any event, it’s a light and delightful thing to have around when the weather is warm and you’d rather not do much cooking. Thinly sliced celery would also add a nice crunch.
