Pumpkin Ravioli in Green Garlic Brown Butter Sauce

I could put fresh young garlic in just about anything.... These ravioli's come from Raffettos - a great homemade pasta place on w. houston and 6th. If I can't make my own ravioli (it's way too hot for that kind of kitchen duty), I will gladly eat theirs. Finished with finely chopped almonds and parmesan cheese.

Garlic Rib eye with Broccoli Rabe

It was just one of those nights where the only acceptable meal was a perfectly tender steak and a very large glass of red wine.

Rum Raisin Rice Pudding

Everyone has a favorite childhood food memory. I'm not sure I can narrow it down to just one. There are the still warm chocolate chip cookies from the now extinct cookie counter at Bloomingdales... salty soft pretzels with mustard on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum... egg custards from the farmer's market... the list goes on and on. However, one fond food memory that stands out above the rest is my mom's rice pudding recipe. Granted, her version didn't involve macerating raisins in rum first and then folding in rum-infused whipped cream into the mix, but hers somehow tasted better. My version was was made with basmati rice and had a richer spice blend. It was tasty - still comforting, the way a food memory should be, but didn't transport me the way I'd hoped. Maybe I can convince my mom to make a batch the next time I visit...

Four Basil Tomato Salad

This summer we planted several basil varieties: Thai basil, holy basil, purple basil, spicy globe basil, etc. I was feeling extravagant, (and irritated with the tomato phobia sweeping the nation) so I made a tomato salad with not one, not two, not three, but four different types of basil! Take that- tomato-phobes. p.s. these are grape tomatoes and have been exempted from the salmonellosis outbreak - as have been cherry tomatoes and vine-ripe tomatoes. It is probably a safer bet to always use organic, vine-ripe tomatoes anyway. A word to the wise: if your suspect tomato was found lying prostrate inside of a big mac, suffocating alongside neon orange "cheese" in a taco bell challupa, or cowering under the bright lights of your corner deli's salad bar - I'd take a pass. Salmonella or not, those sad tomatoes deserve an FDA warning any day of the week.

One of these things is not like the other

Part I: The Dilemma
As the blazing mid-June heat bore down on me, I was caught in a conundrum. Do I fire up the grill, cognizant of the full gravitas of outdoor cuisine and the condiments it rightfully warrants? Do I dress burger after burger, mechanical in my denial, til the autumn chill nudges me back indoors.... or do I crack under the pressure, and shun the burger, tempted by my desire to adorn each patty with a certain condiment, but paralyzed by my disgust and condemnation of HFCS.

Not one to back down from a challenge, I did the only thing I could do in this situation. I made my own...

Part II: The Test Kitchen
flash forward 4 hours, one 28 oz can of tomatoes and various other mystery spices later...

Part III: The Taste Test

Can you tell the difference? Well yeah, you probably can. But that's sort of The Point, ya know?

The Sous Chef could smell the offending sample 3 feet away, whereas the new and improved HFCS-free version had a pleasant, vine-ripened aroma. The texture? Well mine was less viscous (but just barely)-- however I attribute that to the notable absence of HFCS AND CS (I have no idea why you need both).

Part IV: The Finale
The end result was just as tasty, if not MORE tasty than your run-of-the-mill ballpark weener. And it didn't hurt that we used grass-fed uncured beef hot dogs topped with my own sweet pickle relish. With every bite the cloud of uncertainty lifted. Summer would continue as planned.

Crackled Chorizo & Quail Eggs over Arugula

I'm a hardcore breakfast fan. Pancakes, eggs, toast, bacon... If that is presented to me on a Sunday morning on a tray with fresh squeezed orange juice and a rosebud, all the better. But this morning I decided to embrace a more egalitarian tradition of dining: brunch. I tossed baby arugula with crispy bits of port wine reduced chorizo, grilled shrimp, sliced hardboiled quail eggs with a lemon parsley dijon vinaigrette. It didn't taste like pancakes, and I wasn't wearing pajamas, but it tasted pretty good all the same.

Sour Cherry Gin Sling

The trouble with making homemade, delicious cocktails is that by the time I actually pour it into the glass, I am more concerned with drinking it than taking its picture. Such was the case with the sour cherry gin slings. It took me 45 minutes to make the cherry syrup from scratch and my guests were thirsty!

House of Hummus

Thanks to the Sous Chef for resurrecting last year's hummus recipe. It tasted terrific, but he is a perfectionist and thought it needed one last final tweak. I assure you, it didn't. Drizzled w/ Lebanese olive oil and dusted with smoked sweet paprika.

a sad tale to tell

my peas died. all at once. the blazing new york heat wave crushed their tender sprouts - they never had a chance. we are in mourning.

It really is in the water

Homemade New York bagels for breakfast. Why? Because we can. They are a lot easier to make than you'd think.

"Wait! You left a box of Duck eggs in my refrigerator!"

In the fervor of our crazy dinner with the Seattle chef, a box of pristine duck eggs were left in the fridge. I discovered them the next day. Slightly more robust than your average chicken egg and a delightfully oblong shape.... I did what any picnic-food loving american would do -- I minced some beautiful ramps from the market and blended them into a mix of fresh chives, smoked paprika and turmeric -- garnished with saffron and delfino cilantro. all from the market (except for the saffron). did I mention that I love the market? well, I do. And now, I also love duck eggs.

A moment of silence, please.

For the glorious bounty of the Saturday morning farmer's market.

What is the number one thing NOT to be carrying when you get your car towed in Manhattan?

You guessed it. A five-pound octopus. "Why the hell?", might you ask, "would someone obtain such a creature?" That is irrelevant. What IS relevant is how we had to tote this guy to the impound lot on 38th and 12th, pay an ungodly amount of money (do you know how many octopi I could have purchased?!!!), wait in a small room with bulletproof windows for an obscene amount of time with other angry New Yorkers in order to retrieve my car. It was 4pm. I had 2 hours to get home to meet my lovely dinner guests and transform my octopus into dinner. Were we deterred? Never. It occurred to me that if I had no alternative but to be stuck in a small room for way too long with city employees who (I am convinced) were relishing the collective shame and discomfort of my fellow traffic violators, then what harm could it do to have a bag packed full of dead fish - an olfactory time bomb just waiting to go off. The Sous Chef of course was an ocean of calm through all of this. While I envisioned myself pelting window number two with raw mussels, he sat unmoved, coolly contemplating the universe.
So, we obviously made it home. My lovely dinner guests, one of whom is a chef in Seattle and has done some time with an octopi or two, stepped right up to the plate and decided to cook US dinner for a change. I gladly accepted and took over as official photographer for the evening. In this pot, the Seattle chef put: red wine, cork from the wine bottle (apparently every Greek fisherman and grandmother recommends this trick), a LOT of lemon, even more salt, some herbs, an onion or two and the beast. Cover and boil for 1.5 hours.
Out of the pot the Creature emergeth...and onto the chopping block!
After a quick trip to the charcoal grill and a toss with parsley, more lemon, chickpeas, garlic and olive oil, we had a delicious grilled octopus salad -- which was only course # 1 of an entire evening's worth of luxurious post-impound dining. A sincere thank you to my new friend the Seattle chef who saw how tired we were, whisked in and saved us all from an evening of sub-par Thai takeout from the corner.

I still haven't figured out how to use the indoor grill

Rosemary skewered shrimp brushed with a pistachio parsley pesto. These guys set up my smoke alarm in about 30 seconds flat.

and on the first day, god said "Let there be Pizza"

Pizza. A divine kitchen creation. Paper-thin slices of zucchini, onion and andouille sausage with homemade crust.

Pea Update: I have a Pea!

Here they are! Ready to go outside (finally). Oh, and check out my pea! (below)

Vongole-- Finally!

I had been daydreaming about clams. steamed, baked, fried, sauteed. I couldn't get them out of my mind. Every time I went to the market I wanted to buy them, but I wasn't sure what to make. I settled on a classic - Littleneck clams with garlic, fresh tomatoes, parsley, fresh oregano, homemade pasta, white wine, lemon - you get the drift...