Even though it’s one of my favorite cuisines, I rarely cook Japanese food because many of the dishes are very complex and you need special ingredients. Braised daikon with mushrooms is very simple to make. It does require a couple of unusual ingredients that I always try to keep in my pantry. I try to stock up on them at the Japanese grocers, but you can get dashi, mirin and dry Chinese mushrooms or fresh shiitakes in many Korean-run “bodegas” here in New York and many places online.
LUCK is what you need to grow tomatoes these days because at any moment globally warming ENRAGED Momma Nature can throw drought, flood, frost, hail, etc. to seriously dent or demolish your tomato harvest. If you’re lucky and you get tomatoes and you have too many tomatoes, I encourage you to make Bread & Butter Green Cherry Tomato Pickles. You can also just buy green tomatoes as they have also been showing their faces at many a green market these days for fried green tomatoes. They are delish but these are healthier and keep better.
The third annual Pie Party Potluck LIVE! was held on May Day 2014. Food bloggers, food writers and food professionals gathered at GE Monogram Design Center, each with a pie or two to share in celebration of their mutual affection for PIES!
Pie Party is simple concept: make pie, bring pie, eat pie, take pie home. This year it was like the Pie Oscars because we had a step and repeat banner; guests posed on the “bread” carpet with their creation before adding it to the spread. We had over 75 divine pies and much Pie Love was shared and enjoyed by all.
I dreamt up a new savory pie featuring goat brie for my Pie Party Potluck LIVE! event, paired with buttery leeks, pear and bacon. Using a brie for quiche requires a bit of planning because you don’t want to lose the cheese in the pie, but the results are dreamy…
Looking for something new to crunch on? Try delicious nori chips made from sheets of seaweed. Not talking about the Korean-Japanese chips that you get in the package, although I do love those as an on-the-go savory snack. I’m talking about a nori chip that thinks it’s a taco chip. It’s having an identity crisis and who benefits? We do!
Sometimes it seems if it weren’t for bacon, I might starve. Like I wrote in my song, “Bacon Makes Everything Better,” and it often makes my breakfast better. But not by in the traditional way of a side of bacon, but better with bacon fried rice. If you have just one strip of bacon, one egg and some old rice and any sort of veggies, you, too, can make a delightful breakfast.
Spring only has one job and that’s to bring the rhubarb. I love the combo of strawberries and rhubarb, and a strawberry rhubarb compote is super easy to whip up and have on hand to feed my hankerings.
Swoon… that was my reaction to eating well made, homemade caramels. I believe the first salted caramels I ever tasted were from Fran’s Chocolates in Seattle. All hail the Queen! It was many years ago and I remember thinking,“Oh my god! What HEAVEN is this?”
