Cooking the Books
« Previous EntriesIndian, everyday
Thursday, June 25th, 2009I could eat Indian food everyday, and so I was delighted to discover Monica Bhide’s new book, Modern Spice: Inspired Indian Flavors for the Contemporary Kitchen, which offers an easy-breezy, 21st-century spin on subcontinental spice. My review of this fresh, piquant book appeared yesterday on the Washingtonian magazine website.
Click here to read my review, and here for my favorite recipe from the […]
Recipe for happiness: Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, NYC
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009The more curmudgeonly among us would call an entire store devoted to cookbooks a recipe for bankruptcy, but to me it’s sheer happiness. As you might have guessed from reading this blog, I LOVE cookbooks. As an extension of this love, I ADORE cookbook stores. Too bad they’re so scarce. I’ve already filled you in […]
Pizza bianca
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008Finally another update in our review of Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian! Today’s recipe is “white pizza,” or pizza without tomato sauce, which Mark B. describes as “the mother of all pizzas.” As it makes an appearance on the list of “20 essential vegetarian dishes,” we tried it a few nights ago.
Regular readers […]
Adventures in cheese-making
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008Finally, the labors of my cheesecloth excursion have borne fruit — I made cheese! (Pictured above on a tray of cocktail snacks alongside tapenade, olives and saucisson sec.)
I realize that it is madness to make cheese in the country that (practically) invented cheese, but such is my dedication to you, mes amis, and this blog’s […]
Biryani love
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008These troubling times call for comfort food, plain and simple. As the world financial markets crash, I wouldn’t be surprised if mac-and-cheese and mashed potato purveyors experienced a sudden spike in business. And so, seeking shelter in a soothing dish of steamy, starchy saltiness, I prepared Mark Bittman’s “biryani” from his book How to Cook […]
Eggplant from heaven
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008Do you believe in fate, mes amis? How else can I explain the marvelous confluence of forces — dare I call it synergy? — that led to this delicious Indian baingan bharta.
With my chili-loving friend Arthur coming over for dinner, I knew I had to bring the spice. After some quick googling (I typed in the […]
Tuscan beans (better the second day)
Monday, September 29th, 2008Apologies for last week’s brief hiatus. Another project sucked away all our cooking time… but it’s over now (we think). If this all sounds a bit cloak-and-dagger, it’s just because we’re superstitious. We will reveal more about this project-of-mystery soon!
Before the busyness took over, we prepared “white beans, Tuscan style” from Mark Bittman’s How to […]
Zucchini pancakes, two ways
Friday, September 19th, 2008Squash, courgette, zucchini, call it what you will, but the vegetable is threatening to take over the world! Or, at least the market (and certainly the garden). It’s everywhere, it’s cheap… and it’s one of the main ingredients of Mark Bittman’s “vegetable pancakes” from his book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, a recipe that we […]
Dry-pan eggplant — egg-cellent!
Monday, September 15th, 2008With eggplant season drawing to a close, and in the spirit of continuing my review of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, I decided to try Mark Bittman’s recipe for “dry-pan eggplant.” This recipe is also on the book’s list of “20 essential vegetarian dishes” and it well deserves its spot — it is fantastic!
Essential Stir-fry
Friday, September 12th, 2008Bonjour mes amis! We’re back again with another edition of Cooking the Books; this time we tried the “stir-fried vegetables” from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman.
After a lifetime of eating Chinese food, not to mention four solid years of living in Beijing, stir-fry is no stranger to me. But, this recipe was included on […]