Category Archives: General

Pumpkin, Mustard, Cream — And Fall

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A beauty of a red kabocha squash.
A beauty of a red kabocha squash.

As award-winning food writer Nigel Slater so astutely states in his newest cookbook, autumn and winter call for far different types of meals. With brisk weather and darker nights, they fairly demand more substantial and weightier fare to nourish and warm us through and through.

As his new “Greenfeast: Autumn, Winter” (Ten Speed Press) shows, though, that doesn’t necessarily dictate huge slabs of meat. In fact, in this cookbook, of which I received a review copy, he shows with 110 vegetarian recipes that even in the throes of deepest winter, you can feel mighty satiated with plant-based fare.

As always, his joyously descriptive writing is evident throughout, including in the introduction, where he unabashedly states, “There will be carbs. They protect and energize us. They bring balm to our jagged nerves.”

My kind of carbs -- fall-apart tender squash in a mustardy cream sauce.
My kind of carbs — fall-apart tender squash in a mustardy cream sauce.

Ah, a man after my own stomach.

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Three New Reads To Sink Your Teeth Into

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“Eat A Peach” By David Chang

It’s taken four years of procrastination, endless missed deadlines, and the overcoming of persistent personal demons for celebrated Chef David Chang to write “Eat a Peach” (Clarkson Potter). But it was well worth the wait.

The chef who grew a bare-bones New York ramen joint into the global juggernaut now known as Momofuku has written an honest, earnest, and raw memoir. Whether you’re a fan of the man or of his restaurants, you won’t be able to put this down.

His meteoric rise in the industry might seem like calculated genius. But in reality, he writes, much of it happened by accident and in spite of being undiagnosed for years as bipolar, which manifested itself in blazing rage, alarming tantrums, and the punching of several walls, and not to mention suicidal thoughts.

You’ll learn how the PBS series “The Mind of A Chef” came about after its first iteration failed; how and why Chang started — and closed — his Lucky Peach magazine; how his hiring of Christina Tosi as both pastry chef and protocol specialist saved his butt; and how getting married and becoming a father have grounded him like never before.

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Alice Medrich’s Walnut-Crusted Oat Flour Genoise

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A simple, soft, satisfying cake when times are anything but.
A simple, soft, satisfying cake when times are anything but.

Could this year get any more surreal?

At a time when life seems more chaotic than ever and more inconceivable by the second, that’s when we need to pause, take a deep breath, close our eyes — and have a piece of cake.

Yes, times like this call for equal measures of comfort, sweetness, and escape.

Cake does all of that.

Not one dressed to the nines in layers, swirls, swooshes, and a flourish of doodads.

But a simple one that’s honest and straightforward — characteristics we sadly seem to be in short supply of these days.

“Walnut-Crusted Oat Flour Genoise” embodies all of that. It’s just one layer. It’s baked in one pan. It doesn’t even require frosting. It’s also gluten-free — but doesn’t taste like it, if you get my drift.

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Do Yourself A Favor: Get A Taste of Shuk Shuka

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Shuk Shuka's amazing Nutella babka (front) and challah (back).
Shuk Shuka’s amazing Nutella babka (front) and challah (back).

Yeasty, buttery, tightly coiled with generous ripples of Nutella throughout, this babka might very well have stolen my heart, not to mention my stomach.

It’s the handiwork of Shuk Shuka, a San Francisco online marketplace and kitchen specializing in Middle Eastern foodstuffs.

“Shuk” means “market” in both Hebrew and Arabic. Founder Inon Tzadok, who grew up in Israel and Yemen wanted to evoke the traditional flavors of Middle Eastern market stalls in his products. His sister, baker Yael Tzadok is responsible for the wonderful baked goods.

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Broccoli Salad with Peanuts and Tahini-Lime Dressing

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A broccoli salad that favors the stalk over the florets, but makes use of both.
A broccoli salad that favors the stalk over the florets, but makes use of both.

With their flowery, showy crowns, broccoli florets get all the love, leaving their thick, knobby stems so often woefully underappreciated.

I grew up in a household that actually valued those stems. My mom would squeeze two meals out of a couple heads of broccoli, stir-frying the florets with pork one night, then stir-frying the thinly sliced stalks with shrimp the next evening. It was not only frugal, but double the deliciousness.

If you ever doubted that the appeal of those stalks, then “Broccoli Salad with Peanuts and Tahini-Lime Dressing” will definitely sway you.

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