UPDATE: A day after I posted this, the chef who runs the whole Zaytinya/Cafe Atlantico network gets nominated as GQ’s Chef of the Year! If that’s not a(n a)rousing endorsement, I don’t know what is. Warning: There are no photographs in this review for three very important reasons. The lighting was low and romantic. No [...]
Posts from ‘November, 2009’
I just ate the worst fucking cookies
My stomach burns with the fire of a thousand pissed off suns. This happens only rarely, because of my health nut CEO, but every once in a while, a vendor will send someone in the company baked goods, which are then scavenged ruthlessly by the flocks of office women. So when I see an alert [...]
Piccata
Braaaaain
Dark chocolate-dipped hazelnut macaroons and baking disasters
So one of the problems with “I Know How to Cook” is that it is a translation, and like any translation, it is imperfect. Normally when cooking small mistakes are alright, but baking is difficult enough as it is without linguistic ambiguity making it harder. =\ The recipe below is the how I now interpret [...]
Brown Butter, Part II
I recently purchased a copy of “I Know How to Cook” by Ginette Mathiot, which is a translation of the French classic Je Sais Cuisiner. I’ve made a few things from it already, and here’s one of my favorites so far: Sole à la meunière (Translation: Fancy-ass fish sticks.) 1 lb Dover sole filets* salt, [...]
No picture, but hint: it’s orange!
Henry and I made this somewhat ad hoc a long time ago, but since Michael didn’t really enjoy it (owing to his tragic inability to reconcile savory and sweet flavors in the same dish) we were reluctant to repeat it. Luckily last week my cravings for marmalade chicken and a CS conference coincided! So we [...]
Una cena típica de mi niñez
Everyone is familiar with the Mexican tortilla (“wut tacos &c r made of”), but in Spainish cuisine, a tortilla is a thick omelet which contains layers of (usually) potatoes and onions, and occasionally other Spanishy ingredients (tuna, chorizo, tomatoes, and cheese are common). This delightful dish is a staple of Spanish cuisine and is usually [...]
Delicious Cake + Respberry Meringue Buttercream
Last year, Ryan gave me two cookbooks for Christmas: one devoted to cake, and one devoted to bacon. He knows me pretty well. Now, baking is still a strange and terrifying world to me. I have to battle my tendency to be extremely impatient. It stresses me out to think that the slightest deviation from [...]
Brown Butter, Part I
This embarrassingly simple recipe does in a pinch for dinner, especially when you want something easy and uncomplicated, yet good enough to impress a boy (or a girl)! I used to consider butter cheating… but have you ever tasted this stuff? IT’S AWESOME Chicken breasts in sage brown butter (with polenta!) Serves 2 to a [...]
apple cake in a skillet, or, how not to set your kitchen on fire
Not long ago, a bunch of medievalists I know went apple-picking, as you do here in the city named after unusually large fruit, resulting in 15 lbs of apples sitting on my kitchen floor. I did what one naturally does under these circumstances while avoiding paper-writing, and baked: first whole-wheat apple muffins with brown sugar, [...]