My personal favorite is sweet corn ice cream. It sounds odd, but once you taste it you think "oh, that makes sense." The pale yellow ice cream has a subtle, summery corn flavor, studded with fresh kernels, like buttered corn on the cob distilled into a perfect, chilled essence.
I just had some today, at a place called Tara's in Santa Fe that specializes in non-standard flavors - they also make terrific sage, strawberry balsamic, chile-pistachio and black sesame ice creams. But there's something about cold sweet corn that's perfect for a hot June evening. My parents, recently returned from Singapore, described a local street food that I just may hop on a plane to try: corn ice cream, drizzled with syrup, and slapped between two pieces of pink-dyed white sandwich bread.
Until then, I'll have to make do with this recipe for sweet corn ice cream on Epicurious and am planning to try it this weekend. I bet it would be good with a cayenne caramel sauce.
Here in New Mexico, they put green chile in everything. EVERYTHING. Eggs. Cheeseburgers. Steak. Salad. Ice Cream (seriously). Even the Dunkin' Donuts has a little hand-lettered sign letting you know you can have green chile on your breakfast sandwich.
But one of my very favorite green chile delicacies has been the green chile and cheese pie. A local cafe does a great version, thick and eggy and oozing with asiago. Gourmet Sleuth has a similar recipe, for a green chile quiche with bacon. Substitute real New Mexico green chiles and some asiago for the Monteray Jack, and you're in business. Next time I'm going to add a healthy pinch of cayenne and serve this for brunch with salad.
Now this is what a chocolate chip cookie should look like. Thick, chewy, moist at the center, with a toothsome density that makes it feel like you're really eating something. And so full of melty chocolate chips that when you break the cookie in half chocolate drips from the edges. Thank Vanilla Sugar for the recipe, which attempts to replicate the cookies sold at Levain bakery in New York. Full of brown sugar, walnuts and a healthy dose of salt, these make for the kind of 4 p.m. snack that satisfies you in a way that a Snickers bar never could.
Summer's nearly here, and you know what that means: Potlucks.
Everyone needs at least one dish they can nail at a moment's notice. A dish everyone will love, from vegans to carnivores. Something that's cheap, easy, quick, yet delicious. Something that dresses to impress. Something that even bad home cooks can manage.
It's okay to keep grandma's old recipe box for sentimental value, but do you really want to copy a recipe by hand every time you want to keep one? Use technology to your advantage, and find a new way to organize your recipes.
I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for great weekend breakfast ideas. I want something that maybe takes a little more time than you have during the week, but won't take all day to make either. It also has to be something that tastes great and is suitably impressive.
I think I've found a new one to try for this weekend. A few days ago, while perusing the baking blogs, I came across this post from Bakers' Banter. While it starts out talking about whole grain pancakes, the post goes on to give a step by step, pictorial recipe for German pancakes. I seem to recall having seen them in a cookbook before I really got into cooking, but since I didn't cook I promptly forgot about them.
After reading this article, and seeing how good these pancakes look, I am definitely making them this weekend. What about you? If you try this recipe out, I'd love to hear about it!
How cute is this: an online Chinese take-out party. Hong Kong-based blogger Mocochocolata Rita invited all her food blogging friends to contribute recipes and pictures for Chinese dishes, which she posted together, menu-style. What a feast!
There are several Hong Kong 'set meals' - a main with noodles and soup; a multi-course dinner for friends - potstickers, beef braised in chou hou sauce, pina colada milk pudding; sides of kimchee gyoza and baked tofu; several different takes on kung pao chicken; desserts of sweet peanut soup and homemade fortune cookies.
The recipes all look delicious - I'm particularly keen to try the pineapple sesame chicken recipe. It's also a great introduction to a lot of neat food blogs - Rita must have a lot of friends.
I come from a long-line of Irish alcoholics. And although I myself hold my liquor like a ten-year-old, I have a special place in my heart for alcohol-flavored sweet things. Indeed, I have had a torrid love affair with the bourbon ball ever since my mom first let me try one during the holidays when I was a kid.
See, at my house, bourbon (or rum) balls were holiday fare. But I'm told they're traditional at the Kentucky Derby as well. I've never been to Kentucky, and I know next to nothing about the event, which, I'm told, involves race horses and women in elaborate hats.
But in the spirit of this prestigious event, I offer you my family's decidedly un-traditional recipe for bourbon balls.
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that E from Foodaphilia had teamed up with Nick the Peanut Butter Boy and Kristina from The Chocolate Peanut Butter Gallery to create the first ever Peanut Butter Exhibition. They asked their readers to put on their thinking caps and send in recipes and pictures of the best of their peanut butter baked goods. They had 16 entries and while all the recipes sound delicious, they managed to determine winners for the first, second and third places. However, there are no losers, as how can you lose when you have a pile of peanut butter confections at the end of the day?
Meet the contenders for New York's best sandwich: the Moroccan merguez sausage on grilled bread; the cemita poblana with pork butt al pastor; the pressed potato knish; the braised beef-stuffed shao bing; the Benny Mac - a chicken cutlet sandwich with macaroni and cheese and bacon; chili mackerel on a fluffy bun; a cilantro-spiced falafel.
April showers bring May flower-covered cupcakes. Yes, spring is in full swing, time for the ultimate in stunningly beautiful, impress-all-your-friends-with-little-effort cake decoration: sugared flowers.
Martha Stewart has an instructional video on how to candy flowers, definitely a Good Thing. Start with pesticide-free edible flowers, such as pansies, marigolds, roses, dianthus, violets. Mix egg white or meringue powder in water and brush onto the petals with a clean paint brush, then sprinkle front and back with extra-fine sugar. Dry on a rack for two to four days until completely dry, then use to make adorable cupcakes like the ones in the picture.
Looking for more economical recipes that don't involve canned chili or hot dogs? Kevin Weeks, a food writer at Gather.com, does a twice-monthly column called Paisano, which offers luscious-yet-affordable rustic recipes from culinary traditions worldwide. Think rich, slow-cooked, peasant-y foods - sumac-spiced chicken kebabs, steak and mushroom pie, lamb with caramelized onions. Stuff from cultures that, out of necessity, invented really really tasty ways to use up that cheap cut of beef.
I might try the Middle Eastern-inflected chicken kebabs, marinated with yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and spices, over green salad for a quick warm-weather dinner. Do you have any favorite peasant recipes in your repertoire?
Here in New Mexico, they put green chile in everything. EVERYTHING. Eggs. Cheeseburgers. Steak. Salad. Ice Cream (seriously). Even the Dunkin' Donuts has a little hand-lettered sign letting you know you can have green chile on your breakfast sandwich. 
Summer's nearly here, and you know what that means: Potlucks. 
The feature story this week is on the 
How cute is this: an online 
I come from a long-line of Irish alcoholics. And although I myself hold my liquor like a ten-year-old, I have a special place in my heart for alcohol-flavored sweet things. Indeed, I have had a torrid love affair with the bourbon ball ever since my mom first let me try one during the holidays when I was a kid.
The feature story this week is on restaurateur and 
April showers bring May flower-covered cupcakes. Yes, spring is in full swing, time for the ultimate in stunningly beautiful, impress-all-your-friends-with-little-effort cake decoration: sugared flowers. 
Looking for more economical recipes that don't involve canned chili or hot dogs? Kevin Weeks, a food writer at Gather.com, does a twice-monthly column called 
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
