Posts in Food
Grilled leg of lamb with cool mint yogurt sauce

Lamb is one of those versatile proteins that works just as well in the summer as it does winter because its preparation and accompaniments can vary so widely. Grilled and served with fresh herbs and a cool mint and cucumber yogurt sauce, it's a refreshing summer protein that's an easy weeknight (or Sunday, when we most like to cook) dinner, especially if marinated ahead of time...

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Slow roasted herb salmon

As I’ve discussed before, salmon is not my favorite food, and it’s certainly not my favorite fish for how often it tastes overly fishy. But when it's good, it's so good. Determined to make it a beloved part of my at-home repertoire, I’ve learned that cooking it low and slow in the oven is a really good way to produce an incredibly moist, flavorful filet that doesn’t taste overly fishy...

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Salt-roasted beets

When we were in Charleston, we spent some time with an old and dear friend of Jon's, as well as his wife Jen and their little guy Ben. Mark cooked us dinner one night of grilled salmon with pineapple salsa and beets he had roasted on a bed of kosher salt. And while everything tasted seriously delicious, I could not get over how tasty these beets were...

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Smoky aioli grilled potato salad

This is a recipe inspired by one by Bobby Flay, one of my favorite chefs. I've now made it countless times, and I've served it warm as for brunch, I've made it ahead of time for picnic style get-togethers, and I've also enjoyed leftovers for lunch over and over again. And while I love potato salad of almost any variety, this one is so dynamic that it's hard to beat...

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Rhubarb crostata

Rhubarb is one of my favorite things on earth. And like Thanksgiving dinner, and corn on the cob, and egg nog, rhubarb is one of those elusive things you only have a certain time of year, thus adding to its appeal. There's nothing else quite like it in its tang, sweetness, and earthiness. My grandma's rhubarb pie is next level, and it's one of my life goals to perfect it in all its glory. This rustic crostata that I made with her pie crust is a good start... 

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Spaghetti puttanesca

Some of my favorite foods are those extremely divisive ones: olives, pickled anything, sauerkraut, radicchio, capers, red onions, pungent blue cheese and its drier/sharper counterparts. I could actually devour any of the aforementioned things by the bowlful, especially olives. This brings me to a tangential point which is that Jon recently told me, after my proclamation of loving Campari, that a fondness and preference for bitter foods is "a robust predictor for Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism and everyday sadism." (How weird/interesting is that?!) Never having fancied myself a Machiavellian, I'm choosing to ignore this study and continue on with my eating habits...  

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Perfecting a couple of dishes for seamless entertaining

Entertaining is intimidating for a reason. It’s really difficult to feel like you need to be in two rooms at once, providing your guests with entertainment of some kind, all the while knowing that you have to serve them food that tastes good in a timely manner that didn’t completely stress you out to make. Entertaining is the scariest, though, when you try to tackle things that are far beyond the scope of what you’re (honestly) capable of. That’s why I think that the best trick is to serve something that you’ve already perfected and are proud of...

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