Category Archives: food

AT HOME WITH SASH

Posted on February 19, 2012 by popcornsnaps| 2 Comments

Since my Acquired Taste story about Sasha isn’t available online, I thought I would post some of the photos I took when I visited her last summer. I have so many, I kind of want to share them all.

It was really humid that day, the kind where staying inside is almost unbearable. Being in a hot kitchen, even worse. Typical upstate New York summer, it rained on and off all afternoon, but we took every opportunity to escape outside to her backyard for wine or to go on walks.

I love writing about my best friends. It’s happening more and more, almost emerging as a pattern, which made me realize how fascinating and talented and smart my loved ones really are. I’ve long admired Sasha’s intuitive and thoughtful cooking style, yet I had never really watched her “in action.” (Whenever I would arrive at her house for dinner parties, everything would already be ready to go!)

More photos to come….

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Posted in baking, celebration, family, food, grains, lunch, memory, nature, outdoors, party, people, photography

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YEAR OF THE WATER DRAGON

Posted on January 27, 2012 by popcornsnaps| 7 Comments

Chinese New Year has always been my favorite holiday. (Thanksgiving is a close second). When I was growing up, my parents would throw epic annual parties at our house that usually ended in drunken Chinese opera singing and gifts of money in tiny red envelopes. (How I treasured those envelopes!) Sometimes my mom would make dumplings from scratch, and everyone would rave at how delicious they were. She always kept it simple — just pork and minced chives. Our galas became so infamous that when I was in high school, my friends, begging for an invitation, would crash our house in droves of 5 and 10.

Last year, with the help of my friend Yung Chang, I hosted an unbelievable party where we made thousands of dumplings and did karaoke. Okay, the night was really, really, really epic. But this year, for the year of the water dragon, I almost didn’t throw a party. Yung was away on set for his latest film, and Adam was gone on another assignment. No celebration this year, I thought.

Unexpectedly, at the eleventh hour, I got inspired. I emailed a small but solid gang of friends, and bought a few bags of frozen (sorry, Mom) dumplings, some vegetables, and a gorgeous striped sea bass from Marche Oriental, and began to cook. The dinner was slightly more elaborate than defrosted dumplings and cold beer, but still simple, simple, simple. There was Chinese broccoli coated in black vinegar, dan dan noodles provided by Bartek, crispy fried noodles (all those noodles are excellent for longevity), a beautiful cabbage salad made by Katherine, and that tender sea bass, poached for four minutes in salted water and then coated in a luscious, aromatic sauce.

I’m a fan of the impromptu gathering, of the lower expectations and relaxed vibes. As a Libra, I will always love a big, out of control party, but I secretly prefer the chill zone of a small group and simple offerings. You know when you have a really good feeling about a year? I have a great feeling about 2012.

K, my favorite recipe for dumpling dunking sauce:

3 T smooth peanut butter

4-6 T reduced sodium soy sauce, to taste (add a few more shakes if your peanut butter is on the sweet side)

2-4 T rice vinegar (I also like the more intense black vinegar)

2-3 T finely minced ginger

2-3 T finely minced garlic

2-4 t sriracha or red chili paste (or even more if you’re feeling gutsy)

2 t sesame oil

2 t oyster sauce

big handful cilantro, finely chopped another big handful parsley, finely chopped

few stems scallions, chopped

the juice of a lime or lemon

salt and black pepper, to taste

Add all ingredients and stir until smooth. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Let the flavors get to know one another. Use for dumpling dipping and serve with extra dishes of black vinegar and hot sauce.

Happy New Year!!!!!!

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Posted in food, party, people

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MORNING TACO

Posted on January 15, 2012 by popcornsnaps| 3 Comments

In my research for an upcoming story in the Montreal Gazette, I have found myself surrounded by a healthy surplus of all products fermented. I’ve been trying to incorporate them into all my meals, but mostly I just stand over the sink, jar in hand, wolfing down kraut with a fork until satisfied.

In an attempt to mix things up, the other morning I made breakfast tacos by quickly roasting some root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, parsnip), then stuffing them in some corn tortillas, alongside some mashed black beans, shredded gruyere, Maya salsa, and spicy, crunchy curtido, given to me by the lovely Haley Butcher of 100% Ferments. Maybe a scrambled egg or two would have made these tacos actually “breakfast” in composition, but these really satisfied regardless!

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Posted in breakfast, food

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SOUP HYBRID

Posted on January 10, 2012 by popcornsnaps| 3 Comments

I read what feels like a million food blogs, all awesome in their own way, and when I come across something particularly delicious I file it in a crazy, unmanageable folder in my bookmark toolbar called ‘EAT.’ (This folder has its own subset of folders with names like FAT and EZ). Yet I rarely follow recipes exactly, so it was two different soups made by The Wednesday Chef (roasted carrot and red lentil soup and cabbage soup) that served as the inspiration for this hearty (and vegan if you use vegetable broth!) soup. My proportions make for a nice small batch, about four bowls’ worth.

Red lentil and cabbage soup

1/2 cup red lentils
1 stick celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 shallot, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled but not chopped
2 T tomato paste
1/2 T cumin
1/2 T smoked paprika
2 T olive oil, and more to finish
Salt and pepper to taste
4 C homemade chicken or vegetable stock
2-3 C finely chopped green cabbage
1 Bay leaf
Juice of one lemon
Chopped herbs to garnish (I used dill, parsley, and cilantro)

—In a medium-sized cast enamel pot, melt two tablespoons of olive oil over medium-low heat.
—Add and gently soften the celery, carrot, shallot, ginger and garlic, about 10 minutes.
—Add tomato paste, bay leaf, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper, and stir to coat.
—Add lentils and stir.
—Pour in chicken broth and bring soup to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook lentils to tenderness, about 20-25 minutes, adding more broth if necessary.
—Using an immersion blender, puree soup until fairly smooth.
—Add cabbage and gently cook until wilted and soft, about 1 hour. Add more broth to loosen up the soup if it starts looking thick.
—Garnish with greek yogurt, freshly chopped herbs, more salt and pepper, and a little olive oil, and enjoy! I also made a batch of homemade baked tortilla chips, which I embellished with fleur de sel and smoked paprika. Perfect dunking vessels.

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Posted in food, lunch, soup

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WHAT UP 2012

Posted on January 4, 2012 by popcornsnaps| Leave a comment

Happy new year!!!! 2011 was insane, but this little blog was always a relaxed and fun place to visit. Hope you guys feel the same way! I ceremoniously took photos of my first two meals of 2012, which started with a classic Adam-Natasha breakfast: two fried eggs, sauteed spinach and garlic, a piece of millet toast with cheese, homemade orange juice, and tea. I’ve had so many meals just like it in 2011, and I hope that never changes. (PS: One of my resolutions for 2011 was to learn to love eggs more, and I totally did!)

For lunch, Adam made us pasta (he makes the best pasta) coated in a sauce of roasted butternut squash, shallots, garlic, and cream, and topped with a crunchy slaw of celery, parsley, and parmesan. It left me feeling energized, full, and happy.

Bring it on, 2012!!!

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Posted in breakfast, food, lunch

SCONE SIMPLICITY

Posted on December 20, 2011 by popcornsnaps| 3 Comments

There are a million fancy ways to bake scones, from the somewhat reasonable (including additional ingredients like buttermilk, eggs, cornmeal, or oats) to the decidedly un-British (tropical dried fruit, chopped nuts, herbs, cheese). And while at work I sometimes experiment with crazier varieties (like a bacon, dried fig, and black pepper iteration), at home I like to keep it traditional: a plain, no-egg scone, maybe dotted with dried currants (and if my mom has sent me a care package from Trader Joe’s, then their dried blueberries), and slathered with warm butter and some jam. That’s it. These scones, with their absence of eggs and any kind of electric mixer, are so easy to make at home, and I like to whip them up when I have some half-and-half perishing in the fridge. I have a loose recipe memorized (which I believe I originally poached from an old Gourmet cookbook), and the proportions go something like this:

(Note: Scones bake at a much higher temperature than normal pastry; because of this, I like to use the convection function of my oven, which allows for the scone to get crisp and golden on top. No one likes a scorched scone).

You’ll need:
1 C AP flour, sifted
2 T white granulated sugar (plus more for sprinkling)
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
4 T cold butter, cut into small pieces
6 T half and half (plus more for brushing dough)
1/2 C dried currants (soften with boiling water if really hard)
Preheat oven to 400 and line a pan with parchment.
Stir flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
With fingers, quickly work in the cold butter, until semi-incorporated into flour (small peas of butter is good!).
Slowly drizzle in half and half, stirring bowl with a fork, until dough comes together into shaggy ball.
Add currants.
Turn dough onto counter and shape into a disc about 1/2″ high.
Cut into 4 wedges, and move to parchment-lined pan.
Brush scones with remaining half and half, and sprinkle with sugar (turbinado, if you have it!).
Bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

The next time you have someone over for tea or a coffee, offer them these. They will not be turned down.

(Unrelated query: how do you stash your cookbooks? For me, they have to be in plain sight, because I use these selected few all the time. But they also look a little weird leaning against the refrigerator, no? I’m looking for an elegant and simple solution that doesn’t mean hiding them in a drawer somewhere.)

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Posted in baking, breakfast, food, home

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GIFT FRUIT

Posted on December 18, 2011 by popcornsnaps| 2 Comments

A friend of ours gave us a Christmas present last night, a single pomegranate from Taiwan, where she told us she’s been eating them every day. They’re not like the pomegranates we see in North America, with its pale, dusty skin, smaller shape and, dry egg yolk-colored insides. The seeds are different too, a lovely, delicate shade of blush, a dusty rose really. And the taste is equally ethereal, less sugary and watery and more earthy, almost like dried tea leaves and chestnuts. Such a wonderful gift.

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Posted in food, fruits

JAMAICAN ME CRAZY PT. IV

Posted on November 9, 2011 by popcornsnaps| 2 Comments

[Every morning started with this plate of fruit. A ritual I can get behind.]

[Jamaican brown stew chicken.]

[My dream kitchen.]

[Roadside vegan food from a shack called Vital Ital. There were lots of roadside vegan shacks run by rastafarians, and the style of food was amazingly similar to the kind of stuff me and my friends like to make at home — black beans simmered in coconut milk, nutty brown rice, chopped and stewed dark greens, boiled sweet potatoes. It was outstanding, really healthy and vibrant and simple.]

[A classic roadside steel drum jerk pan.]

[An ackee tree, heavy with fruit. A stiff breeze can knock a ripe ackee from its branch. These fruits were falling onto the ground constantly, I always had to keep an eye to the sky to make sure I wouldn't get beaned by a plummeting ackee.]

[The chef and his pickled (!) scotch bonnet peppers.]

[Tiny peppers picked from a bush. Do not eat!]

[Another delicious roadside jerk stop. Here, we had jerk pork (on the right), which was actually a little hard to come by in Jamaica. It was — dare I say it — a refreshing change of pace from all the jerk chicken. Also, I grew addicted to those oblong-shaped donuts at the top of the image. They're called 'festival,' and they were everywhere. I had them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They're a slightly sweet, deep-fried dumpling similar to a hush puppy. They're on my list of Jamaican dishes I need to replicate in my kitchen immediately.]

Jamaican Me Crazy Parts One, Two, and Three.

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Posted in food, fruits, memory, nature, outdoors, people, photography, travel

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SWEET OR SALTY

Posted on November 2, 2011 by popcornsnaps| 2 Comments

Good morning!

Two fried eggs / celery leaves / celery salt / parsley / scallions / potatoes fried in goose fat / sourdough toast / salted butter

9 times out of 10, I’ll create a savory-themed breakfast before I reach for something sweet. (Unless, of course, it’s summer, and that something sweet is a peach.) Do you like salty breakfasts as much as me?

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Posted in breakfast, food, home

SALTIMBOCCA, AGAIN, FINALLY

Posted on October 30, 2011 by popcornsnaps| Leave a comment

Last January we made saltimbocca, but then never made it since — until recently. I don’t know why I waited so long, because the combination of crispy sage, salty prosciutto, and tender veal cutlets is completely insane and perfect. (Nice recipe for it here). When I finally prepared it again, it was just as good as I remembered it to be. So nice to eat saltimbocca on a chilly autumn night, to pile it on a plate near braised leeks, boiled haricot verts, turnip puree, and crispy Jerusalem artichokes. Actually, we agreed that we weren’t the hugest fan of the braised leeks — how do you get them less onion-y? It was almost overwhelming. Anyway, I always leave Adam in charge of the sauce; he knows how to reduce it to the right syrupy consistency and perfect almost-too-much level of saltiness.

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Posted in dinner, food

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