NYC in Bites (with a Grand Aioli)

I love experiencing a city through its food - researching in advance, asking locals where the best places are,  or those happy accidents where you stumble upon a delicious place in a serendipitous way. I experienced a bit of all of the above last week while staying with my dear friend M. in Manhattan, and wanted to share the highlights with you. I tasted NYC's best cherry cheesecake; experienced country-style Chinese food; waited in line for free gourmet ice cream sandwiches; threw a dinner party with fresh produce from the local greenmarket and got converted to a Dough Brooklyn doughnut lover before ever having my first bite!

The Long & the Short(Rib) of It

Winter - a season of cold, snow, packed earth, things laid to rest and freeze until the thaw of spring. It is a season of long nights, some of which are 'dark' and 'of the soul.' In order to survive the cold both inner and outer, our bodies crave warm, comforting, hearty foods to stoke our inner fires. Comfort food is often full of rich ingredients - indulgences we might otherwise not cater to in the lighter seasons: cream, cheese, cuts of meat made tender by hours of slow cooking in savory sauces. Winter vegetables boast thick skins and fleshy insides that love to luxuriate in a bath of braising liquid, or hold their own in a robust and flavorful stew. Winter is a season made for the long and the slow - and adjusting to this slowing down of life both culinarily and personally is the key to making the most of what winter has to offer. My indulgence this week was short ribs and creamy Dijon Brussels sprouts. Short ribs, funnily enough, take a long time to cook, but like all things in which time is invested, the result is well worth the wait.

Yesterday's Panettone, Today's Bread Pudding & Tomorrow's Curves

My holiday house guests brought over a beast of a Panettone to celebrate New Year’s morning. Grateful to sleep in and not have to cook breakfast thanks to said Panettone, I was perhaps less so when we ate but a corner of it and the remainder sat on my kitchen counter like a carbohydrate coquette after my house guests left. I live alone, and carbs speak to me. Actually, they whisper huskily to me from the cupboards and I fall prey to their floury advances. The panettone purred: Mangiame, signorina. Sai che tu me desiderà! in a voice that sounded remarkably like Sophia Loren. Her having sat out on the counter for a few days, I did not care to partake, but hesitated to throw her away.

Then a solution struck me that pleased my thrifty nature and rather titillated Sophia. I looked at this panettone and said: You, my dear, would make an excellent bread pudding.

Si, she said.

To (S)tart.

To acquaint myself with blogging practice, and while I wait to get home to have access to more recent photos and posts, I wanted to upload and share some pictures of a tart I made this summer. Consider this a dry (but actually quite moist and very delicious) run!

I made this recipe from one of my go-to cookbooks, The Silver Palate Cookbook.

The recipe asks for a pastry cream - something I had never attempted before. Milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, whisked on a double boiler until deliciously thick and creamy.