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Recipes

  • The Barefoot Contessa’s Wheat Berry Salad

    The Barefoot Contessa’s Wheat Berry Salad

    There are many words one might use to describe me–“enthusiastic,” “smiley,” “mildly irritating”–but “hippie” probably isn’t one of them. Sure, I may walk around in sandals in the summer, but who doesn’t? And true, Janice is my favorite Muppet and my aunt Cindy (my dad’s sister) was photographed blowing a bubble at Woodstock (see here)…

  • Easy French Toast

    Easy French Toast

    There are three kinds of people in this world: pancake people, waffle people, and people who like French toast. I’d put myself in the middle category: I’m a waffle person. I like the texture of waffles, I like the little holes that catch the syrup, and I love the way they smell when they’re being…

  • The Churros That Saved The Dinner Party

    The Churros That Saved The Dinner Party

    Have you ever had a son or daughter who plays the piano like a real champ, such a champ that you invite all your friends over one night and set up a little concert–with fliers and cocktaials and a video camera on a tripod–and when your son or daughter finally sits down to play they…

  • Pasta alla Puttanesca

    Pasta alla Puttanesca

    I hope you don’t consider it uncouth for me to talk about whores at such an early hour, especially on a Monday, but it’s impossible to write about Pasta Puttanesca without sounding like a cast member of The Sopranos. (If that’s the case, I should pronounce the word: “whoo-ore.”) You see, Pasta alla Puttanesca translates…

  • Brown Butter Banana Bread

    Brown Butter Banana Bread

    Inspiration strikes me more as a writer, than a cook. “Write a play about a parrot that saves a family from genocide,” says inspiration. “Thanks inspiration,” I say and go on to win five Tonys. But as a cook? I’m pretty uninspired, I’d have to say. Don’t get me wrong: I’m a happy cook, a…

  • The River Cottage Roast Chicken

    The River Cottage Roast Chicken

    My go-to roast chicken recipe, that one from Chez Panisse (here’s a video I made on how to make it), is such a gut bomb of fat–and fat from just the chicken itself–that any roast chicken recipe that requires the addition of more fat (butter, olive oil) usually provokes my inner Richard Simmons who bursts…

  • Gourmet Tuna Casserole

    Gourmet Tuna Casserole

    I found it. After my first attempt at tuna casserole, I finally found a worthy alternative. I was at the Community Book Store in Park Slope and there on the cookbook shelf was Andrew Carmellini’s Urban Italian, a pretty dazzling book of recipes from the former chef of A Voce. I took the book to…

  • Wheat Berry Salad

    Wheat Berry Salad

    There are two kinds of cravings: the bad kind and the good kind. Most of us are familiar with the bad kind: it sends us to Dunkin’ Donuts at 2 AM, keen on devouring a stale toasted coconut doughnut beneath the fluorescent glare. It’s the craving that forces hamburgers when you should be thinking salad,…

  • Tuna Noodle Casserole

    Tuna Noodle Casserole

    The chat went something like this. Craig-At-Work: What’s for dinner? Me-At-Home: I’m thinking of making a tuna noodle casserole. Craig-At-Work: Ugh. If I never eat a tuna noodle casserole again for the rest of my life, that’d be ok. Me-At-Home: Well I’ve never had one before so I’m going to make it, just for the…

  • Make Your Own Chicken Burrito

    Make Your Own Chicken Burrito

    Running on the treadmill, it’s useful to dangle an image carrot in your brain: something you can run towards, something to look forward to, a reward for all your hard work. And last week, for me, that was definitely a chicken burrito. I was craving one, hardcore. The problem is that where we live in…