Writing about food since 2004.
Category
Recipes
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A Muffin with a Cupcake Complex: Pumpkin Muffins with Molasses-Ginger Glaze
I scan recipes in magazines the same way I scan menus at restaurants: I’m looking for something bizarre, something new, something I’ve never before experienced. Sometimes the results are icky (see squash-sausage soup below), and sometimes they’re delightful. Case in point: pumpkin molasses ginger muffins. What might pumpkin, crystallized ginger and molasses taste like in…
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Pancake Perfection on a Sunday Morning
When it comes to whipping up something fast for breakfast, I very rarely have the impulse to make pancakes. Eggs are as extravagant as I get: I drop a clump of butter in the skillet, crack the eggs on the counter and three minutes later I’m in gooey eggy heaven. Yes eggs or maybe oatmeal.…
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A Loaf of Vitamin C: The Barefoot Contessa’s Orange Pound Cake
“Loaf” is the name of the imaginary booth I want to open at the Union Square Farmer’s Market. There I would sell all sorts of cakes baked in loaf pans: Amanda Hesser’s Vanilla Bean loaf, The River Cafe’s Pistachio Loaf Cake, their Pine Nut Loaf Cake, the Barefoot Contessa’s Lemon Pound Cake and this Orange…
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Sophisticated Candy For The Sophisticated Reveler: A Halloween Special
To quote Peter, Paul and Mary: “If I had an orange, I’d make a candied orange peel.” And so it was that I had an orange left over from the recipe below. And so it was that I made candied orange peel. Making candied orange peel is very easy. I used a recipe from foodtv.com…
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If I Were Perky and Had a Cooking Show I Would Make This: Brazilian Chicken with Olives
There are two extremes when it comes to recipes. There are the soul-wrenching deeply-intricate 40-step recipes and then there are the Rachel Ray Sandra Lee Every Day Food 20-second recipes that appeal to working moms or non-working moms with slow reflexes. This recipe is mostly the latter with a hint of the former: it’s an…
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Salad Inspirations
There’s something thrilling about food shopping without a recipe. Last night I hungered for a salad, and I made my way to Whole Foods (I’ve been making my way to Whole Foods way too often lately) and stood in the produce section waiting for inspiration to alight. “Excuse me,” said a woman, “You’re blocking the…
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Hallelujah! Chicken Soup From Scratch
Sisters and brothers! Brothers and sisters! Who among you is coughing? Who among you is sneezing? Whose throat is so sore it’s like you gargled sand paper? I’m Reverend Pastor Amateur Gourmet and I’m here to heal you with the yellow waters of homemade chicken soup. You may think to yourself: “Heck no! I ain’t…
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Fall into Fall with an inFALLible Recipe: Pumpkin Apple Bread
The very first thing I can remember making on a regular basis–when I was right on the precipice of becoming an amateur gourmet—was pumpkin bread. It’s a great recipe to start with if you’re scared of the kitchen, if you don’t have fancy equipment, if you want all the pleasures of baking without the hassle.…
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Swinging Some Serious Fowl: Roast Chicken with Pan Gravy
First let me lure you in with chicken: And then bore you with family drama… My family was Jew-guilting me a great deal this week. “Happy Yom Kippur!” my grandma sang into the phone yesterday. “It’s not a happy holiday, grandma!” I retorted. “Then a very sad Yom Kippur. What are you doing for the…
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Free Book Churros
One of the perks of my job as The Amateur Gourmet is that people sometimes send me free stuff. When someone e-mails me and says that they want to send me something for me to write about on my site, I tell them my official policy. My official policy is this: “You can send me…
