Recipes and food adventures with Adam Roberts
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American Italian vs. Italian Italian (Carmine’s & Sfoglia)
My dad and I often have a debate about food. It usually begins when my dad says, “This restaurant sucks.” You see, my dad likes food that is familiar and when it comes to food that’s familiar he loves Italian food. But a very specific kind of Italian food: he loves American Italian food.
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Banana Cake
I made the banana cake of my dreams this weekend, a banana cake so good I had to give half of it away because I knew I would eat it all. What made it so good? It was a homey, cozy, PTA bake sale kind of cake; there was nothing fussy about it, no caramelized…
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Winning Hot Dog Limerick
Congrats to KJR, the winner of our Hot Dog limerick contest who gets two free tix to the Serious Eats Hot Dog Hootenanny this Sunday (please e-mail Alaina Browne with your info.) Here’s the winning limerick: “There once was a hot dog named Frankie / Whose bun was as thin as a hankie / So…
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Penne with Broccoli Rabe
Broccoli rabe is usually the first thing I buy at the farmer’s market when the weather gets warmer. It’s a transitional vegetable: something that bridges us from the dark and murky vegetables of winter to the bright and sprightly vegetables of summer. Raw, it tastes rather fresh and green, but cooked, it takes on all…
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A Springy Lunch at Al Di La
Al Di La is one of my favorite restaurants: not just in Park Slope, but anywhere. As anyone who’s been there for dinner knows, they don’t take reservations and often the wait can be more than an hour long. So going to Al Di La is often a special occasion, a complicated affair that requires…
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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)…
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Baked
Ok, class, we’re about to take a field trip: does everyone have a trip buddy? Find a buddy now. David Lebovitz, no, you can’t be buddies with Perez Hilton: he’s not in our class. This is a food class, not a gossip class, ok? Now then, I hope you’re all hungry because we’re about to…
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Green Almonds
On the cover of the Zuni Cafe Cookbook you will see three nectarines, several slices of prosciutto, and there, at 9 o’clock on the plate, a handful of green almonds, two of them split open, their kernels separated on to the black plate. This image, to me, has always evoked a precious, inaccessible other world–a…
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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…
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Spaghetti with Ramps at Franny’s
The “r” word made its first appearance on Twitter last week when one of the many food people I follow announced that they spotted ramps at the Union Square Greenmarket. “Ramps are here!” another cheered and, as happens every year, the ramp-lovers went on a rampage. I’m a ramp liker, not a ramp lover. What…
