morsels & sauces

In this  Cook Your Books  series, I have chosen 15 books to read in 2017 based on somewhat arbitrarily chosen categories. My theory (bogus it might turn out to be) is that all 15 of these books will somehow connect to food. And I plan to write about that food.  And it turns out that these entries are a sort of long-form blog-post. So settle in. This sixth installment is a book published this year . No doubt, I feel a kinship to Mark Twain. The summer of 1984, I went to  Hannibal, Missouri , with my family. One hundred miles north of St. Louis, Hannibal boasts being the boyhood home to Mark Twain and the inspiration for Tom Sawyer's spelunking adventures and picket fence white washing and for Huck Finn's hogshead barrel sleeping. It was also the site of numerous family and school trips. But one trip stands out in particular. Instructed to buy one souvenir, I lingered over plastic trinkets and snow globes and novelty spoons, I am sure. But something in me wa...

This little recipe is perfect for lunch. It's simple, it's very light, it's as healthy as can be, and it's satisfying. Let's break that down, shall we? Simple:  Mix batter. Make crepe. Fill. Roll up. Eat.  Perhaps the hardest part about this recipe is making the crepe. I don't know about you, but the first crepe, much like the first pancake , is always a little wonky. But once you get the pan to just the right temperature, all of your crepes will turn out beautifully with that satisfying little crinkle at the edges. But I get ahead of myself. Very light: Yes, buckwheat can be a bit assertive, but thinly spread out into a crepe and topped with smoked fish, well any buckwheat crepe is going to back down a little and let the innards shine. And while there is an abundance of fat in this crepe, said fat leads both to the healthy and the satisfying. Again, I am getting ahead of myself. Heal...

What I love the most about my CSA box is the surprise every Tuesday. While Full Belly Farm sends an email newsletter on Monday announcing what they will be sending, I like to resist that siren call and to open the box to find tomatoes and grapes and basil and potatoes.  It's like my own Tuesday-afternoon version of Chopped. Recently one of my mystery ingredients was cabbage. As in more cabbage . As in this is the third time I have gotten cabbage this summer. I never knew there wold be so much cabbage in July.  While certainly this is the tail end of the season for cabbage, it is the key ingredient in all of your slaw needs this summer.  And what better way to make a slaw than one that accompanies an ahi tuna poke bowl?  Have you noticed, by the way, the recent popularity in rice bowl cooking?  They're  everywhere .  As in   everywhere .  Everywhere .  This fascination with servi...

Sardines and lemon atop endive leaves qualifies more as snack than a meal, but given the hefty amount of food many of us had this past week, perhaps this healthy snack will make a welcome meal. This palette cleanser that's about to launch us into December from  The Homemade Kitchen  and Alana Chernila. Chernila's lovely blog,  eating from the ground up , is a primer in cooking and preserving fresh, seasonal food. In this, her sophomore endeavor in the world of cookbooks, Chernila clearly enjoys making clear, clean, and realistic homemade food. While there are some fancy tricks and turns here--recipes for kefir and tofu--she gives us hearty staples such Coq au Vin (with Buttermilk Spaetzle, no less), Chicken Pot Pie, and Summer Squash Frittata balanced with nibbles and bites that will help keep the waistline in check. However, what delights me, as one who likes a good mantra, is the way she divides the book. Tacked up on Chenila's refrigerator is a li...

I present to you: Potato Salad. That said, it's a pretty special potato salad with smoked trout and piquant arugula, but potato salad. I find that I have many disparate thoughts about this potato salad, and I lack the inclination (and talent) today to string together these thoughts into something coherent and clever.  Instead, I present to you a bullet-point list about a savory, peppery and smoky potato salad that I urge you to give a try should you have the inclination (and time). Deborah Madison (our cookbook's author) tells the story of finding smoked albacore at her local farmer's market. I had smoked trout, instead. Indeed, smoked trout is a boon. Not only is it caramelized and earthy-sweet-smokey, but it is one of those treats with lovely, pleasant memories associated with it. Earlier, I wrote an homage to a friend , who often served smoked trout before a massive Canadian thanksgiving feast. Before the meal, we would all crowd on his and his wife's litt...