World to Table • Recipes

Recipes

Jul 1, 2011

6 Comments

A First Encounter with Garlic Scapes

It was my mom’s birthday this past weekend, so I took it upon myself to explore the farmer’s market that morning to find some culinary inspiration for dinner that night. Strolling through the stalls in Jackson Heights, I found myself drawn to a plastic carton spilling with curly garlic scapes. I had never cooked with scapes before, but before I could second guess myself, I impulsively purchased two big handfuls and was on my way home.

While garlic scapes closely resemble beans or scallions, they’re actually shoots of the garlic plant. As for their taste, they have a milder, sweeter garlic flavor than garlic itself. If you eat it raw, you may get a minor case of garlic breath that lasts until the next morning, but it’s a small price to pay for a unique taste that is only in season for a short time.

Tagged: compound butter, garlic scapes, lemon thyme

Recipes

Jun 12, 2011

1 Comment

The Social Kitchen

During last week’s “The Social Kitchen” panel at Food 2.0, Amanda Hesser of Food 52 said something that really stuck to me:

“Technology is knocking down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room”

Left to Right: Mike Lee (Studio Feast), Amanda Hesser (Food 52), Mike LaValle (Gojee), Sarah Maine (RecipeRelay), Will Turnage (Ratio Bread App & R/GA)

I never really thought about it before, but in some ways it’s true — while the act of eating together and breaking bread has always been an inherently social activity, cooking has conventionally been more of a solitary act confined to the kitchen. If you think about it, a traditional kitchen has almost always been walled off from the dining room, and in a way, that separation also dictates our interactions in both spaces.

Recipes

Mar 1, 2011

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Black Cod Skin and Tails

The fish skin and tails are oftentimes the forgotten parts of the fish. Usually the first to get sliced off and tossed into the trash, they rarely make it past the chopping block and are scarcely ever seen on the dinner table.

I was excited to see that Chef Shirley Cheng, professor at the Culinary Institute of America, chose to use black cod skin and tails as her main ingredient for her winning recipe this past Saturday at the Japanese Ingredient Culinary Challenge at the Restaurant Show.

Shirley Cheng demoing her Black Cod Skin and Tails alongside emcees Ron Hsu and Jenna Zimmerman

Tagged: black cod, Japanese, jenna zimmerman, New York, restaurant show, ron hsu, skin, tail

Recipes

Nov 24, 2010

1 Comment

Guess what I’m making for Thanksgiving

Tagged: cauliflower, Indian, Middle East, potato, tahini, thanksgiving

Recipes

Nov 14, 2010

4 Comments

Reconsider the Cauliflower: Curried Cauliflower and Carrot Soup

It’s about time to give cauliflower another chance, some well deserved respect. Think of cauliflower and the adjectives bland and mushy first come to mind. When I look back to the days when I used to regularly eat Kid Cuisine frozen meals, my first impression of cauliflower was not a fond one. I associated it with the “mixed vegetables” compartment of the multi-compartmental tray — the compartment that I’d leave to eat last, if at all.

Recipes

Dec 10, 2009

2 Comments

Phad Thai Noodles Without the Noodles

Phad Thai

David Dale of Sidney’s Sun Herald daily newspaper recently declared phad thai one of Australia’s favourite take out dinners. As an ambassador for Thai food, this popular noodle dish has taken on the world. It seems like every Thai restaurant in America has it on the menu and packages of instant phad thai are even selling in mainstream supermarkets.

In Thailand, however, phad thai vies with boat noodles and fried rice as the ultimate comfort food. Any food centre or outdoor market inevitably has a phad thai stall which usually sells turnip cake fried phad thai-style and battered oysters as well. The oysters are fried with bean sprouts in a deliciously light, crispy egg batter and served with a healthy dose of sweet, sour and hot Sriracha chilli sauce. But that’s another blog post altogether.

It is a well-known fact that, in economic crises, traditional comfort foods return to popular favour and, in that paradox that can only exist in hard times, commonly found staples like phad thai start to get the glam treatment.

Recipes

Dec 2, 2009

8 Comments

Thanksgiving Recap and a Recipe for Curried Butternut Squash and Apples

This past Thursday, the sweet and savory aromas of Thanksgiving filled my apartment building. Through my bathroom vent, I can usually smell what the neighbors are cooking. Since the kitchen and bathroom vents in the building are conjoined, it often draws in odd yet strangely alluring scents to the apartment by way of the bathroom. Sometimes it’s waffles, bacon and Pantene Pro-V on Sunday mornings. In the evening it can be a medley of pot roast and spicy Thai curry. But it was Thanksgiving day, and most kitchens in the building were already whirring with activity by early afternoon. The familiar smells of sage, pumpkin, cinnamon, and roast poultry were not only coming in from the bathroom, but had managed to slip into the hallway as well, enveloping me with delicious aromas when I opened the door and walked to and from the elevator.

Tagged: apple, brussel sprouts, butternut squash, cauliflower, Curry, hamachi, leek, liver, sage, sashimi, scallops, soup, tartare, thanksgiving, tomato, worcheshire

Recipes

Nov 7, 2009

3 Comments

A Slow and Simple Tonnarelli Alla Marinara

Typically when I make Spaghetti Alla Marinara, it usually involves roughly chopped tomatoes, garlic, random vegetables from the produce drawer, and a handful of Barilla pasta —all thrown together in two pots and ready to eat in 20 minutes. When my friend Josh suggested that we make spaghetti for dinner, I had no idea I was in for an authentically lengthy Italian experience.

Tagged: basil, Di Palo's, garlic, Little Italy, Marinara, New York, pasta, sauce, tomato, Tonnarelli

Recipes

Sep 8, 2009

4 Comments

Look Mom, No Ricecooker!

Hello World (to-Table fans). My name is Kelly, and I’m writing to you from my home away from home, Poughkeepsie, NY. My real home is actually in an apartment with my sister Veronica, creator of this blog. But I currently live with three friends in a house near Vassar College, where I am a student.

That’s enough about me. What about FOOD? Like my sister, I have acquired quite a refined palate, which is a blessing and a curse, as the dining hall that “nourished” me for four semesters is not cutting it anymore. Good-bye meal plan and hello kitchen!

Tagged: baby corn, chili sauce, chinese, egg, eggplant, garlic, New York, poughkeepsie, rice, scallion, scramble, spinach, tomato

Recipes

Sep 7, 2009

2 Comments

Elusive Sukhothai Noodles and a Recipe for Tom Yum

Meet Nat: globetrotting citizen of the world, seeker of delicious foods and our newest contributor to World to Table. He’ll be sharing with you his travels, his recipes, and his unbridled love for food. — Veronica

My name is Nat, short for Natayada, and I’m from Thailand by way of America. I was born in Bangkok and have lived in Europe and Africa, but now go back and forth between east and west.

My obsession with food came early. One of my first memories is of being in a kitchen in Paris as my mother and grandmother were debating how to make Thai dish taste right with the limited ingredients we could find.

Tagged: chilis, cilantro, fish sauce, galangal, kaffir lime, lemongrass, mushrooms, noodles, palm sugar, prawns, sukhothai, thailand, tom yum