Not Derby Pie

Caramelized Apple Crepes

rivka — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:17:00 +0000

As I write this, the view outside my window is largely white. It’s been snowing for 29 straight hours here in DC, and over 30 inches have piled up on the ground. The sky is blue for the first time in two days, and people are just starting to move about outside, however [...]

Spinach Bourekas

rivka — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:24:24 +0000

At some point last year, I fell off the puff pastry cliff. It all started with this onion-date tart, one of the best and easiest recipes I’ve ever written. I made it once, twice, three times, and more; I couldn’t stop. I’d tweak a thing or two every time: I’d add mushrooms, swap [...]

Bursting Hot Tomatoes with Cheesy Breadcrumbs

rivka — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:05:15 +0000

There’s a little game I play as fall wanes into winter. It’s about tomatoes. In summer, when tomatoes are at their peak, I want nothing but to eat them — lots of them, all the time — in preparations as simple as can be. Don’t make me pasta with tomato sauce when [...]

Down and Dirty Pasta e Cecci

rivka — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:00:01 +0000

Anything that has the words “down and dirty” in the title is something I will, sooner or later, make. “Down and dirty” suggests a rough-and-tumble version of the refined original, something you’re more likely to eat on your front stoop than in a dining room. When I hear down and dirty, I see myself [...]

Moroccan Salmon with Curried Yogurt

rivka — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:00:33 +0000

Though it doesn’t appear very often on this site, fish — salmon in particular — is a staple in the NDP kitchen. I like it because it’s a substantial cornerstone of a meal without being as heavy as meat often is. I frequently host lunch on Saturdays, and I almost always cook for [...]

Lynn Rossetto Kasper’s Thai Cabbage Salad with Cashews and Chili-Coconut Dressing

rivka — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:54:34 +0000

Not everyday is as productive as last Friday. In about 2 hours, I made a fantastic salad, discovered a new cooking technique, and finally learned how to achieve that elusive sweet-salty-tangy-spicy balance in a Thai vinaigrette. It’s all thanks to Lynn Rossetto Kasper. As if I’m surprised. I am a huge fan of Lynn Rossetto [...]

Syllabub

rivka — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:11:46 +0000

To Amanda Hesser’s list of foods whose names alone command that you make them, I add this quirky dessert. Syllabub! Every time in the past two weeks I’ve called it by name, it’s been met with total crack-up laughter. Don’t you want to make it too, just to be able to say [...]

Graham Crackers

rivka — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:00:13 +0000

D’s stepmom, Terri, has an absolute weakness for graham crackers. She says they’re the one thing she absolutely can’t keep in the house, because once she opens the package, she’ll eat every last one. I learned this on our recent trip to Israel, and was pleased to be able to reply that in my [...]

Crispy Kale Chips

rivka — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:35:43 +0000

Hello there readers, and hello 2010! I’m back from Israel and hope you enjoyed the dispatches from abroad. In truth, there’s so much more to tell: a dear friend took D and me on a fabulous tour of the Old City’s Christian Quarter, where we ate amazingly fresh hummus, climbed down to secret underground [...]

Morduch

rivka — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:46:23 +0000

Judging by its exterior, Morduch has developed its reputation entirely by word of mouth. The sign outside is small and dirty, and the restaurant is not much more than a hole in the wall, overshadowed in size and grandeur by its neighbor, the shuk (open air market). It’s not the kind of place you [...]

The Shuk

rivka — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:45:31 +0000

The central attraction of the downtown area is, without a doubt, the shuk, or the open-air market. Occupying two long square blocks, it has everything you could possibly want, from fresh fruit and vegetables to prepared foods to hundreds of kinds of cheese to fresh-squeezed juice to full-service cafes and restaurants…and more. It’s [...]

Home Sweet Home

rivka — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:52:30 +0000

I don’t know what it is about this place that gets me every time. Partially, it’s the food. There’s hot, sweet challah in the oven right now, some really beautiful fruit on the counter, and onions and garlic browning on the stove. It’s also the scenery. It’s 65 degrees, there’s not a cloud [...]

Brussels Sprouts with Sriracha, Honey, and Lime

rivka — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:59:27 +0000

When the New Yorker lands in my mailbox each Tuesday, the first thing I read is the weekly restaurant write-up, Tables for Two. It’s short and sweet, and usually contains a brief description of one or two stand-out dishes. Every once in a while, I hear one of the descriptions and think, that [...]

Goat Cheese Caramel Cheesecake

rivka — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:12:39 +0000

The last several times I saw cheesecake on a restaurant menu, it always listed some cheese other than cream cheese as its defining ingredient: ricotta, farmers cheese, and goat cheese seem to make regular appearances. This is with good reason: traditional cheesecake is overly sweet and very dense. It feels to me like a 1980’s-era dessert, [...]

Chocolate-Dipped Hazelnut Shortbread

rivka — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:51:24 +0000

If it wasn’t obvious from my cookie page, I’ve got something of a permanent craving for bite-sized crunchy/chewy treats. Hanukkah isn’t really a cookie-focused holiday — it’s more a celebration of your deep fryer. But Christmas is just around the corner, and every year, I get swept up in the holiday spirit. This [...]

My Hanukkah Wishlist

rivka — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:30:25 +0000

Christmas season is upon us, and the obsessing about presents is underway. I’ve seen about 15 gift guides, some food-specific, some not, with ideas for the food lover, the wannabe foodie, the horrible cook, the cool-chef-dad, the apron-clad mom, and everyone in between. This isn’t really a gift guide — it’s really just a [...]

Brussels Sprouts with “Bacon” and Pears

rivka — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:15:24 +0000

Yet another installment of my Weekday Lunch series, where I share recipes suited for home or the office. Last Wednesday night, a colleague of mine had a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving party. The idea is brilliant. Since most of us spend Tday with anyone from parents and siblings to in-laws and cousins twice removed, might as well [...]

Cauliflower with Brown Butter

rivka — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:15:53 +0000

Part of the fun of food blogging is that my kitchen rarely sees the exact same dish twice. Driven by the need for new content, I’m always in search of the next great recipe. I abide some serious duds along the way, but they’re a necessary evil in this business, and well worth [...]

Eggnog Ice Cream

rivka — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:15:23 +0000

A couple weeks ago, I went to a midday workweek lunch at Vidalia to take advantage of what was an excellent deal: $19.90 for app, main, and desserts — a large selection that included their signature lemon chess pie and pecan pie, for which they’re known. (By the way, the deal is no longer [...]

Thanksgiving Menu Planning

rivka — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:10:24 +0000

This year, I’ll be out in Michigan for a turkey-filled T-Day with D’s family. However, longtime readers of this site know that I grew up in a vegetarian household, and as such, am accustomed to a turkey-less (but no less festive) holiday. Before you scrunch your face into a frown and get all judgmental, let [...]

Chewy Toffee Blondies

rivka — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:55:13 +0000

Can I just say how touched I am? You all left the sweetest congratulatory messages on the last post, and I’m really just tickled. We’re told this is a pretty exciting time in our lives, and if the last two weeks are any indication, exciting is quite an understatement. We’re floating. But I digress: [...]

No Better Reason to Celebrate

rivka — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:05:33 +0000

I’ve never been an early adopter. I came to this food blogging thing way after it had taken off; by the time I got a dSLR camera, food photography had already become a professional sport. And while other folks share whole chunks of their life online, the virtual snapshot I’ve created on this here blog [...]

Broccoli with Capers and Olives, Two Ways

rivka — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:43:44 +0000

Finally, the next chapter of “Weekday Lunch,” where I offer recipes for food that fits in tupperware and warms in the office microwave. This dish happened completely by accident. D had decided to order a pizza for dinner, and I decided to do something else, seeing as it would have been my fourth pizza meal of [...]

Buttermilk Country Cake, Homemade Creme Fraiche

rivka — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:51:12 +0000

In my minds eye, a good cake is at least two layers high. It’s fluffy and moist and laden with chocolate and, if I’m lucky, coated from head to toe and all in between with cream cheese frosting. Or better yet, chocolate cream cheese frosting. In a word, decadent. It’s easy to pass up simpler [...]

Sugar High Friday: Toasted Edition, the Roundup!

rivka — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:15:39 +0000

It always takes me a while to get over the end of summer’s abundance; I spend a good part of September missing peak tomatoes and fretting about corn’s impending end. But once October comes around, I’m fully ready for fall, which brings pleasure of a different sort. Once I’ve left summer behind, I’m ready for [...]

On the Occasional Chicken Dinner

rivka — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:14:48 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot about Jonathan Safran Foer’s article in the New York Times Magazine’s recent Food Issue about why he stopped eating meat. If you haven’t read the article, take a look. Safran Foer tells the story of his long-time struggle with vegetarianism and the ways in which fatherhood helped him strengthen [...]

Eating with Grandpa

rivka — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:56:20 +0000

My grandfather loved to eat. He and my grandmother went to restaurants about three times a week as far back as I can remember. For them it was never about trying the newest place or getting a coveted table at a popular joint; it was about old haunts. They had their usual spots [...]

Soup of Fresh Shelling Beans and Sorrel

rivka — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:04:40 +0000

Is it Monday? I’m pretty sure it’s Monday. The last two weeks have been a blur of sniffles, tissues, and gallons (I mean it) of chai. I came down with a cold just around the start of the month. Chalk it up to a late recovery from August’s crunch time at work. I took a [...]

Sugar High Friday Reminder: Get Toasting!

rivka — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:35:46 +0000

Just reminding anyone who’s interested that the deadline for Sugar High Friday should bake, photograph, post, and email their toasted recipes to me by MIDNIGHT MONDAY, OCTOBER 26th. I’ll do the round-up at the end of that week, so if you want in, get baking! I know I’ve already baked up a pretty delicious [...]

For What Ails You

rivka — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:44:20 +0000

What you see there is what’s left of my breakfast (some baguette with ricotta, avocado, and sea salt — crostini, anyone?), my lifeline (tissues), and my constant companion (a steaming cup of chai). I’m down for the count right now and need some serious R&R. Hopefully I’ll be better and back in a few [...]

Rebecca’s Red Velvet Birthday Cake

rivka — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:28:10 +0000

What cake to bake for the girl who bakes birthday cakes? Back in September, we had our friend Rebecca over for dinner right around her 25th birthday, so I decided to make her a birthday cake for dessert. Problem is, Rebecca’s basically known for her cakes and cupcakes. She makes them all the time, [...]

Crostini of All Sorts

rivka — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:23:31 +0000

During a recent stop at the bookstore on my street, Idle Time Books (which, btw, had a cameo in A Few Good Men), I was thumbing through cookbook author Deborah Madison’s latest book, What We Eat When We Eat Alone, which she co-wrote with her artist-partner Patrick McFarlin. WWEWWEA (liberally abbreviating the long title [...]

Carrot-Zucchini Bread

rivka — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:30:26 +0000

This is the kind of recipe I live for. It reminds me of those really good bran muffins you find at local coffee shops, with the nutty, wholesome flavors and tops that crust around the edges and never are perfectly round. It’s got a more well-defined crumb than carrot kugel, but it’s not [...]

Pickles!

rivka — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:30:48 +0000

Folks, I’m finding it hard to contain my excitement about NDP’s second-ever guest post. Guess who wrote it? MY MOM! That’s right: in the post below, NDP Ima tells you all about easy-to-make, hard-to-stop-eating pickles. You’ll see from her intro paragraph where I got my taste buds. These pickles are salty, tangy, and really [...]

Sugar High Friday…Toasted!

rivka — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:37:19 +0000

Now that NDP is a whopping two years old, I think it’s time she and I finally hosted a blogging event. I’ve been a sporadic participant in these sorts of things, mostly because between keeping up with my day job, getting bloggable food on the table, and taking decent pictures of said food, I [...]

Day 2: Chicken, Clean Stoves, Momentous Occasions

rivka — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:22:58 +0000

Today was seriously busy — fortunately for me, D’s stepmom Terri came in a couple days early to help cook, finish up grocery shopping, and see to it that the house was clean. That last bit she takes more seriously than you can imagine; when D and I moved into our apt, in a 100-year [...]

Day 1: Challah and Lots of it

rivka — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:47:25 +0000

It’s not even 9 am and I already have 6 loaves of challah rising on the counter. What’s wrong with this picture? I got a headstart on cooking this morning thanks to a 6:30 workout session with Julia. I was back home at 7:40 and by 7:50, I was covered in flour. Awesome. [...]

Rosh Hashana Menus

rivka — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:09:19 +0000

The Jewish New Year is fast approaching, and here at NDP we might just be in over our heads; we’re having lots of D’s family for the holiday and very excited to host them all! With so many people to feed and not much time to prep, I’ve drawn up menus to keep myself on track [...]

Salmon with Herb Butter and Various Roasted Vegetables

rivka — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:01:05 +0000

D and I had people over Friday night. As of Thursday, I not only had done no cooking, I hadn’t even figured out my menu. Now, I’m not one to plan these things all too far in advance — but 24 hours is not much time to plan, shop, and make food for [...]

Granola with Tahini

rivka — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:25:52 +0000

Ahh lovely readers, I’ve missed you! I’ve been posting sporadically at best for the past month, because work has been absolutely insane and I haven’t had time to even enter the kitchen, let alone write about it. That last post on zucchini soup was my lame attempt to give you reading [...]

Smoky Corn Salad

rivka — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:42:28 +0000

So sorry that posts have been so few and far between (and so short) lately. I’m doing my best to offer some great summer suggestions between work and work — bear with me; just two more weeks of this insanity, and I’ll be back on track. Meanwhile, hopefully you’re taking advantage of the last of summer’s [...]

Marcella Hazan’s Pesto

rivka — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:04:52 +0000

Basil is aplenty at DC’s farmers’ markets. This week, my favorite farmer was selling massive bags of the stuff for just $3.99. I probably came home with a good 2 pounds of basil — hard to imagine considering how light it is. There was only one thing to do: make pesto. The last [...]

Getaway Sour Cherry Pie

rivka — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 23:17:14 +0000

The dog days of August are no time to hang out in DC. That’s why D and I spent the first week of the month with her parents in Douglas, MI, a beach town on the eastern side of Lake Michigan, where every day is 75 and sunny and there’s a constant breeze rippling [...]

Not So Potato-y Salad

rivka — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:42:11 +0000

From a vege-mostly-tarian’s perspective, spring and summer are the seasons to beat. Fresh fruit and vegetables are available in abundance, and the variety, especially in summer, is simply unmatched. I make at least one salad a day; using anything from the usual lettuce and Israeli cucumbers to radishes to carrots to tomatoes and [...]

Tamarind-Cherry Meatballs

rivka — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:23:24 +0000

Short post today, but I wanted to offer a recipe that puts the tamarind puree I recently posted to good use. These meatballs are really a cinch to make; they’re studded with rich, nutty pine nuts, and the sweet-tart sauce, with fresh and dried sour cherries and plenty of tamarind, is downright addictive. [...]

Tamarind Puree

rivka — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:59:56 +0000

The single best thing (the single good thing, actually) about pulling late nights at work is ordering Indian on the firm’s tab. The office coordinates with one of those online delivery systems where you can order dinner and have the bill automatically charged to the company, but frankly, the pickins are slim and they [...]

Perfect Blueberry Buttermilk Hotcakes

rivka — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:41:54 +0000

The NDP kitchen is swimming in blueberries. They were a mere $1.25 a pint at today’s market, so I couldn’t resist buying just a few 5. I ate half a pint on the way back from the market, because they’re so sweet! And I’m a grown up so I can! So there! [...]

Summer Succotash

rivka — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:20:55 +0000

Round next of my weekday lunch series, where I post about dishes that’ll put PB&J to shame. I love the flavor of buttery, salty, corn on the cob. I love it even more now that I’ve discovered the sweetest corn ever, from Toigo Orchards. Toigo sets up shop at the Dupont farmers’ market; their corn [...]

Cherry Pistachio Crisp

rivka — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:22:42 +0000

Dear readers, as you are my witnesses, I’m hereby confessing a minor addiction to sour cherries. After a year-long wait for sour cherry season, I’ve put up a pitcher of sour cherry liqueur that’ll be ready in a few short months (and early tastes have been very, very promising) and I’ve made a couple pies [...]

Andalusian Gazpacho

rivka — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:34:54 +0000

Please welcome my friend Jeremy, who was bold enough to suggest guest-posting on my blog and kind enough to follow through. He brought over a jar of this gazpacho and when I dunked a spoon in for a taste, I ended up finishing half the jar. It’s the perfect summer soup, and I’m thrilled to [...]

Maple Walnut Oatmeal with Peaches

rivka — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:54:55 +0000

My breakfast habits usually vary from season to season. I tend to alternate between Terri and Kendall’s go-to oatmeal recipe (oats, water, agave syrup, wheat germ, and flax seeds) and toast with an egg and fake bacon during the winter. During summertime, though, it’s all about yogurt. There are few things I love more than [...]

Feta Phyllo Torte

rivka — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:43:03 +0000

Feta Phyllo Torte Of all the incredibly culinary feats out there (and there are plenty), one of which I’m truly in awe is the ability to consistently serve vegetarian food that fees like a main dish. As I’ve written before, one of the challenges to purely vegetarian cooking is that often, everything on the table [...]

Sour Cherry Liqueur

rivka — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:51:57 +0000

Want to do something awesomely cool and really flippin’ easy along with me? Make sour cherry liqueur. It’s the height of sour cherry season, and markets are bursting with those tart little bubbles of juice. The season’s pretty short: I was thinking of hitting up a u-pick next week to get some sour [...]

Sardine and Fava Bean Bruschetta

rivka — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:05:47 +0000

I can’t remember if I’ve ever written a love song to favas on this blog. I mean, I’ve written about them, but I probably haven’t sung their praises as much as they deserve. Starting in late May, I bother the farmers at my local market every Sunday, trying to subtly nudge them to pick [...]

Linguini with Artichokes and Sweet Peas

rivka — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:25:50 +0000

Here’s another round of my “weekday lunch” series, where I offer recipes that’ll make your colleagues green with envy. Peas are one of those foods that have completely changed for me since I started shopping at the farmers’ market. In regular grocery stores (that aren’t Fairway, Whole Foods or Dean and Delucca), it’s pretty rare [...]

Cherry Pit Ice Cream w/Caramelized White Chocolate Ribbon

rivka — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:56:24 +0000

Well, you’ve caught me red-handed. Not two weeks after I confessed my inclination toward only the purest of ice cream flavors when making it at home, I’ve gone stir crazy. First, I went nuts on vanilla by adding drizzles of chocolate; then I made maple ice cream (which, alas, was devoured before I [...]

Classic Mac and Cheese

rivka — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:39:18 +0000

As you all know by now, D’s made lots of culinary concessions for the sake of our relationship. In the four-plus years we’ve been together, she’s become someone who appreciates good food far more than I ever thought she would. So this past week, I felt inspired to acknowledge that by taking a couple [...]

Pesto Streudel and Panzanella Salad

rivka — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:41:12 +0000

Now that it’s summer, my counters are teeming with beautiful red tomatoes and my fridge is packed with brightly-colored produce of all sorts: radishes, favas, beets, strawberries, you name it. It’s a welcome change from the endless supply of potatoes, yams, potatoes, and kale, oh, the kale. Thank goodness I’ve got some red [...]

Avocado Tomato Salad

rivka — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 23:12:02 +0000

It’d be a shame to spend too much of this day indoors, because it’s beautiful outside and I have an all-day pool pass — so I’m going to keep this short: It’s summer, people! That means I’m barely to be seen at the grocery store, stocking up on fruit and veggies almost exclusively [...]

Wisdom: How to Build a Cheeseplate

rivka — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:48:05 +0000

When summer rolls around, the heat in Washington DC can be rather prohibitive. Almost nothing is worth touching that oven dial, especially in our loft apartment that gets a whole lot of hot air and nary a breeze. Dinner most frequently comprises an easy salad like this broccoli slaw or this Mediterranean orzo salad, [...]

Biscotti, the even-healthier way

rivka — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 03:35:43 +0000

Just thought you’d all like to know that we’ve been tinkering around here at NDP and I’ve managed to make some biscotti that are better for you and equally delicious. After some tinkering, I made the same ones I made the last time — cherry almond — with half white whole wheat flour and [...]

Wheatberry Salad with Cranberries, Feta, and Mint

rivka — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:32:34 +0000

Yet another installment of my weekday lunch series; you can never have enough recipes for midday workplace eats. I don’t have anything to share about this recipe that’s particularly exciting. It’s just another rendition of my standard grain+bean+berry+herb salad formula. But I realized as I made this salad that it was my first time making wheatberries. [...]

Pickled Cauliflower

rivka — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:46:47 +0000

I absolutely love sour things. I’ve been known to suck on a lemon slice once in a while, just for kicks (though my dentist scolded me for doing it, so I reluctantly put the habit to rest). When it comes to pickles, I’m a full-sour kinda gal. None of that dill or bread-n-butter stuff; I [...]

Vanilla Ice Cream with Stracciatella

rivka — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:31:37 +0000

Recently, I discovered something of an oddity in my ice cream-eating habits. When I buy ice cream, I’m pretty particular about how I like it: Ben and Jerry’s coffee heath bar toffee crunch. It’s really that easy. I’ve never been one to order vanilla, chocolate, or any other flavor that’s that simple. [...]

On limiting waste

rivka — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:22:13 +0000

I dunno about you, but I’m feeling more and more compelled to get a composter. It seems ridiculous that I throw away several pounds of biodegradable stems, peelings, cores, pits, seeds, skins, and rinds, when I could compost them instead. I know that composting in urban environments can be challenging: living as we do [...]

Bulgur with Black Eyed Peas, Spinach and Dates

rivka — Thu, 14 May 2009 19:44:00 +0000

Yet another installment of my weekday lunch series. You can never have enough work-lunch-friendly dishes, now can you? I work on the ninth floor of my firm’s office building. There are lots of conference rooms on our floor, and when a lunch meeting yields leftovers, they usually make their way into the ninth floor kitchen, [...]

Rigatoni with Broccoli Rabe

rivka — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:09:15 +0000

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know by now that I’m a self proclaimed ingredient-adder. I’ve got issues leaving things simple: I find myself constantly tempted to tinker, to add just one more spice or sauce or vegetable or seed or something. I’ve been working on it, folks, really I [...]

The Best Tea Cookies on the Planet

rivka — Sat, 09 May 2009 20:06:03 +0000

I’ve always loved the idea of having a local baker — someone whose shop was within a short walk of my apartment, where I could drop by in the morning for a baguette or a scone, pick up a loaf or two of fresh bread, and pop in on a lazy Sunday afternoon for tea [...]

Quinoa Salad with Tofu, Beets, and Avocado

rivka — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:35:58 +0000

This is another installment of my “weekday lunch” series, where I offer suggestions for dishes that can hang out in your tupperware til 12:30 rolls around. For other weekday lunch options, see my weekday lunch archive page. Here’s a super-easy salad that holds up very well in the tupperware container. It came together late one [...]

Cherry Almond Biscotti

rivka — Mon, 04 May 2009 02:57:02 +0000

Two wrist-slaps for me: I made these so long ago, I can’t even remember when at this point. And I was oh-so-sure I blogged about them. But you know what? I didn’t. I realized this yesterday, when I was poking around a great blog I recently discovered (which, in coincidence of coincidences, [...]

Miso Chicken with Braised Fennel

rivka — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:32:36 +0000

Boneless chicken breasts are one of those things I cope with for the sake of my relationship. If I had my way, you’d never see them in my fridge or freezer: I find them flavorless and boring (unless breaded and fried — no complaints about homemade chicken fingers from this lady). But D [...]

Bouchon-Inspired Lemon Tart

rivka — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:52:30 +0000

On my last trip to New York, I stood on the third floor of the Time Warner Center for about an hour just waiting to get into Bouchon Bakery. It didn’t work out — the person we were meeting was on a tight schedule — so we ended up eating salads at Whole Foods. [...]

Oven-Roasted Olives

rivka — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:50:59 +0000

In recent years, a slew of upscale pizza places have sprouted up to sate the ever-growing yuppie appetite for $13 (or $15, or $20) pies. Just look at Manhattan and Brooklyn: they’re bursting with fancy pizza points, from the old-school Lombardi’s and my favorite Grimaldi’s to the newer Roberta’s and Co., dreamt up by [...]

Spaghetti with Ramps

rivka — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:58:39 +0000

Hello out there! Sorry to have abandoned ship for the past week — due to Passover, I’ve been subsisting on a strange diet of matzah, farmers cheese, avocado, and salad. Not exactly the stuff worthy of a blog post. Most people would rather clean their bathroom than volunteer to host a dinner [...]

Strawberry Avocado Salad

rivka — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:13:50 +0000

Not exactly a recipe, but this was a part of my Sunday morning breakfast last week and I couldn’t resist sharing it. It’s a sign of the warmer days that are (I hope!) just around the corner, and it’s a healthy and filling alternative to my usual morning grind. It’s also dead simple [...]