Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 103

Chopped Liver!

It's time for chopped liver to make a comeback. I mean think about it: chefs flaunt their charcuterie and pâtés at places like Bar Boulud in New York and Salt's Cure here in L.A. And what is chopped liver if not liver pâté's chunky Jewish cousin? I grew up eating the stuff–my grandmother used to warn (as I mentioned in this old post), "Don't eat that, it's an organ meat!"–and to this day I'm not quite sure what she meant by that. But you'll be surprised–if you put this on your coffee table with some crackers and a few whisky drinks (Craig made Manhattans) it'll get quickly gobbled up.

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A Grinchy New Banner

This month, I'm "a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich, with arsenic sauce" thanks to the talents of Lindy Groening. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Banh Mi at Ink.Sack, Chile Rellenos at Loteria

Let me tell you about this sandwich that I ate at Ink.Sack, Michael Voltaggio's sandwich shop on Melrose. It's a Banh Mi, which if you haven't had one (and I had my first one on Calvin Trillin's walking tour of Chinatown many moons ago) it's a sandwich, served on a baguette, usually made with pork pâté , pork sausage, pickled vegetables (carrots, daikon), mayonnaise, chili sauce and lots of cilantro.

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Sexy Cabbage Sexytime

Let's face it, cabbage is a tough sell. Even though it's what makes coleslaw coleslaw and it's a crunchy companion to a fish taco, most people associate it with their grandmother's boiled cabbage fouling up the air with its death-like aroma. That's why I'm titling this post Sexy Cabbage Sexytime because the other night, I came up with a way to cook it that's so terrific, so genre-shifting, it'll forever change the way that you think about cabbage.

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Way Beyond Bagels

The Jewish diaspora is the kind of phrase you only use in college, and even then you're not sure what it means. But I know this much: Jews in Boca Raton, Florida make good bagels. I've long sung the praises of Bagelworks on Glades Road near the Turnpike–my favorite bagel destination when I visit home (I always get "the works" with two scoops of white fish and one scoop of nova spread)–but, traditionally, my mom always buys bagels for the house from Way Beyond Bagels on Jog Road, next to the Starbucks.

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Apple Pie Cookies By The Seat Of My Pants

It's considered a hard and true fact in the food world that baking is a precise discipline and that cooking–sauteing, roasting, salad-making–is looser, freer, more of a vehicle for personal expression.

Why does that always have to be the case? Isn't it possible that, if you know a thing or two in the kitchen, you can whip up a batch of cookies with as much freedom and joie-de-vivre as you might employ while making am omelet? I decided to challenge the status quo yesterday by making a batch of cookies without following a recipe.

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My First Persimmons

I am new to persimmons.

I'd heard of them, Pim once gave me a delicious jam she made from them; but purchase them and eat them in the real world? I had not. And then, on a recent trip to the Hollywood farmer's market, I saw piles of them everywhere.

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That's Not A Lime Tree

You may recall, when we first moved into our L.A. apartment, that I described a courtyard with a lime tree in it. I'm embarrassed to say that even though I have many dishes in my repertoire that involve limes–oatmeal with ginger, coconut milk and lime; sea scallops with citrus risotto–I haven't once plucked one off the tree and used it, not even in a drink.

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The A.G.'s Thanksgiving Guide 2011

You thought you might avoid it here on my blog–the Thanksgiving deluge that happens on all food sites this time of year–but this weekend I broke down and cooked a Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving for Craig and his aunt and uncle. (I'm not cooking for my family in Florida this year–we're eating out so I can relax and spend quality time at home.) Here's the breakdown of what I made with links to all of the recipes. Hopefully it's a handy Thanksgiving guide, delivered just when you need it most.

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Slow-Roasted Herbed Turkey Breast

Finally, there's the turkey itself. For years my mom tried to convince me to make just a turkey breast for the Thanksgivings I'd make at home. And for years I refused because I'd never made a whole turkey before and wanted to document that experience for the blog.

But because I was cooking a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving for just Craig and his aunt and uncle on Saturday, I knew a whole turkey didn't make sense. And so it was that I bought a 2 1/4 pound turkey breast at Gelson's already tied up and everything.

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