Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 104

Persimmon Cranberry Sauce

I love cranberry sauce. You can keep your stuffing, your gravy (blech!), as long as you give me my cranberry sauce, I'm happy.

What's astonishing to me about cranberry sauce is how insanely easy it is to make. The idea that people open a can of that gelatinous mound of cranberry goop is mind-blowing to me. If you buy a bag of cranberries (and Ocean Spray pretty much has them in every grocery store this time of year) and add them to a pot with sugar and a splash of water, turn up the heat, you'll have a cranberry sauce in five minutes. It's really that simple.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

Maple-Roasted Butternut Squash and Apples

If there's a time of year to break out Molly Stevens's new Roasting book, this is it. Thanksgiving dinner is all about roasting. If you deep-fry your bird, you're missing out on one of the great aspects of Thanksgiving–the lovely aroma of a slow-roasting bird wafting through your house or apartment. Keeping in the spirit of roasting, your side dish should be roasted too. That's why butternut squash is a good choice.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

Red and Gold Beet Salad with Mache & Goat Cheese

Here's the thing about serving a beet salad as your first course at Thanksgiving: it's nutritious enough (beets are healthy!) to justify all of the hedonism that's to come AND you can serve it with good cheese which, when you think about it, rarely makes an appearance at Thanksgiving. Where else would you serve cheese? With the turkey? With the pecan pie? So starting with a beet salad makes good sense, especially if you buy a cheese like Humboldt Fog (like I did for this salad) or something even bolder like Roquefort.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

Feasting Before The Feast (Or: Another Sunday Gravy)

Our old friend and neighbor Rob was in town last week and, craving an Amateur Gourmet-cooked meal, swung on over with our friend Luke (am I allowed to say "our Oscar-winning friend" Luke?) on Sunday night. Like a good Italian grandmother, I had a pot simmering on the stove all afternoon and by the time everyone was assembled at the table, my plan to kill everyone with meat was in full effect.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

Tacos Delta & Ricky's Fish Tacos

Tacos have entered my life in a big way. Ever since I moved to L.A. in September, I've been eating many, many tacos. Tacos at Loteria, tacos at Malo. In fact, there's a very good chance that today I'll be eating tacos for lunch and dinner, no joke. What makes the tacos here so great? Rid your mind of those orange tacos shells that you crunched through at your middle school cafeteria growing up. Here, tacos are served in freshly pressed tortillas; the fillings are often equally as fresh (no ground meat slop) and made piquant with pico de gallo and a splash of hot sauce. On the east side of town, where I live, I've discovered two great places for tacos. Let me tell you about them.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

How To Make a Sidecar

My planned Christmas gift for Craig this year was a copy of The P.D.T. Cocktail Book by Jim Meehan and Chris Gall, based on the drinks at P.D.T. (Please Don't Tell) in New York which was just named the best bar in the world by Drinks International. It's a bar that's hidden inside a hot dog restaurant; to get there you have to go through a telephone booth. Any time that I ever tried to go there, I was always turned away and told to make a reservation next time. But I'm not bitter over bitters. As things worked out, I was sent a press copy of The P.D.T. book last week and even though I could've saved it to give Craig on December 24th (or is it the 25th that you give gifts? This Jew doesn't understand Christmas) I decided to give it to him now. And Craig, who's often aspired to building up our bar and making drinks for our dinner parties, couldn't have been more delighted.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

Porchetta At Home

We're all aware of Porchetta the destination, aren't we? Located on East 7th Street in New York's East Village, Chef Sara Jenkins (who I met and interviewed a few months ago) has created a universally beloved destination for pork lovers. The menu there features two main choices: porchetta on a sandwich or porchetta on a plate. The experience of eating the Porchetta porchetta–which the Porchetta website defines as "roasted pork with crispy skin, highly seasoned with aromatic herbs and spices, garlic, sage, rosemary and wild fennel pollen"–is so sublime, so otherworldly, I knew I had to recreate the experience here in my Los Angeles apartment.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

Eggs, Biscuits & Bacon

I make a mean weekend breakfast. The variables often change; sometimes it's a frittata, sometimes it's waffles. The only constants are freshly ground coffee and paper towel napkins because who uses cloth napkins at breakfast? Lately, though, my mean weekend breakfast looks a lot like the breakfast you see above: homemade biscuits, crispy bacon and two sunny side-up eggs. I'm going to walk you through it so you can make that same plate for your loved ones this weekend.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

Cook Along With Me (Porchetta Dinner Party)

I got a kick out of it last week cooking live on camera for all of you nice people out there. So right now, at this very moment, I'm prepping dinner for tonight–a big feast involving a homemade porchetta. If you want to follow along, you can just watch me above or join me in the chatroom by clicking here.

UPDATE: The live video show is over but you can watch a recording above. Enjoy! (Especially the part where I do the dishes.)

Win A Copy of The Serious Eats Book

Flipping through the pages of the new Serious Eats Book, I'm in total awe. It's the kind of book that could only be written by a team of passionate, ambitious food folk–the kind of people who care very deeply about issues like "What's the best pizza in the country?" (#1 on their list: Apizza Scholls in Portland, OR) or "What are the various regional burger styles?" (the list includes smashed burgers, steamed cheeseburgers, cheese-stuffed burgers, and so on). Led by the spirited Ed Levine, the Serious Eats team have assembled a book choc full of great advice on where to eat, how to eat and what to eat (including many brilliant recipes developed by the incomparable J. Kenji Lopez-Alt). Now TWO OF YOU lucky Amateur Gourmet readers are going to receive a free copy of the Serious Eats book. To win, simply put your name, location and favorite local haunt (a Serious Eats-worthy destination) in the comments with a one-sentence description that makes me hungry. Make sure to enter a valid e-mail address too so I can notify you if you win (I'll post the winners here tomorrow morning in this same post). Good luck!