Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 118

Grilled Pineapple with Cardamom Whipped Cream

After that salmon dinner, we were still hungry. Isn't that funny how that works? You spend an hour making an elaborate French dinner (ok, I said it was easy, but it still took about an hour) and after you're done eating it, you're still hungry! But this proved to be a blessing, because it gave me an opportunity to improvise a dessert.

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Salmon and Sorrel Troisgros

Once upon a time, I bought Richard Olney's "Simple French Food," a classic text that's required reading for many an aspiring chef. I remember reading it casually (I even cooked from it once: Squid & Leeks in Red Wine) and I remember making a mental note that if I ever found sorrel at the farmer's market, I would buy some.

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Royal Cake

Clear your caches and observe this month's banner in which I present the royal wedding cake to a clearly unimpressed Queen, her hubby, Kate & Will. Thanks to Lindy Groening for another brilliant illustration and to Justin Dickinson for popping it up there. Long live cake!

Parsnip and Rutabaga Smash

Snooki may like to smoosh, but when it came to the root vegetables that I brought home from the farmer's market last week, I was in the mood to smash.

I was making roast chicken (my go-to weeknight dish) and my standard practice is to stick some root vegetables under or around the chicken, to crank up the oven and to rejoice as all that chicken fat infuses the vegetables with its chickeny goodness.

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The Speedy Life & Tragic Death of My AeroGarden

For my birthday this year, my brother Michael got me a very thoughtful gift. He got me an AeroGarden.

In case you've never seen one, an AeroGarden is a black plastic contraption that holds a very strong light. You place little pods in little pre-set holes, fill the base with water, plug the whole thing in and pretty soon those pods are sprouting plants.

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The Corn Cookie

Delaying gratification is an exercise few food lovers can comprehend. We nibble the hors d'oeuvres before the guests arrive, we gobble up the bread basket before the waiter puts pad to pen, we're ready for seconds while most people are still on their firsts. Which is why I deserve some credit for not devouring the Corn Cookie from Momofuku Milk Bar on my walk home from the East Village last week.

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Saltie & Blue Bottle Coffee

Last week I decided to take a field trip to Williamsburg.

While working on my book, I did take a weekly sojourn to Park Slope, my old stomping grounds, to grab sushi at Taro and to do work at Gorilla, but I did that because it was comfortable and familiar (and I think Taro has the best, most reasonably priced sushi lunch deal in New York); I also like working at Gorilla, it's a nice change of pace from my daily West Village routine. But Williamsburg? Williamsburg I know very little about.

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Ramps, A Dialogue

I don't know how it took me this long to discover Xtranormal.com, the website that lets you produce, write, and direct your own little animated movies, but I'm hooked! Above, then, you'll find a short dialogue piece I created called: "Ramps, A Dialogue." My first effort, "Food Blogging 101," you can watch by clicking here. Have a great weekend!

European-Style Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Once I was at Murray's Cheese with David Lebovitz and he stopped to admire the butter from Vermont.

I'll confess, up to that point, I hadn't given butter that much thought. For years I'd been buying Breakstones--you know, the kind that comes in the red box--and using it pretty universally. But then, after David talked about baking with Vermont-style butter, I began to wonder: "What would happen if I switched up the butter in my baking? How would that change things?" It took a few more years before I put that question to the test.

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How To Soften Brown Sugar Without a Microwave

We've all been there. It's 9 o'clock at night, dinner is over, and suddenly you and your loved ones are craving cookies. All eyes turn to you and you stand up--ready to do the dirty deed--and as you march into the kitchen, confident that you can churn out cookies lickety split, you grab a box of brown sugar only to discover...

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