Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 67

Make Your Own Taco Night (with Homemade Corn Tortillas)

When you have a three year-old staying with you, chances are you’re probably not going out to dinner. We did go out one night and that’s a whole story in and of itself. Most nights, though, I cooked and that turned out to be a lot of fun, coming up with food to make for a small crowd (other friends dropped by in the hours leading up to dinner). One night, someone suggested going out for tacos and I responded, “I can make tacos right here!” Then I ran to the store and bought a bunch of stuff to prove that my homemade tacos would be just as good as whatever we’d get at a restaurant.

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Soaking The Pan

There’s a certain person that I live with (not the cat) who, whenever he does the dishes, often leaves a pan to soak. This infuriates me because I consider it the ultimate cop-out. Also, what it really means is that when he’s done there’s still work to do because when I want to cook the next day, I have to scrub that pan that he soaked. So I’ve really grown to resent soaking the pan and people who soak pans. That is until…

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Stirring Things Up

Michael Ruhlman has an amusing piece today about the round wooden spoon and a debate that ensues between him, Ted Allen and Eric Ripert. The best part, though, is that there’s a recipe for a pretty killer-looking Creme Anglaise, a dessert sauce I’m embarrassed to say I’ve yet to tackle.

What’s Stopping Me From Becoming A Vegetarian?

I’m on the edge. This story got me there, this one (which I could only read part of) almost pushed me over. Superbugs and industrial slaughterhouses are facts that live in my brain now and they reside there with images from Food Inc., essays by Michael Pollan, and all the other tracts and screeds I’ve read indicting America’s meat industry. My brain isn’t the problem; my brain is convinced. If my brain had its way, I’d become a vegetarian tomorrow.

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WTF with Scott Conant

One of my favorite things about L.A. is driving around listening to podcasts. My top three are Alec Baldwin’s (it’s surprisingly good!), This American Life and Marc Maron’s WTF. Almost always, Maron’s guests are performers (don’t miss his epic interview with Louis C.K.) but this week he talks to a chef, Scott Conant of Scarpetta. Though Conant comes across as gruff and ultra macho at first, he reveals a softer side that took me by surprise–especially the bit about going to therapy and how he takes it personally when someone sends back a veal chop. Give it a listen.

Black Chickpeas and Roasted Sweet Potatoes on Black Chickpea Hummus

Pride in the name of dinner: I’m really proud of this healthy dish I came up with last week. It started in the morning when I cracked open a bag of black chickpeas, poured them into a large red bowl, filled it with cold water and left for the day. 8 hours later, when I came home, I drained off the liquid, put the chickpeas in a pot, added more cold water to cover and threw in a head of garlic, a bay leaf and a few dried Arbol chiles. Up to a simmer it went, I added salt (breaking convention) and cooked for about 90 minutes until a chickpea tasted creamy.

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Let’s Order A Pizza

One of the great joys of living in America is that, at any moment, no matter where you are, you can order a pizza. This was a fact well-known to me when I was in high school and college. “Let’s order a pizza,” is a phrase most of us are quite comfortable saying and it wasn’t until very recently that I realized I hadn’t uttered those words in a really long time. But hanging out with my friend John at his new house in Glendale, recently, we were talking about where to go to dinner and suddenly I found myself saying those magic words. Before we knew it, there was a knock on the door and our pizza had arrived.

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Crunchy Rice at the Bottom

Bon Appetit offers up a tribute to the crunchy rice at the bottom of the pot and the ways different cultures cook and eat it. With recipes.

The Country’s Best Burgers

Eater lists the 38 Essential Burger Restaurants Across The Country and suddenly I’m craving a burger for lunch. My own essential burger list would include: Shake Shack, Umami Burger (for the Hatch Burger), and The Burger Joint. What’s on your list?

Food Is Art At Red Medicine

Pop quiz, hot shot: you’re at dinner, sitting at a table, celebrating your anniversary, and someone puts this glass bowl in front of you.

Do you: (a) Admire this beautiful display as a table decoration or do you (b) Eat it? The answer, it turns out, is both.

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