Boardwalk food. Just the words conjure sea breezes and special summertime feasts available only at seaside locales. Saltwater taffy, fried oysters or Ipswich clams, crinkly fries flecked with sea salt. This recipe for fried oyster sandwiches, or po’ boys, as they’re known in the South, has a distinctive and delicious Asian twist, served with kimchee and a hearty helping of pickled French fries. (If you like salt and vinegar chips, you’re going to LOVE these fries.) And if you’re going […]
We have so much in this country. Sometimes we forget, or take it for granted. But not everything is easy or fair. The great gift of this country is opportunity – wherever we begin in life, we don’t have to stay there. Personal responsibility and freedom go hand in hand. A lot of people are worried and unhappy about where we’re headed. We’re dissatisfied, which is natural for Americans, because we’re a restless people. We always want to make things […]
Good balsamic vinegar – the real deal, made in only two places in Italy and aged for anywhere from 12 to over 25 years – is an investment. Someone recently gave me a bottle of balsamic vinegar – the $20, not the $275 version – and it’s been a joy to cook with it. This week on America’s Table both recipes feature balsamic vinegar, thusly named not because it has balsam in it, but because it is thought to have […]
Sometimes a recipe begins in one place and ends up somewhere else – and more often than not it’s a do-over (and over again). This time, things turned out even better than I dreamed! What began in concept as a galette in a skillet became instead a cherry coffee cake with the crispest top, the scent of which would raise any sleepyhead from their bed on a weekend morning. A cast iron pan of this not-too-sweet-cake left on the counter […]
I thought I knew about fish and chips – crisped on the outside, warm and flaky inside, thick chips littered with salt and a splash of vinegar – but this version is different and delightful. The recipe is from Nelly Salvacion, the best Asian chef I know, and it has a totally different set of flavors; the chickpea batter is tasty and light, and the mint, yogurt, cilantro, and lime dip gives it a completely different culinary context. She quick-fries […]
