There are times when chocolate is called for, and when the need arises, I say, go Big or go home! These cookies will assuage any chocolate craving, however long you’ve had it and no matter how badly you deserve to be compensated. Chocolate is often about compensation: something that was supposed to happen didn’t – and so you need chocolate. Or something you never wanted to happen did – and so you need chocolate. It can’t be a daily occurrence; […]
There has always been an air of southern hospitality about the White House, situated as it is below the Mason-Dixon line. It’s reflected in the sumptuous afternoon reception buffets offered to guests, and one of the classic foods for those events is a good old-fashioned ham biscuit. There are many ways to make a great biscuit, but for this particular recipe I prefer those that are made without baking powder, so that the biscuits don’t raise too much. You wouldn’t […]
These two open-faced sandwiches are the kind of food that take the hipster phrase “on toast” and give it real meaning. The first one, a ricotta, nectarine, and prosciutto sandwich, came from my daughter, who spent six weeks in Italy a number of years ago, taking full advantage of the language (read: culinary) education she received there. She gained a pound a week, eating six meals a day, including one of these sandwiches in tramezzini form, and said it was […]
Windowsill gardens can be sad affairs. You know what I mean – wilted parsley, yellowed sage, some herb you never heard of and wouldn’t know how to use even if it was healthy, and a gnarled mint plant that can’t push out enough leaves for even one mint julep. Edible plantings should be lush, gorgeous, and bursting with life – and they certainly don’t need to be relegated to the kitchen. I walked into a shop in Georgetown the other […]
I think of this as a Sunday dinner meal, mostly because the idea of making gnocchi from scratch conjures the image of a smiling Italian lady kneading and chopping dough in her sunny kitchen before heading off to church, pulling basil from the pots on her windowsill and enjoying a creative and peaceful moment before the day really begins. If leisurely cooking seems more fantasy than reality, maybe we need to start thinking about “appointment cooking,” rather than “appointment TV.” […]
