By Ari, on June 27th, 2012%
I’ve recently discovered that I don’t hate black beans.
I know, I know — how am I just learning this?
I’m not about to pop open a can and eat them straight out of the container, but I’m taking baby steps. I’m learning to add more than half a can when a recipe calls for the whole thing. And that mashing them up and adding lots of other tasty ingredients can yield a delicious patty that, while still mostly beans, can be adapted to any flavor profile I like.
Now let’s be honest: nothing in the world can replace a juicy, medium-rare beef burger done right, but for those nights when I’m looking for something a little healthier.. a little meat-free.. I’d recommend these bad boys.
Continue reading Black Bean Patties with Corn Relish and Avocado Cream Sauce
By Ari, on January 25th, 2012%
Is anyone else confused by this uncharacteristically warm winter? We received a few inches of snow this past weekend, then yesterday it was 50 and sunny. On the plus side, all the snow has melted. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say warmer days were coming.
But of course I know better.
This dish is delightful. It’s light, but intensely flavored by the warm tomatoes and fresh rosemary. And ready in 20 minutes! Talk about an easy, healthy, weeknight meal.
Sautéed chicken with a light tomato pan sauce? Sign me up!
 Continue reading Chicken with Tomato-Herb Pan Sauce
By Ari, on November 17th, 2011%
If you want your house to smell like the holidays, raise your hand.
Okay, great! You’ve got a few options:
(1) Bake a pecan pie.
(2) Place one of those cinnamon broomsticks in your house.
(3) Make hot toddy glaze.
While I highly advise option 1, the correct selection is option 3. (Let’s not even talk about option 2…) Continue reading Hot Toddy Glaze
By Ari, on October 28th, 2011%
Well this was a surprise. I’m normally not a lover of fennel. My only experience with it has been at restaurants, and I’ve always hesitated to order dishes containing it. (Before last night I had never even cooked with it.) While raw fennel has a very strong licorice and anise flavor (not my fav), the sautéed or roasted version gets sweeter and less intense.
After my first bite, I declared that I had not screwed up dinner (success!). After my second, I realized that it was actually quite tasty. By the time I had finished my plate, I had walked over to our leftovers and began eating the onion and fennel mixture directly out of the pot.
True story.
For someone who doesn’t generally eat fennel, I’d call this a triumph!
Continue reading Braised Chicken Thighs with Caramelized Onion & Fennel
By Ari, on August 16th, 2011%
This post is dedicated to my wonderful sisters whom I recently acquired though law (thanks, hubby!), but who have treated me like family for years. I could not be more thankful for my relationship with each of them, and for finally knowing the joys of picking on a younger sibling.
Over the last few months, Sister 2 (the one who was born second) has developed a newfound love for cooking and baking. How fortunate for her that she can turn to me with questions! Last week I received quite possibly the funniest phone call ever from her.
It was her mom’s birthday and she wanted to prepare a special dinner. When consulting with me during the previous days, I suggested that she make clams, one of her mother’s favorites. (This is only important because I don’t think she would have made clams without my strong urging.) Sister 2 was worried because the clams were still alive and moving (a good thing!) when she began to prepare dinner. I joked with her that they were staring her down and angry that their lives were about to end at her hand. To say that this unnerved her is quite the understatement.
We had a good laugh, and then she teased that I would probably go tell my friends about this.
“No, no, I’m only going to tell John.”
Sorry, sis! (P.S. I hear she did a fantastic job!)
When making a recent purchase at Fairway, I couldn’t help but think of her and smile. On the menu? Soft shell crab BLT’s. I had already mentally prepared myself to kill these delightful little creatures. When cooking something like clams, mussels, or soft shell crabs, the fresher, the better (which essentially means they need to be alive right up until they’re cooked).
Fortunately for me, the fish monger selling me the crabs offered to clean them. Since I was cooking them for dinner later that evening, I knew they’d be fine.
Cleaning a soft shell crab entails first cutting off their eyes and face. I am 100% serious. You use a pair of kitchen shears and just chop it off. Then, you have to squeeze out a liquid-filled sack behind the eyes. I found out later that this substance was a light green color (just adding to the “gross” factor). After this, the rest is easy. Peel off a few gills, throw away one or two parts that are unpleasantly chewy, and you’re good to go.
The part that was most disheartening was when the little crabs’ legs continued to flail after their faces had been chopped off. C’est la vie.
Thank you, Fairway seafood department, for taking the lives of these crabs for me!
 Continue reading Soft Shell Crab BLT with Tarragon Aioli
By Ari, on August 9th, 2011%
A few weeks ago I made a delicious and healthy salmon dinner with jasmine rice and a coconut-tomato sauce. The success of that dish gave me the confidence to continue cooking with ingredients that are less familiar to me. When I recently decided to make mussels for dinner, it took me about 30 seconds to figure out that I wanted to use coconut milk again.
With the amount of food blogs I pore over daily, and thus, the high amount of recipes I’ve bookmarked as “must try,” I quickly scanned my shellfish folder and came across this: Coconut Curry Mussels.
Um, yes, please! Continue reading Thai Coconut Curry Mussels
By Ari, on August 8th, 2011%
The flavors in this recipe were somewhat out of my comfort zone. I’m not one to “blacken” anything, and my appreciation for spice and heat is relatively new. In the past, I’ve thought that answering “yes” to the question, “Do you like spicy food?” meant I enjoyed my mouth being on fire. Turns out, that’s not the case at all. Sure, there are times when residual heat from a dish leaves my lips tingling, but I believe spice can elevate the flavors of a simple dish without burning off your tastebuds.
This sauce is one such example.
It’s spicy for sure, but the flavors are complex and well-rounded. To counteract some of the heat from the sauce, serve this with a sweet potato mash.
 Continue reading Blackened Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Soppressata Cream Sauce
By Ari, on July 25th, 2011%
Is anyone else craving fall? These past few days have been absolutely brutal in NYC, and I want nothing more than for the temperature to drop 40 degrees and to break out my boots, sweaters, and hearty fall/winter recipes; to sleep at night with our bedroom window open; to buy our 9-month old puppy (they grow up so fast!) a new winter coat.
And my favorite part of fall: watching the leaves change colors.
Today isn’t too bad, though. While we were experiencing a heat index of between 100 and 112 this past weekend, today is a cool 79 degrees.
No matter. I can’t shake this itch; I really want it to be fall.
 Continue reading Mint Fettuccine with Lamb Ragu
By Ari, on July 20th, 2011%
If you want to fool someone into thinking you spent a lot of time in the kitchen making a complex meal, throw some coconut milk into the mix.
I wholly attribute the success of this meal to the use of coconut milk. That, and being able to properly cook a piece of fish. Continue reading Baked Salmon with Coconut-Tomato Sauce and Creamy Jasmine Rice
By Ari, on April 25th, 2011%
Pesto is one of my favorite ways to use up leftover sun-dried tomatoes. It comes together quickly, packs a bold, tomato-y flavor, and is so versatile in use. My preferred way to consume it? Pasta. (Duh.) More on that later.
Continue reading Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
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