May 2013
47 posts
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“Yes, Please” or “Pickled Fiddlehead Ferns”
Fiddleheads or fiddlehead greens, the furled fronds of a young ferns foraged throughout New England and Quebec are the essence of spring, appearing for just a few weeks at farmers markets. Simply sautéed after blanching in salted water they taste like a cross between asparagus and green beans. Incidentally, they cook just like asparagus, too. Since their availability is so limited (they can’t be...
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Stir-Fried Cải Ngọt
Cải ngọt is the Vietnamese name for yu choy, a wonderful vegetable similar in appearance to Chinese broccoli (gai lan) but with slender stems that are incredibly tender and leaves that taste more like spinach than bitter Asian greens. I happen to love cải ngọt and prepare it very simply by stir-frying it with a bit of garlic and chili then flash steaming it with water or broth. If you cannot...
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The Greatest Baking Show On Earth
Yes, this is a little off-brand for 500 Tasty Sandwiches but Caroline (the model) happens to be a good friend of ours and we’ll eat her cupcakes any day. Nós te amamos, Caroline!
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Farmhouse Kitchen
This is the floor plan for 500 Tasty Sandwiches’ 213-year-old Sullivan County farmhouse test kitchen. Large…and completely impractical. The column to the left of the oven is where the old stove pipe went into and we assume the door leading to the back yard is not in its original location (the original wood burning stove would have blocked the entrance). There is a generous pantry but the counter...
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We’re back from vacation. Ugh…we’re back from vacation. Anyway, we were hard at work at the Sullivan County farmhouse test kitchen and hope to share images and stories with you soon.
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Simple Curried Couscous
Ain’t nobody got time for that! I hear you, Sweet Brown. I get it: not everyone likes to cook complicated meals…and even those who do don’t always have the time. That doesn’t mean you have to cry alone at night, eating Lunchables for dinner. With only seven ingredients, most of which you probably have – onion, olive oil, salt, couscous, canned tuna, apple, curry powder – Curried Couscous is...
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Video: Kimchi Radish Pickle (깍두기) →
Melissa Clark shows us how to pickle daikon via The New York Times.
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Kimchi Stew | Kimchi Jjigae (김치찌개)
There are as many recipes for Kimchi Jjigae (김치찌개) as there are cooks who prepare it. Ask a Korean who makes the best kimchi jjigae: the answer will inevitably be their mother. 500 Tasty Sandwiches’ version isn’t some molecular gastronomy deconstructed amuse-bouche to set it apart from tried and true recipes. A jjigae is simply a stew. The addition of a voluminous chestnut foam or pork...
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Sonnet to a Stilton Cheese
Stilton, thou shouldst be living at this hour And so thou art. Nor losest grace thereby; England has need of thee, and so have I— She is a Fen. Far as the eye can scour, League after grassy league from Lincoln tower To Stilton in the fields, she is a Fen. Yet this high cheese, by choice of fenland men, Like a tall green volcano rose in power. Plain living and long drinking are no more, And pure...
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Thai Yellow Curry (Kaeng Kari) | แกงกะหรี่
One of our favorite cookbooks is Thai Street Food by David Thompson. The book is beautifully photographed and you get the sense that Mr. Thompson kept authenticity foremost in mind when developing the recipes within. This sometimes translates to dishes requiring one or more hard-to-find ingredients. The book’s recipe for Yellow Curry, also known as kaeng kari/geng gari (แกงกะหรี่), is one such...
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Pickled Young Garlic
Young garlic has started to pop up at the farmers’ market, which is pretty much the only place you’re going to find it. Freshly picked, the outer layers are vegetal unlike the papery exteriors of older, dried garlic. Either variety works fine in this recipe for Pickled Young Garlic. But 500 Tasty Sandwiches, won’t the flavor of pickled garlic be, well, a little too intense? Not at all....
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Polenta "Pizza" with Radicchio
500 Tasty Sandwiches gives credit where credit is due. Polenta “Pizza” is inspired from a recipe found in the boyfriend’s copy of Real Simple: East, Delicious Home Cooking. It’s actually a pretty decent special edition magazine with lots of no-nonsense, quick and healthy recipes. Anyway, we gave this interesting dish our own twist, added some helpful hints and wanted to share it with you. We...
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Spicy Pickled Asparagus
Before…
Like fiddlehead ferns, asparagus is one of those foods I strongly associate with spring. There really is nothing like super-tender local asparagus. I pay just a little extra for the excellent organic specimens sold by Bodhi Tree Farm at the Union Square Greenmarket. Earlier I posted a delicious salad using fresh asparagus but when there’s bounty at the farmers’ market I like to...
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Happy Mothers' Day! Now leave me alone, I'll do...
And our actual Mothers’ Day plans…
…followed by prayers and meditation at the Kadampa Buddhist Temple in Glen Spy, NY.
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Start This Now: Rabarbarocello!
My aunt Milenka and her Alsatian lover, Bertolt usually spend their springs and early summers in the Tuscan village of San Rocco for what they call a “spiritual retreat”. But this is just code for botanical bootlegging. The story goes Milenka, visiting the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore outside of Sienna found the recipe for Rabarbarocello between the pages of an ancient codex. Of course, I...
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What's For Dinner?
Very excited to take mother dearest to The Heron (40 Main Street, Narrowsburg, NY), an early Mothers’ Day treat. The last time we dined here we were treated to, hands down, the best fried chicken we ever had. And don’t get us started on their frozen Moscow mule!
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Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Chicken, Rapini, Red...
I learned how to prepare Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Chicken, Rapini, Red Pepper & Toasted Almonds at my mother’s holiday estate on the Amalfi Coast. I was really into The Smiths back then and felt that the slightly bitter flavor of rapini, also known as broccoli rabé, resonated with me. Things change, people change. How was I to know that a touch of red wine vinegar and the foil of toasted...
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Le Printemps Arrive!
The 500 Tasty Sandwiches’ test kitchen staff has been working very hard so I’ve decided to take everyone to my father’s villa in Saint-Tropez for a week-long holiday! The blog will be on autopilot (i.e., posting to Facebook via Twitter) but don’t fret none: each day we’ll still post new recipes, cocktails and the quirky culinary musings that you’ve come to...
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Nutri-WHAT?
Filling, Corn Syrup High Fructose, Fructose, Glycerine, Milk, Water, Cellulose, Color(s) Added, Dextrose, Tapioca Starch Modified, Cottonseed Oil Partially Hydrogenated, Soybean(s) Oil Partially Hydrogenated, Sugar, Corn Starch Modified, Flavor(s) Artificial, Caramel Color, Cellulose Gel, Cellulose Gum, Citric Acid, Coffee Extract, Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono and Diglycerides,...
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No Garden? 66 Things You Can Grow At Home In... →
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New-school Cocktail: The Alpinist
Between Italy and Switzerland lie the Alps. Our proprietary Alpinist cocktail combines Italy’s famous negroni (recipe here) with absinthe, the notorious anise-flavored spirit developed in Switzerland in the late 1700s. Think mountain herbs, a hint of juniper in the air, a trace of red wine, reading Schopenhauer in a leather club chair while an old Billy Holiday album plays on the turntable. This...
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¡Horchata Borracha!
Pictured: My great-grandmother, Dr. Dominika Kaprezý with fellow Zapatistas
This is another recipe from my great-grandmother, renowned horticulturalist, Dr. Dominika Kaprezý. Every summer she would leave Bratislava for rural Mexico to conduct field research. Here, great-grandma Kaprezý focused on protecting endangered species of agave and ever the polymath, she even established a...
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From the Amazing Minds at Carmichael Collective
Check out more of their incredible work at www.carmichaelcollective.com
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Share With Us: 10 Foods, 2 Countries →
Did you grow up overseas? Study or work abroad? 500 Tasty Sandwiches wants to know what foods/drinks you miss the most for our 10 Foods, 2 Countries project.
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Asparagus “Pasta” Salad
It’s a shame we don’t eat more raw asparagus. Fresh, tender stalks taste like fresh peas - the essence of springtime - and if you can peel a carrot you’re equipped to transform these seasonal beauties into an haute cuisine masterpiece. Asparagus “Pasta” Salad is a simple, elegant and flavorful dish that combines shaved asparagus, bright citrus and dill and the richness of pine nuts and...
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Korean Seasoned Tofu | Yangnyom Dobu (양념 두부)
The recipe for Yangnyom Dobu (양념 두부) was developed by venerated Korean monk Jajang (자장 율사) in the year 637 as a mnemonic for the three jewels of Buddhism: Buddha (silken tofu), Dharma (scallions) and Sangha (yangnyomjang, a tasty seasoned soy sauce). Then again, my ability to read and write Korean is notoriously poor and after the fourth day of forced labor apprenticeship in the kitchens of the...
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Asia de México Michelada
In 1910 a band of Zapatistas evading counter-revolutionary troops led by Porfirio Díaz were steered wildly off course and months later found themselves just outside Beijing. What happens when two great culinary traditions collide? They drink! Long story short, this is how the tasty Asia de México Michelada was developed. True story. Our Asia de México Michelada is actually inspired by a...
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April 2013
62 posts
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Ražný Chlieb | Slovak Rye Bread
Ražný Chlieb is a Slovak-style sourdough rye bread bread made from 10% rye flour and 90% white wheat bread flour. Bread made from 100% rye flour resembles a brick; gluten in rye is simply not strong enough to support a lofty crumb. The solution? First, combine rye with a high-gluten grain (i.e., wheat). Second, lower the dough’s pH (i.e., make it more acid) to inhibit the enzymes in rye that...
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USDA Lifts Ban on Imported Italian Cured Meats! →
Rejoice! Beginning May 28th Americans will once again be able to buy meaty delicacies from small, artisanal producers in Italy.
