Sassy Radish

Making a Thanksgiving turkey doesn’t have to be a difficult event—or a stressful one. Today, my job is to try to take the scary out of the turkey for you. Believe me, the method I will offer you is far more hands-off than something your mother or grandmother has practiced and I’ll explain why it might be better.

I won’t tell you that this is the only method of making a turkey—that’s akin to saying there’s only one way to fry an egg or roast a chicken. But this has been the method that has consistently worked best for me. Also, I find the science behind cooking to be incredibly fascinating. Ask me about latkes, and I’ll manage to talk about them for an hour-though you might be asleep.

Continue reading thanksgiving turkey 101.

As most people’s thoughts turn to Thanksgiving (now that the election is over – we voted; did you?), I’m about to say something unpopular: I’m a little tired of traditional cranberry sauce. This might sound strange coming from someone who stuffs cranberries into snacking cakes and tucks them into banana bread. It’s not the cranberries themselves—it’s cooking them that I am objecting to.

Something changed about my palate this year. For one, I can’t get enough Spanish food (and in fact, I think about it all the time). We’ve a neighborhood restaurant that makes tapas-style Spanish dishes with Moroccan and Jewish influences and I might as well carve my name in one of their seats, I’m there so often.

Continue reading fresh cranberry relish.

How did I get from reading someone’s personal blog to making a mushroom tart from her recently-released cookbook? Well, it’s a journey spanning slightly less than a decade. Yes, it’s been that long.

I remember a friend of mine, some time ago, telling me about this blog called Smitten. “Go,” she said, “The writing is hilarious, and I think you’ll love it.” I did and she was right—the writing was punchy and pithy, and its author not only made me laugh, but recognize my own erratic life in the big city. The blog was written by Deb Rothberg, a twenty-something, and the topics ranged from suffering through horrible dates to drinking bourbon on a cold wintry night. Being eerily familiar with the former, and quite enjoying the latter, Deb Rothberg was my kind of lady.

Continue reading mushroom tart.