09/29/11  • PESTO PASTA (AND POTATOES) From the Aug./Sept., 2011 Saveur I went out to East Hampton last weekend and since it was rainy and gray as I was packing, and since it was the first day of fall, like any reasonable person I grabbed things like heavy sweatpants and flannel shirts for what I anticipated would be a damp and chilly couple of days. Except I should have known that the weather never follows the calen

09/22/11 • COD WITH TOMATO SAUCE From the Sept., 2011 Food & Wine Last night I ate an amazing meal at a little restaurant in the West Village called Buvette. It’s a narrow spot and generally pretty crowded at dinner, which means I almost never get to go since the scale of the place and the fact that you typically have to wait for a (tiny) table are two realities of eating there that Alfredo can’t abide. Alf is th

09/16/11 • BIG BISCUIT SANDWICH From the July 21, 2011 New York Times (click here to view the recipe) This has been an intense deadline week for me. I normally like to have a new recipe out to all of you by Thursday morning, but here it is Friday at 8:00 am and I am only now getting a chance to sit down at my computer and focus on this week’s posting. Regrettably, that’s happening from the exceedingly cramped quarter

09/08/11 • LAST-CALL SUMMER PUDDING From the Sept., 2011 Bon Appetit (click here to view the recipe) The weather in New York City has turned suddenly cooler and gray. Between this and the fact that Labor Day has now come and gone, there’s a pervading sense that summer has packed up her flip-flops and headed for the other side of the Equator. This is not a happy feeling. Despite the fact that I’m frequently accused by

09/01/11 • PERFECT PAELLA, SIMPLIFIED From America’s Test Kitchen (click here for the recipe) I’m not one of those people whose appetite goes into hiding when the temperature spikes and the air gets soupy. In fact, when faced with a 90-degree day and near 100 percent humidity, I’ve been known to run to the nearest Cuban restaurant in search of a plate of picadillo and some fried plantains. It was just that impulse th

08/25/11 • LATE SUMMER FRITTER From the August, 2011 Food and Wine (click here to view the recipe) I wish I could tell you that this recipe demanded my attention because I had a bumper crop of zucchini sitting in the fridge and here was a way to call all that late summer bounty into service. But no, I have not been trawling the local farm-stands or stocking up at the farmer’s market — the simple truth is much less ad

08/18/11 • ULTIMATE SHRIMP SCAMPI From the April, 2006 Gourmet (click here for the recipe) I seem to be eating a lot of spaghetti these days, and when I’m not eating it I’m thinking about it. For a long time I only ever thought about it and never ate it, as once upon a time I subscribed to a strict no-carbs policy. I’m glad those days are behind me, but even though I now eat bagels, baguettes, potatoes, muffins, gnoc

08/11/11 • PORK WITH A TWIST From the July, 2011 Martha Stewart Living (click here to view the recipe) I’ve never been much of a watermelon fan. This seems like an almost un-American thing to reveal, like sharing that you once burnt the flag in college or something, but there you have it. As a kid, the fastest way to end my enthusiasm at a cookout was to present a platter of watermelon, and it’s a sentiment I’ve carr

08/04/11 • WICKED-GOOD DEVILED EGGS From the Jan./Feb., 2011 Saveur (click here to view the recipe) Have you ever noticed the way dinner guests grow suddenly quiet when presented with a platter of deviled eggs? Just enter a crowded room carrying a tray loaded with these little flavor-packed egg cups and watch the way the buzz of conversation suddenly dims. It’s not necessarily that anyone is overwhelmed by your culin

07/28/11  • APRICOT ALMOND TART From the July 13th, 2011 New York Times (click here to view the recipe) Is it possible I’ve never tasted an apricot before? That was the question running through my head recently as I picked among a small mountain of this most summery of fruits. I could certainly recall eating the dried version (both plain and chocolate-covered — especially chocolate-covered), and, of course, the kind