Sometimes what really makes a meal stand out is a small touch of the unexpected. These bite-sized pieces of chicken coated with a crunchy layer of panko breadcrumbs look like your standard homemade nuggets, but take your first bite and you’ll see we reached for something that might surprise you to get to this sweet and spicy crust.
Two things my fiancé and I are excited about when it comes to our wedding are food and family. We’re sentimental and love to eat, so we made it a point to incorporate our favorite family recipes into the celebration, which neatly covers both our loves. It’s an easy way to personalize your big day and make your loved ones feel super, well, loved!
Here’s what’s on our menu.
When heading out for breakfast or brunch, you’ve got a choice to make: Do you order something sweet, or opt for something savory? For me, it’s a no-brainer — I go for the savory option every time. I’m in it purely for the home fries, and the only thing better than ordering this side at your favorite diner is making them at home exactly when you want them.
While I certainly enjoy the cake portion of a slice of cake or a cupcake, I’m really in it for the buttercream. That thick, sugary frosting brings the sweetest finishing touch to these desserts. There are a few different styles of buttercream, but no matter which one you make, be sure to avoid these mistakes.
Me and this salad go way back. In 2007 — you know, back in the days when I imagine that all of our conversations might have gone “What should we do today?” “Oh, I don’t know, anything we want.” — I had this salad at the then new-ish Spotted Pig in the West Village and attempted to recreate it. It didn’t go well and because I was as mature then as I am now, I had a tantrum and didn’t get back to it until 2009, at which point I made a roasted carrot dish with a bit of cumin and topped it with avocado slices that had been tossed with some lemon and everyone was happy. However, in 2011, Jean-Georges Vongerichten published a book of his homecooking favorites including this salad, which is also on the menu at ABC Kitchen and in 2012, April Bloomfield included the recipe in her first cookbook and I’ve thought it might be nice to circle back to these more complexly spiced and textured versions.
Can I veer off for a moment here? [I mean, that’s kind of my thing, not being able to finish a sentence without at least one other tangentially-related sentence inside it.] Okay, so I get a lot of cooking ideas from restaurants I go to and I jot them down but it’s not because I want to do anything sinister like pretend I came up with them first, but because I want to do something with the impression it made on me. It’s like going to a museum and admiring the soft colors in a painting and realizing you want to soften the palette in your own artwork; nobody is going to mistake you for Monet any more than anyone is going to mistake me for Beyoncé if I buy thigh-high tights and wear them as pants. (They’re more likely, in fact, beg me to never do this again.) People have said to me, “Why don’t you just ask the chef for their recipe?” or “But this recipe is published! Don’t you want to make their version?” but I actually don’t for two reasons. First, I want to stay true to what I remembered about it, even if it might have been incorrect, because it was my impression that got me daydreaming about a new flavor combination or approach to an ingredient. Second, holy moly, are chef recipes usually a headache! For restaurant purposes, this makes a ton of sense (each element prepared separately before service so it can be assembled and cooked to order) but to cook like this at home — at dinnertime no less, when everyone is hungry — is madness and a short path to being so exhausted you might need a week of takeout to recover.
… Read the rest of roasted carrots with avocado and yogurt on smittenkitchen.com
© smitten kitchen 2006-2012. |
permalink to roasted carrots with avocado and yogurt | 28 comments to date | see more: Avocado, Photo, Vegetarian, Weeknight Favorite
Strawberry shortcake is the ambassador of summer, showing off juicy berries like jewels. It’s usually a humble dessert built on a biscuit, but here we turn it into a towering showstopper of cake, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries. Yet it brings drama without fuss; this is layer cake the easy way.
Take a stroll down the baking aisle and you’ll quickly see that the choices are many — especially when it comes to yellow cake mix. Extra-moist, golden, tender crumb? At the end of the day, we want a cake that’s going to meet our needs. We tried six popular brands and discovered that there is a boxed cake out there just for you.
Whether you’re a vegetarian or you’ve just been trying to incorporate more meatless meals into your dinner routine, we can all use some quick vegetarian recipes to make on busy weeknights. (Even better if they are more exciting than a bowl of pasta with pesto and veggies.)
Luckily, we have plenty of ideas for easy vegetarian-friendly meals that won’t keep you in the kitchen for hours.
Want to make a stunning layer cake, but lack confidence in your cake decorating skills? Well, here’s a secret — you don’t need to be a professional pastry chef to create gorgeous layer cakes at home. Of course, practice makes perfect, but there are some tips and tricks for making beautiful cakes now! If you want an elegant layer cake with some added insurance in the decorating department, then this chocolate coconut cake is for you.
