Spatchcock This!
Okay, I admit it. I do kinda like to say “spatchcock.” It sounds naughty. I’m like a little kid with a bubblegum cigarette, aren’t I?
I actually used this as the password for a website where I’d posted my book proposal. I’m always forgetting passwords, so I wanted to make this one memorable. “Spatchcockthis” was pretty unforgettable. It felt like a dirty little secret of mine. It was fun until I decided to show the proposal to some people I didn’t know so well. This included my friend’s father, who is an Evangelical pastor with an interest in cooking. I explained what “spatchcocking” actually meant, but the secret was out: Jill Shepherd has a trashy, trouble-making side. Fair enough. Read more
The One. The Only. The Irreplaceable Food Mill
The first serious cookbook I ever acquired was The Martha Stewart Cookbook. Her recipe for a spicy corn chowder was among the first dishes I ever attempted in my teensy NYC studio apartment kitchen. That recipe also began my collection of serious cooking tools. The recipe calls for the use of a food mill to separate the soft starchy corn from the tough outside hull of the kernel. This begs the question, “What the hell is a food mill?”
Undaunted, I traipsed off to the nearest store selling cooking miscellanea. I asked a fellow 22-year-old who was looking infinitely more knowledgeable about such matters in his authoritative red apron to show me where I might find a food mill.
“A what?” was his answer. “Lemme go find my manager.” Read more
Produce Primer: Asparagus
Posted by Jill | May 3, 2010 | Filed under: Home, Ingredients
Asparagus is the culinary sentinel of spring. The fresh asparagus available during April and May is the best argument for eating seasonally. If you’ve been eating asparagus from South America in February and get a taste of the fresh local stuff from the farmer’s market, they hardly seem like the same vegetable.
Because of its versatility, you can eat it every night of the week, prepared a little differently, so that you never get sick of it. By the time you start to get a little weary of it, the season will be over. Below are four different very basic methods for preparing asparagus. Play with these ideas to suit your own tastes. Read more
Creamy Asparagus Soup
I think the best cookbook title ever is “Happy in the Kitchen.” The book is by a very interesting chef named “Michel Richard,” who made the amazing leap from being an acclaimed pastry chef to acclaimed savory chef. This is comparable to Michael Jordan joining the PGA tour. Michel’s happiness in the kitchen infects the recipes in his book: they are playful, imaginative and spirited.
Happy in the Kitchen contains a simple recipe for a white asparagus soup- well, kind of simple. Most folks don’t have access to white asparagus, which is expensive even if you do have access to it. We also don’t have access to quality fresh corn at the same time of year as asparagus. Finally, his recipe only made a small amount of soup. So I turned Michel’s idea into something a little less glam and a bit more homey. Read more
A Salad to Come Home To
Whenever I’ve been traveling I have something I look forward to even more than my own pillow when I arrive home: a big salad. Eating well while on the road is a challenge, and all-too-often I’m forced to settle for something between two pieces of bread rather than a bountiful bowl of greens and veggies. Returning home, I’m back at the helm of my own kitchen. Invariably, I want to create a healthful, balanced, and cleansing ensemble of produce that will help me put the unfortunate meals of my trip behind me. Read more
Persephone’s Risotto
Persephone is the Greek goddess of spring. This risotto features the most divine, sublime produce of springtime all in one dish. Admittedly, the artichokes and favas have a diva-like quality as they play “hard to get” with their hearts. Read more
Tastes Change
I'm often asked, "Do your kids actually eat that?" Yup. I shot this image of Penelope after she wolfed down her plate of Kaddo Borani. The expectation of constant variety I've created in my kids means that they have very little anxiety about trying new foods and can simply appreciate each dish for what it is.
A couple of weeks ago I had a speaking gig with a crowd of moms with very young children. Inevitably, I spent a large portion of my allocated speaking time advocating an approach to eating that can be summed up in one word: variety. I believe this is our number one goal in educating our children about food and its importance to their bodies. We must be as committed to teaching our children to accept variety and the unfamiliar as we are to getting them to read and share their toys. I’ll elaborate on this in a future post.
I got a number of questions during the Q&A time, but the underlying theme was the mothers’ predictable anxiety that there is something abusive about compelling their children to eat foods with which they are at best uncomfortable and at worst don’t “like.” I tried to assure them and talked at length about the importance of repeat exposures and expectations. Most “pickiness” is really more about a food anxiety than it is about actual preferences. Read more
Chicken Adobo–Happiness on a Plate
In my experience, Filipinos seem be among the happiest people on the planet. Despite widespread poverty that forces many to take work overseas in order to support their extended families back home, it’s rare that you’ll come across a Filipino who doesn’t have an infectious smile and giggle always at the ready. I suspect that one reason for their happiness may be chicken adobo. It’s one of the Philippines’ great contributions to the culinary world. It’s incredibly simple to make, inexpensive, and hauntingly delicious–or as they say in Tagalog, “galing galing!” Try and say that five times without chuckling. Read more
Produce Primer: Fava Beans
It’s spring time, and fava beans are hitting the market stalls. I’d venture a guess that the vast majority of people have never tasted these emerald gems, let alone cooked with them. Fear not the fava, however. We’ll have you working magic with them in no time!
Fava beans are from the Mediterranean. Fresh favas have a brilliant chartreuse color, delicate texture and distincitve flavor. They can be used fresh in soups, purees, ragouts, or salads. Dried beans can be pureed into dip-like spreads or to thicken soups. Think of them as a relative of the pea, which they are, and you’ll have some idea how to approach them. Read more
Pink Pickled Onions
Adapted from Recipezaar.com recipe number 73203. Originally published on Epicurious.com
A week or so after I made these, Sally, my five-year-old, was griping that she didn’t want to eat pizza for dinner. We were ordering out that Friday night and she actually hates pizza. When I told her to find something in the fridge that she’d prefer, she said she just wanted to eat the “onion pickles.” Huh? “Sure,” I replied, convinced she’d figure out that this was not a good idea on her own. Invariably distracted, I never realized that she ate the whole jar until I found it in the dishwater. Read more
