Apartment Dining

It was a banner weekend: dinner on the Upper West Side on Friday night, the farmers’ market in Grand Army Plaza on Saturday morning, shopping and macarons in SoHo in the afternoon, beer and tacos in Sunset Park at night, and finally on Sunday, manicures, pints of pumpkin ale, and lots of cooking in Park Slope. It felt the way a New York weekend should, with just the right balance of adventure and absurdity, and enough scenic views for a Woody Allen film. Much of it also revolved around food, so it was natural to wind down by baking a pie Sunday afternoon with my well-manicured hands.

I wanted to go recipe-free to make an apple cranberry pie, so I tried to remember as many techniques as I could from last year’s apple pie adventure and winged the rest. The pie was a success, but I forgot to add flour to the apple mixture which resulted in a little excess liquid. I’ve corrected it in the recipe after the jump. » Read the rest of this entry «

I tried to make a peach and blueberry galette on Sunday and failed miserably. The tart’s sugar levels were off and crust wasn’t rolled thin enough, turning it into a rock hard biscuit surrounding a pile of roasted fruit. This happens from time to time when I’m making up recipes and trying new dishes, but usually Ramsey offers a comforting, “Oh no, it doesn’t look that bad, I’m sure it tastes fine.” However for the galette, he conceded that there was no way to spin it.

Feeling defeated, I turned to one of my favorite simple desserts: roasted stone fruit. I usually serve them with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream, but I made a cinnamon whipped cream instead and I think it worked well. Plums, peaches, and cinnamon feel like a natural combination, and they can all be thrown together and cooked in under 30 minutes. » Read the rest of this entry «

I only cooked one night this weekend for a dinner party to celebrate the visit of my friend Inbal. She moved to Israel last year, but she’s back for the month to visit friends in all corners of New York State and she spent the weekend on the lovely futon in my living room. (Lovely is a bit strong. Creaky and lumpy may be more appropriate adjectives.) I decided to keep things simple by using existing recipes, so we made salsa, salad, and a summer tomato tart. We finished the night with cookies from Momofuku Milk Bar and a tasting of our friend Sean’s amazing home brewed beer, along with a few rounds of Rock Band.

This afternoon was my first time back in the kitchen, and as I assessed the contents of the fridge, I was faced with a wall of questionable leftovers. The three items that held up were the blueberries, figs, and a forgotten lemon (it should have been zested for the tart), so naturally I thought, “Muffins.”

These muffins are a take on the traditional blueberry muffin with pureed fresh fig and a dash of lemon zest. I think they have just the right level of sweetness, but you could get away with cutting down the sugar to 3/4 cup. They’re also a great way to use leftover ingredients if you make the Fig and Goat Cheese Salad I posted last week. Recipe after the jump. » Read the rest of this entry «

As a child, I despised Fig Newtons more than any other lunch bag item. I couldn’t stand the mealy texture of their filling or the moist cookie surrounding it, even though the commercials hailed them as a refined confection. They had no animated mascot or commercials featuring rebellious kids with fruit heads. All I wanted was a pack of Dunkaroos or a bag of Gushers before running off to band practice, so more often than not, the Newtons would end up traded to an unsuspecting 2nd grader or in the trash.

This hatred of Fig Newtons resulted in me never trying a fresh fig until last year. They were easy to avoid in the Northeast, however when I came across a fig and prosciutto salad during my lunch hour, I decided it was time to grow up and I’m so glad I did. Fresh figs are nothing like their mashed and mangled cousins in Fig Newtons. They’re incredibly sweet and have a texture unlike any other fruit I’ve tried.

I was inspired by this salad from Last Night’s Dinner and I made my own version for dinner today. It’s a combination of figs, goat cheese, blueberries, and greens that come together with a balsamic vinaigrette. Recipe and more photos after the jump. » Read the rest of this entry «

Despite temperatures in the nineties, I continued my trend of incredibly easy desserts this afternoon by making a blueberry crisp. It’s cheap, it’s fast, and you can usually make it without having to run out for special ingredients as it follows a simple formula of fresh fruit + sugar + oats, flour, and butter topping. If you’re really lucky, blueberries will be very ripe and on sale at the local market (a whopping 3 pints for $5 was what I found today). You can also get away with eating it for breakfast, however adding a scoop of ice cream in the morning may go too far. A dollop of whipped cream might be the perfect compromise. Full recipe after the jump.

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When I think of pie, my mind immediately goes to setting up a workstation complete with flour, ice water, a rolling pin, and plenty of wax paper. I recall the careful waiting game of chilling the dough, then rolling it out (but not too much!), and trying to place it into a pie dish without ripping it. It’s a rewarding but stressful process that I’m not always prepared to undertake.

Enter the graham cracker: a buttery, sweet angel to the rescue of those who want to bake a pie but don’t want the hassle of a flour-based crust. It’s the crust of choice for chocolate and banana cream, but it’s most notably found lining the pans of key lime pies everywhere.

I made my first key lime pie this weekend for a small gathering of friends. Although I had consumed more than my weight in the pie as a child visiting my grandparents in Florida, I’d never even looked at a key lime recipe before. This was the simplest version I could find, as I wanted to skip the meringue topping.

Overall, it was one of the easiest baked goods I have ever made, save for the labor involved in squeezing the limes. No stress, no rolling pins. I was unable to find key limes in Greenpoint, I so I used regular limes, a dash of lemon juice, and 1/2 tsp. of lime zest in the filling to make sure it had the right balance of tart and sweet. My only recipe suggestion is lightly greasing your pie dish with butter because the graham cracker crust may stick a bit.

In place of photos from my baking process (I was frazzled getting ready for company and forgot to document), I offer you photos from a yo-yo competition I attended the following day at South Street Seaport. » Read the rest of this entry «

I went to a cookout a few weekends ago in a backyard in Queens. There was grilled corn, burgers, and the standard cookout foods, but my favorite had to be the mango avocado salsa that someone brought to share. It was light and refreshing in the afternoon heat, plus it involved my absolute favorite fruit. The salsa was served up with a bag of multigrain tortilla chips, but I could see it working with tacos or with a grilled chicken breast that’s been marinated in lime and cilantro for a few hours.

I finally made my own version of it today for an afternoon of TV viewing with friends and it went well with discussions about the worst series in the Aaron Sorkin canon. It’s simple to make and you can easily modify the ratios to meet your taste, or add more peppers for extra heat. » Read the rest of this entry «