Food
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Chicken Meatballs with Wilted Greens and Bacon
Whether you grew up eating Italian meatballs simmered in a slow-cooked tomato sauce or the smaller Swedish style ones served with a rich gravy, you know how perfectly those dishes warm us from the inside out. These baked chicken meatballs with wilted greens and bacon are equally warming. I would say they are closer to Italian style with their ample amounts of garlic, Parmesan cheese, and parsley, a trinity certainly deserving of a name in the same way that carrot, onion, and celery collectively earned the term mirepoix. Made with ground chicken, baked, then tossed with wilted greens and crispy bits of bacon, these meatballs are best served with a…
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Broccolini in Sweet and Sour Sauce
While its name suggests that it’s a diminutive form of a common vegetable, broccolini is a hybrid of broccoli and the Chinese vegetable gai lan. With longer stalks and smaller florets, broccolini takes a more delicate shape on the dinner plate than broccoli, yet has a robust flavor that stands up well to a sweet and sour sauce with a bit of spiciness. On its own, this recipe makes a hearty vegetarian dish, and when served as a side, it never seems like an afterthought. In place of the refined sugar and ketchup that often make their way into sweet and sour sauce, I rely on honey, tamarind, tomato paste,…
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Potato Gnocchi
Pillowy potato gnocchi pan-seared in butter and garlic sauce, maybe even tossed with some wilted spinach, may be one of the simplest yet most satisfying dinners. Yes, it takes a little work to prep these Italian dumplings, but the rewards are great enough to attempt this dish on your own. Homemade gnocchi are nothing like their store-bought counterparts, which often have very little potato flavor. Once you get the hang of it, I think you’ll be craving these on the regular. Ingredients 2 pounds russet potatoes 2 egg yolks ¾ teaspoon salt ¾ cup flour (plus more for shaping the dough and dusting the counter) Even if you’re hesitant about…
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Roasted Cherry Tomato and Corn Salad
Over the weekend I found some ripe cherry tomatoes, and my first thought was to pop them in the oven to intensify all that flavor. Even in the heart of summer, I don’t shy away from the oven. Some people prefer the slow tending of meat over a grill, but I prefer keeping a watchful eye over a sheet full of slowly collapsing tomatoes. As I popped each one off the vine, I thought of how my father would stop by just to search my overgrown plants for the tomatoes that were ready to be picked, and which I might have missed. Most of the time I didn’t even know…
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Rum Raspberry Dessert Sauce
We are in the midst of a heat wave, and the Fourth of July is almost here, which means many of us will be scooping ice cream, gelato, and other frozen desserts at picnics and barbecues long into the weekend. Velvety chocolate sorbet and rich vanilla bean ice cream and are at their seasonal best when paired with slightly tart berries, so this week I’m serving up a rum raspberry dessert sauce that you can use to top just about any flavor. (I’m looking at you, coconut and blood orange!) The only danger is eating it by the spoonful before your icy treat even nestles into the bottom of the…
