doing our part:
food glorious food
Stay safe. Stay home. Stay sane.
And here’s to help you with the sane part.
We have been collecting recommendations of what to do while you are home that gives you joy and peace (favorite books, podcasts, shows, recipes, etc.), and we hope you’ll both enjoy and give your recommendations!
food glorious food
Today, we are breaking our own guidelines because when it comes to food, we found it was just too hard to resist. Instead of ten recipes on this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, there are fourteen, as well as some food-related entertainment and resources that we think will help you navigate the buffet line during COVID.
Food is a collective comfort for all of us during this time, maybe always. In our home, it’s not just about the actual food, but also the time spent with family at the dinner table. It’s the conversation. It’s the shared enjoyment, the shared responsibility in preparing. And the connection.
Please take and share recommendations; together, we can do this!
desserts
Why are we starting with desserts? Because we can. And dessert is always a great place to start!
Paula Deen’s 7-Minute Frosting
Let’s get right to it with a recipe that is so nostalgic, one taste takes me back to my childhood and to endless afternoons spent with my best friend. It’s the ultimate in comfort food, cake or no cake!
food network
The Silver Palate’s Chocolate Cake
And here is the cake. The perfect accompaniment for the above recipe, offered here with its own delicious icing and recommended by a friend known for this cake because she made it twice a week when her children were young and brought it to all events.
the new york times
Thomas Keller’s Coconut Cake
“No, thank you,” said no one ever to this cake. And just because there is always room for more…I present to you this amazing creation. Seriously, click on this recipe.
saveur magazine
seafood
Classic French Mussels
This recipe was sent by a friend who is a wiz in the kitchen. She is someone who definitely knows how to bring family (and friends) together around the kitchen table for an evening of connection.
This dish is so easy and the whole family loves it. It takes a while to get through your bowl, so everyone stays at the table just a little longer.
Best served with a loaf of crusty bread, a spinach and bacon salad, and, if you really feel like taking it up a notch - homemade french fries.
food network
Ina Garten’s Tuna Tartare
For a summer (or spring, or fall, or winter) dish, there really is no better. And there is no better spicy tuna tartare recipe. Full stop. It is tart and spicy and smooth and addictive.
We serve it with square wonton wrappers that we have baked until just golden brown on a lightly olive-oiled baking sheet, followed by a light sprinkling of Maldon salt.
food network
here’s the beef
Filet of Beef “Milanese”
One of my all-time favorite chefs is Susan Scully of Watson’s Catering and Events. She has provided the perfect food at some of our most important family gatherings: milestone birthdays, graduations, as well as memorials. She is also a great friend.
not just any old chicken dishes
Lolly’s Baked Fried Chicken
(sent in from a reader)
“My mom has been making my family baked fried chicken for as long as I can remember. Whenever we go on vacation and come home, she usually has a whole tray of it waiting for us with mashed potatoes. So easy and so good. My kids love it and it is even better the next day.”
the spruce eats
Giada de Laurentiis’ Chicken Piccata
How can such incredibly rich flavors come out of such an easy, every day chicken recipe? The sauce - to which we add a splash of dry white wine and deep six the parsley because parsley - harkens far more from a Parisian brasserie than a suburban kitchen.
food network
a side
The Best Mashed Potatoes in the World - Inspired by Joël Robuchon
What better to go with baked chicken?
My mother might be the only person I know who doesn’t liked mashed potatoes, so for everyone else on the planet, here is a recipe one reader swears is the very best. Joël Robuchon was named Chef of the Century in 1989…largely for his mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes! But they are that good. And what is more comforting right now than a really good mashed potato dish. That is really easy.
christine cushing/my favourite foods/youtube
greens
Pear and Gorgonzola Salad
Because man can’t live on cake alone. I think.
food network
a go-to pasta sauce
Ina Garten’s Weeknight Bolognese
For one family, this is their go-to recipe, easy and perfect for this time in quarantine and loved by all ages.
food network
soup
The Mansion’s Tortilla Soup
A recommendation from a friend, and I can attest to the fact that this is good because she made it for me, on a rainy winter afternoon back in February. I find most tortilla soups too broth-y and generally lacking in flavor. This is the opposite of all of those tortilla soups. Tomato- instead of broth-based and bursting with flavor and served with the absolute perfect complements. I would put this up there with some of the world’s best soups; comforting, yet a feast for the senses.
(Oh, and I’ve always used canned for where it calls for fresh tomato puree, and I too don’t fry the tortillas to add in at the end - some better quality [like Xochitl] torn corn tortilla chips will do just as well.)
culturemap dallas
to-impress soufflé
Maman’s Cheese Soufflé by Jacques Pépin
Here is the world’s easiest and foolproof cheese soufflé that will have your friends thinking you spent hours toiling in the kitchen. Definitely use a good Gruyere.
a well-deserved cocktail
Margarita
Because we don’t know what day it is, or time for that matter. This recipe was sent in from a friend who swears that her third child was conceived after consuming maybe one too many - maybe too much information - and I’m happy that she didn’t name that child Margarita.
bon appetit
and that’s not all we’ve got
Are you serious about food? Looking for a little extra help and guidance in that realm? Do you like to read food literature and watch chefs trekking around the world, tracking down the best dishes? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, keep reading.
food television
travel channel
Anthony Bourdain:
No Reservations
He may not be for those predisposed against sarcastic attitudes and salty language, but the late Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations sure does have a way of presenting global food culture in a very compelling and unique way. (Travel Channel)
netflix
Chef’s Table
I know most everyone on the planet has seen Chef’s Table, but it does require a mention on this listing for its greatness - both from storytelling and cinematography perspectives. (Netflix)
amazon
Eat the World
With Emeril Lagasse
It may be a while since we’re seen Emeril, but he has returned with a vengeance with Eat the World with Emeril Lagasse. In six episodes, Emeril travels the world with some of his foodie friends to explore some of the world’s best dishes (especially the episode highlighting one of my personal favorites, soup dumplings). Truly a treat. (Amazon Prime)
netflix
Salt Fat Acid Heat
Salt Fat Acid Heat is Samin Nosrat’s companion to her book of the same name. Four addictive episodes take her around the world, compiling and explaining ingredients that fit within that show’s category, and all will go to making a dish at the end. (Netflix)
netflix
Street Food: Asia
Street Food: Asia is not only a feast for the senses for any fan of Asian food, but each episode has an amazing story attached to it. (Netflix)
food literature
amazon
32 Yolks
by Eric Ripert
Named one of the best books of the year by NPR, 32 Yolks is a memoir from one of America’s culinary superstars. Chef/owner of New York City’s storied, three Michelin-starred Le Bernardin, and himself a seven-time James Beard Award winner, Eric Ripert recounts his upbringing and origins of his love of food in as touching a way as his cuisine is sublime.
amazon
The Making of a Chef
by Michael Ruhlman
Ever dreamed of being a student at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York? Journalist Michael Ruhlman enrolled and documented the entire experience. The recounting of his time there is captivating for anyone with even an inkling of interest in the culinary world.
amazon
Save Me the Plums
by Ruth Reichl
What a fascinating life Ruth Reichl has had. She lived in Berkeley, California, in the 1970’s as the American culinary revolution was taking off, and from 1984 to 1993 she was the restaurant editor for the Los Angeles Times. She was then the restaurant critic for the New York Times, and, after that, the editor of Gourmet Magazine from 1999 until its shuttering in 2009.
Save Me The Plums chronicles her time at Gourmet, from her apprehension about taking the position to its utter demise. As beautifully and compellingly written as her books Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples, it will have you hooked from page one.
cooking classes and great ingredients and resources, oh my!
There are so many resources online to up your cooking game, and some of them will only be available in this quarantine period.
online cooking lessons and demonstrations
America’s Test Kitchen not only has some of the very best - and highly tested - recipes on the web, but their cooking school is now offering a three-week free trial.
Udemy has over 100,000 cooking classes (!), on just about every type of cuisine or dish you could ever want to try (and probably quite a few you might have never heard of before!).
Delish is offering (free!) cooking classes for kids every week day at 1:00 pm EST.
Obsessed with the works of cake art that Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes put out? Check out CakeFlix for every cake décor trick in the book (and they’re offering a seven-day free trial, too!).
The BBC has a wonderful (and free!) section on techniques, from everything to cutting up an onion (really) to how to joint a chicken.
Looking for a real cooking school, but online? The Kitchn has just that.
Bon Appetit has really great cooking videos, and their Handcrafted series is especially fascinating.
During the quarantine, a lot of top food personalities are offering cooking videos online. Other huge names in the culinary world offering dish and recipe ideas include Eric Ripert (he of the aforementioned 32 Yolks above), the beloved Ina Garten (who is making dishes largely with ingredients found in her pantry - though, come on, it’s Ina Garten’s pantry!), Giada DeLaurentiis, and a personal favorite of some extraordinary British chef friends, Adam Handling.
opportunities that may never come around again
There are some very top restaurants in the country that take months to get a reservation (if you can even secure one), and a lot of those restaurants are now offering unprecedented takeout and delivery. Have you dreamed of dining at Alinea in Chicago or Manresa in California? Well now you can - in the comfort of your own dining room!
Thomas Keller, chefs from some of his restaurants as well as other top chefs around the country have partnered with The Chef’s Garden and Pure Bred to bring you curated provision packs that together form fantastic meals. Not only will the meals emanating from these packs be phenomenal, but a portion of each purchase goes to great organizations.
Dan Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns (Pocantico Hills, New York), number 28 on the definitive 2020 list of top 100 restaurants in the world (and the second American restaurant on that list) is offering for pickup boxes of amazing ingredients, vegetables, fruits, meats, seafood, and stock, most of which are produced at Stone Barns.
help! what can I cook with what I have in my pantry?
If your provisions are running low and you’re wondering what on earth you can scrap together with what you have on hand, plug in what’s in your kitchen to SuperCook and they’ll give you recipe ideas!
Other great recipe search engines are Epicurious, Food Network, New York Times Cooking, and Saveur.
food insecurity
And finally, as much as we’ve talked about all things food fantastic on this page thus far, food insecurity is real and there is more of a need now than perhaps ever before to fill our area food pantries and help to stock their shelves. Here are a few ways you can help:
Feeding America has a really great tool to find your local food bank; once you’ve found the food bank(s) in your area, check their website or give them a call.
In the Fairfield County to New York City corridor, the major food banks are the Connecticut Food Bank (Wallingford, CT), Feeding Westchester (Elmsford, NY), Food Bank for New York City (New York, New York), and City Harvest (New York, New York).
Smaller operations in the Fairfield County area include The Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County (Stamford, CT), Neighbor to Neighbor (Greenwich, CT), Person to Person (Darien, CT), the New Canaan Food Pantry (New Canaan, CT),and the Salvation Army Corps Community Center (Norwalk, CT).
Food Rescue US has launched an initiative called Greenwich Cares which purchases meals from area restaurants for groups aiding those who are food insecure in these times.
Additionally, there are also food banks that provide pet food for families in need; they are STARelief Pet Food Pantry (Stamford, CT) and The Pet Food Pantry Program at the Connecticut Humane Society (Newington, CT).