hot ladles

A Ladle in Love

anique — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:04:42 -0500

I was joined by another ladle for a winter wonderland adventure and boy oh boy did we do some adventuring. While we didn’t make it to the High Line, we did enjoy ogling some nice new and recycled fashions and housewares at the Brooklyn Flea, which is housed in the cavernous and gorgeous building that was once home to the Williamsburgh Savings Bank.

We also made some killer food—the Midwesterner will share her recipe—and played perhaps too many games of Scrabble. There were many highlights during the trip—fast walking, sex surrogates—but perhaps one of the most surprising showstoppers came in liquid form while waiting to catch Diablo Cody’s new flick, Young Adult. (No spoilers, but meh.) While sitting in the restaurant bar that is connected to the theatre, we both ordered the “There Will Be Blood,” a cocktail made up of bourbon, Employee’s Only grenadine, and lemon juice. It was the right mix of sweet and tart with the smooth finish from the bourbon; it was outstanding.

The Midwesterner departed earlier today and I, bereft with grief, ran to numb the pain. But what I realized I really needed was one of those drinks. I found myself standing in the bar section of Brooklyn Kitchen and just so happened to find that the only grenadine they carried was Employee’s Only. It was obviously fated. And who am I to question fate?

I did a little recipe manuevering and came up with ratios that most closely mimicked the drink we so thoroughly enjoyed that blistery, cold winter night. And because it’s a bit of my own creation and is topped with soda water, I have renamed it.

The AnneMarie

Ingredients
1.5 oz of bourbon whiskey
1.5 oz of Employee’s Only (or any non-high fructose corn syrup) grenadine
1 oz of lemon juice
soda water

Instructions
Combine whiskey, grenadine and lemon juice with ice in cocktail shaker. Shake and pour over ice-filled glass. Top with soda water and garnish with lemon peel.

Well, ladles, we do need ourselves a pick-me-up today and My...

shipleal — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:46:38 -0500

Well, ladles, we do need ourselves a pick-me-up today and My Drunk Kitchen is just the thing. Little bro turned me on to Ms. Hannah Hart (thanks, Art!) over t-giving and she’s clearly on to a great way to cook. For more, check out her website. Enjoy.

Adam Gopnik: Rare Romance, Well-Done Marriage

shipleal — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:44:47 -0500

Adam Gopnik: Rare Romance, Well-Done Marriage:

Do you listen to Moth stories? If not, I highly recommend the podcast. Short, wonderful stories told live and without notes. I listened to Adam Gopnik’s piece on marriage this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it — see #3 on 10/24/11. If you don’t like Adam Gopnik, skip over this one and try another story. It might not be about food, but will surely entertain.

Spicy African Peanut Soup

shipleal — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:33:54 -0500

It’s officially fall in our nation’s capital! Gorgeous leaves! Cooler temps! And warm, delicious foods! After an amazing delivery of Soupergirl soups last month (thanks, ladles!), I’ve been in the soup spirit! So this long weekend, I dug up a recipe that truly combines warmth, color, and taste — sweet potatoes, ginger, peanuts, and a little heat to boot. YUM: Spicy African Peanut Soup. It took less than 30 minutes from start to finish and was just delicious. Enjoy!

Ode to Delicata

sawahj — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:48:00 -0400

Squash in the varietal forms of acorn, butternut and spaghetti had been making regular appearances in the bags I brought home from the market. I thought life couldn’t get much better than sitting down to a big bowl of roasted butternut squash risotto. But I was wrong. My foray in to the world of squash was incomplete.

Enter, delicata squash. Oblong and striped, unsuspectingly easy to prepare. Tasty as all get out.

My go-to preparation is simply to cut in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds with a spoon and then slice into 1/2 inch half moon shapes. Toss in a bit of olive oil, s + p, throw in a pan and roast in oven at 375 until fork tender (about 20-30 mins). That’s right, leave the skins on. Out of the oven, I toss in a little butter, chipotle powder and lime juice. Eat.

And just last night I experienced an AMAZING way to use the leftovers: Winter Squash Tacos.

Dining Out with Parents My parents and I don’t really...

anique — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:13:00 -0400

Dining Out with Parents

My parents and I don’t really share the same culinary inclinations: they are less adventuresome, processed-foods enthusiasts whereas I am all about throwing down hard-earned cash for locally grown, well-made grub. Call me crazy but I’m a little sensitive about what goes all up in my body. Therefore, dining out in New York is one of the more difficult things I have to navigate when they’re in town.

Good manners prevail, they are the guests after all, and so I try my best to be a good host and go with the flow. Suffice it to say I ate a lot of junk, some good (Katz’s was actually alright) and some bad (those garlic fries at Yankee stadium?!?). By the time they left I was in desperate need of some cleansing. Good lord did that homemade breakfast of poached organic eggs, local heirloom tomatoes, and fresh local bread do the trick.

Some of you can probably relate.

Photo on left is but a small portion of our table at Katz’s. Photo on right is that amazing breakfast.

The Apricot Blossom Oh hey gang, where you looking for some...

anique — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:25:00 -0400

The Apricot Blossom

Oh hey gang, where you looking for some cocktail inspiration? Lucky for you, I’ve got fodder for your fire. You can find it over at Saveur.com and here’s a little tease:

I’m a whiskey drinker who, with the exception of an Old Fashioned, likes her cocktails simple and straightforward. Any drink with a long ingredient list evokes bad memories of loud clubs; in contrast, I’m of the mind that it takes a certain amount of bartending finesse to make a perfectly balanced cocktail using only a few ingredients, and I’m inclined to reward that. So I’m still a little mystified as to how one of my new favorite drinks is a rum cocktail comprised of a whopping six ingredients.

Get the full writeup and recipe for The Apricot Blossom»

I am working on some rum recipes for a Friday cocktail and...

anique — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:52:00 -0400

I am working on some rum recipes for a Friday cocktail and wanted to make sure I understood the concept of pressed ginger. Found this woman and her shirt in a how-to video.

HotLadles, this is a service message to remind ourselves that friends never let friends wear tie-dye.

I bought a little lemon balm starter at the beginning of the...

shipleal — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:13:57 -0400

I bought a little lemon balm starter at the beginning of the gardening season and the plant exploded! There’s lemon balm for everyone! I found this recipe after a quick google search and decided to try it out. I used Sure-Jell instead of liquid pectin and put the powder in before the sugar per the directions on the box rather than the recipe. Also, 6 1/2 cups of sugar is intimidating so beware. But after a quick boil to set the jelly, the little jars of lemon balm jelly look good! Fingers crossed they taste as good as they look and I can share some garden love with my fellow hotladles.

Dining Rooms: A Voce Frolleague Sarah B. coordinated a lunch for...

anique — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:13:00 -0400

Dining Rooms: A Voce

Frolleague Sarah B. coordinated a lunch for three at the fabled and fancy A Voce Madison. God bless NYC Restaurant Week!

This was my secondi: grilled sea bass, chickpeas, sun dried tomatoes, salmoriglio.

The food was surprisingly good (dare I say great?) and inventive for Italian fare, but the restaurant was difficult to comprehend. A Voce is a mix between Don Draper’s office and some bad Asian-inspired theme. The chairs—Eames-type leather desk chairs—were so low to the ground that the tables met our chins. (Okay not really, but almost.) Basically, this is THE destination for business lunches. Between tall men.

Bittman's Watermelon & Tomato Salad

anique — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:51:50 -0400

Bittman's Watermelon & Tomato Salad:

I made this for a rooftop BBQ last night and it was gonzo amazing. The crisp and sweet watermelon plays so well with the acidic tomatoes, the fragrant parsley and the snappy scallions. And that bite of gargonzola adds just the necessary salty hit. SO GOOD.

Get the recipe.

(Video still from NYTimes.com)

Party Dishes

shipleal — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:54:00 -0400

I played host to a retirement party this weekend and took the occasion to make two new-to-me party dishes. Both bowls were eaten clean by the end of the evening — a good sign! First, Tzatziki. It was incredible — light and delicious and perfect to accompany veggies. Second, White Bean Dip — definitely a new fav for its ease in prep, cheapness, and taste… certainly at least an occasional replacement for hummus. YUM.

Tzatziki (small bowl)
1 lunch-size container of plain greek yogurt
1/2 a cucumber, unpeeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, grated
1/2 Tbsp. coarse salt
1/3 c. sour cream
lemon juice to taste
lots of minced fresh dill
1 garlic clove, minced

Mix everything together and chill before serving!

White-Bean Dip
2 small cans Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 squeezed lemon
3 large fresh sage leaves (or any other herb you enjoy)
Coarse salt and ground pepper to taste

In a food processor, combine cannellini beans, olive oil, lemon, sage, and salt and pepper. Puree until smooth. Sprinkle chili powder on the top once in your serving bowl.

This amazingly simple trick will come in SUPER HANDY for that...

anique — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:44:33 -0400

This amazingly simple trick will come in SUPER HANDY for that strawberry margarita below. Thanks to SAVEUR test kitchen director (and generally pretty great dude) Ben Mims for sharing his wisdom.

Getting Sloppy with Some Strawberry Sunshine It always happens....

anique — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:13:00 -0400

Getting Sloppy with Some Strawberry Sunshine

It always happens. Everytime. Never fails.

You meet up with your best ladle-friend and you start out strong being all like, “Oh, just one margarita. Just one! I mean, they’re so good but they’re $12!” But the sun is hitting the buildings just right, and the tequila starts to work its magic and before you know it you’re three drinks deep, and have finished off about 3 bowls of chips and a whole molcajete of guacamole. And you’re now out $60. And starving. And pretty drunk.

Every time. It happens everytime.

But not any more gurl! Because you’ve got some nice tequila, a whole batch of strawberries and some limes. You are good to go on your own terf.

Strawberry Margarita
(I found this recipe online but now can’t. I’m doing my best to re-create from memory.)

Ingredients

2 oz silver tequila
1 oz water
2 big tablespoons of muddled strawberries
1 tablespoon simple syrup
.5 oz lime juice

Instructions

Hull 4-5 strawberries. (AMAZINGLY simple trick for hulling strawberries in this video. Game changer.) Muddle the strawberries in cocktail shaker. Add tequila, simple syrup, lime juice and water. Shake vigorously and pour all contents into glass. Add extra ice cubes if necessary. Garnish with strawberry and lime.

Fuzzy, Fizzy Tequila I am not much of a tequila ladle myself,...

anique — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:57:00 -0400

Fuzzy, Fizzy Tequila

I am not much of a tequila ladle myself, but over the weekend I was on a fish taco bender and really wanted to experiment with tequila cocktails. The fact that I think someone slipped me some peyote at this outdoor hippie-festival I stumbled into may have also helped with my desire to experiment. Either way, I was like “Let’s do this!” And so I did.

The Tequila Fizz

Ingredients

2 oz silver tequila

1 oz lime juice

1 tablespoon of powdered sugar

club soda/seltzer

Instructions

Combine tequila, lime juice and sugar in shaker. Combine with ice and shake vigorously. Pour in highball or large margarita glass and add club soda/seltzer.

My notes: This simple, refreshingly light drink was actually a lovely suprise to my tequila-averse palate. I used some Sauza Hornitos brand (we got it for free) and it was really balanced. Because there are so few ingredients in this little cocktail you’d benefit from avoiding your drunk uncle’s cheap Cuervo and go for broke on a top-shelf brand. Fish tacos are way more awesome if they don’t come back up. TRUST.

I saw this on the way to our community garden plot and had to...

shipleal — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:28:04 -0400

I saw this on the way to our community garden plot and had to post it… Great, right? Garden update: so far, the peas and lettuce have been lovely to munch on and the cilantro and dill from seed very fun to watch grow (and eat in summer salads this weekend). The yellow squash is taking over and the tomatoes are almost ripe! YUM.

Fish Tacos, Popsicles and Peyote

anique — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:25:00 -0400

Today didn’t turn out quite as planned, but what a plan it became. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’ll tell you that my little attempt at sunbathing and a poorly packed lunch (read: nothing) led me on some sort of mystic-chasing journey that almost involved a pack of wolves and peyote.

Which is to say that upon waking from a little sunbathing slumber at East River Park and rubbing the sweat and oil from my eyes, I saw, like an oasis of hope and second chances, the little peaks from mysterious white tents off in the distance.

I gathered my things and in my somnambulant state ambled closer to the fire whereupon I found great heaping offerings of food, fresh produce, lavendar, soaps and more! What was this sojourner’s paradise? The Brooklyn Flea/Smorgasbord, of course. Which really begs the question: how long does someone have to live in a place to figure out all the cool shit happening right in their own backyard? I mean, seriously folks. It was kind of ridiculous that it was only today—a full month after opening—that I wandered into this thing. (I’m going to continue on with the more positive points of the story, but suffice it to say I have spent the better part of today trying to figure out what I am doing with my life and how to not waste so much time, carpe diem and all that shit.)

Anyyyyywayyyyyyyy, at this little paradise of food and sundry items, I came across a taco stand that I went for mainly because it was the first food stand I saw that wasn’t serving some rare form of locally-raised, antioxidant-free bison. The tacos were good if not overpriced (2 fish tacos for $9…what?!?) although I almost cancelled my order when I heard one of the dudes working the condiment station pronounce crema the way your kind-of racist aunt whose only been outside of the U.S. once on an ‘exotic’ cruise to the “Care-ah-beann” would: “cray-mah.”

After my pretty yums but expensive tacos, I was finally awake and immediately noticed all these people enjoying these gorgeous and natural-looking popsicles. The way in which their tongues lapped up the inevitable drippings at the bottom in an effort to both prevent sticky strands all over their hands and arms and to savor as much of the sweet popsicle nectar they could made me really want one.

Ladies and gentleman, without further ado, I present to you: People’s Pops. Kind of the most amazing, ridiculous, satisfying, light and flavorful popsicles this little lady has ever had. I had a rhubarb ginger pop AND a strawberry basil pop. (What? Don’t judge. It was hot!) I HIGHLY recommend the rhubarb ginger. It made me want to quit my job and pursue that lifelong and yet untested passion of selling coconut juice on the beach. LIFE CHANGING.

I was all blissed out in popsicle land and sort of digging on the whole beachy vibe of my day, so I decided to keep the spirit alive by making one of my signature dishes—fish tacos, duh—and trying to experiment with tequila cocktails. I actually made two—a totally new thing I’d never even heard of before and a variation on the margarita.

I successfully achieved all goals (the tequila cocktail posts are coming) and also really felt like the day had been siezed! So whew, all the work is done, I’m vibing the shit out of life right now (maybe it’s the tequila) and I’m about to go ahead and make a really crazed late-night purchase and go for this awesome ZOKU popsicle maker pretty soon here.

I think there might have been some peyote in them pops afterall.

(Top photo from Anarchy in a Jar; middle photo by Robyn Lee and Kathy YL Chan for Serious Eats; bottom photo by me found here.)

Damn, I’m about to check out. / Pay my 80 bucks for 6...

anique — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:46:00 -0400

Damn, I’m about to check out. / Pay my 80 bucks for 6 things and get the heck out.

It’s gettin’ real in the Whole Foods parking lot.

The Bitter Spritz I was in the mood for a cocktail, but...

anique — Sun, 15 May 2011 18:22:00 -0400

The Bitter Spritz

I was in the mood for a cocktail, but didn’t want something too boozy (still had to cook dinner, you know?). I recalled a recent afternoon spent with frolleague Sarah Bray and got inspired. The Bitter Spritz is a twist on the Aperol spritzer, switching out the more subtle Aperol with Campari. The orange slice cuts the bitterness of the Campari to create a lovely, bright drink that’s perfect for a warm summer afternoon.

Ingredients
1.5 oz Campari
3.5 oz seltzer
Orange slice

Directions
Fill glass with ice. Pour ingredients into glass and stir. Drop orange slice into glass. Enjoy!

Jello cubes hitting a hard surface at 6,200 frames per second....

anique — Wed, 11 May 2011 12:44:43 -0400

Jello cubes hitting a hard surface at 6,200 frames per second. Courtesy of Nathan Myhrvold’s Modernist Cuisine crew.