In the spring of 2020 the world shut down confronted with an immense public health crisis. It meant I couldn't eat out, be fed by friends, or even go to the store more than once a week. I started a weekly newsletter to document my experience over the span of that unusual period in our history.
I've decided to continue that on a slightly different basis while slowly transitioning my paper notebooks into a digital format. Each month, I'll do a write up in the What's Cooking section, the latest just below. In the Recipes section, I'll slowly add and refine the formulas for what I cook and bake.
The month has been an interesting almost paradoxical one from a food experimentation perspective. When so many great things are in season, they need so little treatment, I do more assembly than cooking.
Newest Recipes
Summer Chicken Cacciatore
This is a variation of a recipe from the Ottolenghi team with a few of my own refinements and tweaks.
There comes a certain point in the summer when, even when you manage to find great tomatoes, you’ve had enough of them raw and want something different....
Summer Ragù
This was a great discovery from Jessica Filby of Canteen, in London. It’s a lighter but still incredibly flavorful ragù that’s perfect for summer, including a cook low and slow in the oven....
Pavlova
If you’ve got good fruit, a pavlova is a great way to turn it into a slightly more showy dessert. On the surface, it’s a meringue with fruit and whipped cream on top....
Honey & Co Butter Cookies
I won’t take any credit for the original recipe here, but I really liked this modular approach to cookie making. It comes from the wonderful Honey & Co in London....
Hedge Maze
I dug this up for a party that demanded something green. It comes via Stoa, a bar in San Francisco.
When I do cocktails for a group, I like doing them in a batch....
