The Wednesday Chef

Month: September 2006

  • Nevin Halici’s Sour Spinach

    It felt like divine comedy when, after an entire week of cooking absolutely nothing, the one thing I chose to make for dinner last night turned out to be awful. Not fit for eating awful. Scraped into the bin awful. It's been a while since I got a real doozy, but I made up for…

  • Amy Scattergood’s Carrot and Pomegranate Soup

    After self-medicating with chocolate-toffee cookies (truly a splendid way to pass the weekend), life does seem rosier. The apex of my work hysteria has been scaled, the family crisis in Italy has been defused, and Ben is no longer a hospital-bound invalid. I've also decided to be less of a glutton, so I brought in…

  • Barbara Fairchild’s Chocolate-Toffee Cookies

    Behold, the chocolate-toffee cookie. Isn't it a darling? All creviced and cracked and filled with nubby surprises? There are 26 more of those at home and I'm finding it very difficult to share them with anyone. Anyone at all. The structure of this cookie is pretty amazing: just a half cup of flour to an…

  • Barbara Fairchild’s Spicy Roast Chicken

    Work is threatening to eat me alive. I don't seem able to do much more than stew some canned beans for dinner, or pour myself a bowl of cereal. And so, in order to feed myself something a bit more interesting, I resorted to a source I've usually turned my nose up at. Desperate times…

  • Ori Apple’s Shakshuka

    I've had my appetite whetted for eggs cooked with tomatoes since Molly's gratin, and reading about Lindy's breakfast of champignons and Deb's version with lettuce pesto has only served to deepen this hunger as of late. So when the New York Times ran an article about hummus in July (not to be outdone, the Los…

  • Bill Granger’s Coconut Bread

    While googling Bill Granger's name in preparation for my post on his delectable corn fritters, I came across a restaurant review that Johnny Apple wrote when he visited Bill's cafe in Sydney. Not only did I discover that Bill apparently hates the way the first letter of his name, capitalized, looks and therefore insists on…

  • Five Years

    Photo by Doug Plummer What wouldn’t I give to have them back again?

  • Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger’s Green Corn Tamales

    Remember back when the Food Network was a cute little channel with quirky shows featuring those Two Fat Ladies with impenetrable English accents, roaring motorbikes and wacky recipes, and a lisping bloke named Jamie who bashed herbs together a lot and made good cooking seem a lot less daunting, and those two women who endured…

  • Madhur Jaffrey’s Curried Roast Chicken, Durban Style

    I don't know what's come over me, but I can't seem to stop cooking exotic meals lately. I wonder if it's the chill in the air, and the sadness over summer ending that has me craving spicy food. Strong spices and forceful flavors promise a different kind of warmth these days. Soon, I'm sure, this…

  • Ana Sortun’s Flatbreads with Spiced Chicken and Pistachios

    It is exceedingly difficult to photograph flatbreads appealingly. It is, however, exceedingly easy to consume said unphotogenic flatbreads at an alarming rate. Especially when smeared with a spoonful of yogurt or dipped into a greenish mound of smoked aubergine crush (I can't stop repeating this recipe title over and over in my head). Fragrant with…