Salad - - Page 11

by BS

Look Who’s Slawing Now

Winter sucks. Thankfully, we got a brief reprieve from it in New York this weekend, with a bizarre, wonderful 60-degree Sunday. Of course, when this happens, most people I know immediately think — time to cook outside! So my friend Dave took the opportunity to smoke up some pork shoulder on the grill, and I was assigned coleslaw.

I’d never done it before so I went super-basic, avoiding anything fancy (just cabbage, carrots, mayo [not too freaking much!], vinegar, salt, pepper, and some fresh dill I happened to have). So I didn’t take a photo or anything because it was just your basic coleslaw, although everyone did seem to like it. In fact, when our pal Miss Brockhouse returned for a slice of apple pie, she lamented that there was no coleslaw left to eat with her pie! Running with this, I started thinking (and saying out loud), that you really could put coleslaw on anything. Of course, I was met with a chorus of ‘you must be wasted,’ but now even in the sober AM I still feel the same way. Why is coleslaw limited to an uneventful side or a sandwich topping for BBQ and BBQ alone?

BUT then I was reminded of this map that a friend recently forwarded:

by BS

Endless Menus: A Candy Fiend’s Thanksgiving

We’ve already told you how to put more meat in your turkey-day, but it’s also come to our attention over the years that many of you see Thanksgiving not as a holiday that needs baconing-up, but more as an extension of Halloween. From candied yams to maple-glazed turkeys, to sugar-coated green beans and of course, more desserts than would even be conceivable on any other day of the year, Thanksgiving is a great time to load up on the sweet treats. But how? That’s where we come to your rescue again, dear readers, with our Endless Menu for A Candy Fiend’s Thanksgiving:

Breakfast: Candy Turkey

I know a lot of people like to skip breakfast Thanksgiving morning in order to save room for the big meal. This is going about it all wrong. You’ve got to expand your tummy to get ready for the feast. Think of it as warming up for a big race. You’ve got to do some light eating first. So start the day off with a festive fruit snack, which instructables helpfully teaches us how to turn into a candy turkey.

The Bird: Coca-Cola Glazed Turkey

Everyone’s always looking for a glaze recipe that sets their turkey apart from the neighbor’s, and what glaze could be more American than Coca-Cola? Farmers haven’t figured out how to grow turkeys that taste like Coke just yet (I think the Texas State Fair is working on that one for next year), but thankfully, you can just douse your bird with the brown stuff before sticking it in the oven and it comes out all glistening and sweet. (Photo: bucklava)

The Side: Marshmallow Sweet Potatoes

Yeah, you people snickered at the Coca-Cola turkey, but then you remembered you already do this, huh? Picking up in the grand vegetable-hiding tradition where green bean casserole left off, sweet potatoes smothered in marshmallows is perhaps the most bizarre of all T-day traditions. Somehow, just because the spuds are a little sweet themselves, that suddenly makes it OK to top them sky-high with hoof-candy. Kinda odd logic, but you won’t hear us complaining. (Photo: kathryn_rotondo)

Follow the jump, sweet teeth…

by gansie

Two For Five = Mizuna

I usually frequent the farmers’ market by myself, but this weekend I got 80P out of his hangover-I-want-bed mode and took him with me. And this resulted in the purchase of radishes. They had samples out and it’s kinda weird because they’re spicy. Anyway, we now have like 5 fucking radishes and I have no idea what to do with them. 80 says he used to eat them as a kid with salt, but um, there must be something else out there. I’m thinking I could use them as a alternative to a chip for a dip. But any suggestions would be appreciated.

Anyway, this post has nothing to do with radishes. And don’t you think radish should have two “d”s in it?

Even though a lot of the workforce likes to go out for lunch during the week, I love bringing my food. No shock there. For today’s lunch I took full advantage of my market purchase, including these funky greens that 80 also added to my cart: mizuna. We were just going to buy a bunch of mustard greens but then the upseller said there’s a special: 2 bunches for $5, so 80 grabbed mizuna. Um, yea, I know, what the eff is mizuna.

Eggplant and Mizuna Salad

I risked the safety of not only the baking sheet, but of my entire apartment building,

in Cheese / Recipe / Veggie 14 comments

by gansie

Ask Tom, Answer Gansie

Washington, D.C.: I know you’ve mentioned your dislike of waiters “auctioning plates,” but I’d like to raise the issue again — with a twist.My boyfriend and I eat at restaurants pretty regularly — 2-3 times a week, at a mix of price points. But one thing that’s become pretty constant lately is waiters delivering our food and automatically assuming the salad or the fish goes to me — when 9 times out of 10, it’s what my boyfriend has ordered.

He’s the health nut. I’m more apt to order something involving pork belly or red meat.

It would be funny if it wasn’t happening so often.

Tom Sietsema: Restaurant Rule No. 234:

in Fish / Personal / Trends 5 comments

by gansie

Artsy Photo of the Day

Not ready to say goodbye to summer

in Photos / Veggie 2 comments

by BS

Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

Is bacon the food world equivalent of the four-letter word? Read on for details…

– Have you taken the Omnivore Hundred yet? Among ES readers, Camille appears to be in the lead with an astonishing 88 percent.

– On the herbivore front, Alex is taken with gansie’s pine nut salad: I am usually thrilled to find them lurking in my salad. This could have something to do with my not really liking salad and really liking nuts…I’m just bopping along, eating my salad like a good vegetarian, and then WHOA! THERE’S A PINE NUT! AWESOME! It’s like when you crush up a pill and put it in delicious juice for a kid to drink so they won’t know it’s there, except opposite. Maybe I should start crushing up my lettuce and hide it in my pine nuts instead of hiding my pine nuts under my lettuce.

– But Mean Today is unimpressed with Padma Lakshmi’s salad course:

in Bacon / Contests 7 comments

by BS

Stalking Padma in the Kitchen: Salad Course

Regular ESers know that I’ve been on a crusade to prove that pretty face Padma Lakshmi actually can cook. I’ve made my way through her appetizer and soup recipes, so now it’s on to course three: salad.

Cilantro is one of the most divisive foods on earth. Many people claim there’s a genetic aspect to it: If you’ve got the cilantro gene, you can’t get enough of it; if you’re born without it, the very thought of cilantro makes you turn into an angry, hulk-esque opponent.

Grace be to god, I fall on the cilantro-loving side of this supposed genetic divide. I really think it puts all other herbs to shame. But here’s the problem for us cilantro-fiends: you only need a little bit of it to season any food, yet it inexplicably is sold exclusively in gigantic bunches, which of course go bad before even the most devoted cilantrite can finish them. For years I’ve avoided buying the stuff because I’m always afraid I won’t be able to finish it. That’s where the genius of Padma Lakshmi comes into play yet again…

in Recipe / Veggie 3 comments