Category Archives: FOOD

FOODIE FRIDAY: Marinated Green Salad in a Jar.

Posted on by Nicole Cohen
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Last week I made those napkin rings for Kim Kushner’s cooking event, and planned on posting this recipe from her demonstration last friday. But I had no wifi over the weekend, and so here it is. When I saw her making this salad  and then serving it, I just couldn’t believe how genius it was. Its such a simple, yet clever idea, and I knew upon seeing it that it would be a pinnable feast! Basically you just put fresh veggies, the kind you might or might not cook (not cucumbers or lettuce that would wilt sitting in a dressing) and the ginger dressing kind of cooks it for you, and it lasts up to a week! It also happens to be an awesome presentation that is so perfect for summer. Going to a BBQ? You could just pull this baby out of the fridge and your host could serve it right out of the jar. (See also pool parties and picnics.)  Amazing. So many of you tell me that you use the Foodie Friday recipes, and I’m so glad! I know this one is something you will trot out time and time again. At the event I was actually hovered over the jar like Gollum, eating bowl after bowl of it cause it was so delish.I bought two of cook books The Modern Menu (one for me and one for my momma) and I cant wait to try all the recipes! Kim makes me excited about cooking and that aint easy.

Q&A with Kim Kushner

Whats for dinner tonight? I made mini chicken and veggie burgers for the boys. They devour them! A nice salad, chummus and olives (dinner staples), spaghetti with fresh roasted tomato sauce (made from any tomatoes I had left in my fridge)..for dessert, leftover homemade almond granita.
What’s the best thing you ever ate? I love authentic Italian food- so eating in Italy at some local, no frills restaurant. When I travel, I never take the hotel recommendations for where to eat, I ask the locals where they eat with their families and friends, and that’s where I go!
Three tricks for any home cook: be organized, keep your menu simple, pour yourself a glass of something and enjoy the cooking
The first thing that I always teach my students is that cooking isn’t brain surgery- if you really want to cook well, you will cook well. if something goes wrong there’s always a way to fix it – that’s what I love about cooking.
Who is your dream dinner guest? Nigella Lawson. I’d love to bite into a big piece of chocolate cake with her- she embodies lushness and appetite. Though the truth is my dream dinner guests are my closest friends who sit around the table eating and drinking and never once glancing at their watches.
Tell us about your kitchen nightmare: Whenever I try to bake 3 or more things at once, a disaster occurs. I once had 2 cakes leak( the batter) all over the inside of my oven- it took weeks to scrape it out.
What are your go-to recipes for dinner parties? All of the recipes in The modern menu  are my go-tos. That’s how the book and to be.
Who and what influences your cooking? I am most influenced by middle eastern cuisine and my mom.
What was your inspiration for The Modern Menu? I own hundreds of cookbooks and each one I can maybe pick one or two recipes that I love out of.  I wanted a book that I could  totally cook from. That every recipe was a good one- no page filler but real recipes that work and don’t require a hundred ingredients or 100 steps. I wanted a cookbook that was about the food not the celebrity who wrote it. I wanted a cookbook that had pictures that took my breath away. I couldn’t find one. So I made one!
And last- HOW GOOD DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE SUCH A BEAUTIFUL BOOK!!!  It feels great to have this cookbook, it’s like my recipe drawer has been replaced by a gorgeous, real book.  I love it.

 Marinated Green Salad

Serves 8-10

  • 1 pound haricots verts, trimmed
  • 4 carrots, peeled and julienned
  • ½ small red onion, sliced very thinly
  • 2 cups sugar snap peas, trimmed
  • 1 cup edamame, shelled and thawed
  • 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2inch pieces
  • 3 tablespoons minced ginger
  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
  • ½ cup rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper

Combine all ingredients, and toss well. Marinate in a large Ziploc bag or in a large Tupperware for 30 minutes and up to one week in the refrigerator. The longer this salad marinates, the stronger the flavors get. I make it on Sunday night and eat it throughout the week!

Enjoy!!! And have a great weekend!

Recipe via Kim Kushner 

Many thanks to Shirley Serure for her photos! 

FOODIE FRIDAY: Hamentashen.

Posted on by Nicole Cohen
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I’m reposting this Hamentashen recipe from 2 years ago in honor of Purim, which is this weekend… Non hebrews, dont click away! Hamentashen are awesome. Really really awesome. You should try it! This is the best Hamentashen recipe ever. Look no further. Taken from the Deal Delights cookbook. We added some alternate fillings besides jelly – nutella, chocolate chips.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 tbs. vanilla
2 tbs baking powder
1 tsp. salt
5 1/2 cups flour
1 jar apricot, prune, apple or peach butter or raspberry preserves

Steps:

Beat eggs and add sugar, oil, vanilla, baking powder, salt and flour (add flour slowly) while beating continuously until you have a workable dough.

Roll dough flat. Cut into 2 inch diameter circles. Place a small amount of filling on each circle. Make 3 pinches to form shape.

Bake on cookie sheet for 30 minutes at 350 or until golden brown.

Note: This dough is very good in any shape and with any filling.

My Tips:

Follow the steps on how you add the ingredients. It really makes a difference.

Once most of the flour is added start kneading it with your hands to get it really nice and doughy.

Experiment with the thickness of your dough when you roll it out. You don’t want it too thick because it wont be as tasty, too thin and the wall will collapse when you cook them.

The fillings labeled “Butter” dont spread or leak as much as preserves or jellies when you cook them. ** Experiment with fillings like nutella and chocolate chips- like the ones above! YUM.

Pinch one corner together first, then use a teaspoon to add the apricot butter. Then pinch the last two sides.

We had left over dough, so we made apricot jelly rolls and then used the left over dough to make an apple tart. The dough is so good!!

Keep them in the freezer, they are even better frozen!

FOODIE FRIDAY: AMAZEBALLS with gourMaya.

Posted on by Nicole Cohen
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I recently had lunch with Maya Abitbol, the woman behind the nutritional food blog gourMaya. Now, aside from being stunningly gorgeous (why do I even need to mention that, I’m so shallow) Maya is a mother of two adorable kiddies (Oliver 4, and Amelie, 1), who also has a full time job in finance. While doing all that, Maya manages to feed her family non-processed, healthy and natural foods. She also insists on only making one dinner per night. No kids meal vs grown up meal. (I know a lot of us dumb down our food for the kids, or even make them completely different dinners. But I’ve  found that when we actually SIT with the kids for dinner and eat with them, which is hard because they eat at 5 pm, they will always eat the grown up food we eat.)  Maya’s blog actually was born out of her Instagram account, and on it she shares everything from recipes to healthful living tips with kids, and you should DEFINITELY go check out her daughter’s 1 year old birthday party. Amazeballs is right! 

Anyway, I have to say, I was really truly skeptical when Maya suggested a sugarless flourless raw oat ball. I actually said, Maya, that sounds kind of gross! But at lunch she brought me a small jar full (I’ve been getting so much free food, YAY!) and they were great. They kind of tasted like oatmeal cookie dough. Maya’s son is allergic to many nuts, but when her pediatrician asked her to introduce sunflowers into his diet, she discovered Sun Butter and adapted her recipes. Enjoy!

SOME Q&A WITH MAYA:

I secretly cheat with this highly processed food…  York Peppermint Patties. Sometimes when I’m at the pharmacy and they are just staring  me in the face at the cash register, I can’t resist. That mint filling must be made with some kind of poison- but it’s so refreshing! Definitely a soft spot of mine. 
Favorite secret ingredient… Quinoa Flakes. This is the quinoa grain pounded out and flattened into flakes. I mix these into breading, sprinkle them in muffins in lieu of oats and make hot quinoa cereal for my kids breakfast with cinnamon and apple sauce. It’s gluten free and more nutritionally “complete” than other grains.
What I wish I knew about cooking 5 years ago… It’s all about prep. If you cut out the prep time cooking can be an enjoyable and creative outlet rather than a rushed and stressful part of your day. If you have the ability to delegate the prep (cutting, peeling, cleaning fruits and veggies) that is ideal, otherwise manage your time by organizing yourself well and being efficient (ie: dice several Vidalia onions and  refrigerate in an air tight container early in the week and use as needed).
It took me a long time to acquire a taste for… Kale. It’s kind of bitter and I can’t really get behind the while kale chip
craze because they always taste burnt to me (even the ones you pay $24 a bowl for) but I do like certain Kale salads now as long as it’s paired with right ingredients and dressing. It’s also great for juicing.
My favorite tool in the kitchen is… Kitchen shears. They come in many shapes and sizes and can be way more efficient than cutting. I prefer them to a knife when working with raw fish and chicken cutlets, it’s easier to get them into the desired shape. Shears are also great for lettuce or snipping fresh herbs directly into a dish.
Favorite dish in the city…Brazil-nut croquettes from the vegan restaurant PURE food and wine in Union Square. Everything there is so healthy and the garden is one of my favorite spots in the city.
If food trends were stocks, I’d invest in… Chia. This fabulous super food is packed with Omega-3 and actually has the same nutritional content as flax but is way sexier in my opinion. It can be used as a gelling agent in many recipes- ie: can replace eggs and help modify the amount of oil needed.  I think chia is the next chocolate chip- you can sprinkle it on anything!

Ingredients:

1 cup of old fashioned oats

1/2 cup natural sun butter*

1/2 cup pitted and diced medjool dates**

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut flakes 

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips***

1/3 cup honey 

1/2 cup ground flax seed****

1 TSP vanilla

Method:

Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl in no particular order. Wear latex gloves and knead the mixture like dough until fully combined. Pick up dime sized portions with your thumb and index finger and roll into a ball. Once balls are formed, refrigerate for at least one hour and serve.

If serving these as “cake-pops,” as pictured, puncture each ball with a paper straw. Make sure entire area around straw is covered with the mixture. This will only begin to stick once refrigeration is complete.

 Maya’s Notes:

* “Natural” Sun Butter is the version I like to buy since it has no added sugar. There are many other sunflower seed butter brands, but Sun Butter is the only one I’ve seen that has no traces of tree nuts or peanuts so if allergies are a concern this is a great option. It is processed in a sunflower only facility. If allergies are not a concern, feel free to sub in peanut butter, almond butter, or cashew butter. 

** Generally, any date that comes pre-pitted isn’t juicy or meaty enough for this recipe. I find that the Turkish or Medjool dates are of the soft and moist variety that work best since they act as a binding agent together with the honey and Sun Butter. These usually do not come pitted, but that really only takes a second!

*** I like “Enjoy Life” mini chocolate chips since they are made with real chocolate, do not have added sugar and are soy and dairy free. 

**** Make sure your flax seed is ground. You can either buy flax seed and grind it yourself in a coffee grinder or food processor or buy flax meal which is pre-ground. Flax is the  omega-rich super food that will give this healthy snack the extra boost, but if you do not have it the recipe will not be altered. 

***** If you want to give these balls some extra crunch, brown rice crispies are a great addition, but fair warning- they are a rare find!

I know a dessert item with no flour, sugar, eggs, or oil is hard to come by and hard to take seriously, but these are SERIOUSLY divine. 

Try them. YOLO. 

xx, gourMaya 

Hope you enjoy them! I love that so many people have been using the Foodie Friday recipes! AWESOME! Go check out gourMaya HERE!

 

FOODIE FRIDAY: Nutella Swirl Cake with Sweet Sweet City.

Posted on by Nicole Cohen
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Welcome to our latest installment of Foodie Friday. Since I verifiably suck at cooking, I decided to bring you some EASY recipes and ideas from my favorite foodies, on a Friday specifically, so you could whip it up over the weekend if you felt like it! Meet Grace of Sweet Sweet City. Tagline: Everything I know about cooking I learned from my mother, Ina Garten and Youtube. I love that. From childhood Grace was playing in her mothers kitchen, and by age ten was hosting breakfast parties on Sunday mornings for the neighborhood kids. She had her first dinner party at age 12! Despite early experimentation in the kitchen, Grace majored in Art History in college, and later studied at the School of Interior design. She knew she was destined for a career in a creative field but she didn’t quite nail down what that would be until her husband’s aunt started a catering business and asked her to make the deserts. It has been one year since she started Sweet Sweet City and since then she’s worked on bar mitzvahs, birthday parties and different events at people’s homes. Despite never having attended culinary school, she has turned her love for baking into a successful business. Grace is ever humble, and describes herself as always learning… she is randomly googling ”How to crumb coat a cake” and “how to work with modeling chocolate” while we  are watch RHONY. Every day presents her challenges and she rolls with the punches.

I’ve asked Grace to give us an easy fun recipe that is virtually fail proof. She gave me this Nutella Swirl Cake recipe, and  gave me the actual CAKE in the photos! YUM. It was gone within two days at my house. It’s super delicious with coffee in the morning. I ate that cake before the gym every day! (Ha!)

5 Things, with Grace:

1. My favorite Ingredient…. believe it or not is Sour Cream. It makes a cake extremely moist and tender .

2. My Death Row Meal… My moms chicken soup. A chocolate chip cookie.

3.What I eat when I’m alone in my apartment….Martins pretzels from the union square farmers market.

4. My favorite secret tip…. Just like you would never cook with out adding salt to a dish, the same applies with baking. Also, have all your ingredients out on the table before you begin. Nothing is worse then starting a cake and then realizing you ran out of eggs half way through!

5. My favorite dish in the city is: Spaghetti Arrabiata at Bar Pitti. I eat there at least twice a week!

THE RECIPE: 

Nutella Swirl crumb cake 

1. Butter and flour one 9″ inch round spring form baking pan 

Crumb topping:

  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • small pinch of salt

Combine first 3 ingredients in a bowl. Add melted butter and stir. Add flour and salt. Stir to combine and refrigerate while assembling cake. 

Cake: 

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (3/4 stick)
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2/3 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • a heaping 1/3 cup Nutella 

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Scrape down bottom and sides of bowl to insure batter is fully mixed. Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out with a knife. warm the Nutella in the microwave for 5-30 seconds, so you are able to spread it on cake. Layer on the rest of the batter, then the rest of the nutella and swirl with knife.crumble the topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a tooth pick comes out clean. (May need to tent crumb topping mid way through in order to prevent excessive browning) Cool completely, then glaze or dust with powdered sugar. Glaze:1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons milk
tiny pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 

Sift confectioners sugar. Then combine all ingredients and drizzle over cake. 

I hope you are enjoying Foodie Friday! I’m loving exploring another art form- food- through the eyes of people who are good at it!

Happy Weekend! And check out Grace’s gorgeous food HERE, and follow her insta @sweetsweetcity.

 

Kim Kushner + The Modern Menu.

Posted on by Nicole Cohen
1

Arg, I had serious ideas of how I was going to introduce you to Kim Kushner, her blog, and her upcoming cook book, The Modern Menu. In fact, she was the real reason I started Foodie Friday! But, fortunately (unfortunately for this blog post) the seats to her event in NYC next month are selling out so fast, that I had to post ASAP! It couldnt even wait until Friday. Her book, with photography by the award winning Andrew Zuckerman, is available for pre-order on amazon, and I did get a sneak peak of it, and its awesome. Like I want to make and eat every single thing. And thats a big deal for me.

Kim and I have some awesome recipes planned for you(well she does, anyway)! In the meantime, register for the event! And, maybe I’ll finally learn how to cut meat against the grain? (Please? The grain is in every direction?!? Is it just me?)