13 Apr 2012 6 Comments
in On the Road, Recipes, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories) Tags: asparagus, dining, fois gras, food, Malibu, pork belly, ravioli, recipes, Steve McQueen
Fois gras ravioli with pickled fennel, shimeji mushrooms and marscapone cheese — at Chez McQueen
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Here’s the way I like to imagine it:
McQueen is out on the deck drinking his whisky, his khakis rolled up and his feet on the railing, watching the sea crash on the rocks just below. He’s surprised to find a stranger at his stove cooking, but only shrugs. After a bit he comes in to freshen his drink, and asks me what the hell I’m doing in his kitchen. More
10 Apr 2012 15 Comments
in Observations, Video Tags: 60 Minutes, baguette, CBS, cheese, France, French, French Paradox, red wine, wine
I remember seeing a segment on “60 Minutes” many years ago that affected me deeply. It was titled “The French Paradox,” and explored why the French — who eat butter, stinky cheeses, duck and other fat-rich foods with Dionysian abandon — had heart disease rates far lower than the United States and other developed countries.
The segment focused on two factors. The first, of course, was wine. The French consume more wine than any other people on earth, and there have been many studies linking lower rates of heart disease with moderate consumption of wine, red wine in particular. But it was the second factor that was even more intriguing to me, and where I had a moment on enlightenment. It was lifestyle. More
06 Apr 2012 10 Comments
in Recipes, Video Tags: anchovies, bàcari, cicchetti, cod, Italian cooking, Italy, polenta, recipe, tapas, Venice
The most wonderful thing about Venice is you can get completely lost, and yet never be completely lost. The city is essentially a big round island of canals and narrow pedestrian streets that all fold in on one another, leading nowhere and everywhere at once. And if you wander long enough, you’ll eventually wind up someplace you recognize — sometimes even back at the place where you started.
I remember wandering like that once through a maze of alleyways on an eerily quiet and foggy March afternoon in Venice with my sister, trying to find our way back to our penzione. Eventually frustrated in our efforts, we tucked into one of the city’s ubiquitous bàcari wine bars for refueling — a welcome glass of wine and a few plates of blissful cecchitti. More
03 Apr 2012 16 Comments
in Recipes, Video Tags: D'Artagnan, Derby pie, Dungeness crab, fois gras, iberico bellota, Kobe beef, Kumamoto oysters, pork belly, Sauternes, sevruga caviar
What to get the guy who has everything for his birthday? Something that will not take up space, and that preferably disappears quickly. Why, food and drink, of course!
Pork belly confit with fava beans
“It’s your birthday. We should be throwing a party and cooking for you,” said my friend Nat when I invited him to my very small birthday celebration. One should do exactly as one chooses on their birthday, I reassured him. And for me, that meant not going to a club or out to a fancy restaurant, but surrounding myself with my kids, a few close friends, and some really good food and wine. More
30 Mar 2012 13 Comments
in Pork, Recipes Tags: Dominican cuisine, Dominican Republic, Latin America, pernil, Pork, pork shoulder, recipes, roast
As you may know from various previous posts, I am a fan of the pork shoulder. It’s the biggest, least expensive cut of the pig — and the best. I’ve featured it slow smoked North Carolina-style by my neighbor Chris; I’ve featured it wrapped in banana leaves and slow roasted in the Yucatan Mexican style; and I’ve rubbed it with fennel and done my own Italian take on the grill. And here it is yet again, a glorious new guise, this preparation courtesy of my friend, Monica Schneider.
Monica tending her octopus.
Monica and her husband Don are full of life. They eat, drink and love with an unhinged abandon that I admire and enjoy having in my life. Monica is the product of two islands that share the commonality of living life with a certain unrestrained passion — the Dominican Republic and Ireland. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 