We have a confession to make: We have a really hard time not turning Feast Your Eyes into a direct daily feed from Smitten Kitchen. Not only does the blog's author, Deb, constantly concoct an amazing array of seasonally diverse dishes over and over and over again, she manages to always take incredibly flattering photographs of her subjects.
Case in point: this nectarine galette -- a flat, round tart which Deb claims is "ridiculously easy to make." Making it look beautiful, however, is another story, yet somehow she manages to make that sound simple too: "A single pie crust, a brush of melted butter, a sprinkling of sugar and big wedges of peak-season fruit, in this case, arranged on a bed of ground almonds, baked until the edges are browned and the fruit is starting to caramelize."
Yeah... we'll just watch from over here -- with mouths watering, of course.
Grilled eggplant and olive oil pizza. Photo: Smitten Kitchen.
A slew of youngsters are heading back to school this week, lugging backpacks, breaking in new shoes, sharpening pencils and, if they're lucky (at least a few days out of the year), forgoing the brown-bag lunch in favor of a pizza party. It's enough to make us nearly jealous, except that one of the many joys of adulthood is that we can have pizza whenever we please -- and booze to wash it down with -- no matter the circumstances (or caloric consequences).
For example, when Deb from Smitten Kitchen was craving grilled pizza and the weather didn't agree with her plans for dinner al fresco, she still found a way to make it happen, "Weather be damned!" She busted out a cast-iron panini pan, doused the dough with garlicky extra-virgin olive oil, and piled on the grilled eggplant, olives and provolone. The result, reports the cook, was "hearty, smoky and delicious."
So how'd she get those beautiful cheesy bubbles with her indoor "grill?" Well, since she was "grilling" inside anyway, she put it in the oven for a few minutes. They don't teach that in school.
Marie Antoinette may not have been the one to say "Let them eat cake!" -- we'll never know for sure -- but one thing is certain: whoever said it first wasn't talking about the sugary stuff, but about bread. The phrase is translated from the French qu'ils mangent de la brioche. If said brioche is baked to a perfect golden brown and topped with sesame seeds, we say, "Oui!"
Just in time for Bastille Day, here is an ideal-looking hamburger bun from across the pond. The American treat was given a French twist by Deb at the Smitten Kitchen, who consulted nearly 100 recipes in search of the ultimate bun. In the end, she went with a technique that ran in the New York Times; the buns turned out "plush and mildly sweet and slightly buttery."
Suffice it to say we're feeling fully fired up for Bastille Day. Bon appetit!
While store-bought graham crackers are pretty great in their own right, the homemade rendition inhabits its own rarefied realm of culinary excellence. And looking at these specimens made by Deb at Smitten Kitchen, it's easy to see why. You can practically smell the warm aroma of honey and cinnamon, and feel the delicate crackle of the sugar topping between your teeth. While most grahams call out for a slab of chocolate and a marshmallow, these demand nothing but a simple appetite to match their simple -- but bountiful -- charms.
Fresh pasta: Every time we see it, it stops us short. Maybe it's the familiar sight of noodles after a long haul of a day. Maybe it's the swirl of tomatoes and poppy fresh fava beans, or the thought of irresistibly salty chopped sausage. Regardless, something about this Smitten Kitchen photo made us pause, mid-Web-surf, and for good reason: A quick investigation reveals that the smitten couple is actually moving and this is the last meal in their beloved old 80-square-foot kitchen. So click on over, bid them adieu as they settle into their new digs, or just sort of hang out and ponder the beauty of fresh pasta and tomatoes for a while. We won't judge.
Making do in tiny kitchens is all the rage these days (I'm glad to hear that what I've been doing for years has suddenly become the trendy thing. I knew if I waited long enough, I'd become hip!). Deb of Smitten Kitchen recently posted about how she makes due in her petite cooking space and just today, New York Times recipe tester Jill Santopietro launched a video blog that features the ways in which she makes do with just two square feet of counter space.
In the first episode of Tiny Kitchen with Jill Santopietro, Jill makes a calvados cocktail. The episode, which clocks in at a very web-friendly four and a half minutes, features a great tip on how to make simple syrup without dirtying a saucepan as well as a good substitute for a citrus reamer (when you're working with 11 square feet, you've got to eliminate utensils where you can).
So far, I'm totally charmed by this unassuming little video podcast. I'm looking to seeing more from the Tiny Kitchen.
For years I considered soup making a rewarding, but time-intensive process. This is mainly because I grew up watching my mother make her insanely good turkey noodle soup after Thanksgiving -- one that involved a lot of carcass simmering, cooling, and straining before adding the bite-sized new ingredients. But then I learned the simplicity and value in an easy afternoon soup.
Once, on a particularly bad day, I spent a few hours in the kitchen with my grandfather. He was making barley soup with just a handful of leftover ingredients. The relaxed ease of the recipe, and the act of sitting there and smelling the soup simmer, was just about the most calming and enjoyable experience that I have ever had in a kitchen. It is easy to make a fresh pot of soup, and it really doesn't take a lot of time. You can set something up to simmer and run other errands, you can sit nearby and read a book, or you can take a moment to reconnect with someone, as I did.
Obviously, then, I was immediately attracted to Smitten Kitchen's latest recipe -- a ridiculously easy Beef, Leek, and Barley Soup. This is the sort of soup that makes the new, biting cold wind of the changing season a bit more bearable, and one that offers so much more than merely opening a can and filling yourself with calories. It's an experience that warms the senses and makes the impending months just a little warmer.
I'm a bit, well, smitten with Smitten Kitchen. Everything looks so darned delicious, and while some sites inspire me to keep a recipe for the future, Smitten inspires impatience that leads to me trying out the recipes as soon as humanly possible, especially the rainbow-hued panzanella.
As Deb says: "there's no better way to take in late-summer produce than with a panzanella." Now that I've actually had it, I can agree. While I've overdosed salads with croutons before, I have never explored the world of bread salads until last night. This is, by far, the perfect way to say goodbye to summer. While fresh vegetables can make great cooked dishes, only a nice salad or raw mixture like this can adequately offer the rich flavors of summer -- the sweet peppers balance the onion, while the delicious bite of the champagne vinegar is softened by the large chunks of bread.
It can easily be adapted -- I just loosely followed the ingredients list for the bowl I mixed up last night (seen above). However, I would strongly suggest not messing with the vinaigrette and trying it as-is. The mixture is excellent, and must, must, must have champagne vinegar.
I now know what I need to hunt down this weekend -- lots and lots of cherry tomatoes.
Deb from Smitten Kitchen, a woman after my own heart, has just posted a sweet ode to the wonders of the tomato. Better yet, she has shared a great way to use up those small, sweet cherry suckers -- slow roast them. There's just a little bit of prep, a few hours for roasting, and then a bunch of little, roasted tomatoes to eat up. Don't they look delicious?
Just think -- small nibblets for snacking, a wonderful topping to pasta, a great addition to a sandwich, or even a nice twist on classic bruschetta on toast.
Between this and Deb's chocolate sorbet, I am positively dying for a chocolate dessert of some kind (what are you people doing to me!). The chocolate pudding was made by Maya at My Feasts and was part of the the Tuesdays with Dorie cooking challenge. I could go for a big old spoonful right about now!
Thanks to Maya for adding her pic to the Slashfood Flickr pool! Remember to snap some photos of the delicious dishes you cook up this weekend and add them to the group.
Who doesn't love an Oreo? Each one comes with two chocolate cookies, happily connected with a nice dollop of vanilla cream. There is no part of that equation that is bad (I'm talking strictly about taste here, let's ignore for the moment that they aren't exactly health food items). However, it is my belief that something that is made in your own kitchen is always going to be better than something consumed out of a cellophane package and baked who-knows-how-many months ago, which is why, I decided to try making homemade Oreo-style cookies last weekend.
I spotted the recipe on Smitten Kitchen many moons ago (back in the days when Deb was simply The Smitten) and it's stayed with me ever since, a reminder that there were Oreo heights I had not yet experienced. An opportunity arrived in the form of a dinner party and so I spent Friday night making the cookies for Saturday assembly.
It's a quick, buttery dough that comes together easily. I found that the best way to make sure to get fairly uniform rounds was to form the flat cookie on the palm of my hand before place it gently on a Silpat-lined cookie sheet. Assembly was also easy as the filling (butter, vegetable shortening, powdered sugar and vanilla) whipped together like a dream. The only hitch I experienced was that the zip top bag I was using as a piping bag kept unzipping.
The cookies were delicious the day of assembly, but I discovered that they actually improve over a couple of days resting time, developing the exact soft-crunch consistency of the traditional Oreo cookie. I think my arteries are insisting that I wait some time, but I will definitely make these again.
I first spotted Ina Garten's recipe for Outrageous Brownies on Smitten Kitchen. In the past, I haven't been much of a brownie baker, so I read Deb's post and moved on. But then I saw Ina make them on the Barefoot Contessa and they looked amazing and delicious. The recipe made an impression on me, so much so that I looked it up online and bookmarked it. I nearly made them on New Year's Eve but instead opted for a recipe from the Gourmet Cookbook. Those brownies were mediocre the first night and increasingly better each subsequent evening (and we did eat them until they were all gone).
Sunday afternoon, my friend Johnny called to say that he was putting together an impromptu dinner for that evening. When I accepted the invitation, he asked if I wouldn't be willing to bring dessert. I said of course and started plotting. I briefly considered making a fruit tart before deciding that brownies would be best. Luckily, I just happened to have all the ingredients necessary for these brownies and so started measuring, melting and mixing. They came together quickly and baked up in just under half an hour. I was a little concerned when I first cut into them, because they seemed a little greasy (they do call for a full pound of butter), but as they cooled completely, they firmed up and developed the ability to hold all that butter with aplomb.
These are excellent brownies. They are deeply fattening, but they are totally delicious. I took the leftovers to my cousin's house tonight for dinner and we ended up standing around the plastic container in which they were stored, eating them in broken pieces as a pre-dinner dessert course. If you want a really indulgent, fool-proof, amazing brownie recipe, look no further. Thanks Ina, for the fabulous recipe.
This picture comes from one of my very favorite food bloggers out there, Deb of Smitten Kitchen (thanks for adding your picture to our group, Deb!). It's a very appealing macro shot of some nonpariels covered in multi-colored sprinkles. There's something about the shallow depth of field and brightness of this image that makes me unreasonably happy.
Don't forget to join the Flickr group and add your tasty food pictures.
I am something of a Smitten Kitchen groupie. I love Deb's recipes, her photography and the amount of personality that comes through in her writing. This is why I was particularly tickled to discover that earlier this week Culinate published a collection of tips from her about entertaining (especially helpful for the rapidly approaching holidays).
The most helpful piece of advice for me is number 8, which recommends that you pick a quitting time in order to give yourself time to pull yourself together and enjoy your friends and family when they arrive. I always seem to be sweaty and hassled when guests arrive at my house, not exactly an attitude to make people feel welcome. Check out the article on Culinate for the rest of Deb's helpful tips!
When I got home for the holidays, my mom mentioned that she'd been craving some peanut butter cookies with bits of chocolate chips in them. I smiled and nodded and didn't think that much more about it. Then I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and realized that these might just be my mom's dream cookie. Being the kind of daughter I am, I decided to pull together a batch and so last night ran out to Safeway for some chunky peanut butter and chocolate chips.
I knew they were a winner when I tasted the batter and when they baked up they were even better. The one thing I have to stress about this recipe is that you must follow Deb's instructions and get them out of the oven before you think they are done. I cooked the first tray a little bit too long and ended up regretting it as it somehow cooked the essence of peanut out of them. But as long as you take them out before they really start to brown up, you will end up with some amazing cookies.
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