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Savory onion tart. Photo: Brent Ridge, Beekman 1802.

Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell are the farmers and innovators behind Beekman 1802, a 200-year-old estate and farm in upstate New York. We'll be running recipes, gorgeous photos and tales from the farm as their crops come into season.

By Brent Ridge with Sandy Gluck

Even as a little boy I was a champion of diversity. I didn't care if the onion was white, yellow or red. I liked them all. My favorite meal at grandma's house was her onion sandwich: thin slices of onion, two slices of bread and a generous layer of Duke's mayonnaise.

Fortunately for all of you, my tastes are a little more sophisticated now, though sophisticated and simple are not mutually exclusive when it comes to good recipes. Have you ever thought about combining savory caramelized onions, tangy blue cheese and sweet, juicy slices of apple? I hadn't either, until our friend (and former Martha Stewart Everyday Food editor Sandy Gluck) made the suggestion. The result was a delicious and decadent onion tart that will impress every single person at your table.

We've got a healthy appreciation for odd-flavored ice creams here at Slashfood. We've written about soy sauce ice cream, habanero ice cream and Stilton ice cream, just to name a few.

My personal favorite is sweet corn ice cream. It sounds odd, but once you taste it you think "oh, that makes sense." The pale yellow ice cream has a subtle, summery corn flavor, studded with fresh kernels, like buttered corn on the cob distilled into a perfect, chilled essence.

I just had some today, at a place called Tara's in Santa Fe that specializes in non-standard flavors - they also make terrific sage, strawberry balsamic, chile-pistachio and black sesame ice creams. But there's something about cold sweet corn that's perfect for a hot June evening. My parents, recently returned from Singapore, described a local street food that I just may hop on a plane to try: corn ice cream, drizzled with syrup, and slapped between two pieces of pink-dyed white sandwich bread.

Until then, I'll have to make do with this recipe for sweet corn ice cream on Epicurious and am planning to try it this weekend. I bet it would be good with a cayenne caramel sauce.

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We really like candy here, whether it is a sugary caramel or a decadent box of chocolates, and there is nothing like Halloween to get into the candy spirit. After all, the entire purpose of the holiday is to eat candy! To get into the swing of things before the holiday hit, we decided to host our own day of Candy Creations on Tuesday, October 24th. We'll talk about some of our favorite candies, homemade and store-bought, and offer up some tips on where to find the best candies and what to give out for Halloween. We have lots of treats to give out, but you'll have to be patient!

If you want to join us in our celebration of candy, write a post about your favorite candy, candy recipe or use for candies (sundae toppings, deep fried candy bars, etc) and post about it between now and the 24th. Send us a link to your post and we'll do include it in our roundup that day.

Today, we are showing our appreciation for all things steak-related. You'll see recipes, tips and techniques for cooking one of most popular meats in the country, if not the world. For some food for thought to get the day started, take a moment to compare lean beef to boneless, skinless chicken. Many people forgo red meat in favor of white for health reasons, and it is true that boneless, skinless chicken breasts are lower in fat and saturated fat than just about all cuts of beef. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs, on the other hand, have more fat and, in some cases, more saturated fat, than most beef cuts. The upshot of this is that if you want a steak, don't feel guilty about it. Just enjoy it.

These are our Steak Day features, and this list will be updated as new posts are added during the day:

• How to tell when steak is done
• Steaks, Chops, Ribs and Roasts
• Chili-rubbed New York Strip Steak
• Sizzlin' Steak Rub
• Thai-style Steak Salad
• BBQ Steak and Mushroom Sandwich
• What is chicken-fried steak?
• I have not eaten a steak since 1992
• Wines for steak dishes
• Korean-marinated flank steak in lettuce wraps
• Steak movies we love: High Steaks
• Portobello steaks for vegetarians
• Slashfood Ate (8): Best steakhouses in LA
• Staffordshire beef steaks
• The great steak debate: to sauce or not to sauce?
• The steakhouse of my dreams
• Tofu can be "steak," too
• Slashfood Ate (8): Best steakhouse sides
• Slashfood Steak Day: BYOB roundup

Last week I went to a reading by author Rick Moody (The Ice Storm, etc.) at Pratt Institute, where this esteemed and controversial author read a food shopping blog wherein he sung the praises of Kraft Food's amazing lunchables in the sort of satirical way that hipsters of his generation praise Showgirls and Niel Diamond. As a food blogger I wasn't smiling, no sir.  

 

 Lunchables are an easy target to go after; a miracle of modern packaging and convenience wherein a whole smorgasbord of luncheon goodness is combined in a handy, stay-fresh plastic see-thru carton, each ingredient separated for maximum freshness and so the flavors do not mix. There's an array of flavors and styles out there now, all aimed squarely at kid's lunchboxes.

Curiously, the ads on the Kraft website boast that lunchables allow your kids to "Make fun of lunch!" Is Kraft really so determined to create a generation of Rick Moodys?