Chris Nordquist
I often find myself calling Julia “my little Charmoula” when I cook with this North African condiment. (She just looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.) “Charmoula” is fun to say, though, and it’s a word that will find its way into your vocabulary too once you discover how delicious and versatile it is. […]
One of the great consolations of winter –from people who know a lot about winter– is Swiss cheese fondue. It’s so simple –really just good cheese melted into wine– and yet it’s one of the most outrageously delicious and completely satisfying things I’ve ever eaten. And it’s a festive dish: the fragrance from the communal […]
Has anyone ever been disappointed to get a bowl of French onion soup –topped with crusty bread and bubbling melted cheese? I never have. Soup is good food –warming, comforting, virtuous– but it’s rarely something I get excited about eating. For me, though, a good French onion soup is a special event. Here’s a nice […]
After all the roast birds and beasts of the Holiday season, I think it’s nice to slip a few more vegetarian dishes into our menus in the New Year. Although a bit lighter than my other “everyday” paellas (chorizo and olive and marinated chicken), this one feels far from austere. The warm, earthy flavor and […]
All of our Holiday cookie packages have gone and, I think, have also been received, so our slightly crazy annual cookie project is done for another year (apart from some gingerbread I’ll bake tomorrow for our gingerbread tree .) Gingerbread is still Julia’s and David’s favorite, and my grandmother’s Date Nut Rolls are still mine, but […]
The cookie factory was in full swing this weekend. Each year David and I (and now Julia helps a bit so she can nick cookie dough) bake and send over 60 dozen holiday cookies to friends and family all over the country. Midway through the process (around now, actually) we feel like we should have […]
It’s been a tough couple of weeks here in New York. Some comfort food seems in order, and I can’t think of anything more comforting than rice pudding. This version of the classic pudding (or is it really a porridge?) pushes the dish decisively over the dessert line and elevates my childhood sick-day favorite into […]
I’m as sceptical of any sort of adulterated creme brûlée as I am of anything that’s supposed to taste like pumpkin pie –other than pumpkin pie. I love both dishes just as they are. You can keep your pumpkin spice latte: I’ll just have black coffee and a slice of the real thing, thank you. […]
At the end of dinner party last week we were all lamenting the end of summer when David chimed in, “Do you you know what I’m looking forward to about the fall?” (I’m thinking, autumn leaves? The end to this stifling humidity?) “Braised meats and pumpkin fondue.” A day or two later the weather broke, […]
This is another of the flatbreads that I made for Julia’s “adult” fourth birthday celebration. It’s also become the current family favorite weekend lunch. Julia, of course, knows how to flatter her father into action, “Papa, you make the best pizza in the world!” It really isn’t pizza, though. Its whole wheat base is nice […]
