Posts Tagged ‘intermediate’

Would you like fries with that? If your name is Ben Reiser, the answer is unequivocally HELLS YEAH! Sure, he’ll eat any old fries in a pinch – but he deemed these the yummiest fries ever and it’s been our go-to recipe for years.

Making fries for the Reiser boys is admittedly a time-consuming endeavor. I went into labor and delivered Matthew in less time than it takes to peel, cut, soak, pre-fry, cool and final fry 16 potatoes. Because I’m a little OCD about the size and shape of my fries, I do the tedious upfront work, and then David takes over as Frymaster. It’s all worth it in the end, however, when you have…

Category: Recipes

Okay, so it’s not a Barefoot recipe, but the whole family insisted I share their raves about this enchanting Italian masterpiece that we savored a couple of weekends ago.

Way back when ““ on our honeymoon actually ““ Dave and I had a scrumptious meal at a Northern Italian restaurant in St. Thomas called Romano’s (woo-hoo…I just checked and it’s still there!), featuring New Jersey-native chef-owner Tony Romano’s outstanding osso bucco. I had never before eaten osso bucco, with its braised veal shanks melting into a rich sauce, atop perfect, glistening saffron risotto, with a sprinkling of bright gremolata. I instantly learned the ambrosial joy that a marrow spoon can bring! The dish was positively beguiling,…

Category: Recipes

Meeeee luvvvvvv cooooookiessss!

My super-duper sleuthing has uncovered the fact that Eli Zabar’s shortbread recipe is published over and over again throughout the Barefoot library in different variations. Shortbread hearts, linzer cookies, shortbread cookies with dragés…it’s all the same shortbread.

Granted it’s just four ingredients and it’s yummy, but I like making these because there are few things more fun than using cookie cutters! Takes me back to little cans of Play-Doh (“Doh!” ““ how Homer Simpsonian!), a tiny rolling pin and plastic cookie cutters. I haven’t made these cookies in ages, and I was so happy to find my worn bag of steel cutters in different shapes and sizes. (My favorite cutters? Four copper ones in…

Category: Recipes

Okay, besides my dad and my darling friend, John, raise your hand if you don’t like a perfectly roasted chicken.

Yeah. That’s what I thought.

There aren’t many more satisfying simple pleasures than roast chicken ““ with its crackly, golden skin and velvety, savory meat. I’ve been a sucker for a good roasted bird since I was a young girl, when my favorite dinner was a Purdue oven stuffer roaster with Croutettes stuffing. The thought of either one of those ingredients now makes me slightly queasy, but oh, how I used to look forward to the occasional Monday night, when my dad would be off at a Propeller Club meeting and my mom would take…

Category: Recipes

Sixteen years ago today I ate chocolate cake. It was a beautiful three-tiered dark chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling and white fondant, and I joyfully shared it with 160 people. It was our wedding cake!

There was likely a fair share of dubious guests toasting with us that Sunday evening and dancing into the wee hours of Labor Day. After all, Dave and I had met on a blind date, gotten engaged seven weeks later, and were married within five months. (And no, our first baby was still almost a year-and-a-half off…I know what you were thinking!) But as they say, when it’s right, sometimes you just know it instantly. After every blind date, my grandmother would…

Category: Recipes

I must admit I wasn’t exactly looking forward to making this recipe, chiefly because of the time-consuming frying process…times two for my ravenous crew. And although I like onion rings just fine, thankyouverymuch, I’ve never had one that would compel me to willingly stand over the stove and tend a pan of hot oil for half an hour.

That is, until now. Meet the Cornmeal Onion Ring.

Jake had been clamoring to make this dish for a couple of weeks now, and I finally gave in to that cute, pleading face. Together we cut the onions and soaked the rings in buttermilk for an hour. And then it must’ve been my lucky day, because David reluctantly…

Category: Recipes

Okay, okay, pipe down now. I know this recipe isn’t from one of Ina’s books per se, BUT…it’s from Anna Pump, whom Ina calls her mentor. Anna’s specialty food shop, Loaves and Fishes in Sagaponack, is beloved here in the Hamptons, and her fourth book, “Summer on a Plate,” even has an endorsement on the front from Ina, who says, “No one has inspired me more than Anna Pump…” So that kinda counts, right?

Plus how could I not share the dish that all seven diners (including guest diner Uncle Dan) gave the maximum five stars?

So here’s the scoop. Yesterday afternoon we wound up at the Friday Farmers Market in the Nick & Toni’s parking lot…

Category: Recipes

Jake had a lot of happy brothers when this Croissant Bread Pudding came out of the oven. He had been wanting to make this recipe all week, but with the hour-and-a-half baking time, we couldn’t seem to pull it off for dessert. We finally got to it for brunch, since it’s just croissants baked in a sweet custard. The flavor was reminiscent of my family’s sweet, vanilla-y kugel recipe, although the texture of this, baked in a water bath, was smoother and creamier.

The recipe is deceptively easy, until you get to that bain marie. I had nothing in this house other than a half sheet pan for the water bath, and it’s not like the…

Category: Recipes