background preloader

Appetizers

Facebook Twitter

Rhubarb-Fennel Gin Cocktail Recipe. Mama canales-garcia’s avocado-shrimp salsa. I’m not a summer person.

mama canales-garcia’s avocado-shrimp salsa

Is it uncool to admit that you sort of hate sweating? Probably, so it’s a good thing you already knew I was a dork. New York City summers seem to be endless strings of heatwaves, and humidity so thick that even 82 degrees can feel like 105. Being pale and freckled, I seem to go through my body weight in sunscreen each summer, and still burn. Inside, the window air-conditioner units are always buzzing and always too cold; I consider summer something I must endure until my real love — crunchy fall leaves, cardigans, apple cider stands — returns in late September.

Or so I thought. And you should too. And this is the salsa he puts out at every party with tortilla chips, or at least I thought it was his. More salsas: Salsa Fresca, Cantaloupe Salsa, Black Bean Confetti Salad and (Not Danny’s) Tomatillo Salsa Mama Canales-Garcia’s Avocado and Shrimp Salsa Please, adjust everything here to taste. Makes about 6 cups salsa. Recipes.

Ingredients 1 tablespoon sesame oil 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into very small pieces. 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger 2 cups Sunsweet Prune Juice 1/4 cup honey 2 tablespoons each: soy sauce and rice vinegar 16 small butter lettuce leaves (or other desired lettuce) Chopped peanuts, cilantro leaves and sliced green onion tops Instructions Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 30 minutes.

Recipes

Tortillitas With Shrimp - Video. Grape focaccia with rosemary. It was a 87 perfect degrees in New York City today and I spied an actual pumpkin at the farmers market.

grape focaccia with rosemary

I love this time of year, when you expect it to feel like fall but it decidedly does not; it’s like Bonus Summer: cool enough to bust out cardigans at night but warm enough it feels too soon to audition any of the heavier dishes to come this winter. I’ve been gushing over what Sam Sifton called “valedictory meals” in The New York Times Sunday Magazine — “fall dinners pretending to be summer ones” — and I imagine that wedges of focaccia baked with a grape you can only find this time of year, a roasted tomato salad, many formats of cheese and a lush glass of pink wine would nicely fit the bill. Still, it feels blasphemous saying this, given that this is a Claudia Fleming recipe and I adore her baking so, but it really drove me crazy. But when all that is done and you pull this from the oven, you might taste the most amazing focaccia you have ever eaten. I know I did.

P.S. Mushroom & Leek Galette Recipe. Crushed peas with smoky sesame dressing. I’m not really a pea-eater. 99 percent of pea dishes do absolutely nothing for me, no matter how buttery, minty, creamy or how close they come to winning a Top Chef honor.

crushed peas with smoky sesame dressing

I enjoy them in Indian food and I won’t leave them on the rim of a bowl of pasta, but you’ll never catch me hoarding a bag of them in the freezer, waiting to meet their end on my stove. But all of this changes when I can find them fresh. Fresh peas, at least for this pea-ambivalent, are a whole different animal: they’re bright and sweet and they have the most wonderful crunch that’s impossible to retrieve from a freezer bag, where they always seem to defrost with a sigh and then a slump. The labor involved in shelling them is virtually nothing — no ends that need to be snipped, as with sugar snaps or slipping from skins, as with favas; they get from field to table with the pop of a pod, sweep of your finger and a quick roll off the counter and onto the floor — d’oh!

Crushed Peas with Smoky Sesame Dressing. Apple Zucchini Crostini Recipe. It's not everyday that you find yourself on a sun-kissed terrace in Argentina looking out at a few stray clouds dancing around the tip-tops of the Andes Mountains.

Apple Zucchini Crostini Recipe

It is the best kind of theater. I found myself standing, and staring, and then letting my eyes come back to close range when someone generously offered me a bite-sized treat. A small cracker topped with what looked like zucchini relish, a tiny kiss of creme fraiche, and a couple flecks of black pepper. I reached toward the platter with the hand that wasn't holding a crisp glass of Chardonnay. The crostini had a pronounced lemony tang, and the snap of the cracker played nicely with the relish-like toppings.

This version is a "broad-strokes" recreation based on my (somewhat) hazy memory, and a nearly illegible scribble in my notebook. Here's a photo Wayne took of me as I was waiting for a taxi to pick me up and take me to the airport. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Makes about 3 dozen bite-sized crostini. Print Recipe.