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Happy New Year to all! Yes, I know Food and Things hasn’t been too active lately. But now I’m back and I’ve decided to change the blog’s focus. West Side Rag is covering the Upper West Side, including the food scene brilliantly. (I’m one of its columnists.) So it’s time to move on and cover the wider world of food–everything from culinary travel, to events, to recipes, to new blogs, apps and cookbooks. So that means I’ll be writing about food adventures around New York—and around the country. I’ll cover food stall finds in Flushing, Queens and fried chicken joints in Memphis. Chef Renee Marton’s recipes will continue to appear on Food and Things. Plus, I’ll be posting about my own cooking adventures, mishaps, stumbles and all. As always, I welcome your comments and feedback. For a daily dose of Food and Things, follow me on Twitter @foodandthings.com.
I almost tossed the sugar cookies I baked for New Year’s Eve into the garbage. The recipe was from Mark Bittman, the NY Times food writer and cookbook author. The round-faced Bittman is usually a reliable source for most cooking and baking challenges—from how to prepare kale to putting together a no-fail buttery pound cake. But this time, it looked like the trusty Mark had failed me. A few minutes out of the oven, this particular batch of sugar cookies could have passed for water crackers they were so bland and tasteless. Since I was baking treats for a New Year’s Eve party at Chef Renee Marton’s, I set to work to try to rehabilitate them. (It wasn’t Bittman’s’ fault it was mine; I over-mixed the batter.) For sure, when you bring a dish to a chef’s house, you want to get it right.
I thought to myself, OK, add some sugar and fat. So I rolled each cookie in powdered sugar. I whipped up some chocolate ganache and smeared it between two cookies to create a richly fudgy sandwich. That was the only filling I made. Everything else—the nutella, the dulce de leche, I pulled from my fridge. Then I glommed a tablespoon or so of sauce onto each cookie, smoothed it with a spatula, and smushed two cookies together to create a sandwich. The result? The powdered sugar boosted the drab little ovoid’s richness and heightened the sweetness just a tad. The filling seeped into the cookies transforming them into sumptuous little morsels. By the time midnight rolled around, my near-disaster cookies were fit to be eaten—even by a chef. What was the best part of this cookie-making enterprise? When Chef Renee drifted by a little after midnight and announced, “Everyone’s raving about your cookies.” Click here for Bittman’s sugar cookie recipe or use your own.
These dressed-up walnuts from Chef Renee Marton are great for the holidays, or any time of year for that matter. Spiced Holiday Walnuts Ingredients 2 pounds walnut halves 2 egg whites ½ cup granulated sugar 1.5 tablespoons kosher salt 2 teaspoons ground cardamom 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper zest of one orange Method Preheat oven to 325 F. Line two baking trays (with sides) with parchment paper or foil. Whisk egg whites until very frothy and fold in spices. Toss walnuts gently with mixture until coating is evenly spread throughout the nuts. Spread on baking sheets evenly, keeping walnuts flat. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes until toasted and medium brown. Cool on baking sheets for 30 minutes, then remove walnuts by “peeling” then off the paper. Store in a closed container—will stay fresh for about a week. These nuts can be frozen.
When Hanukkah rolls around, even non-cooks are expected to haul out the frying pan and whip up a batch of potato latkes for the gang. After all, isn’t the annual pancake-making ritual part of what makes Hanukkah so special? But even enthusiastic home cooks can grow weary of the eight-night-long grating, chopping and frying marathon. So this year, think about letting someone else—namely a restaurant chef—do the work for you. Continue reading here. Got fear of frying? This video will make it all better:
 Butter Pecan with Brandy Ice Cream. Photo: Ice Cream Happy Hour. Want to get a buzz on for the holidays? You could stick to plain old cocktails. Or you could jazz them up a bit by adding ice cream. Better yet, why not churn some ice cream that’s flavored by vodka, rum or some other liquor? Click here to read my HuffPo post with recipes you can use for the holidays or all year round.
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