There is nothing quite like a cookie. The classic mood-elevating, yes-you-are-special food gets its due every December 4, also known as National Cookie Day. To celebrate, try one of these five recipes. Too tired to bake? We suggest you head immediately to Teaism, home to perhaps the best cookie in town.
If you’ve been searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie, look no further than this recipe from pastry chef Tom Wellings. It’s based on the one he used when cooking at the now-closed Maestro at the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons Corner.
The toughest thing about a trip to Northside Social coffee shop in Arlington? Trying to resist great baked goods like these chocolate-gingerbread treats from former pastry chef Rob Valencia.
Love sugar cookies? Here’s a recipe from Blue Duck Tavern.
Sub green or red food coloring for orange in this homemade Oreo recipe from Bayou Bakery, and the Halloween cookie becomes instantly appropriate for the current season.
Looking for something a little healthier? Try these blueberry-almond-flax breakfast cookies from our fit pals over at the Well+Being blog.
When she started her blog in 2006, Deb Perelman’s goal was just to publish the dish instructions she was working hard to perfect—she had no idea her online recipe site would become the 5-million-visits-a-month tour de force that is Smitten Kitchen. Today she’s sort of the Barefoot Contessa to urban hosts and hostesses, a self-taught home cook making magic happen in a small New York City kitchen.
Six years, a husband, a son, and a new cookbook later, Perelman is embarking on a 16-city book tour and seems both humbled and excited to meet her readers and the community of commenters who make her site such a distinctive chronicle of foodie-ism.
We caught up with Perelman right before the release of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook to discuss the new recipes in the book, dining out, and favorite ingredients.
The cookbook is almost all new recipes, right?
I wanted the book to be of value for people who have been reading the blog all these years. I think it’s about 85 percent new recipes and 15 percent from the site, and even those look new.
How do you decide a recipe is book-worthy?
I still cook seasonally at home, so I’d say, “Okay, I’m doing three things with pumpkin in the fall.” Sometimes I didn’t know what recipes I wanted to put where, and I would shoot e-mails around to my editor and my agent, and they would sometimes help me decide. I was also looking for an additional level of originality or longevity for the book. If something was super seasonal, I might have avoided it for the book but put it on the blog instead.
Catch Deb Perelman signing books in DC. Info after the jump.
By Mary Yarrison
The Prime Steak burger at Bourbon Steak commands a lot of attention, and for good reason--it's outrageously delicious. But if you haven't tried the turkey burger--topped with a generous heap of guacamole, along with pepper jack cheese and harissa aïoli--you are seriously missing out. It's juicy, packed with flavor, and just way better than any turkey 'wich has a right to be.
How does executive chef Adam Sobel create a patty with such winning juiciness and flavor? " We sauté dried apricots with onions and sage and then grind the mixture in with the turkey." Another tip: "Just don't overcook it. You know it's perfectly cooked when a meat thermometer reads around 155 degrees. Then if you let the burger rest, it'll be perfectly juicy." He suggests topping the patty with avocado or guac, just like they do at Bourbon Steak. "I don't know what it is about it, but it just works." The restaurant uses a whole wheat bun, but Sobel says, "Personally, I'm a sesame fan."
Related:
See the other entries in our monthlong A Burger a Day in May series.
This Wednesday, Chef Robert Wiedmaier, the man behind Marcel's, Brasserie Beck, Brabo, and Mussel Bar, will stop by the Washingtonian offices for a live online chat about best practices for cooking up a flawless T-Day feast.
The conversation starts at 11 AM on Wednesday, November 16, but you can submit your questions now, here.
Popsicles are appearing in restaurants, at farmers markets, and at Williams-Sonoma in the form of an ice-pop maker that promises them in less than ten minutes. We gave it a try.
The photos accompanying the Zoku Quick Pop Maker ($49.95) show star cutouts, zigzags, and artfully arranged fruit. We didn’t expect to replicate these fancy pops (what happened to freezing a wooden stick in a cup of grape juice?), but the machine makes them doable.
Looking to plant something a little more exciting than tomato and basil? We asked local chefs with gardens of their own for easy-to-grow ideas.
Rob Weland, chef at Poste in DC’s Penn Quarter, suggests planting salad greens: “They’re extremely easy and come back quickly when cut correctly.” He especially likes the slightly bitter flavors of dandelion, kale, and geranium, and he grows mesclun and mâche for their softer textures.
When it comes to herbs, Firefly chef Danny Bortnick favors lemon verbena: “It smells great and adds great flavor to salads and even cocktails.” He tends more than 70 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and herbs in his 450-square-foot home garden.
Perhaps the most avid gardener is Frank Ruta, chef/owner of Palena in DC’s Cleveland Park. He plants seeds he’s saved from year to year, with some strains dating back to his childhood. In early July, he plants shelling beans and Italian heirloom squash.
You can save and replant heirloom seeds by collecting them from ripened vegetables, washing and drying them, and then storing them in airtight containers in a cool, dark, dry place until you’re ready to use them next season.
The brilliant thing about British supermarket chains is that they put mini stores on almost every street corner, meaning organic arugula and Oyster Bay wine are just steps away no matter where you are. And it also means that pre-made lunch options are a cinch, whether you’re a fan of char-grilled vegetable couscous for £1.59 (about $2.50) or edamame-and-butter-bean salad for a mere £1.99 (about $3.15). Getting a wholesome lunch in England is an inexpensive cinch, even if you’re confronted with Cadbury’s chocolate at every checkout line. Getting lunch in DC? I don’t have a window in my office, but if I did I’d be looking out at a Staples, a Potbelly, and a Corner Bakery, none of which seem to be tempting me with the siren call of whole grains and exotic vegetables. Yes, there’s always my hometown import, Pret A Manger, but my monthly spending there is starting to rival my mortgage, and the staff give me the same kind of judgmental looks that bartenders give alcoholics.
DIY Meat
For maximum flavor and juiciness, Landrum swears by grinding your own burger meat. Any Cuisinart food processor or simple hand-grinder does the trick. The golden ratio is 80 percent fattier chuck-eye steak from a market such as Whole Foods—you can pre-order a whole portion from a chuck roast—and 20 percent leaner flank or skirt steak. Always use whole cuts, not scraps or pre-cubed meat.
Landrum says it's important to keep both the grinder and the meat cold so the fat doesn't melt out. Cube the steaks and freeze the beef and tools for about 20 minutes, or until a layer of ice spreads across the meat. If using a processor, pulse it quickly for a rough chop—avoid the puréed texture of grocery-store patties—or guide it through the grinder without pushing. The coarse texture will give the burger what Landrum calls a "meatier, more primordial satisfaction."
Onion blossoms look a lot like dandelions and have a mild onion-like flavor. Photograph by Phoebe Connelly
The ingredient: Onion blossoms. These green-and-white dandelion-like flowers come out in late spring. Farmers cut them off the tops of onion plants to encourage growth in the bulb underground. The flavor is similar to an onion, but milder. They should be available for two or three more weeks.
Inspired by a trip to Spain, Jonathan Schuyler, wine-and-beverage director at 2941, made a paella on the grill. Photographs by Kyle Gustafson
Slideshow: At Home With . . . Jonathan Schuyler
The first thing Jonathan Schuyler does when I walk through his door is hand me a glass of bright white Rioja. This shouldn’t be a surprise—he’s the wine-and-beverage director at 2941 restaurant in Falls Church.
It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon, and Schuyler is cooking with his wife, plus a line cook and pastry chef from the restaurant. Schuyler worked as a chef for several years before switching to wine, and his days off are a chance to play in the kitchen again.
Schuyler and his wife went to Spain last year and he misses it, so tonight he lays out charcuterie, olives, and crostini rubbed with roasted garlic and tomato. His friends chat while he chops carrots, onions, and jalapeños into precise cubes.
