VIVRE POUR MANGER

Last April, we took our clients to Spaghetti Western. One of my colleagues ordered the special — a pasta with liver and red wine tomato sauce. I was intrigued. He asked if I wanted to taste it. I did want to, and so I did taste it.
Wow.
I go to Spaghetti Western often, but I’ve never seen [...]

Whether you’re starting with a tin of snails or a batch of beloved shelled and poached garden vermin,  this is the good bit.

Even though they’ve been boiled already, once out of the shell, snails still need to be cooked. There are lots variations on what exactly escargot can be poached in, but the goal is essentially to cheat a court bouillon. It is a matter of preference, but I go for a red wine base.

Last Spring I got frustrated with replacing my herb seedlings weekly, and made an effort to rid my potted garden of the scourge of hungry snails. In a search for the perfect species-directed pesticide, I identified the particular species of nocturnal basil-destroyers as Helix aspersa*. That’s where my poisoning plan took a hard right turn. [...]

If this sweet, tart, wet, and wild cooler sits past 3 hours, we are not responsible for the damages.

My current food obsession is quinoa, sacred crop of the Incas. Dead easy to prepare, a pleasant nutty flavour and a great rice substitute. Also, really healthy.

Last May Tiffany and I searched Berlin’s Winterfeldplatz market in vain for fava beans (we found plenty of strawberries and asparagus as expected) so we could make fava purée with dandelion greens. When searching for the recipe this time around, I discovered it actually calls for dried favas. So I made this one for fresh [...]

This post should come as no surprise to those of you who have heard me (and Kristin and Tiffany) make fun of the Germans’ love of white asparagus and serving it up as part of an all-white meal. White asparagus is king here, and the fatter the stems, the better. Slim green asparagus: no way [...]