Passover Food Memories and Recipes For Today’s Cel...

By Chef Judi Gallagher. I love March because it reminds me of wonderful family Passover meals. My nana would take the train from Yonkers, New York to Connecticut carrying bundles of smoked white fish, herring and the best chocolate macaroons I have ever tasted. My mother’s birthday often fell on one of the eight days of Passover; we celebrated with a giant made-for-Passover sponge cake, created with a dozen eggs, (who knew...

What We’ll Eat and How We’ll Eat in 2010

By Chef Judi Gallagher. My contemplations for this new year start with—where else?—my stomach. In the spirit of welcoming a new year, and a new decade, here are five food trends that will rise like soufflé in 2010. Getting back to our roots. Forget prepackaged, over-processed, boxed foods—2010 is about getting back to our roots and cooking authentically with simple, pure, high-quality ingredients. Make food from...

Oh, My Darlin’ Clementine

By Herb Gardener. On murky winter days when skies are, in Henry Miller’s words, the color of milk and lead, we must search for comforting light elsewhere. A creative cook can accentuate warm, bright flavors and in his/her own way illuminate from within. A case in point is Spain’s humble clementine. I consider it no accident that this citrus wonder rhymes with sunshine. My local megamart starts carrying clementines around...

The Meditative Pleasures of Cold Weather Cooking

By Marsha Fottler. Even if I didn’t love to cook and to savor new recipes, I’d still buy Diana Henry’s book Roast Figs Sugar Snow just for the sheer romance of the title. It’s completely poetic and evocative of “winter food to warm the soul,” which is her subtitle and the intent of the recipes she chose for this book. There’s a private meditative calm about preparing ingredients and cooking winter recipes in a...

Thanksgiving, My Favorite Holiday

By Judi Gallagher. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. Friends and family gathered together for a festive meal that celebrates all the flavors of autumn in family-secret-recipe side dishes enhancing a cider-brined roasted turkey is my idea of genuine bliss. Because I prepare Thanksgiving dinner for a large crowd, including a few vegetarian friends and those on restricted diets, I have learned to calibrate the...

Entertaining While On Vacation

By Judi Gallagher. Entertaining while on vacation sounds like an oxymoron. Come on, we are on vacation to relax – no dishes, no chopping, no grocery lists, right? But, a culinary experience that I enjoyed recently at the Hyatt Siesta Key Beach residence club changed my attitude. While I definitely enjoy getting out and discovering new restaurants when we vacation, my husband and I sometimes choose to be ‘home-bodies’...