Archive for September 2009

It feels like just yesterday the six of us gathered to kick off what would become our favorite eating ritual: Magazine Club. Back in August 2008, Julie had just moved into a new apartment, and we joined to warm her new digs with Kate’s spicy tostadas inspired by Eva Mendes’ steamy cover of W magazine, Phoebe’s Go Green! Pretentious Pesto Pasta fueled by a 30-pg Thomas Friedman article in New York Times Magazine, and Leora’s Caprese salad, more or less a constant in the year of collective potluck eating, though there has yet to be an argument made for its importance.

This dish is modeled after one I enjoyed during a leisurely three-hour lunch on my last day of work, where my (ex-)coworkers and I managed to polish of two bottles of Prosecco among the three of us. Now, granted, anything would taste pretty good after that much Prosecco. But it was the image of this dish that stuck with me: an elegant, beautifully fried polenta steak piled high with delicately shaved summer squash, fresh corn kernels, and julienned basil. Normally I’m not a huge fan of combining a piping hot protein straight out of the oven with a cold, raw …

dinner’s not complete without a plating competition

EVENT: In Possession of a New Spanish Cookbook
VENUE: Cara’s Mother’s House, Long Island
PARTY SIZE: 7
TYPE: Festive Weekend Dinner
MENU: Cod with Romesco Sauce, Caramelized Corn, Tomato Slices

When my little sister, Kate, turned 21 recently, among other gifts, like a new license and a series of SoCo and lime shots, she received a Spanish cookbook by Anya von Bremzen, a contributing editor at Travel and Leisure with whom she happened to have spent a few weeks this summer in a Turkish resort town (more on that, and more everyday Turkish …