Comfort Kitchen

Check out my beloved Grilled Cheese Pinboard!

My apologies: it’s the second to last day of January, and I’ve yet to post about grilled cheese. It doesn’t mean that 2012 isn’t a year of eating and writing about my favorite sandwich, er, meal.

Fortunately, it’s a good one, a classic inspired by the rich French soup, and perfect for winter. It’s also incredibly simple. Just two ingredients make this sandwich, a red onion jam created by Merrill over at Food52 and first seen on BGSK in another simple dish, a

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BIRTHDAY-WORTHY BREAKFASTS: Apple Pancakes; Toasted Pecan Oatmeal Scones; Oversized Chocolate Chip Muffins; Grits with Old Bay Frizzled Shallots and a Fried Egg; Sweet Almond Pancakes with Fresh Raspberries

When your birthday falls on a weekday (as birthdays so often do), high expectations can fall a little flat. Answering emails and going to meetings do not constitute a celebration. The simplest way to avert birthday disappointment, and one I think I learned the hard way after years of birthdays that left me a little let down, is to lower expectations. When you’re over…

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It’s Slow Cooker Week here on BGSK!

We’re co-hosting a Slow Cooker Challenge (remember the awesome brown bag week we did over the summer?) with Small Kitchen College and Kelsey of The Naptime Chef and bringing you fabulous low and slow recipes all week long. Make sure to stop by SKC to enter to win a fabulous Delonghi slow cooker, courtesy of BigKitchen.com. And we hope you’ll join us on Wednesday at noon for a live twitter chat along with Food52, The Daily Meal, Punchfork, Fine…

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OTHER EASY SOUPS: Asian Broth with Shredded Veggies and Noodles; Cauliflower Soup with Sharp Cheddar and Thyme; Leek Soup with Lemon and Dill

January has always felt like a month meant for hibernation. It takes time to recover from the holiday season, and all the marathon socializing that comes with it. And my body is usually telling me “no more finger food, no more people,” and “more blankets, more mindless television.”

But when I feel like holing up like this, I also usually want to cook. Not fussy things that take…

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For a quarter-lifer who will eat almost anything (hold the weird mushrooms though, please!), I sure was a picky child.

At Thanksgiving, for example, I refused to eat turkey. Or stuffing. Or sweet potatoes. Instead, I ate a bowl of Cheerios. How embarrassing is that?

Here’s how I started eating turkey: my dad would take a big piece of crispy, fatty skin (my mom’s turkeys always have the crispiest, most flavorful skin). He would wrap it around a sliver of white meat turkey, like a mini pulled pork taco. That, I could eat. Before long, I was…

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OTHER FANTASTIC THANKSGIVING SIDES: Pumpkin-Leek Stuffing with Turkey Sausage; Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes; Farro and Cauliflower Salad with Currants; Brussels Sprouts with Apples, Pistachios, and Creme Fraiche

Happy Birthday to Phoebe!

Now, onto turnips…

The steakhouse meal is one of my favorites. This year, for my birthday, I went with family to Porterhouse in New York City where I ate the best ribeye steak ever, feasted on French fries, mashed potatoes, and onion rings, and rounded out my plate with creamed spinach.

I can tell you about how…

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DISH: Great Garlic Bread
TYPE: Italian-American Side Dish
MAIN INGREDIENTS: Bread, Butter, Garlic

I’m not a food snob. Officially. Though I abhor fast food and flavored corn chips (aka Doritos–yegh), I’m mostly happy eating simple fare, some of it kind of old-fashioned. I do like baking my own bread or canning tomatoes–projects–but I don’t care too much about buying sliced bread from the market so long as it’s not full of preservatives. I don’t love farm to table restaurants, finding there’s too much talk about the food. As much as I love to shop, cook, and eat,…

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For me, above anything, Jewish food is the ultimate comfort food, from crispy latkes to my Aunt Jennifer’s brisket, which over the years I’ve adapted to be my own. But not matter what the occasion—Hanukkah with the family, or Break Fast this Saturday with your family of friends—the menu item that speaks most to me is lox.

When I was growing up, my dad made sure I was raised on lox and bagels—perhaps to balance my deep-seated desire for a Christmas tree with the everyday joys of a good schmear of cream cheese. He always made…

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