I cook because I love to eat. I garden because I love to cook.
I don’t need to tell anyone that the heat and humidity of July and August in New York is unbearable, and getting worse in a climate changing world. The air is as hot and thick as split pea soup, hearty and warming in winter, but …
Overabundance in the garden is a problem I can deal with. To even use the word ‘problem’ is a stretch. Nonetheless, when there is too much of a given crop in the heart of its harvesting season, the gardener must find a way to use …
When our contractor was rebuilding our porch one spring after the old rotting one almost ripped away from our house in an ice storm the previous winter, I had just added a 4 x 4 foot raised bed of strawberries to the garden. The porch …
I can only imagine what it would have been like for my ancestors – both the caveman types thousands of years ago, wherever they were, and those just over a century or so before, in little villages somewhere in what is now Ukraine. After a …
Some foods are a blank slate; they are a vehicle for other flavors. Take escargot, for example. They’re probably not too exciting on their own, but as a way to get your fix of garlic butter, they can’t be beat. Boneless, skinless chicken breast and …
We all make mistakes in the kitchen. Sometimes they are rookie moves, like the first time I roasted a turkey leaving the neck and bag of giblets inside. These novice errors can usually be chalked up to ignorance. How was I supposed to know they …
At Thanksgiving, the cranberry sauce doesn’t get a whole lot of respect. It’s different than the show off roast turkey, the over-achieving first child of the holiday. Nor is it like mashed potatoes, so smooth, buttery, and creamy, the youngest child who gets away with …
My wife sometimes calls me the Angry Chef. I guess it’s a nickname well deserved, but only from my past. Our first apartment together, in the early days, was the entire second floor of an old Victorian house on Long Island. We had a small …
Traditions and celebrations with friends and family are important; they are the joyous events on the horizon to which we all look forward. As last year was devoid of many of these festive occasions, we weren’t going to let our annual Early Thanksgiving dinner with …
The story of Jimmy Nardello’s peppers is an immigrant tale. Giuseppe and Angella Nardello arrived from southern Italy in the late 1800s, immigrating to Naugatuck, Connecticut. With them they brought seeds from their Italian garden, including a sweet frying pepper. They grew these peppers to …
