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07/03/1999 Archived Entry: "A Rave for Naples At Table, New Foodmaven Features & My Dinner With My Designer"

My cookbook, “Naples At Table” just got a rave review on a web-site called Global Gourmet, which is run by a powerhouse named Kate Heyhoe. You really don’t need to read the review, but Kate does offer four recipes from the book that I haven’t put up on this web-site. Included are three of my favorites (how did she know?): spaghetti with anchovies, a dish that has become as much part of my life as spaghetti with garlic and oil and spaghetti with tomato sauce; the baked pepper casserole (sweet peppers with olives, capers, garlic, parsley, and some breadcrumbs), and Agata Lima’s Lemon Cake, which is turning out to be one of the most popular recipes in the book. It’s a very lemony pound cake with lemon syrup poured over it to saturate it.

I’m working on an antique computer right now that won’t let me create a hyperlink for you to globalgourmet.com, but do check it out. It’s a web-site packed with good recipes and cooking tips, a wine column … it truly has so much that I can’t begin to describe it all here. Kate’s own recipes are wonderful – she’s the author of “Cooking with Kids for Dummies” and the book version of Global Gourmet will be published soon. She has won scads of awards for this site, so don’t miss it.


New Features on Foodmaven

Speaking of other web-sites, I’ll be adding some new links this weeks, plus new restaurant lists, and other new information in what I’ve been calling (to myself) the back pages of the web-site -- this diary being the front pages.

Perhaps you also noticed when you got to the site today (or whenever) that there is now a search engine attached to the site. It’s at the top of every page, in the red menu bar. You can put in any key word and find anything. The recipe indexes are another efficient way for you to find recipes, but, of course, references to other things, such as diary subjects and restaurants, can’t be found through the indexes, only with the search engine.

Another new feature of foodmaven.com is a connection to my radio program, or, for that matter, any programming on my radio station, WOR/710AM. Just click on the broadcast.com logo, and if you haven’t already downloaded the necessary software broadcast.com will do it for you. Then, it’s a few clicks if you want to tune into the radio on your computer.


My Dinner with My Designer
If I had a dishwasher that actually got the dishes clean, a refrigerator that didn’t leak, and a stove that could bring water to the boil with some speed and was designed so I didn’t have to crawl on the floor to use the broiler, I probably wouldn’t bother to re-do my new (well, I guess be now new-ish) kitchen in Brooklyn. Renovating a kitchen is a nerve wracking process (not to mention expensive), so I am thrilled to have Nancy Stern on my side.

Nancy used to be call herself The Uncomplicated Gourmet when she was a food company spokesperson, cooking teacher, and whatever else it was she did when she was the Uncomplicated Gourmet. Now she has her own kitchen design company called Elements, in Riverdale, New Jersey – 81 Hamburg Turnpike, (973) 616-4411. We met many, many years ago when she was traveling the country to promote Pringles (then a new product) and one of my closest friends was the public relations guy charged with escorting her around. He knew we would hit it off immediately, so he introduced us.

Nancy and I had a design meeting the other day, for which I traveled to her showroom. Then I went to her house for dinner. I thought I’d share the menu with you, because, except for one slightly fussy dish, it’s a great example of what can be done elegantly with little time. Remember, we arrived at her house together, so Nancy had no time to do much preparation except in the morning, before she left for work.

First thing, she pulled out a seasoned olive mix she bought at the supermarket, and her husband, Donald, poured drinks. Then Nancy spread some pesto on toasted bread rounds she keeps around for such occasions, and put a piece of roasted pepper on each. The pesto was made who knows when – it keeps for months in the refrigerator—and the peppers I assumed had been roasted days before. Nancy had a nice stash of them in a plastic box in the refrigerator.

While we nibbled and drank at her kitchen counter, Nancy took care of the one fussy thing: egg shells filled with a chive custard and smoked salmon. Using egg cutters that are meant for snipping the tops off soft-boiled eggs (you can buy them in good cookware stores), she cut the tops off the shells, then poured out the whites and yolks into different bowls. The whites are not used in this recipe, but can be saved for another use. (They can be frozen.)

Nancy rinsed out the emptied egg shells, then placed a small piece of smoked salmon in each. To the egg yolks, she added an equal amount of heavy cream, some snipped chives, salt, and pepper. The eggs baked in mini muffin tins to hold them upright – 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. We used demitasse spoons to eat the custard.

Next, we had a cold spinach soup that Nancy had made the day before. She garnished it with fresh crabmeat, which made it quite glamorous. As a main course, there was a butterflied and marinated leg of lamb that Don grilled on the barbecue, served with a fennel version of cucumber tsaziki, the Greek yogurt sauce/condiment, corn on the cob, and cherry tomatoes sautéed in a little butter.

For dessert, there was a fresh fruit salad with a scoop of Haagen Dazs white pistachio ice cream. The subject of pistachio came up on Food Talk recently and I mentioned that Louis Sherry used to make a great white pistachio – no artificial green coloring. Nancy knew about the Haagen Dazs version, which I have never seen. She purchased it at Kings, the high-quality supermarket chain in New Jersey. Nancy and Don also served a cheese course to finish off the glorious Zinfandel Don had opened, but by then I had to cool it with the alcohol because I had to drive home.