Is the FoodBeest, like the unicorn, a mythical animal?
The new baby takes her first breath. She opens her eyes and tries to focus on her new world. And then she latches on.
Food is instinctive. It is sustaining. It is nurturing. It is life. It is love. It is a gift that we give one another and ourselves. It is of the earth. The preparation of that food is a self-expression. It is the only art form that utilizes all five senses.
Welcome to the FoodBeest. As part of the herd, we are eager to share these pleasures with you. Please let us know anything that moves or concerns you about what we have to share or about your own experience as a FoodBeest.
Enjoy.
The only biscuits that got baked in my house growing up came out of an canister that you smacked on the edge of the counter to open. And they weren’t very good. So this week I took on biscuits. This might not a big deal for many of you, but anything (with the possible exception of Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies) that mixes butter and flour and some rising agent is not typically something that “I do.”
I promise that you have never tasted anything quite like this. It is nothing – and I mean NOTHING – like the beet borsht that my mother poured out of Manischewitz bottle and topped with a boiled potato and sour cream
This soup is nothing short of spectacular.
I ran across this very simple recipe from noted pastry chef Gale Gand via her Italian mother-in-law. Sweet enough, but not cloyingly sweet. Kinda round, but not perfectly shaped. Crispy on the outside, soft, moist and lovely on the inside thanks to the ricotta cheese. And we fell in love.
Most minestrones I have known (and loved) are heavy, rich and satisfying on a cold winter day. This wonderful spring minestrone is rich, but it is also light and bright and filled the best of spring produce: peas, asparagus, artichokes. A perfect vehicle to use up the last of the ramps.
We finally scored a couple of bunches of ramps. Now what do we do with them? First off we pickled the white and red ends of most of them – so they would last a little longer. Then we used the green wings to make biscuits. And a frittata. And spring minestrone. And a pesto.
The essence of pot-au-feu is that it consists of low-cost cuts of beef like shank, oxtail, short ribs or even brisket; some meat with a lot of cartilage like marrowbone or shank to give the broth a gelatinous texture; simple, usually root and winter vegetables, spices and sometimes sausage.
Yale Elementary School, a Chicago Public School in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, was not only Jennifer Hudson’s elementary school, it has a garden that serves as an outdoor classroom where children and their parents learn micro business development, parenting, community building, and how to avoid and combat minority health disparities.
I hate meatloaf, Fellow FoodBeest. Ok, “hate” is too strong a word. I am completely disinterested in meatloaf. I once made a meatloaf and took it out of the oven only to have the meatloaf promptly slide off the pan and onto the floor. “Oh, darn, now we’ll have to order out.”
You can do an awful lot with very few ingredients, Fellow FoodBeest. This recipe is basically flour and water with a little olive oil, cheese and seasoning. It is a two-step cooking process. First you bake the flatbread – it’s a cracker, really. Then you top it and bake it a second time.
