The Bitten Word

Doctor-Your-Own Potato Chips + Other Menu Ideas for the Super Bowl

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living (September 2011)

 

Our interest in sports can be summed up in this small snippet of recent conversation: 

Zach: "I don't even know who's playing in the Super Bowl."

Clay: "Uh, duh? Madonna."

So yes, it's Super Bowl Week, when America's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of snacks.

And whether you're a fan of the Giants or the Patriots -- or just Madonna or the commercials -- we've got the perfect snack for the big game: heated and spiced potato chips.

Yup, you heard us.

Pickled Shrimp

Saveur (October 2011)

Back in the summer, on one of those steamy, swampy, oppressively hot evenings that Washingtonians know so well, we went to our friends' Trevor and Owen's place for a potluck dinner. The air was thick as velvet, and all the guests arrived sweaty and bedraggled from the heat.

Then, a lifeline: Our friend Jen had brought a bowl of pickled shrimp.

We all dove in. The lemony, pickly, vinegary shrimp was the perfect antidote to the sweaty summer night. The sharp flavors of the chilled shrimp instantly cooled things off for everyone. (A libation or three didn't hurt, either.)

So when we saw this recipe for Pickled Shrimp in the latest issue of Saveur, we knew we wanted to try it out ourselves.

Scallop Crudo

Bon Appétit (August 2011)

We've been lucky enough to have eaten at our fair share of fancy restaurants. And more than a few times, we have ordered some version of a scallop crudo. You see it there, lurking among the first courses on menus. And it pops up, occasionally, on cooking competition shows.  

It seems so upscale, so refined, so (dare we say it?) classy.  

So we wanted to make it ourselves, and Bon Appétit gave us the perfect excuse with this recipe from Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Dan Kluger, current kings of the fancy restaurants in New York City. 

And there was one thing we were shocked to find about this recipe. 

Minted Pea and Prosciutto Crostini

Everyday Food (April 2011)

Just a couple weeks ago we said that crostini and other party snacks can "get a little tiresome."

Let's retract that statement, shall we?

Because these Minted Pea and Prosciutto Crostini are anything but tiresome. They're fresh, filling -- and easy, to boot.

Garlic-Herb Pinwheels and Harissa-Sausage Pinwheels

Everyday Food (April 2011)

When you have guests over for dinner -- or any get-together, really -- it's always nice to have some snacks for them to nibble on. After all, depending on how the cooking is going, you may have some time to kill. We've served more than our fare share of late dinners while entertaining, so we're always sure to have some sort of snack on hand in case, you know, dinner actually ends up being served at 9 p.m.

And while crudités, crostini and a bowl of nuts are great, they can get a little tiresome, so it's always good to have a few other tricks up your sleeve. We love to serve something that's easy to make but also impressive on the plate, like pinwheels: pre-made dough filled with flavors of your choosing, rolled up, sliced and baked. 

For our book club meeting last week (where we also served Bagna Cauda Dip with Assorted Vegetables), we wanted something simple and tasty, so we were happy to see these Garlic-Herb Pinwheels in Everyday Food. And they inspired us to try our own version -- a Harissa-Sausage Pinwheel.

Bagna Cauda Dip with Assorted Vegetables

Bon Appétit (April 2011)

Food magazines frequently have a page toward the back of an issue where they'll pull together some of the recipes featured that month into little menus for different dinners or events.

We often find these menus a little humorous, just because they can be oddly specific, like "Bridal Luncheon" or "Poker Night." Like, "We'll, I hadn't thought of throwing a baby shower, but gosh this menu sounds good..."

Anyway, the joke's on us, we guess. Last night, we hosted a meeting of our book club. And there at the back of the April issue of Bon Appétit, right at the top of a menu labeled "Book Club," was this Bagna Cauda with Assorted Vegetables.

Steamed Pork Buns

Fine Cooking (February/March 2011) 

Growing up in the small-town South, our Chinese food options (at least in the 1980s and 90s) were pretty limited. The kinds of Chinese places in our hometowns were bland, strip-mall eateries with long buffets filled with steaming trays of overcooked brown noodles; limp, watery vegetables and greasy, fried egg rolls. (And because it was the South, you were just as likely to find trays of fried okra or mac 'n' cheese alongside the Beef Lo Mein and General Tso's.) 

It's not that those suburban Chinese buffets were bad food. It's just that they weren't really anything special.

But our entire notion of Chinese-American cuisine got turned on its ear about four years ago, the first time we ate at Shun Lee West on New York's Upper West Side. It's not that Shun Lee is the most authentic Chinese place in New York -- it's dozens of blocks from Chinatown, and the original Shun Lee Palace only opened in 1971. But it's the first time we ever realized that Chinese food could be upscale and made well, that Chinese cuisine could highlight fresh, great-tasting ingredients. (By the way, our other life-changing Chinese food experience was House of Nan King in San Francisco. Absolutely phenomenal.)

That's a long-winded way of saying that you need to make these pork buns, and you need to make them today.

Holiday Party Food: Ginger-Miso Sweet Pea Spread, Parsnip Bacon & Imperial Punch Royale; Plus, How to Make an Ice Ring

Recipes from Food & Wine and Bon Appétit

When it came time to taste our 12-Month Aged Eggnog, we invited a group of friends over for the event.  It ended up being a small gathering of about a dozen folks, including our friend Ralph's parents who were in town.

But we couldn't just serve something as boozy as the eggnog without also having some food on hand, so we used it as an excuse to make three recipes that we had tagged in recent issues. 

The first was Ginger-Miso Sweet Pea Spread (pictured above) from the December Food & Wine.

Okra Fritters

Everyday Food (October 2010)

There may be no Southern dish that's closer to our hearts than classic fried okra. It's hot and crunchy on the outside, with the great flavor of fresh okra inside.

We know okra can be somewhat divisive: Lots of people are turned off by it. We happen to love it, and as we've said before, if you think you don't like okra, it's just because you haven't fried it.

So when we saw these Okra Fritters in the October Everyday Food, we couldn't wait to try them.

How would they stack up to our beloved classic fried okra?

Charred Spring Onions with Mustard Cream Sauce

A Bitten Word Recipe 

We recently wrote about Zach's trip to the Bristol, a fantastic gastropub in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood, home of the Chocolate Sabayon With Sea Salt and Olive Oil, and Homemade Nutter Butters.

That dessert certainly stole the show, but there was another dish Zach had that night that was similarly delicious, and, like that Chocolate Sabayon, it was something we knew we wanted to try in our own kitchen: Charred Spring Onions with Mustard Cream Sauce.

We've been getting really delicious fresh spring onions from our CSA, so for a recent meal, we threw them on the grill, whipped up a mustard cream sauce, and chowed down. (The Bristol's dish included crispy goat belly, but our goat-belly purveyor is at the Shore for the summer. Alas, we were forced to make do with a hircine-free version.)