The Bitten Word

Charred Tomato Vinaigrette

Food & Wine (August 2015)

Never fear, Bittens! We're still here.

We've just been away on vacation in Cape Cod for the past few weeks. 

Here's our vacation by the numbers:

• Beach bonfire with friends: 1 
• Run-ins with Bitten Word readers who said hi: 2
• Jars of peanut butter: 2
• Bags of Cape Cod chips: 4
• Novels read: 4
• Lobster rolls eaten: 8
• Issues of the New Yorker read (finally): 12 
• Days on the beach: 13
• Oysters: 24
• Spf: 30
• Seals spotted: >50 
• Head clearance of the house we stayed in: 5' 10"
• Glasses of rosé consumed: Innumerable 

 

It was a decadent, hilarious, fun-filled few weeks with friends.

But now we're back. Back to sanity. Back to the gym. Back to healthy(ish) eating. Back to (thankfully) more summer. 

After a big few weeks, it's time to get back in touch with our good old friend Salad.

And we turned to this Charred Tomato Vinaigrette to help reintroduce us. 

Cucumber Salad with Buttermilk Dressing and Pickled Onion

Food & Wine (July 2015)

Looks like we need to get ourselves to Austin to eat at Olamaie.  

See, we usually try to cook recipes from all our different food magazines -- one from here, one from there, and so on. We try not to repeat a magazine too much in one month.

But we ended up flagging two gorgeous salads from the July Food & Wine that we wanted to make, that amazing Tomato Salad with Tomato Water Granita and this Cucumber Salad with Buttermilk Dressing and Pickled Onion.

Well, that's okay, we figured. They're both great-looking summer salads.

It wasn't until after we'd made this cucumber salad that we realized: Not only are both salads from the same magazine, they're both from the same chefs.

So attention, Chef Michael Fojtasek and Chef Grae Nonas: We're booking a flight to Austin and booking a table at your restaurant.

Tomato Salad with Tomato Water Granita

Food & Wine (July 2015)

 

Our Southern grannies would say this is a tomato salad that got above its raisin'. (In other words, it's putting on airs.)

"Tomato water granita"? Ice on a salad?!

Who needs all that fuss?

You do.

Trust us.

Grilled Chicken Thigh and Cucumber Salad

Food & Wine (June 2015)

 

Are we being Inception-ed by Food & Wine?

Leafing through their June issue, we stopped dead in our tracks when we spotted this Grilled Chicken Thigh and Cucumber Salad. It's like the summer dish of our dreams: crispy grilled chicken, tossed with lots of raw vegetables and herbs in a big, messy, delicious pile.

It's as if Food & Wine is making our dreams come true. 

We wasted no time in seeing if the reality of this dish matched up to our fantasies.

Chocolate Double-Nut Butter

Food & Wine (May 2015)

 

As a rule, we have a ban on peanut butter in our house. 

 

No, we're not allergic. And no, we're not in the middle of a feud with Mr. Peanut. 

 

The real reason is this: We are absolute peanut butter addicts, and can go through an entire jar in a day. Give us some alone time with our DVR, a fresh jar of peanut butter, two spoons, and a few hours, and you can kiss that PB goodbye. 

 

So it was not a light decision on our part to make Zak Stern's Chocolate Double-Nut Butter from the May Food & Wine. 

 

And therein lies the problem with making a delicious Chocolate Double-Nut Butter: You then have an amazing treat in your house, and it's the only thing you want to eat. 

 

 

Crunchy Asparagus Salad

Food & Wine (April 2015)

Spring!  We're so happy to finally -- finally! -- be hitting spring here in Washington, D.C. 

And for us there's probably no vegetable that quite sings "spring!" more than young, tender asparagus.

We're asparagus purists, especially when it's at the height of season. Lightly steam or sauté it, sprinkle it with the faintest whisper of salt, and eat. That's how we like it.

So what about this Crunchy Asparagus Salad full of Japanese flavors? Would it make the cut for our simple-is-best approach to spring asparagus?

Crispy Pork Chops with Warm Fennel Salad

Food & Wine (March 2015)

We're on the cusp of spring -- can't you just feel it?

Every time we step out our front door, we see the very beginnings of buds on trees, new daffodils poking the first hint of green out of the ground, and fewer folks in jackets, finally shedding their winter layers.

March is the Jekyll and Hyde of seasons, and it's a funny time for food magazines. Some are full of hearty winter fare; others start to feature lighter, spring-ier dishes.

Us? Our hearts and palates are firmly set on spring. We're craving green, both under our feet and on our plates.

So it perhaps wasn't quite in the right mindset that we started making these Crispy Pork Chops with Warm Fennel Salad.

Caraway Salmon with Rye Berry-and-Beet Salad

Food & Wine (February 2015)

A few weeks ago, our oven died.

It wasn't totally unexpected. The thing was 15 years old. And the digital control panel had long been cracking and falling apart, perhaps hastened a couple months ago by a not-quite-not-our-fault melting situation involving redirected heat trapped under a cookie sheet on the stovetop.

Anyway, just before it broke, we'd decided the oven needed a good cleaning, so we turned on the self-cleaning cycle and hit "start" -- and that's when the incessant beeping began. And the flashing error message. And the locked door that wouldn't open no matter what we tried.

The oven, along with the stovetop, was kaput.

It took us almost a week to get a replacement delivered. Which really wasn't the end of the world, except for one thing: We'd invited our friend Carl over for dinner.

We had planned to make this Caraway Salmon with Rye Berry-and-Beet Salad from Food & Wine. But how to make it without either an oven or a stovetop?

Fortunately, we got by with a little help from our friends.

Warm Green Beans and Lettuce in Anchovy Butter

Food & Wine (February 2015)

Here's what your vegetables have been missing: butter.

We served this dish of Warm Green Beans and Lettuce in Anchovy Butter the other night when we had our friends Vicky and Amanda over for dinner. At one point Vicky commented that she typically wasn't a huge fan of green vegetables, but that she loved this dish.

"Oh thanks!" we said. "We do too."

But inside we were thinking, Duh! It's all about the butter.

Roasted Cauliflower and Grapes

Food & Wine (January 2015)

Clay was having coffee with his friend Rachel, comparing notes about recent restaurant visits and recipes, when she offhandedly mentioned a recipe she had just made from the most recent Food & Wine: Roasted Cauliflower with Grapes. 

Rachel had loved it; Clay was on his way to the store after work, and needed no more convincing.