The Bitten Word

Chicken Tagine with Almonds, Apricots, and Olives

Martha Stewart Living (March 2014) 

Long story short, we needed a potluck dish.

Long story slightly less short: Our friends Tolsun and Katie recently moved back to DC from Philadelphia, where they'd lived for the past few years. They actually moved just a couple blocks away from us, so we wanted to get together with them for a "Welcome Back to Washington" dinner. We suggested a night; they suggested a potluck; we were sold!

But what to make? We'd flagged some recipes that we wanted to try, but nothing really seemed right. We needed something we could make in advance, carry over to Tolsun and Katie's house, and reheat.

We turned, as we often do in times of crisis, to Martha.

Thanksgiving 2013: Brûléed Pumpkin Pies

Martha Stewart Living (November 2013) and Bon Appétit (November 2013)

We have some fun news: We'll be interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered today, to discuss this year's big Thanksgiving trends! [UPDATE: You can now listen to the segment online! And here's the recipe for Carrot Mash with Orange and Mint.]

But first, let's back up. 

When we started thinking about this year's Thanksgiving trends, there were two major themes we noticed right away. One was desserts with savory elements, like the Pear-Rosemary Pie with Cheddar Crust we wrote about last week.

The other was brûléed pumpkin pies.

Three different food magazines featured a pumpkin pie finished with a brûléed top -- that glassy, caramelized sugar crust that makes a crème brûlée so delicious. What are the odds that such a pie would show up in the pages of Martha Stewart Living, Bon Appétit, and Saveur? 

We embrace the idea whole-heartedly: Who needs an excuse to use a kitchen blowtorch? Not us.

We knew we had to try one, so for our Fakesgiving, we decided to make Martha Stewart's version. More on that in a bit.

But then last week we got an unexpected and very exciting email: Would we be interested in discussing Thanksgiving trends on NPR's All Things Considered?

All Things Considered?! Of course!

That's when we decided to try out a second brûléed pie.

Thanksgiving 2013: Sausage Pear Stuffing

Martha Stewart Living (November 2013)

Pears are popular this time of year with food magazines.

They pop up in just about every course of suggested Thanksgiving menus. In this year's Thanksgiving index, you'll see pears in gravy, on turkeys, in soups and, of course, littered through desserts.

We are no strangers to pears at Thanksgiving, having made not just one, but two pear soups over the years. We are solidly pro-pear. 

And then there's sausage. Oh, sausage.... We are suckers for a Thanksgiving stuffing that includes pork products. We've certainly made plenty of them over the years. 

So when we saw Sausage Pear Stuffing in Martha Stewart Living, it was a slam dunk. We immediately added the dish to our Fakesgiving menu. 

Little did we know we were boarding the train to Blandville.

Braised Spanish-Style Chicken

Martha Stewart Living (October 2013)

Choosing chicken dishes to feature here on The Bitten Word always leaves us conflicted. 

On the one hand, we love chicken. Love it. We eat it more than any other protein. It is our go-to, our comfort, our "oh-no-it's-so-late-what-are-we-having-for-dinner-oh-let's-just-have-chicken." 

On the other hand, according to a quick search of our Recipe Index, we've featured more than 50 chicken dishes on this blog. That, friends, is a lot of poultry. 

But still, we love it. And we assume many of you do, too. So we continue to do some chicken dishes here. But we're choosy. We want them to be special, different, something that we and you likely haven't done with chicken before. 

The October Martha Stewart Living features a "Chicken Playbook," with five different methods for cooking the dish. There's a roasted spatchcocked chicken (and you all know how much we like spatchcocking), broiled tandoori wings, baked legs, and sauteed paillards. Those all look very good and we're sure we would enjoy them, but we were drawn to the braised Spanish-Style Chicken. 

Cucumber, Celery, and Gin Sorbet

Martha Stewart Living (July/August 2013)

Clay was in New York earlier this summer for work, and met up with our friend Ingela at Osteria Morini, an Italian restaurant in Nolita. (For you Bittens who happen to live in D.C., the restaurant will open a location down on the waterfront later this year).

Ingela and Clay both loved the meal, but when it came to dessert, they were torn. There were so many wonderful-sounding gelatos and sorbets: Pistachio, Rosemary-Violet, Vanilla, Dark Chocolate, Goat Cheese-Honey, Orange Blossom, Raspberry, and two others that have since escaped us. They debated which to choose and then calmly, resolutely uttered four words you should pretty much never say when you're at a restaurant:

"We'll have them all." 

And that's what they did. Nine flavors of sorbet and gelato. 

It was frozen bliss. (Don't judge!)

Cucumber, Celery and Gin sorbet wasn't among the options, but we're not sure that's such a terrible thing.

Heirloom Tomatoes with Cherries, Balsamic, and Hyssop

Martha Stewart Living (July/August 2013)

We arrived home from vacation late on Saturday night to an empty fridge, which is a rare occurrence in our house. There was very (very) little to eat. The fridge was so empty, the condiments looked nervous. We could have whipped up some mustard and Parmesan, but we'll leave that to the Bluths. 

Sunday morning, we bounded out of bed, headed to the farmers market, and did a bit of restocking. This is our hands-down favorite time of the year at the farmers markets in our nation's capital. The heirloom tomatoes are beautiful. The corn is piled higher than our heads. Beans are pouring out of bins. There are mountains of peaches and nectarines. It's dreamy, really. 

Loaded up with produce, we went home and got to cooking, starting with this salad of Heirloom Tomatoes with Cherries, Balsamic, and Hyssop. 

Blueberry Buttermilk Sherbet

Martha Stewart Living (July 2013) 

What comes to mind when you hear "sherbet"?

For us, it instantly whooshes us straight back to childhood: Cool, creamy scoops of peach, raspberry, lime or -- best of all -- rainbow. And all of it in dreamy, sepia pastels -- like ice cream, only Instagrammed.

So we felt a wave of nostalgia when we saw a feature on sherbets in the July issue of Martha Stewart Living. It's actually a nice, lengthy feature that also includes recipes for ice creams and sorbets. But it was the sherbets that got us. Sour-Cherry and Lemon-Verbena. Canteloupe, Tarragon and Vodka. Avocado Cilantro.

Granted, those are some pretty grown-up riffs on a childhood favorite. So maybe it was our nostalgia that drew us to the least grown-up one in the bunch, this Blueberry Buttermilk Sherbet.

Rhubarb Fizz

We're coming to the end of the time in between -- that point in the year when spring has begun stretching into summer, but fresh fruits have yet to show up.

After a winter spent gorging on apples, they've quickly lost their appeal. The apples we're buying have become inconsistent, and we're tiring of carrying them to work, or snacking on them at night. We thank you for your service, apples, but you're dismissed. 

But it's too soon for strawberries -- hopefully, that may change this week -- and we're months away from the delicious stone fruits of August. 

Rhubarb, however, is here. Frankly, it's a fruit* for which we have no great affections. Its raw bitterness can be difficult to handle. To counteract that, most recipes that include rhubarb tend to go overboard on the sugar, and the result is a too-sweet dessert that doesn't really taste like fresh fruit at all.

Nonetheless, we find rhubarb a welcome sight in spring. Tall and red and green, rhubarb is the first fruit soldier to the spring front. 

But still, what to do with it?

Poach it and eat it as dessert?

Use a tiny bit raw or briefly simmered in a salad with a sweet vinaigrette? 

Make a rhubarb compote or jam? Maybe, once the strawberries have come in. 

Martha offers a nice suggestion this month, albeit one that requires ample amounts of sugar and, if you're into it, booze. 

This is a Rhubarb Fizz. 

Dandelion-Lime Cooler

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living (April 2013)

Want to have a big sip of spring in a glass? 

Then mix yourself up a spring tonic, like these Dandelion-Lime Coolers. 

We spied a recipe for Sorrel-Lime Tonics in the latest Martha Stewart Living. They were practically neon in their greenness, and so unusual sounding, that we were eager to whip up a batch. 

The only problem? We couldn't find any sorrel -- the farmers markets were all out and there was none to be found at Whole Foods. So we grabbed something else springy and unusual-sounding -- dandelion greens -- and got to mixing. 

Pork Scaloppine

Martha Stewart Living (March 2013)

It's Sequester time here in our nation's capital.

Since last Friday, this town's been in full-on sequester mode, which means ... well, not a whole lot, really. At least not yet. Most of the cuts won't kick in for a while, and Congress still has plenty of time to retroactively undo everything.

Nobody can agree on exactly how we got here, and there's definitely no agreement about whose fault it is. And there's surely no agreeing on how to fix it.

But in these troubled times, we think there's one thing on which everyone here in D.C. -- and across this great nation -- can agree: You want some Pork Scaloppine.