posts by Debra Samuels

Sharing the pleasures of real sushi

Comments Off on Sharing the pleasures of real sushi

Hiroko Shimbo has been teaching Japanese cooking in her native Tokyo, New York, Spain, and England for 15 years, which has given her new opportunities in the restaurant industry as Americans become ever more captivated with the food of her culture. She was the culinary consultant for Taneko Japanese Tavern , which opened earlier this …

Read more

Competition cooks up at a 4-H county fairFood and Fun Club members put their kitchen skills to the test

Comments Off on Competition cooks up at a 4-H county fairFood and Fun Club members put their kitchen skills to the test

WESTFORD — Louise Donahue looks for an empty cake rack on her kitchen table, brimming with baked goods. “We’ve already had one disaster today,” she says as she sets down the hot pan of butterscotch bars her 10-year-old son, Greg, has prepared for the 51st annual Middlesex County 4-H Fair. The bars go next to …

Read more

Dress-up season in TokyoSummer spawns celebrations of season and spirits

Comments Off on Dress-up season in TokyoSummer spawns celebrations of season and spirits
Dress-up season in TokyoSummer spawns celebrations of season and spirits

TOKYO — The passion in Japanese souls is never more evident than at a “matsuri” — a festival that is part Mardi Gras, part history lesson, and part food festival. From local neighborhood fetes to large-scale city events, matsuri celebrate everything from rites of passage to changing seasons to local culture. They even are used …

Read more

World of CookingArrive a tourist, eat your mistakes, go home with recipes for a feast

Comments Off on World of CookingArrive a tourist, eat your mistakes, go home with recipes for a feast
World of CookingArrive a tourist, eat your mistakes, go home with recipes for a feast

MENFI, Italy — We weave our way out of the densely packed city of Palermo at rush hour and drive south through western Sicily. The road slices through a valley surrounded by huge rocky outcroppings. The sky is a deep blue and green fields stretch ahead like a velvet patchwork bordered by a riot of …

Read more

SPRINGTIME IN SICILYIn the markets of Palermo, vendors share deliciously imprecise recipes

Comments Off on SPRINGTIME IN SICILYIn the markets of Palermo, vendors share deliciously imprecise recipes
SPRINGTIME IN SICILYIn the markets of Palermo, vendors share deliciously imprecise recipes

PALERMO, Italy — Nestled among the faded gray and peeling concrete buildings, some still cratered by World War II bombings, sits one of the liveliest markets in Sicily. Bright red and blue awnings cover hundreds of stalls in the colorful Ballarò, the most extensive of many markets in this charming, chaotic city. I traverse the …

Read more

An American burger in Tokyo

Comments Off on An American burger in Tokyo

TOKYO — Pass the neighborhood shrine, pass the smell of charcoal-roasted fish, pass the sushi shop, pass a noodle spot. Then comes a surprise: The unmistakable aroma of grilled burgers and fries from a restaurant a few doors down. In Tokyo, anything culinary is a possibility. Yes, there is American fast food here — McDonald’s …

Read more

The layered look is easy and elegant

Comments Off on The layered look is easy and elegant

Watching a chef create individual pieces of sushi at lightning speed is quite a sight. Rice is compressed into a perfect oval in a slightly cupped palm and topped with a thin slice of fish. Artistry and skill and many years of practice are in evidence. But without any training or experience at a sushi …

Read more

Fiddleheads are the season’s star shoots

Comments Off on Fiddleheads are the season’s star shoots

LEXINGTON — Deep green, earthy spirals wound as tight as coils, fiddleheads burst into the spring produce bin for a few weeks. They’re shoots, and they’re at their best when tightly coiled. They grow into graceful ostrich ferns — but alas, the pretty ferns are no longer edible. Fiddleheads’ spiral shape gives rise to their …

Read more

Baked to perfectionAt Somerville’s La Contessa, the prized ricotta pies have a longstanding following

Comments Off on Baked to perfectionAt Somerville’s La Contessa, the prized ricotta pies have a longstanding following

SOMERVILLE — Paper bunnies and decorated eggs adorn the picture windows at La Contessa Bakery Cafe here. Huge chocolate Easter eggs wrapped in colorful cellophane hang above the counter waiting for excited children. On a top shelf, along with a statue of St. Anthony, are boxes of sweet Italian bread baked in the shape of …

Read more

From one pot, a bounty of Japanese flavors

Comments Off on From one pot, a bounty of Japanese flavors

In the family of Japanese one-pot wonders — sukiyaki among them — the standout dinner is yosenabe, a mixture of seafood, chicken, tofu, glass noodles, and vegetables. Diners use their chopsticks to dip into a communal earthenware pot on a portable burner. Inside the pot is a simmering broth filled with the seafood, vegetables, and …

Read more

Two delectable desserts for cooling off during the summertime Granitas, sorbets are frozen delights

Comments Off on Two delectable desserts for cooling off during the summertime Granitas, sorbets are frozen delights

Two great frozen desserts are granitas, which are coarse-grained Italian ices, and sorbets, which have a creamy texture even when they’re not made with milk. For both, begin by pureeing the fruit that is in abundance now. Add super-fine sugar and fresh citrus juice for a tart twist that adds depth to the fruit flavor. …

Read more

For picnics, toss together some sushi

Comments Off on For picnics, toss together some sushi

Sushi rice is short-grain white rice that is cooked and mixed with rice vinegar and sugar. This, of course, is the rice you’re biting into when you sit down to a plateful of sushi. What you put on or in the rice determines the kind of sushi. But there are other dishes — which don’t …

Read more
Page 11 of 15« First...«910111213»...Last »