Comfort Food for Earthquakes and Hurricanes

It's been an unsettling week here in Philadelphia. On Tuesday I experienced my first-ever earthquake. 

And while it may not have been that bad, seeing the walls in my office move definitely seemed like a fantastic excuse for indulging in some serious comfort food. 

What's wrong with extra cheese when the world seems to be ending sooner than later? 

And now, just a few days later, we are waiting to be walloped/ smacked/ demolished (real adjectives from real newscasters) by a hurricane. So instead of what I had planned to be a lovely weekend in Brooklyn, I am home making hurricane preparations. These include stacking up on wine and baking butter-almond cookies. 

Hopefully that will be enough to see us through.

BUTTER ALMOND COOKIES

Preheat Oven to 375 • Cream together 1 stick butter and 1 cup brown sugar • When fluffy add 1 egg and 1 tsp good quality vanilla • When combined, blend in 1+3/4 cups flour and 1/2 tsp sea salt, when batter forms add 1 cup toasted almonds, bake for 10-12 min • makes 24 small cookies

SERIOUSLY COMFORTING PIZZA

Preheat oven to 450  • roll-out pizza dough and pre-bake for 5 minutes • Remove from oven and top with sliced and salted baby heirloom tomatoes, proscuitto, and caramelized onions (I've been adding pimenton de la vera- or spanish smoked paprika to mine, for a great smoky sweet kick) • Top liberally with mozzarella and bake for 7 minutes or so, until crust is golden ad cheese is bubbly.

On Location: Montana

A couple of weeks ago, I flew to Bozeman, Montana to art direct, and prop-style a shoot for a cookbook that I will be designing. The book is called Open Range, and is by Chef Jay Bentley of the Mint in Belgrade, MT, to be published by Running Press in the fall of 2012. It features his delicious food, as well as all things Montana. The food shots are by the very talented Lynn Donaldson and the food styling by the incomparable Ricardo Jattan. The best part for me- sourcing all of the props from an amazing antiques store.
Montana is a gorgeous state, and everyone was incredibly friendly.  Here are some of my favorite snapshots of the trip, and just a tiny preview of what will be in the book...

On Location: Gardens

I took these at Chanticleer Gardens in Wayne, PA. We had to go out and grab some shots of vegetables growing for a cookbook that I'm designing, and it just happened to be a perfect day. Enjoy..

Caramelized Sage

One of my favorite places to go on a saturday, when I'm at home, is the local farmers' market, and yesterday I got to make the trip. I came home with a bag filled with heirloom tomatoes big and small, sweet onions, creamy white eggplants, white peaches, and a big bunch of sage. Last week I had the good fortune to eat caramelized (ok, maybe just fried?) sage for the first time, and it was fabulous. I've been craving the taste ever since and decided to try to recreate the recipe.

Caramelized Sage:

18-24 fresh sage leaves + 2-3 tbsp butter + pinch of sea salt; Melt butter in a hot pan until sizzling, turn the heat down, throw in the sage, add the salt, and watch the leaves closely, turn them often, making sure they get crispy, but don't burn, about 5 mins. Remove from heat, set on paper towels to cool. Eat on just about anything savory or just eat them on their own.