Chocolate-Nut Bars: the Perfect Dinner Party Dessert

Enter to win a collection of food items from France, selected by Sandy, along with Around my French Table cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. To enter the sweepstakes, go to http://bit.ly/YGrDyy. Follow Sandy in France on Twitter to keep updated on new goodies for the prize package.

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

Whenever I’m invited to dinner parties, I’m usually always asked to bring a dessert. I used to bring pies and cakes and large family-style desserts to make an impression. But as I’ve been to more and more, I’ve realized that what most people want after a large meal is really just a small nibble of something really indulgent. That’s why these days I always bring cookies. But they can’t just be sugar cookies; they need to have a little more panache.

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Crazy for Cukes

Congratulations to Melinda G from Missouri who won our Picnic Time English-style willow basket sweepstakes! We hope you'll have plenty of opportunity to use it this summer.

Sandy's out on vacation having fun in Japan this week. In her stead, Catherine Pantsios, one of our stellar Special Fork Food Editors is sharing her latest obsession: Thai Cucumber Peanut Salad.

By Catherine Pantsios

I guess it’s pretty obvious where the phrase “cool as a cucumber” comes from—there’s no denying this crisp green fruit (yes, cukes are a fruit, not a vegetable) is a sure-fire refresher on a hot day. Cucumbers have a bright, yet subtle flavor that blends well with many flavor palettes, whether it’s in a Russian salad with sour cream and dill; a Japanese quick pickle with rice vinegar, soy sauce and a touch of sugar; or a fiery Korean kimchi.

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Oven-Finished Meat

By Katie Barreira

A very generous gift certificate sent me over to one of nyc’s finest meat purveyors. After helping me to select a prime cut of dry-aged porterhouse, the butcher asked, “you know what to do with this?” Well! It was nearly condescending enough to send me out the door, but I swallowed my chego (that’s chef-ego, a powerful brand of pride) and did what I always do, even when I think I know best: I asked the expert how he would prepare the steak. Passionate experts are always happy to offer knowledge about their goods; you’ll almost always learn something new, and if you don’t, you can quietly bask in the knowledge that you would have done it just like the pro.

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Simple 30-minute Fish Sticks

By David Hu

While it’s easy to buy frozen fish sticks, it really doesn’t take much to make them yourself – just 6 ingredients and about 25 minutes from start to finish. This recipe uses U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish which is a lean fish and an excellent source of protein. And The National Audubon Society, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Environmental Defense all recommend U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish as a safe environmental choice.

I like to eat these fish sticks either on their own or in a sandwich. To make a sandwich, use a nice crusty baguette, add lettuce and tomato, and use the Asian-inspired tartar sauce recipe for a punch of flavor.

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Playing With Preserved Lemons

By Katie Barreira

Say preserving in August and the culinary mind jumps to mason jars and piles of late-summer produce. But canning isn’t the only way to preserve, and summer isn’t the only time to do it. This past winter, when citrus was about it for fresh fruit, I decided to preserve some lemons. A staple in Moroccan cooking, preserved lemons are salt cured with spices like black pepper and cinnamon. The result is a soft, entirely edible (though, like a fresh lemon, you wouldn’t want to eat it on it’s own) lemon that adds a rich, pickled lemon flavor to drinks, dinner and even dessert.

Preserved lemons can be found in gourmet food shops; seek them out and add a whole new dimension to your cooking; I did!

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