Fall has fallen and that means one thing: the stinky poo smell of gingko fruit as they fall on the sidewalks and get all caught up in the treads of your shoes. On the bright side, you can come home and fill your stomach with rich beef stew. But first of all you have to cook it and I’m happy to show you how. Click on the photo below for my personal recipe. Believe me, it smells a whole lot better than gingko fruit.
So beefy, so good.
And now in contrast to the previous post, we bring you something completely vegetarian AND delicious (yes, such things do exist): palak paneer – aka saag paneer. In English it translates to spinach cheese which doesn’t quite do it justice because it’s such a rich and sumptuous, complex dish that when you’re eating it, you can’t believe that it’s just well, basically spinach with some chunks of tofu textured cheese. And as prepared by my beautiful wife Shefali, you’ll see how easy it is to cook. Click on the picture below for the full recipe and video.
Shef slaving over a hot stove
And we’re back and with a recipe to boot! It has been a while. I know. Right now winter is quickly descending upon us in the northern hemisphere and for those of us who live in areas like NYC that means, winter jackets, hats, gloves and lots of roasted root vegetables, soups and if you’re me, heavy meaty stew type dishes. Well here’s a dish that will take you back to summer with it’s light vibrant flavors and fresh ingredients. Also, I shot this video a few months ago when it was summer. All good things taken time. Isn’t that what they say? So really, it’s not so much a seasonal dish so much as a delicious one. If you can get eggplant, you can make baigan burtha. This is Shefali’s take on it. By the way, this is also Shef’s delicioustings debut as a contributing cook – she’s been seen as a contributing eater several times. So, I hope you enjoy the full video and the recipe.
Shef cooks up burtha
Alright, check out my cousin’s take on a Chinese classic, “mapo tofu“. You’ll notice the video that he shot and edited in a day (far quicker than anything I’ve ever done) is by far the most visually sophisticated and cinematic of all the the videos yet posted on this site. It’s all about visual storytelling. I sense the influence of P. T. Anderson. That’s because he’s a genius and an incredibly talented filmmaker and animator. Did I mention we’re related by blood? Bret, you might want to pay attention to how he peels the skin off the Italian sausages. He doesn’t even use his hands. There’s no “pushing it” at all. Intrigued? Check out the full video and recipe.
My friend Bret gets back to his Italian roots and demonstrates this age old technique of meatball creation for all of you to enjoy.
