Posts by The Katz Tales
MUSHROOM & PROSCIUTTO PINWHEELS
I discovered the joy of working with puff pastry late in life. It can be used for so many things—turning your chicken stew into a potpie, making a quick apple galette, or creating the classic Baked Brie en Croûte. If you want to be a hero, you can certainly make your own, but really, who…
Read MoreFRENCH HARVEST SOUP
I’m proud to say, this was my first televised recipe. We did a “crew favorite” episode on Emeril Live, and this recipe was my contribution. One fan from California gave me this rave review on the website, “Her current employer may have to make space for her at the counter to showcase her cooking expertise!…
Read MoreWHAT MOTHER NATURE REALLY INTENDED
“I wouldn’t eat that if I were you. That’s a poisonous one.” Ed, “The Fungi,” grabs my arm just before I reach some white mushrooms at the base of an enormous oak tree. They look just like the ones I usually buy at Stop and Shop. “Those are Amanita Phalloides, otherwise known as Death Caps.…
Read MoreTHE RAMBUTINI
When it comes to weird fruit, don’t judge a rambutan by its cover. These fruits— that frighteningly remind me of telescopic images of the coronavirus—have been here far longer than this awful plague. If you’ve ever wandered around your local Chinatown markets, you’ll see them right between the longans and the mangosteens. But when you…
Read MoreBAO TODAY, GONE TOMORROW
You can tell a lot about a country by what people eat for breakfast. Here in Brooklyn, it’s all about the rough and tumble bagel and a schmear. In France, how can you start the day without an elegant croissant and café au lait? In Japan, how about some healthy steamed rice, miso soup and…
Read MoreONE LAST GASP OF SUMMER
As every day passes now, the days are growing shorter, the air is getting cooler, (thank God), and Target is blasting the airwaves with back-to-school essentials sales. But summer isn’t officially over for a few weeks, and I refuse to let it idly slip away without squeezing as much seasonal fun out of it as…
Read MoreROASTED TOMATO SOUP
It’s harvest time, so that means the neighbors have way too many tomatoes to know what to do with them. So, being the lucky recipient of their abundance, I’m putting this year’s bounty to good use with this creamy roasted tomato soup. There’s nothing better than making tomato soup from fresh garden ingredients. Wait, oh…
Read MoreTHE ELUSIVE PEACH
As I kid, I couldn’t wait for summer peaches—those fuzzy, succulent, sweet treats that promised pies and jams and some weird concoction my mom made with sour cream. You knew you had a good one when you bit into it and the juice dripped down your arm, making you sticky for the rest of the…
Read MoreWHAT DO I KNOW ABOUT FOOD?
It’s 5:30am and I’m hunched over a burning hot imu pit, an underground steamer being prepped to hold a 250-pound pig. Two Hawaiian workers, the size of sumo wrestlers, are stoking hot lava rocks in preparation for a big luau, just as their ancestors have done for generations. The sun is just rising over the…
Read MoreNEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE
I was only 5 years old at the time, but the memory of my first trip into “the city” is so vivid I can still taste the cinnamon raisin sticky buns from Horn and Hardart. I can hear the city tuning up as the sounds of blaring sirens, screaming cab drivers and jackhammers blend together,…
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