Mexican food is deeply complex, rich food that employs unusual pairings and exotic flavors, and, for me, it is profoundly, almost spiritually, satisfying. When I was in college, I studied for a semester in Puebla, where the specialty was mole poblano, a chocolate and chili sauce that is often served on poultry. I thought it would be disgusting, but it was startlingly different from anything I had ever eaten before, like food from another planet. I loved the experience of […]
As the season turns, late summer flowers give way to seeds, pods, and other floral features of variable textures – all of which I’m itching to work into more natural floral arrangements. There’s nothing like a few branches of ripening blackberries or a branch of crabapples tucked into a fall bouquet to make it pop. There are so many varieties of fruiting plants available now that can’t be found at other times of the year. The first arrangement features two […]
Thanks to all of you who sent in questions to America’s Table this month – there were hundreds! Many of the questions were about apples, and I’d like to try to briefly answer as many of those as I can. The best apples for baking are those that don’t disintegrate during cooking, and that have a balance of sweetness and tartness. My favorite eating apple is a McIntosh, with its white interior and shiny red-and-green peel, but it is not […]
Sometimes, while caught up in the beauty and creativity of cooking and entertaining, it’s easy to forget that not everyone can buy whatever they want to eat, or throw a party without giving a thought to whether they can afford it. Even when I was growing up and our family means were modest, we never lacked for food. One of the advantages of living on a farm was that we could grow enough vegetables to feed ourselves, and my father […]
Serves: two 15-ounce cans of apples make about 20 mini-caramel apples Prep time: 15 minutes per can of apples
