Nothing announces the end of gloomy winter and the coming of bright, bloomy Spring like ramps. Ramps resemble baby leeks, and taste like a cross between garlic and onion, only less pungent, more delicate green. Unlike leeks, ramps' green stalks are soft and can should be eaten. They're certainly Spring's hot item among chefs and gourmandes, and the most ramp-obsessed folks have been known to shell out as much as 20 bucks a pound for 'em. Now, you won't find me telling you they're worth that much — after all, they were once mistaken as weeds and people spent time trying to rid their gardens of them — but they are mighty tasty, and quite versatile. However, as they're expensive, I'd use them wisely.

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Now that farmers' markets are fully stocked and hot weather is creeping up on us, I'll be kissing my oven goodbye and putting it to sleep for a few months. I don't know about you, but it costs us an arm and a leg to pump the A/C into our apartment enough that I don't faint from oversweating; the last thing I want to do is make it harder for our little cooling engine that couldn't. So long as I can hack it, I'll be making salads regularly. Summer's produce is fresh, juicy, flavorful, and tasty without any heat applied. Why make stew when tomatoes are perfect, yes perfect, with just some olive oil and salt? And when I'm making salads, I'm using avocados in almost every one of them.

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If you love Passover, close your ears for a second…
YAAAYYY it's done! we can eat bread again!

Ok. It's out of my system.

Linzer Sables are fantastic. The fact that they involve water, flour, and a nice long baking time is just icing on the cake. I've always loved Linzer Torte — that fantastically dense and buttery torte made of almond flour and filled with black raspberry jam — and these cookies share those rich, buttery, nutty flavors, but they're lighter, crispy, and compact. They've also got a fair amount of spice, and I like to add some orange zest, which I find really binds the flavors together. If you've got a scalloped cookie cutter, use it to make these cookies look more decorative (and sprinkle them with confectioners sugar for some extra zing.)

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Meanwhile, if you're still itching for ideas, be sure to check out Susie Fishbein's new cookbook, Passover by Design — you can buy it straight from here by clicking the picture in the sidebar right next to this post. I've already given three as pesach/seder presents, and have made three balebustas very happy. Have a wonderful holiday!

When it comes to brownies, everyone has his or her preference. Some prefer cakey (though god knows why), others prefer raw, yet others favor the fudgey dense sort — there's a recipe for everyone. I even know someone who made a habit of mixing up two full batches each time she made brownies: one to bake, and one to eat raw, straight from the mixing bowl. If that's not enough to make your stomach turn, I don't know what is.
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Let's see, where did we leave off? Have you already forgotten that more tales of molecular gastronomy and showmanship were in store for you? This is the final installment of the Minibar saga. So as not to reveal all my (their) cards, I'll cover only highlights of the remaining courses, leaving some of the show to your imagination (should you choose to explore this restaurant yourself).

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Ever have a total jonesin' to make something that you had not intention of eating for a couple days? No, of course not. You're not crazy. Maybe it was the urge to blog that got me cooking this weekend, backwards as that sounds…but for whatever reason, I found myself chopping garlic, toasting pine nuts, and steaming broccoli and raisins, knowing full well that I was going out to dinner last night, out to a brunch baby-naming this morning, and … well, out to dinner again tonight. The broccoli is still sitting in my fridge, save for the little bits I've been sneaking here and there. And now you all know what I'll be taking for lunch tomorrow.
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Our story resumes with one of the evening's most whimsical dishes: "dragon's breath" popcorn. We were each handed a ball of popcorn (kettle corn, actually — sweet and salty and delicious all over) submerged in liquid nitrogen. We were instructed to exhale when we ate it, so that upon chewing and breathing, we actually exhaled, um, smoke. What DB popcorn lacked in actual culinary innovation, it made up for in giggle factor. D literally couldn't keep a straight face as I tried to photograph, so I ended up with a bunch of blurry pictures in which the smoke is visible only because I know it's there.

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If I had my way, I'd have many more dinners like Thursday night's feast at Minibar; that said, it's safe to assume that food that memorable won't pass my lips again for quite a long time. I know it's not my usual tune to do restaurant reviews, but Thursday night was truly revolutionary, and I'd be remiss not to share it with my readers, who surely appreciate the value of a spectacular meal.

Two friends, E and J, recently celebrated their birthdays; E impressively convinced J and four other rational people to shell out an arm and a few legs to eat what rarely consisted in things we'd call "food." Main ingredients in many of the dishes included liquid nitrogen; agar agar; sodium alginate; calcium chloride; and other lip-smacking ingredients. Odd chemicals notwithstanding, each course was both tasty and fun to eat. In fact, fun was pretty much the theme of Thursday night's feast. Minibar is a restaurant that doesn't take itself too seriously; there's a fair amount of silliness involved when you're eating things that make you exhale smoke.
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