Leite's Culinaria

Where’s the Beef?

Darlene West — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:00:05 +0000

We were in the kitchen when my husband casually mentioned that a local rancher who raised a few cows on a hillside pasture sometimes had beef for sale.

“Maybe we should buy some,” John said. “It’d be local. We’d know what it’s been fed.”

I wrinkled my nose. I couldn’t imagine craving meat, regardless of where it’d been raised or what it’d been fed. I sprinkled slivered garlic and chopped steamed spinach over our pizza dough...

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Grilled Kale

Barton Seaver — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:00:22 +0000

Where There’s Smoke | Sterling Epicure, 2013

This is simply one of my favorite dishes, and it has a legendary place in the history of my marriage. My wife was not a fan of this vegetable—or of any vegetable. Fan might not be the right word. It’s not just that she didn’t like them; she actively campaigned against them, prosecuting them, all guilty as charged, although on scant evidence. It was this simple dish that got her to at...

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Sea Bass with Soy Glaze and Cucumber Salsa

Cristina Ferrare — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:00:35 +0000

Cristina Ferrare’s Big Bowl of Love | Sterling Epicure, 2011

Whenever I want to impress my dinner guests big-time, I make this sea bass with the most wonderful glazed sauce. It’s quite impressive. Not only does it make a beautiful presentation served with the cucumber salsa, but it is also simply beyond-words delicious! I have to say without hesitation that this is one of my most favorite fish dishes ever. The combination of delicate...

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Red Eye Devil’s Food Cake

Bill Yosses — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 02:50:11 +0000

The Perfect Finish | W.W. Norton, 2010

This is my updated version of an American classic, the devil’s food cake. The name refers to the coffee in the batter, like the Red Eye coffee drink in espresso bars that’s punched up with an extra shot of espresso. Here, coffee gives the cake a lightly bitter edge that cuts the sweetness of the chocolate. The coffee-enhanced cocoa layers sandwich a surfeit of fudgy, bittersweet ganache. If...

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A Father’s Frown

Lisa McNamara — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 12:00:21 +0000

My father loves to eat. A World War II navy veteran, he’s the kind of eater who’s unfussy enough to have enjoyed even the S.O.S. served on his ship—something he still talks about some 70 years later with nostalgia. I suppose what he found appealing was the all-American marriage of chunky meat with creamy sauce consumed in an atmosphere of chaotic camaraderie—an alien concept in my mother’s strictly kosher kitchen.

Actually, pretty much...

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Chili Cheese Fries

Joy Wilson — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:00:40 +0000

Joy the Baker | Hyperion, 2012

No chapter about comfort food would be complete without a recipe for French fries. Sure, I’ve baked my way out of heartbreak and disappointment with cookies and puddings, but when it comes down to life’s serious bummers, French fries are the only way to go. These mouthwatering French fries have all the flavor of chili fries without the chili. Grill seasoning, smoky chili powder, and spicy chili flakes make...

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Fried Egg Sandwich

Max and Eli Sussman — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:00:55 +0000

This Is A Cookbook | Olive Press, 2012

What’s more perfect than the simplicity of this sandwich? It’s comforting, not too difficult to make, and you need only a few key ingredients—these are the essentials to preparing the kind of midnight food we love. The kind of food that will make you close your eyes and exhale a hot cheesy jumble that sounds like “Oh my gah, so freakin’ good.”–Max and Eli Sussman

LC Man Does Not Live...

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