Good food. Great stories. I swear.

The pistachio recall in the United States continues to evolve, but it turns out that not all products are affected. Here is recent information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other sources.

First things first. If you have pistachios or foods that contain pistachios in your house, do not eat them without contacting the retailer where you bought them to see if they are part of the recall or not. But as you read below, you’ll see that not all pistachio products are part of the recall—there are plenty of sources of these delicious nuts that are safe to eat.

Okay, let’s start with the current official word from the FDA’s website: “The FDA and the California Department of Public Health continue to investigate Salmonella contamination in pistachios and pistachio products. Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., Terra Bella, Calif., is voluntarily expanding its recall of roasted pistachios to include all lots of roasted in-shell pistachios and roasted shelled pistachios that were produced from nuts harvested in 2008. The firm is also recalling those raw shelled pistachios from the 2008 crop that are not subsequently roasted prior to retail sale. The pistachios may be contaminated with Salmonella.”

Salmonella is nothing to mess around with. It can cause a moderate illness with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and headaches, and may even come back a few weeks later as arthritis. In young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems, it can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections.

That said, while the FDA initially warned consumers to not eat any pistachio products, they’ve now modified this warning on their site: “FDA is advising consumers not to eat pistachios or food products containing them [such as pistachio bakery goods and pistachio ice cream] unless they can determine that the products do not contain pistachios from Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc.“

So where do you find non-Setton pistachios? [click to continue...]

By keeping a few simple canned ingredients in your pantry, you can have this quick, lively pasta in under a half an hour. Recipe below.

Last week when I used canned anchovies for my Provençal layered pot roast, I hoped Marion would use the leftover anchovies for this perennial favorite at our house. She did. I’ll let her tell you about it.

We originally came across this recipe in Men’s Health magazine, where it was published in an anonymously written column aiming to provide men with simple, nutritious, inexpensive recipes. This was a couple of years before its author, James Beard Award winner David Joachim, published A Man, a Can, a Plan: 50 Great Guy Meals Even You Can Make. I can’t say enough about the usefulness of this little book. It is sensible, clear and direct. It makes a dead run at the young guy who wants to cook and to fix healthy, quick meals without making a big fuss over the whole thing. It has a board book cover and is shaped like a can, with a sensible lay-flat design. What keeps it from seeming childish and gimmicky is its out-and-out practicality. The book cooperatively lays flat when open. You won’t put it on your coffee table, but you will leave it on your counter. The recipes are practical, direct, modest, and fast—it’s pretty much the diametric opposite of, oh, Alinea or El Bulli 2003-2004.

We like our version of Linguine with Red Clam Sauce so much that it is part of our regular rotation—a fast, tasty weeknight dinner or a quick weekend lunch.  And by quick, we mean quick. From start to finish is about 20 minutes, tops.

As with last week’s pot roast dish, the anchovies in here vanish, leaving a flavor that is mysterious and subtle. If you really loathe anchovies, omit them, but the final dish just won’t be as good. [click to continue...]

Wine can be such an integral part of cooking and eating that I really feel I should write about it here more often. My excuse for not doing so is that, for all the wine we drink, I really feel I know very little about it. Beginning now, I’m going to try to get over myself and just occasionally tell you about wines we like.

Sometimes we find ourselves looking for big occasion wines—as a gift or to open for a special event. And when we do, we have some go-to favorites as well as the unfailing advice of certain wine stores in town. Much more often, though, we’re looking for modest bottles of wine we can open without thinking about it to have with dinner or as the evening winds down.

Two Vines Chardonnay, from Columbia Crest Winery in Washington state, is a light, crisp chardonnay, not big and oaky. And while I like oaky chardonnays, particularly with a big flavored meal, this wine’s lightness makes it perfect for pairing with fish or chicken or drinking on its own. From my first sip, I felt I was drinking something that performed beyond its price point. [click to continue...]

Hearty pot roast gets big flavor thanks to capers, onions, garlic and anchovies in this simple dish from the South of France, Grillades à L’Arlésienne. Recipe below.

A couple of weeks ago, I admitted to being a major Francophile when I wrote about roasting chicken on a bed of lentils. I guess that makes Karin over at Second Act in Altadena an enabler. After reading that post, she told me about three different French cookbooks. Already having more cookbooks than we have shelf space for, I immediately headed for the library website and ordered them. Of course, all three showed up within days of each other.

In the interest of fairness, I decided to start with the first book Karin had mentioned—and the first one that turned up at the library, Backroad Bistros, Farmhouse Fare: A French Country Cookbook, by Jane Sigal. I can see why Karin loves this book. Its nearly 200 recipes are gathered from the French countryside—Sigal toured Normandy, Brittany, Burgundy and Provence to collect not only recipes, but stories about the land, people, shops, restaurants and chefs. And based on my first quick read, the recipes seem fairly straightforward and easy to prepare. There are any number of them I’m interested in trying—this downright simple pot roast from Arles in the South of France seemed like a great place to start. [click to continue...]

The International Home + Housewares Show was in Chicago this week. Here are a half dozen cool new tools and treats we saw there—plus a peek at some things yet to come.

The annual show at McCormick Place is the centerpiece of the International Housewares Association’s efforts to promote the housewares industry, attracting the world’s largest audience of home goods and housewares professionals, more than 60,000 every year. Both the exhibitors and the attendees reflect the global reach of the association. As Marion and I walked around the dine + design section of the show, we were on the lookout for interesting new tools, gadgets and ideas for home cooks. We weren’t disappointed.

1. Garlic Twist, NexTrend Products

I’ve never been a big fan of garlic presses. Too messy and too much garlic left behind in the press for me. So when it comes to chopping or mincing a clove or two of garlic, I’m all about doing it by hand. But when you need a lot of garlic? Or for that matter, any amount of minced or chopped ginger? Now you’re talking serious work.

Enter the Garlic Twist. Throw in a couple/few cloves of peeled garlic, twist it back and forth until they’re chopped to the desired consistency—from chopped to finely minced. That’s all impressive enough, but when we saw the inventor of the Garlic Twist demonstrating it at the show, I wanted to see it work on fresh ginger. We love cooking with fresh ginger, but chopping or mincing this fibrous root is time consuming. Not a problem. He threw a few chunks of ginger, complete with peel, into it, twisted it a handful of times and it was beautifully minced.

Clean up is easy too. Just throw it in the top shelf of the dishwasher. Finding the Garlic Twist is a little tougher. It’s available on a handful of websites, including Amazon.com, and at all Williams-Sonoma stores. Check the Garlic Twist website for details.

2. Scoop & Sift Flour Sifter, Cuisipro

We’re big fans of the smart design of Cuisipro kitchen tools—their silicone locking tongs have become indispensible in our kitchen, for instance. So we weren’t surprised that they had a number of intriguing new things in their booth at the Housewares Show. Including this Scoop and Sift Flour Sifter. [click to continue...]

Once considered peasant food, versatile polenta becomes a delicious, satisfying side dish with the addition of fresh sage, bacon and corn. Recipe below.

Even current descriptions of polenta reflect its humble beginnings: “Mush.” “Boiled cornmeal.” But despite this apparent image problem, it has been a popular staple throughout Italy just about forever—in fact, in Northern Italy, it outshines pasta. And in recent years, it’s gotten the star treatment makeover, going from humble to haute on numerous high-end restaurant menus.

Traditional polenta is generally slow cooked to a creamy consistency and usually includes some kind of cheese. It sets up pretty firmly as it cools and can be cut into squares or sticks or shaped into balls and fried for a completely different approach. Beyond these basics, there seem to be countless variations on the theme; just a search on Epicurious.com turns up nearly 150 polenta recipes. On its own, “boiled cornmeal” tastes about as bland as it sounds—it’s one of those ingredients, though, that takes on other flavors beautifully. When I came across a recipe in Bon Appétit that called for bacon and sage, I knew I was on to something. [click to continue...]

These days we’re constantly hearing of “superfoods” with all kinds of incredible health benefits. Well, pomegranates and pomegranate juice may be one of the most super.

It’s weird the things that stick with us. Because of a grade school teacher’s fascination with Roman mythology, I will forever link pomegranates with winter. Ceres, the harvest goddess, was a working mom who couldn’t always keep an eye on her daughter Prosperina. Naturally, she got herself whisked away by Hades, god of the underworld. Before she could be rescued, the poor child ate a few pomegranate seeds.

As a punishment, she had to return to the underworld for a corresponding number of months each year. Ceres, understandably distraught, would plunge the world into winter while her daughter was gone. Why eating a few pomegranate seeds should invoke such a punishment was never clearly explained. But every time I see a pomegranate, I think of ancient Rome, Ceres and winter.

Now, though, growing research has me looking at these seed-filled red globes in a whole new light. Apparently, Israeli scientists have been studying the health benefits of pomegranates and pomegranate juice for years, and recently, researchers around the world have joined in. And more than two years ago, NPR was proclaiming it the fruit du jour: “There’s pomegranate juice, vodka, salad dressing, ice cream, salsa, lollipops and gummy bears. You can put pomegranate essence in your hair [conditioning rinse] or on your skin [cream and perfume]. In the last few years, hundreds of new pomegranate products have come on the market.” [click to continue...]

A dry spice/herb/salt rub replaces liquid brining for the chicken, which is then roasted atop the lentils and vegetables, spreading its juices and flavor throughout the dish. Recipe below.

You know me and the B word. Sure, I’m an unrepentant Francophile, but I’m an even bigger bistrophile. Still, when I came across a cookbook titled Bistro Chicken and promising 101 bistro recipes with chicken, even I thought that was drilling a bit deep. Then I looked inside.

This pleasantly peasanty sounding dish was the first one I opened to, somewhere in the middle of the book. It seemed the kind of hearty, humble meal that might be one of a few offerings on a given night in a little neighborhood place. Or even the only dish in some smaller, more eccentric spot: “Here is what the chef made tonight. Eat it. You’ll like it.”

And you will like it. The chicken thighs are coated with a dry spice/herb/salt rub for 4 to 6 hours, effectively brining the meat without a liquid bath. Then the dish is built in layers for roasting. First, a bed of partially cooked lentils [French lentils from Puy, if you can get them]. Next, a layer of carrots and onions topped with a garlic/herb/spice mix. And finally, the chicken thighs, along with some water and wine. As the chicken roasts, its juices flow into the vegetable/lentil mix below, flavoring the entire dish. [click to continue...]

A host of home furnishings and accessories for cramped quarters, hanging out in a swell steakhouse with fellow food bloggers and an ice cream/frozen yogurt/sorbet store that lets you design your own flavors.

Okay, show of hands. Who out there doesn’t have square footage issues? The clever welcome mat above, available at Manhattan’s Tiny Living, says it all for most of us. And it’s one of nearly 150 different items chosen for space-challenged homes and apartments in a recent New York magazine online Shop•A•Matic. There are collapsible measuring cups and nesting measuring bowls for the kitchen; all sorts of storage boxes, units and racks; stackable and foldable chairs…everything designed with a small footprint in mind. And honestly, not everything is strictly speaking a spacesaver—I mean, throw pillows and curtains? But it’s all charming. And while some shops featured are solely New York stores, others like Urban Outfitters, Crate & Barrel, CB2 and Anthropologie can be found elsewhere. There are plenty of online shopping opportunities too. [click to continue...]