Dinner with friends; Guinea pigs for a night

Baby Squid crostini with Sriracha mayonnaise, avocado and coconut caviar.

Be a guinea pig in exchange for dinner. That was the invitation my friend Jennifer Touchstone sent. Jennifer and Brandon (a classmate from culinary school) held a dinner Friday to try out 6 courses on several of us. We served as taste testers for a dinner the Touchstones may host later. Check out what we tried!


Mustard and dandelion greens with toasted almonds and fresh peas with a tahini, miso and maple syrup dressing.


Creamed corn amuse bouche with fresh fava beans and crispy bacon.


Agnolotti pasta filled with labne (strained yogurt) and peas with a crab cream sauce.


Porchetta, or pork slow-roasted over 10 hours, with a rhubarb sauce and pickled vegetables.


Baba (yeast cake) with macerated strawberries, mascarpone-honey icing and candied arugula.


One half of the cooking team.

Thanks for a great dinner. I'm stealing your candied arugula idea.

Little Giant's Strawberry Rhubarb Smash

Looking for a cocktail that combines strawberries and rhubarb? Then check out a post I wrote for SAVEUR's Friday Cocktails weekly column:
Strawberry Rhubarb Smash

The recipe for the drink comes from Little Giant, a restaurant in the Lower East Side of New York City.

Big Apple Barbecue Block Party

See those juicy baby back ribs? Matt and I went to the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party today at Madison Square Park. We had ribs, brisket, sausages and baked beans.



We walked through the park, wondering where all the barbecue was until we got to 24th Street and Madison Avenue. People lined up at New York City barbecue vendors. But we wanted to try ribs from the heart of barbecue country.



I had heard of The Salt Lick Bar-B-Que in Driftwood, Texas. We stood in a long line to get to that brisket and sausage.

Matt hates waiting in lines. (He's standing behind the pregnant woman.)



I could taste the smoke. And the sauce just made the brisket so good.



Matt's family is from southern Illinois, so we had to try barbecue from 17th Street Bar & Grill from Murphysboro, Illinois.


Ahh. Ribs.

Big Apple Barbecue Block Party is still going on Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Madison Square Park, 23rd Street and Madison Avenue, New York.

Barbecue Rubs

Hi guys,

I've been super busy working as a test kitchen intern at SAVEUR for three months. I helped test recipes for BBQ Nation, the June/July 2011 issue. Here is a post I wrote on Barbecue Rubs:

10 Great Barbecue Dry Rubs You Ought to Know About

- Jenny