kthread » butter

crisply, on a holiday weekend

Kristen Taylor — Sun, 24 May 2009 21:13:17 +0000

I always crave seafood on summer weekends, and this afternoon I sautéed a soft-shell crab in lard to top roasted red potatoes with pesto.

(Flour the crab, tap off excess, fry in two tablespoons of fat on high heat for two minutes a side.)

Tempted to make pesto from whatever green winks at me in the kitchen, sprouted sunflower greens (about a cup) with a few walnuts, an eighth of a cup of parmesan, one clove of garlic, and two tablespoons olive oil became a mild paste stirred into warm potatoes.

And the bits left in the pan sizzled with the browning butter that I poured over the crab, sprinkled with Sel Gris, and picked up, letting the juice run down my arm and onto the potatoes that are best eaten without a fork in the sunshine…

while my butter gently weeps

Kristen Taylor — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:46:02 +0000

Setting the banana bread on the ledge to cool, I listened to the birds singing and sipped fresh buttermilk—the lagniappe from making butter yesterday (recipe).

As it keeps, new butter weeps into the parchment paper wrapper—throwing off milk droplets—and it melts gracefully into warm bread with a crispy crust.

Steadying food for a morning after floating through courses at Sra. Martinez in the Miami Design District last night with Jessica, who is one of my favorite people to explore menus with:

Look beyond the cheese plate (Manchego, Valderon, Murcia al Vino) to the crispy artichokes, quartered with their stems and just right with a Lavender Sidecar—a reminder that something fried with a light touch is a good beginning to a series of small plates,

and then there was a salad with dark roasted beets (think how beautiful this would be with Chioggias), purpled apple slices (I imagine, like the Murcia cheese, soaked in wine), a piped star of blue cheese and almonds.

The kitchen sent out spiced corn, a vegetable dish to rival the beets (don’t bother with the brussels or the sweet potatoes on the menu), and then a chocolate cake that, as Jess explains, we saved until most of the yogurt ice cream had melted into the accompanying basil oil and tomato marmalade—that, like Miami at its best, was strangely beautiful and a surprise…

cupcake goodness and butter

Kristen Taylor — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 05:21:18 +0000

I flew back tonight to be at Jean Marc and Daniel’s party. They forgave me for being late, and we all sat near the koi pool (I counted at least four separate pools), and after stuffed dates, chicken satay, and homemade pizza, there were beautiful cupcakes:

This is to introduce Jean Marc and my new friend Jay (the camera loves him); you’ll very likely see more of both of them here soon—and more later today on my drive through the Southwest…