You Really Can Make Ceviche at Home, I Promise

There are some things that we seem to have a mental block for home cooking. And despite our constant ordering of sushi and the rise of poke bowls, we are all still so hesitant to make anything with raw fish at home.

But why? If you have a good grocery store in your area (or even a local fishmonger) there is no reason to not bring the popular concoctions home.

One of my favorites is ceviche. I'm a sucker for lime and I'm an especially huge fan of the Peruvian version which adds corn and sweet potatoes to the mix.

So I went over to Mission Ceviche to chat with Chef Jose Luis Chavez about his thoughts on choosing your seafood for ceviche. From raw fish to varieties that are cooked (hello shrimp and octopus) it is totally doable to have a bit of ceviche from your own fridge.

VideoAli RosenMay 11, 2018ceviche, Peru, South America, lime, fish, seafood, lunch, sweet potato, cornComment

Get Your Hands on Some Palm Pesto

I'm a little giddy around this spring weather. It makes me want to have light, bright and healthy every single day. But salads and rice bowls can get exceptionally boring.

I recently went to a restaurant that had a chopped hearts of palm salsa on top of a fish. It was tart and refreshing - and everything I want in my springtime meals. So I took the idea and made it into a lunchtime-friendly all purpose pesto kind of sauce. It's basically just throwing a bunch of deliciousness in a blender and then making sure you keep some on hand for anything you want to brighten up.

I made it for a rice bowl and then literally ate it for lunch every single day for a week. I started pouring it on eggs in the morning and salads at night. It's the very definition of cheap and cheerful.

Blog, Ali's Recipes, Cooking, Food, RecipeAli RosenMay 7, 2018pesto, sauce, rice bowl, hearts of palm, walnuts, nuts, basil, 30 Minutes or Less, lunch, weekday, Served Cold, Day AheadComment

What Makes a Great Cutting Board?

So much of how we stock a kitchen ends up being about timing. When you are first moving in and someone hands you a few hand-me-downs, those items can often stick around longer than intended. I am so guilty of this - I have ladles I never use or semi-cracked strainers that I should just give up on. But the place with the most knick-knacks in my kitchen is cutting boards.

My cutting boards are like varying stages of my life: cheap plastic ones to get the job done; a tiny one that I bought once for a picnic; a wooden one I bought as a surfboard for my son's halloween costume (true story) that now I just use; and a really nice one from when we got married.

But of all the items in your kitchen, there are few we actually use more than the cutting board. So shouldn't we have a more purposeful collection that can work in any scenario? I went to Gotham Bar & Grill to sit down and chat about it with Chef and Owner Alfred Portale. When I had stopped in recently to try their new bar menu I was enamored with their cutting boards - and then someone informed me that he makes them. I can barely make it out of my house in the morning. So I knew I had to sit down with Alfred and get his take on how we should all be using out cutting boards.

Ali RosenMay 2, 2018Kitchen, equipment, interview, woodComment

The Shoulder Season Stunner is Zucchini Parm

It is sunny here in New York today but this will-it-or-won't-it spring still has me hankering for something comforting. So what do you do think this shoulder weather?

Enter the zucchini parm. It's the lightened up version, a lot of vegetables, a lot of freshness with basil and lemon an still a bit of cheese to bring it together. It can be prepped ahead, which for me is usually half the battle.

So if you need an easy, warming meal, I can't think of anything better

Kitchen Organizational Help is Here, and It Couldn't Come Soon Enough

For those of you who follow along with my instagram (hi!), you might know that I am at the tail end of a kitchen renovation. It's super exciting since I will now have a space to film that is totally set up for it - an awesome new stage for this little show.

But of course the larger issue with a new kitchen is figuring out the set up. And even those who have been in a kitchen for a long time can sometimes need to make our life more efficient. There is a little dance we do every time we cook, moving from spot to spot as we go from prep to cooking to cleanup. Anyone who can make that easier is a godsend.

Enter Melissa Coleman, author of the blog The Faux Martha and the new book The Minimalist Kitchen. I love her style and her easy bright personality. The book is full of incredible recipes but also a lot of tips and tricks for paring down the clutter and getting organized. So there was no more fitting first guest in the kitchen. You'll have to excuse the lighting (better lights coming soon) and ignore the fact that there were no cabinets above us (ha! careful framing) but the advice is about as top notch as it gets.

Cookbook, Blog, Interview, VideoAli RosenApril 27, 2018kitchen, cookbook, interview, organize, easyComment

This Cucumber Salad Wins the Trifecta of Being Beautiful, Easy and a Little Kooky

I was recently in LA doing some book promo for Bring It! and every kept telling me to go to Kismet. So we went early enough where we could take my son (and...to be honest... when they would let us in without making a reservation weeks in advance). The style and service was very LA - interpret that how you will - but I was really delighted by a lot of the fun and ease of a lot of the dishes.

One dish in particular was a cucumber and orange salad sitting on a little bed of labneh with a lot of surrounding spices. It struck me as such a cool presentation for a salad - leaving the dressing as part of the image, rather than tossed together or drizzled on top.

I got home and decided to make a slightly more home-cook friendly version using a fruit that is coming back into season - grapes! And I also figured that I would char them because why not and I love my broiler.

Surprisingly Gluten-Free Empanadas

I have to admit that I am always a skeptic when someone says 'gluten-free'. Often-times substitutions just mean something that tastes a lot worse than the original. But when something is already gluten-free - like a great flourless chocolate cake - I am right on board.

You would not think that empanadas fit into that category but in Ecuador they actually do. That's because they use starchy plantains to make the dough. When I first head about Luis Jaramillo's version at his restaurant Fifty I was intrigued. And then I tasted them and now I am a convert.

Video, Chefs, Food, Cooking, RecipeAli RosenApril 24, 2018recipe, gluten-free, appetizer, Ecuador, South America, pork, dough, foodComment

Oh Hey, Oprah and Martha Love Bring It! Too!

It's been so amazing in the last month to see Bring It! out in the world. When you write a cookbook it is years of testing and tasting and writing and then suddenly one day everyone gets in on the action.

And it's also been super exciting to see support from all kinds of places. Oprah shared 4 of the recipes - too bad she doesn't have a book club! Martha Stewart shared some of my potluck tips. And Good Morning America recommends a girls night in.

And if you want to blow off work and watch me cook some watermelon ribs and mango puffs while getting a little bit tipsy with Food and Wine's Justin Chapple on his show Mad Genius, you can watch the video below.

And if you haven't ordered it yet, you can always do it at this link - and if you want a signed bookplate to put in the book just shoot me an email at bringitcookbook@gmail.com and I will send you one!

Blog, CookbookAli RosenApril 19, 2018Bring It, Martha Stewart, Oprah, Food & WineComment

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