Blog Posts by Gourmet

by Kemp Minifie, Gourmet
Unless you have a vegetable garden, or a friend or neighbor who does, you likely haven't seen the gargantuan zucchinis that peek out from beneath a canopy of wide squash leaves around this time of year. It's as if they balloon from baby-squash cute to ginormous in the span of a couple of days, not weeks. City slickers like me, who normally only have access to farmers market produce, won't see these behemoths, but they are the real stuff of zucchini jokes and unwanted gifts.

Next-door neighbors in northern New Hampshire, where we go on vacation, practically pleaded with us to eat from their vegetable patch, and now I get why. I stumbled upon a four-pound zeppelin while hunting for some tender little zucchinis. My neighbor stuffs and bakes the blimps, but I immediately thought about some individual zucchini pecorino frittatas (recipe below) baked by former Gourmet magazine food editor/stylist Lori Powell, now the food director at Prevention Magazine.

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If you're strapped for time, do yourself a favor by not doing these five things when you cook.
by Lesley Porcelli, Gourmet

CN Digital StudioHow do you make your broccoli rabe?" asked my babysitter one afternoon. "I saw a chef on the food channel blanching it in hot water first, then putting it in an ice water bath, then sautéing it…"

I sighed. Granted, this is the proper way to get gorgeous, emerald-green broccoli rabe, and I appreciate the position TV chefs are in, with all that time to fill. Still, I couldn't help noticing that all these steps set up more obstacles for home cooks who are curious to try new things but don't necessarily have time for the work involved. It's intimidating-doubly so for parents, especially new parents, who can barely keep their carpets clear of tiny jingling toys. As a new mom, I'm not about to voluntarily fill my countertops with nine bowls and pans, no matter how appealing the recipe.

So here, parents, and everybody else, I'm throwing you a bone. Here are five things

No need to make reservations or stare blankly into the fridge. A mother's perfect midday meal is all about doing leftovers right.
by Lesley Porcelli, Gourmet

Remember that utter exhaustion from college, when you'd pull not one but several all-nighters in a row? And then when all your finals were over, how you'd sleep for 13 hours straight, and then another 12 the next night? Well, the first months of parenthood are like those days of consecutive all-nighters, but without the promise of a good night's sleep anytime in the future, and with a new roommate who likes yelling in your face, to boot.

It's no wonder that new mothers say they can't find time to shower or feed themselves; it's not the time that's really a factor (anyone can strap their howling baby into a bouncy seat for a few minutes) but the brainpower it takes to successfully complete a task under these conditions. (Wait, is it "rinse first" or "lather first?") The fog of sleep deprivation is simply so thick, that even if

by Gourmet

FROZEN FUDGE POPS
recipe by Melissa Roberts
MAKES: 8 TO 10 ICE POPS
ACTIVE TIME: 10 MIN
START TO FINISH: 1 DAY (INCLUDES FREEZING)

Some of us remember clamoring for a fudge pop as soon as we heard the jingle of the ice cream truck. Others reminisce about walking down to the corner store on a sultry August afternoon, reaching into the frosty ice chest for one of these frozen treats, and then peeling back the thin paper wrapper for that first cool bite. These homemade fudge pops, which call for just five ingredients you may already have on hand, will bring your memories to life: They taste smooth, deeply chocolaty, just right.

See more: 19 Sweet and Savory Ways to Eat Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS
- 3 cups low-fat milk (1% or 2% milk fat)
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

EQUIPMENT
- 8 (1/3-cup) or 10 (1/4-cup) ice pop

Veteran food editor Kemp Minifie picks favorites with staying power
by Kemp Minifie, Gourmet

"What would be your top timeless recipes from Gourmet?" asked Tanya Steel, editor-in-chief of Gourmet Live and Epicurious.com. My first reaction was a momentary brain freeze at the enormity of the challenge-I spent more than 30 years at the magazine, and its archives date back seven decades. Then my mind jumped to the French classics: Visions of Escoffier and Brillat-Savarin wagged their whisks at me as images of standards like boeuf bourguignon, coq au vin, and mousse au chocolat flipped like flash cards through my head. After all, we can't even talk food in this country without speaking Franglais, with words like cuisine, sauté, braise, roux, and chef rolling off our tongues as easily as bacon and eggs.

Yet timeless is not the same as classic. Think enduring, or ageless, instead. And while there's no doubt French cuisine will endure, so will many other cuisines. Meanwhile, we Americans,

by Kelly Senyei, Gourmet
A few weeks ago I was at a nail salon when I smelled an unordinary odor amid wafts of nail polish, tool sanitizer, and cuticle oil: It was a full-bodied whiff of none other than Italian salad dressing. I peered over my shoulder to discover a woman perched atop a pedicure chair, toes submerged in sudsy foam, fork full throttle from her mouth to a large bowl of pasta salad with roasted summer vegetables.

See more: 19 Sweet and Savory Ways to Eat Ice Cream

My eyes wandered downward, as the nail technician dried her feet and began razoring off dead skin from her heels like fresh curls from a parmesan wheel. My first reaction: nausea. My second reaction: Who eats in a nail salon?

Naturally, I shared this story with my fellow editors at Gourmet Live and Epicurious, which led to a passionate discussion about the grossest places ever to eat a meal. We're counting down our Top 10, but we want you to weigh in with your vote below for the nastiest

by Kemp Minifie, Gourmet
Beets, along with their bushy plumage of greens, are currently enjoying prime time status in farmers markets. The beet roots are plump and heavy with juice, the stalks are still youthfully sturdy-not withering with age-and the leaves live up to their name: They're vibrantly green.

What galls me is watching the number of shoppers who request the greens be removed when it's their turn at the cash register. Even sadder is the willingness with which the farmers or their assistants hack off the leaves without a word of encouragement to the unwitting buyer to keep them intact.

See more: 19 Sweet and Savory Ways to Eat Ice Cream

Why do you think beets are sold with the greens, anyway? It's not just a marketing ploy, although robust greens means the roots are fresh. They're edible! You don't usually see the poisonous green leaves attached to rhubarb stalks, do you? But saying you can eat the leaves doesn't do them justice. They're loaded with

By Kendra Vizcaino-Lico, Gourmet

CHARCOAL GRILLING INSTRUCTIONS:
- Open vents on bottom of grill. Light a large chimney starter full of charcoal (preferably hardwood).

For Direct-heat Cooking: When coals are lit, dump them out across bottom rack, leaving a space free of coals on one side of grill equal to the size of the food to be grilled where food can be moved in case of any flare-ups.

See more: 19 Sweet and Savory Ways to Eat Ice Cream

For Indirect-heat Cooking:
When coals are lit, dump them out along two opposite sides of bottom rack, leaving a space free of charcoal in middle of rack equal to the size of the food to be grilled.

For Direct- or Indirect-heat:
When charcoal turns grayish white (start checking coals after 15 minutes), the grill will be at its hottest and will then begin to cool off. How long you can hold your hand 5 inches above the grill rack directly over the coals determines the heat of your grill, as follows: 


- Hot: 1 to 2 seconds

- Medium Hot: 3 to