Feast

So, here's what's new with me...my second cookbook, Feast: Generous Meals for Any Eater and Every Appetite is on bookshelves, now. Hooray, Hooray! It's a good day. Soon, and very soon, I'll be back with details about events + signings. In the meantime, here's where you can find it.  

~

Chronicle Books

Amazon

Barnes & Noble 

Jessica's Biscuit

xx Sarah

{Books} For the Very Fond of Food

My friend Andrea Nguyen has said, Anthropologie is the holy grail of lifestyle books. It's also a communal happy place, one of my favorite spaces to escape and dream up a prettier world. So imagine my delight when I got an email on Saturday morning alerting me that The Newlywed Cookbook was now on their shelves. Hooray! That was my big, big hope.

I'm a complete sucker for the kinds of books Anthropologie deems worthy of their little book nooks -- dreamy, inspired, playful, happy, beautiful and full of mouthwatering food. Here are a few others I love, from their virtual bookshelves, perfect for gifting {even to yourself} to anyone who is very fond of food.

Very Fond of Food 
Who wouldn't love a book called Very Fond of Food? An absolute kill-joy, that's who. I adored Sophie Dahl's luscious, down-to-earth first book, Ms. Dahl's Volumptious Delights: A Recipe for Every Season, Mood, and Appetite. I'm only a teeny, tiny bit jealous she gets to name her books these playful, poetic titles.

Ripe
I've been looking forward to this book for a long time. You  might already know I think fruits and vegetables are the greatest thing since sliced bread {I do realize that's a gross oxymoron}. And, if you're familiar with Cheryl Sternman Rule's award winning blog, 5 Second Rule, you know what a pleasure it is to read her writing. What better excuse to dive into her color-drenched pages?

Plenty
Yotam Ottolengi's Plenty was a smash success in London before my publisher, Chronicle Books, repackaged it for American eyes. And what a beautiful package it is. This is full of unexpected, inspired vegetarian food for anyone {omnivores included} who loves flavor.

The Good Life
What's with all these lucky ducks nailing these one in a million book titles? This one worked on me. I picked it right up and paged through inviting moment after moment of pies, breads, biscuits, ice cream, sausage, vegetables and more. From Australian chef Adrian Richardson, this book is full of texture and the kind of recipes I want to go home and cook, right now, for everyone I love.

P.S. You might have noticed I'm sensitive about titles today. These are four sensational ones. I'm still working on nailing the perfect title for my yet-unamed Mostly Vegetarian cookbook, due in 14 days {but who's counting}. Any suggestion? I'd love to hear from you!

{Test Kitchen} Penne with Pumpkin, Rosemary and Pine Nuts, and A Sneak Preview of Other Mostly Vegetarian Feasts

Hi friends. Thank you so much for coming back to read. You deserve a big thank you for humoring me.
I know my site has been all The Newlywed Cookbook all the time lately. While I hope it's brought you to many delicious recipes and ideas from my book, and the spirit of love I hope everyone is surrounded with, newlywed or not,  I want you to know there's still more to Edible Living than just the book. It's just it is so super duper exciting to put something you love so dearly into print, one can get carried away.

In case you're missing some of the old me, the simply just enjoying and sharing good food me, this post is for you. It's a little sneak peek into what's been happening in my kitchen the last 6 weeks, where I'm at work on another labor of love, a new cookbook with even more recipes than the last. This book, which for today I'm calling Mostly Vegetarian, is a book full of so many delicious and incredibly satisfying foods that just happen not to have meat, so that means everyone can eat them, whether you normally eat meat or not. In it you'll find foods like Penne with Pumpkin, Rosemary and Pine Nuts {above} and Kabocha Squash Soup with Spiced Fennel Butter and Harissa {below}. You'll also find essential tips and techniques for how to prepare every vegetable under the sun and, guess what, even how to grow them! {Hooray! My favorite part}.

That book is not out until 2013, but until then I'll be posting live from the test kitchen and the garden every now and then, sharing what's in the works with you. I hope you'll join me for the fun, and the dishes. Oh, the dishes.

Thank you, as always, for stopping in. And while you're here, will you tell me about your favorite Mostly Vegetarian kind of meal?

xo
Sarah

Charleston Wine & Food Festival

I've told you all that I'm a southern girl at heart, right? And, if you have my new book, you might have noticed the shrimp-and-grits-spirit sprinkled throughout. It started long ago around Grandma Copeland's table in southern Missou-rah, which us Northerner's considered the south. There, I ate enough hot biscuits and sausage gravy, butter beans and cherry cobbler to make me an honorary G.R.I.T.S (Girls Raised in the South). But I got southern bug the first time I attended an oyster roast in Charleston about five years ago. I've been thinking about it ever since, so I'm headed back next weekend for a southern cooking fix and a good, long, overdue visit with one of my best girlfriends, Anjee, who recently made Charleston her home.


For anyone who grew up with even a little southern bone in their body, Charleston is a one sweet tea away from Heaven. Which is why I'm tickled pink (seriously) to be spending next weekend at the Charleston Wine + Food Festival, signing books alongside Nathalie Dupree, the queen bee of Charleston cooking herself. 


Here's where you'll find me: 

Author Book Signing

Saturday, March 3, 1 to 2 PM

Sunday, March 4, 1 to 2 PM 

buy tickets here! 


Come on down, ya'll! I'd absolutely love to see you there. 


xo
Sarah

Bubbly + Books {A Book Signing for The Newlywed Cookbook}

i'm over the moon excited to be toasting and signing books tomorrow night at Chelsea Market Basket, and guess who is invited. why you, of course!

{you're invited} The Newlywed Cookbook Valentine's Tour, and a Bittersweet Chocolate Tart

{photos by sara remington}

It's Thursday, which means there's still plenty of time to go out and buy loads and loads of bittersweet chocolate before the weekend. That's a very good thing, first, because it's February, the month of Valentine's! And second, it's the start of the official Valentine's launch party for my new book, The Newlywed Cookbook. And where there is a Valentine's party, there will be chocolate. 

Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I dream myself in an airy Soho loft, where I'd invite you all to come for slender slivers of my Bittersweet Chocolate Tart with Smoked Sea Salt and a glass of pink champagne. We'd celebrate in high style, we would. But as I write from our snug new york city studio {we are newlyweds, after all}, it's hard to imagine more than two or three of you here at once. Still, our hearts are big and full of the love and joy that always precedes a feast among friends, so, feast we will!

For the next thirteen days, many talented writers, some old friends and many new ones, will be cooking from The Newlywed Cookbook,  sharing their story of food and love along with one of my recipes for you on their blogs! We, whether married two years or twelve years or not-yet-married-at-all, are toasting to the spirit of newlyweds ~ to the the joy and curiosity and abundant love that is at the heart of this book.

The menu, if I do say so myself, is quite delightful, and includes all the major valentines food groups. On it you'll find....

Rise and Shine Muffins ~ Oatmeal Yogurt Pancakes with Blackberry Crush ~ Ricotta Silver Dollar Pancakes ~ Multigrain Pancakes with Chocolate Shavings ~ Roasted Beets with Ricotta and Pistachios ~ Two-For-Two Cheese Souffle ~ Halibut with Coriander and Carrots ~  Grilled Lamb Chops with Melted Polenta ~ Cast Iron Skillet Steak ~ Dowry Dinner Rolls Chocolate Bread & Butter Pudding ~ 1000-Layer Chocolate Cookies~ Olive Oil Cake with Tangerine Marmalade

We invite you to come taste these recipes and hear the stories of these talented writers and friends here...

Dorie Greenspan ~ Diary of a Locavore ~  Aida Mollenkamp ~   Just A Little Organic ~ E.A.T. ~ Mom's Kitchen Handbook ~ Spoonful of Cake ~ Nancie McDermott ~ Farmhouse ~ Lucid Food  ~ Crumbs On My Keyboard ~ Dessert-o-Licious ~ Dallas Food Nerd ~ The June Cleaver Blog ~ Cherryspoon ~ Healthy And Happy Hour

To show our love for our readers and hopefully inspire some loving feasts in your home, each of us will be giving away a copy of The Newlywed Cookbook to one lucky reader. Kindly leave me (and them) a comment and tell us your story of food and love for your chance to win.


Meanwhile, while I regret that I can't cook you my Bittersweet Chocolate Tart myself, I'm so happy to share the recipe with you. I promise that your skill-set in the pastry department is of no matter; this is one simple, sensational valentine's treat you and your love won't regret embarking upon. 

Come, bring your beloveds, bring your friends as we toast to love. May your hearts and tables be filled!

xo, 
Sarah

Bittersweet Chocolate Tart with Smoked Sea Salt

~

Despite its handsome finish, this tart couldn’t be easier. The crust gets its tenderness from sugar and melted butter, pressed in instead of rolled for ease. It is completely simple, and sinfully elegant. The flavor comes from the chocolate and the cream, so splurge on the highest quality of both you can find.  Your loved ones are worth it.

Serves 12
{Crust}

1/2 cup/115 g unsalted butter, melted

3 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Pinch of fine sea salt

1 cup/115 g all-purpose/plain flour

{Filling}

1/2 cup/120 ml heavy cream

1/2 cup/120 ml whole milk

2 tbsp sugar

Pinch of fine sea salt

7 oz/200 g high-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped {1 heaping cup}

1 large egg, beaten

Smoked sea salt {optional}

Preheat the oven to 350˚F/180°C/gas 4.

Make the crust: Whisk together the melted butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add the flour and stir until it feels like damp sand. Press the dough evenly along the bottom and up the sides of an 8-in/20-cm square or 9-in/ 23-cm round tart pan/flan tin with a removable bottom {which makes it much easier to remove the tart in one piece. If you don’t have a tart pan/flan tin, you can make this tart in a springform pan; press the dough evenly across the bottom and only about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 in/3 to 4 cm up the side of the pan}. Use wax/greaseproof paper or buttered fingers to even out and press the dough tightly into the corners. Prick the crust all over with a fork and chill in the fridge until ready to bake, about 30 minutes.

Set the pan on a baking sheet/tray and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Make the filling: While the crust bakes, bring the cream, milk, sugar, and salt to a simmer in a medium saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Let it sit for about 2 minutes, without stirring. Starting in the middle of the pan, whisk together until the chocolate is evenly melted and the mixture a smooth and a shiny dark brown.

Whisk the beaten egg into the chocolate filling and pour the filling directly into the hot crust. Decrease the oven to 300˚ F/150˚C/gas 2 and return the tart to the oven. Bake until the filling is set, but still a little wiggly in the center, about 12 to 15 minutes (temperatures vary from oven to oven, so the visual clue is more important than time}. Set your timer for 12 minutes. If it looks mostly set at that point, test it by opening the oven door a crack and carefully jiggle the tart pan/flan tin with the edge of your oven mitt. Only the center third should wobble. If it wobbles all the way to the edge, close the door quickly and continue baking about 2 to 3 minutes more.

Remove and cool the tart completely on a rack at room temperature. Just before the tart cools and sets completely, sprinkle a few large flakes of smoked salt on the surface, or leave plain.

Remove the tart from the pan sides and carefully transfer to a platter before serving. Let it cool just until it slices easily. It melts in your mouth when served slightly warm, with a dollop of crème fraiche, if you wish, for extra decadence. Or cool completely, and serve by itself. 

P.S. The deep, smoky flavor of smoked sea salt is a fine complement to the rich chocolate, but this tart is just as elegant with big flakes of white sea salt, or if you’re a chocolate purist, no salt at all. 

{a date night show & tell} The Newlywed Cookbook Trailer

it's not supposed to snow in october. not when there's still tomatoes and zucchini at the market. not when the table's set for two on the little cafe table out back. but it did. just a few days after our anniversary. so we had our picnic anyway, on the living room floor. it was one of the best date nights we've had in ages.....

{tremendous thanks to our friends jim & iri, of brakethrough media and panforte productions, who were there too, with their cameras, to give you a peek into what lies inside the pages of The Newlywed Cookbook}

The Newlywed Cookbook ~ a preview

{photos by Sara Remington}

I'm so excited, honored and grateful for all the calls, emails, tweets and posts from friends and family whose copies of my first book, The Newlywed Cookbook: Fresh Ideas and Modern Recipes for Cooking With and For Each Other, landed on their doorsteps in the last few days, just in time for Christmas. We didn't expect the pre-orders to arrive until the last day of December, and books to hit the book stores  until the first of January.

Surprise, they are here! In bookstores {like Barnes and Noble}, online {Amazon} and wherever books are sold, as they say. I'm overwhelmed and beyond delighted by all the people who've told me they've found the pages to be beautiful, delicious and inspiring.

My New Year's wish and hope is that everyone who loves to cook ~ whether they be a newlywed, oldywed, almost wed or never wed, a twosome or a family ~ could have their own copy to dig into {this book is about so much more than cooking; it's about really living!}. In the meantime, here, a preview of a few of my favorite spreads and recipes, to wet your appetite. Please, enjoy, share and treat yourself to something truly satisfying with someone you love.

{get dirty, get growing and get green!}

{farm fresh. in every color, shape and size you dream of}

{a fat stack you won't soon forget}

{a luscious egg sandwich, pretty please}

{swirls of spaghetti, darling? Just one of the ways to treat the ones you love}

{well hello there. you're not quite like any other chocolate chip cookie I've ever seen}

 {let's run away together, just for the day}

 More previews, recipes and a schedule of when and where I'll be signing books to come.

xx

Newlyweds Cook {food for forever newlyweds}

As some of you already know, my first cookbook, The Newlywed Cookbook: Fresh Ideas and Modern Recipes for Cooking with and For Each Other, is coming out in just a few short months. I can’t wait to finally share the recipes and foods that sustain the sweet (and sometimes salty) life I share with my hubby, András.

There’s the temptation to hear the word Newlywed and write off the topic as something only for real newbies. Honeymooners. But here’s the thing: Somewhere between getting married and writing a book proposal and signing a contract and writing said book, András and I celebrated our one-year anniversary. And then our two-year anniversary. And next month, just before the book hits the shelves, we’ll celebrate anniversary number three.

What is a newlywed, exactly? By definition, it’s someone recently married. The way I see it, in the big picture of a marriage that I very much hope tops five or six decades, we’ll be recently married for many years to come. But more importantly, we still feel like newlyweds, and in many ways (despite the recent addition of our baby bird, Greta), we still live like newlyweds too.

One of my life goals is to always live with András like newlyweds, to cook and eat together with the same reckless joy and passion of that first year together. In that spirit, I want to hear from other newlyweds and forever newlyweds about their lives together, to learn about what makes their relationship tick, how they share meals and messes in the kitchen, what they cook, and where they eat out when they’re not cooking, all of which has inspired the launch of my new column, Newlyweds Cook: Food for Forever Newlyweds. This is a column for newlyweds, oldyweds, almost weds and never weds who love cooking, eating and celebrating life together.

To honor our title, I’ve invited a newer newlywed to join me as our Newlywed Editor as we begin our pursuit to tell the stories and share the recipes (mine, hers and sometimes theirs) that keep us all well fed. I’m going to introduce you to her and her hunky hubby tomorrow, so please come back and meet them. In the meantime, get into your kitchen and flirt with your sous chef.  We’ll be looking for twosomes all over the globe to join our column month-by-month and share the things that make your kitchen the spirited center of your nest.

xx, 

Sarah

P.S. Follow us on twitter @NewlywedsCook

Blackberry Magic {and one delicious casualty}

In the making of a beautiful food photo are dozens of details that have to line up just right. Props have to be picked so not to steal the show from the food. Linens need pressed. Light needs evaluated. The food needs to be created and cooked and placed just so. And on top of all that, there has to be a little magic ~ that little something that makes the food pop off the plate and into your soul so that you are compelled, if not utterly convicted that you too must have a plate of magic.

Twice this summer, I spent an entire week with a team of six talented ladies who are each bringing their expertise and eye together to make sure my very first cookbook is beautiful. We gathered props from our own collections and begged and borrowed linens, plates and platters. We scoured grocery stores and garden stores and farmer's market for the freshest most locally grown ingredients. And then we began.

During these weeks of method and madness, there were moments when all six of us screamed "it's gorgeous!" and gathered round to stare and stare and stare at a plate of uneaten food.

One such moment happened midweek just before lunch time. I stacked up a plate of my fat oatmeal-yogurt pancakes and piled them high with Greek yogurt and blackberry crush. The sun came in and fell softly upon every swirl and curl, bouncing off the berries in a luscious glow. And then, after Sara Remington {the very talented photographer I'm lucky to have on my team} got the very last photo, six forks descended upon the plate like we'd been starved for a century.

One of those forks fell on clumsy hands {mine} and soon one dark, delicious drip made itself at home on Sara's linen. I am very, very lucky I know how to cook. Sara took her turn at the pancakes, declared them delicious and turned a blind eye to my mistake.

I wish I could share some blackberry magic with you while they're still in season. You'll have to wait for the book to get the recipe {sorry, you're going to hear that from me a lot in the next year}. I promise, it's worth the wait. But don't wait until then to go out and make some magic of your own. Summer still looms in luscious berries and the last of summer peaches and nectarines, early figs and plums. Go out and discover them!

In the meantime, you'll be hearing a lot more about the talented beauties behind my book, and of the many moments behind the scenes that make a book what it is before it gets into your hands.