Chic Eats explores the science and techniques behind great food. Seasonal recipes are inspired by the Santa Monica Farmers Market.
Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. Sent on an irregular basis, it s a grab bag of recipes and curated finds that are interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Opinionated With roots in Yemen, zhug has as many iterations (and almost as many names) as cooks who make it, because food s superpower is how it quietly ignores maps and distance. There’s…
RECIPE UPDATED 7/23/26 Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Resourcefulness Mango season in Southern California is short but fragrantly sweet. And without fail, the mangoes ripen faster than I can eat them—as if quietly…
Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Pizzicletta I visit Pizzicletta at least three times on each visit to Flagstaff and always come away inspired. One of the specials at the Dark Sky location was a Sourdough Baked Potato…
Newsletter Sign up at the bottom of this page for the free Chic Eats newsletter. It includes new recipes along with a grab bag of curated content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Version 2.0 This naturally-leavened Neapolitan-style pizza dough was inspired by a conversation I had with Pizzicletta s chef-owner, Caleb Schiff. My first version is made with 00 flour and is…
Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Scratchpad Like many cooks, I have countless recipes that come and go from the dinner table. I jot down just about everything that I make, but most of it never reaches Chic Eats before I…
Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Scratchpad Like many cooks, I have countless recipes that come and go from the dinner table. I jot down just about everything that I make, but most of it never reaches Chic Eats before I…
Below is an excerpt from a previous newsletter that s graduating to the site. I added some extra Harold McGee wisdom for good measure. Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Filling the Void If you are what you eat, then I am…
Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Bewildered In my kitchen sat a bowl of tomatoes on the brink, as happens every summer, so I thumbed through old recipes looking for a way to honor their quiet excellence. It was Gjelina’s…
Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Stroganoff Vibes I ate this toast at Gjelina well over six years ago, and it has been patiently waiting on my bottomless to-cook list ever since. Roll forward to this year s tomato season…
Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Scratchpad Like many cooks, I have countless recipes that come and go from the dinner table. I jot down just about everything that I make, but most of it never reaches Chic Eats before I…
Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Gentle Fails I tend to skip recipes that call for store-bought sweetened coconut since it s just not an ingredient I m partial to. It wasn t until I absentmindedly agreed to a birthday…
POST UPDATED 7/25/2026 Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. On a Pedestal Articulating the sensory delight of black garlic is difficult, akin to comprehending the vastness of the universe but through the language of flavor.…
Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Focaccia Back in July, the table bread at NYC s Gramercy Tavern was a focaccia made with sun-dried tomatoes, rosemary, and then finished with herb oil baked on top. Maybe it was the great…
Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Tomatillo Salsa Purple tomatillos (pictured above) have a similar flavor to green. They re slightly less tart but the two are interchangeable in this recipe. Pairing the sweet-tart notes…
The newsletter is free but only available via email. Subscribing is easy -- just scroll to the bottom of this page. And since it s nice to know what you re signing up for, below is one of the newsletters for you to read through. With that housekeeping out of the way, welcome to Chic Eats. I m Cynthia, the writer and photographer for the site. My inbox is always open so please don t hesitate to get…
Newsletter Sign up at the bottom of this page for the free Chic Eats newsletter. It includes new recipes along with a grab bag of curated content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Magic Dust Despite knowing how the story ends when making this recipe, I never cease to be amazed when the cabbage transitions rather abruptly from smelling fresh and briny to smelling…
RECIPE UPDATED 6/18/26 Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Summer s Bounty Greengage plums...Looking at one cut open is like gazing into the depths of an emerald. - Andy s Orchard Maybe it was those romantic descriptions or…
I mentioned this Sweet 100 Tomato Jam while chatting up the folks at Munak Ranch and two other shoppers asked for details. Their enthusiasm was noted so I fast tracked this post since quality tomatoes are hanging around and sweet 100s can still be found. Adapted from Nicole Rucker s Dappled and inspired by Mourad Lahlou s New Moroccan, this jam has a permanent parking spot in my freezer. It isn t…
RECIPE UPDATED 9/14/25 Newsletter Sign up at the bottom of this page for the free Chic Eats newsletter. It includes new recipes along with a grab bag of curated content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Fandom When discussing the popularity of Zuni Café s Orange-Currant Scones, Chef Judy Rodgers wrote, These scones always outsold sticky buns, fresh fruit turnovers, pain…
RECIPE UPDATED 7/10/25 There s always a sense of anticipation when I m spelunking through my freezer s odds and ends. I m often just looking for inspiration and figure that whatever buried treasure I rediscover will become the constraints for a cooking adventure. Most recently, it was a cache of frozen bananas on the brink that sent me paging through Sarah Owens Sourdough and Heirloom for ideas.…
"Hidden Larder" refers to components made with ingredients that are frequently discarded despite being delicious in their own right. One of the many things I enjoy about food is how ideas can float across your path and introduce an unexpected detour. Such was the case when I ended up with two hidden larder gems: flavored salt or butter made with spring garlic greens. I was initially going to put…
Last weekend we ventured down to Venice for a GTA breakfast sandwich. This was a regular trek that had, like so many things, drifted out of the routine over the last few years. The soft English muffin with bacon, harissa hot sauce, fried egg, Gruyère, and braised kale exceeded my every hope and dream for that day. Food bliss has a way of jogging the memory and I remembered having a half-written…
RECIPE UPDATED 5/15/25 I have a fondness for restaurant and bakery cookbooks. Perhaps it s the tried-and-true nature of recipes that have been tweaked and served hundreds if not thousands of times, but generally I find they are the most referenced books on my shelves. Zuni Cafe, Mozza, Gjelina, Tartine (updated edition linked - original is out of print), Roberta s, and Violet Bakery to name a few…
The best time to buy peppers was two months ago. The second best time is now. - Solanaceae Wisdom Peppers are strongly associated with greater happiness so my aim is to add them to as many meals as possible. After picking up some galbi (Korean short ribs) from A Cut Above Butcher, my condiment quest led me to Korean Vegan’s Spicy Soy Sauce. It’s an umami bath that s chock-a-block with peppers,…
Tomato Water Sourdough Pita is a sister recipe to the Sourdough Naan that has become a favorite for me and a number of readers. Adapted from Sarah Owens Sourdough, I make the flatbread monthly and almost always have some in the freezer. The inspiration to add tomato water came from Chef Jeremy Fox (Instagram is still good for something) and the results did not disappoint. The whole grains, touch…
This recipe post (though it s a stretch to call it a recipe) was inspired by Chef Jeremy Fox and his tomato water focaccia. Adding tomato water to bread is one of those ideas hiding in plain sight and I was jazzed to try it. Thankfully, the summer shoulder season means peppers and tomatoes are still available so I picked up a bag of Early Girls and Romas and hustled home to make some water. I…
Oatmeal Date Cookies from Mother Grains made their first appearance on a recent Airstream trip. Maybe it was the altitude or that food tastes especially delicious after a hike, but the cookies were so well received that I ended up making a second batch at a different campsite. Driving snacks are an important matter and these delightful nuggets were qualified for the job. Back in my non-wheeled…
RECIPE UPDATED 7/26/23 Summer tomatoes and peppers are piled high at the farmers market which means I m in ongoing negotiations with my freezer for space. Tomatillos and mangoes already occupy a considerable amount of real estate and the queue of roasted jalapeños, sweet bells, and tomatoes is growing. Gjelina’s Pomodoro Sauce is always on the agenda and a recent batch found me staring into a food…
For the purposes of this post, wheat gluten, mian jin, and seitan are the same thing. Photo: Baked wheat gluten. Wheat gluten and its culinary applications started knocking around in my head after watching Netflix s Flavorful Origins: Gansu Cuisine - Gluten. Gansu is a region extending from north-central to northwestern China and the series beautifully documents some of the local cuisine including…
RECIPE UPDATED 4/14/23 Newsletter Sign up at the bottom of this page for the free Chic Eats newsletter. It includes new recipes along with a grab bag of curated content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Larder Superstar Lemon is one of my first considerations when a dish feels flat, sometimes even before salt (though the two often go hand in hand). As one of lemon s…
RECIPE UPDATED 4/2/23 East Asian and Southeast Asian are very broad terms for cuisine. With that acknowledged, it s fair to say that fish sauce is an ingredient commonly found in dishes throughout those regions. The production and trade of fermented fish as a salty, savory seasoning (known as garum) goes back to Roman times with some suggesting it was the ketchup of its day. Since garum seems to…
Through a few years of trial and error, I ve refined my Airstream s kitchen packing list to a core set of cooking needs. Needs are obviously relative. This post focuses on the food side of things and includes many of the same ingredients I use in my non-wheeled kitchen. The Airstream s pantry is pared down for the limited space but could certainly be repurposed for a weekend or vacation home.…
A few years ago, one of my flour shipments from Grist & Toll included a relatively simple recipe for whole grain French Apple Cake. The G&T version was adapted from David Lebovitz who it turns out credited Dorie Greenspan s cookbook, Around My French Table. That s a solid lineage. French Apple Cake is a roughly 1 to 4 ratio of flour to apples so the perfume of autumn is soaked into every bit of…
RECIPE UPDATED 7/5/23 Garlic, leeks, and especially green onions - my affection for spring/summer alliums runs deep. Scallions on all the things is a life motto worth living. I came across scallion oil a while back and promptly bookmarked it in my brain. Frying naked green onions while infusing the oil with their greatness was a brilliant idea. But what to do with this treasure? A quick search…
POST UPDATED 12/27/24 Newsletter Sign up at the bottom of this page for the free Chic Eats newsletter. It includes new recipes along with a grab bag of curated content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Whole Grains With the move to industrial mills and refined wheat around 1900, flour shifted from being a flavor component to simply being a vehicle for flavor. It became…
This showstopping Fresh Ginger Cake is gently adapted from David Lebovitz s Ready For Dessert and Samin Nosrat s Salt Fat Acid Heat. The addition of honey whipped cream and candied kumquats was inspired by two restaurants that I visit regularly - Milo & Olive and Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica. The former toasts vanilla pound cake in a wood-fire oven until the edges are crispy and then tops it with…
RECIPE UPDATED 4/16/2024 Candied kumquats jumped onto my cooking wishlist after having them with a dessert at Rustic Canyon. I flipped open a few cookbooks and was happy to find a straightforward recipe in the original Tartine. The book is unfortunately out of print but if you can find a copy I highly recommend adding it to your baking library. The new copies still floating around are a bit pricey…
RECIPE UPDATED 3/31/2025 Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. West Coast Rendition I miss warm nights and cool wine at Lilia s in Brooklyn and often have a taste for their Mafaldine Pasta with Pink Peppercorns. The dish is…
Kinetic energy states that a body in motion stays in motion. Turns out the same is true for your hand when it s scooping these crispy delights into your mouth. Taking some artistic liberties with physics here. Plain sunchoke chips are mighty good, but combine their sweet nuttiness with a dusting of Vegetable Kingdom s barbecue seasoning and the flavor is something special.
I call these "Last Minute" Sourdough Biscuits because they come together faster than the oven heats. This neat and tidy process came in handy one New Year s Day when I liked the sound of butter and carbs but didn t want a multi-step undertaking. The Google presented me with Cook s Illustrated s 2007 recipe for Quick Drop Biscuits and I was sold. What grabbed my attention with this recipe was the…
These quick pickled Fresno chiles ended up being so versatile that I used the same adapted Gjelina recipe for banana peppers. Both were excellent but the latter was a real star. When peppers are given time to luxuriate in brine, the heat mellows and subtle flavor notes are enhanced which allowed the banana peppers to shine. I added these pickled condiments to sandwiches, pizzas, leafy greens, and…
RECIPE UPDATED 1/10/25 Newsletter Subscribe at the bottom of this page for the Chic Eats roundup. It includes new and updated recipes along with a grab bag of unique content that was interesting enough to share around the dinner table. Sourdough Sicilian Pizza This Sourdough Sicilian Pizza began as a birthday dinner and evolved into a quest for excellence. I wanted to make thick-cut pizza as good…
RECIPE UPDATED 11/17/2025 It was only in the last several years that I jumped on the homemade applesauce train and had my personal "duh" moment. The flavor and texture blow store-bought versions away, it s easy to make, and you can load up your freezer with the stuff. Recipe Tips Skip the Sugar Many applesauce recipes call for sugar and/or some sort of juice such as apple cider. When buying fruit…
I made Chef Jeremy Fox s dill pickles from his cookbook, On Vegetables, and found myself fishing around for every last bit of onion well before the cucumbers were used up. Constraints are the mother of adaptation so Pickled Onions & Garlic were born. The brine is almost the same as Chef Fox s pickles with a small nod to a favorite Gjelina recipe. I use this vinegary condiment for dressings,…
My interest in dill pickle dressing is thanks to a small plate at Birdie G s that I ve enjoyed more times than I can count. The feta gradually incorporates into the dill pickle dressing and then the pickled onions and crisp cucumbers luxuriate in the creamy mixture. It s a perfect summer side. Dill pickles are in Chef Jeremy Fox s cookbook, On Vegetables, so that was the first order of business. I…
RECIPE UPDATED 8/9/24 Punchy and herby pizzeria-style tomato sauce is the anchor of any respectable thick-crust or New York-style slice. In order to fulfill my quest to make an ideal Sourdough Sicilian Pizza, I had to begin with the sauce. Adapted from Perfect Pan Pizza, this recipe is more of a marinara and combines canned tomatoes, herbs, and acid in the form of lemon juice and red wine vinegar.…
I have tagged what feels like every other page in Chef Josef Centeno s cookbook, Amá. Approachable Tex-Mex seems to have my number right now. I m 4 for 4 with dishes from the book including cilantro pesto, an excellent flour tortilla recipe, and the pictured Borracho (Drunken) Beans. The first order of business after flipping through the book was to try my hand at some breakfast tacos. Eggs,…
Loaf 149 - Central Milling Flour: 50% T85 / 30% ABC Malted / 20% High Mountain Photo Note: Each loaf of bread pictured was made using the basic process laid out in this post, sometimes with slight changes in timing and the % of leaven in the dough (1-2% for the latter). I ve noted the various blends of flour under each image. I would pay money for any of this bread. That s not a pat on the back,…
RECIPE UPDATED 2/28/23 Travis Lett’s chickpea stew from his cookbook, Gjelina, is spiked with harissa and cooled by spiced yogurt in perfect proportions. One of the many things I appreciate about this recipe is that it tastes as intensely layered and satisfying as something you might order at the restaurant -- it s not dialed back. I also appreciate that this recipe s components can stand on their…
POST UPDATED 6/6/2026 I have owned most of my cooking tools for years and several have siblings on our Airstream. Since relevant equipment is mentioned in each post, it seemed worthwhile to gather the gear I regularly use into one place. Lucky me that the process of putting this list together turned into a kitchen organization party. On that note, I recommend having everything in its place from…