Caramelized Ginger Chicken with Sticky Rice

The current issue (September) of Food & Wine magazine is on newsstands now, and has a story I worked on called Rice Paper Scissors. That's the name of the super-cute-duo: Valerie Luu and Katie Kwan who cook around San Francisco setting up their signature little red stools for their impromptu on the street food gigs. (Pop-up Vietnamese!). Think butter-braised corn, crispy Imperial rolls and the Caramelized Ginger Chicken with Sticky Rice (above) is lacquered and sticky and moist. The photos were taken by Eric Wolfinger, who's also shot the Tartine Bread cookbook, (one of my favorites) and like the dishes, each photo was perfectly executed and frankly, divine.

Some insight from Eric (the photographer) about the shoot: "It was by far one of my favorite editorial shoots to date. We were shopping for plates in Asian markets for days before the shoot, debating just how kitschy we wanted to go (110% was the answer). On the big day we were up at dawn to get through everything we had planned (and intentionally not planned... like where exactly in the Financial District we were going to set up for coffee.) 

I met the girls in Hanoi for the first time a few months before the shoot... of course I had heard about them before, but it was totally cool to hang out for the first time ever in Vietnam."

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To get the recipe for Caramelized Ginger Chicken with Sticky Rice, click here. To see photographer Eric Wolfinger's work, click here. To learn more about Rice Paper Scissors, click here.

Pick up the September Issue of Food and Wine on Newsstands, right now. To subscribe to Food and Wine magazine, click here.

Pickled Figs In Balsamic Vinegar

I was at Food and Wine magazine this month, and this was the story I designed and put together for the August Issue. The Illustrations were by Sasha Prood. The photo's were shot by "Young and Hungry" (Hands down best name ever for an emerging food photography team.)

It was a story on actor Bill Pullman and his orchard, (you remember Bill from such things as Independence Day and The Last Seduction.) He has an orchard in Los Angeles where he grows his own lemons, oranges, figs, plums, and a variety of other fruit. Pick up the August Issue of Food and Wine to see the whole story. (With great preserving recipes).

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To get the recipe for this gorgeous Pork Chops with Pickled Figs in Balsamic Vinegar, which was also recommended by the staff at Food and Wine, click here.

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Photographs by 'YOUNG AND HUNGRY' (Who are 'Young and Hungry'? Young and Hungry are Dax Henry and Anais Wade. Check out their work, here. And their blog here. The Recipe was by ERNEST MILLER Styling: VIVIAN LUI Illustration by SASHA PROOD (Design: Dimity Jones)

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To subscribe to Food and Wine magazine, click here.

Almond Cake with Lemon and Crème Fraîche Glaze

Jessica Hicks from Astro Coffee, in Detroit, makes her tender lemon, rosemary almond cake (above) with skin-on ground almonds for texture and then drizzles smooth creme fraiche icing over the top, for the current (June) issue of Food and Wine Magazine, on newsstands now.

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I've been staring at this image now for weeks, and I never get tired of it.

This image, hangs on a wall, near the desk, where I have been freelancing this past month, at the offices of Food and Wine Magazine here in New York, where luckily I get to look, work, design with, and edit great images. I sometimes get to try and taste new products and upcoming recipes for the magazine, as well. Anything from the 6 new potato chips flavors just out from Tyrrell's, (My favorite was the Worcestershire Sauce and Sun Dried Tomato) or the top 12 supermarket BBQ sauces you can buy right now, (taste tested over roast chicken). We've also had the pleasure of having Danny Bowien, guest cook in the F & W kitchens the kind of food he'll be serving at his new NY restaurant, Mission Chinese Food, open right now in Chinatown.

This image above comes from the June Issue of Food and Wine magazine which is on newsstands now. Please run down to your local newsstand and purchase the issue! (a printed, smooth, glossy magazine, now—doesn't that feel more exciting in your hands than that grey, irritating electronic device?) It's a story about Detroit. And this cake is the Almond Cake with Lemon and Crème Fraîche Glaze. Jessica concedes there are two tricks to give this cake its rustic, nutty texture: She grinds whole, skin-on almonds herself instead of using almond flour, and she also adds a bit of polenta to the batter. I think this would be the perfect cake to make for a Summer BBQ.

To get the recipe, and to check out the new Food and Wine website, click here. To subscribe to Food and Wine magazine, click here.  

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PHOTOGRAPH BY MARCUS NILSSON STYLING BY ALISON ATTENBOROUGH