Kid Chef Book Signing, Fort Greene BKLN September 10th + The Perfect Gazpacho Recipe

Come say hi and sample the Kid Chef summery corn and watermelon salad - with bright garnishes! - this coming Saturday. I'll be in the center of the Fort Greene farmers market at the Food Book Fair tent, from 10am-12pm, and the weather forecast looks perfect! 

Speaking of perfect, as summer (very unfortunately) winds down, I wanted to share the gazpacho gulps recipe from Kid Chef here. It is refreshing, super flavorful, and easy to make. I fancied up this version with fun garnishes - also easy - making for a beautiful presentation and extra textural delight.

Gazpacho Gulps from Kid Chef

Ingredients

2 lbs ripe red tomatoes, cored and cut into chunks

1 cubanelle pepper cored, seeded and cut into chunks

1 cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks

1 small white or red onion, peeled and cut into chunks

1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in halves

2 tsp sherry vinegar, plus more to taste

kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Purée ingredients: In a blender, add tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, onion and garlic. Blend at high speed until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Stop periodically and scrape down sides with a rubber spatula. Season with salt and pepper.

With the motor running, add vinegar and slowly drizzle in the olive oil through the feeder cap. The mixture will become pinkish or bright orange. Blending as you add the oil will emulsify the mixture, making it a creamy texture.

To serve: Transfer gazpacho to a glass pitcher or jar and refrigerate for 3 hours or until well chilled. Before serving taste and adjust salt, pepper, and vinegar as needed. Serve in small glasses with a drizzle of olive oil, preferably sipped in the sun. Leftover gazpacho will last up to 5 days, kept refrigerated and covered. Give leftovers a good stir just before serving.

In the version here I crushed breadcrumbs and minced hard salami, fried them together in a skillet until golden and crispy, and scattered onto the gazpacho. That, along with snipped chives and parsley flowers, some halved tiny tomatoes, and a drizzle of good olive oil, and there was some very good eating to be had. 

Recent press for Kid Chef

I wrote a column about how to keep lunch interesting at Food52, which just debuted. As with Kid Chef, in it I break down how to make simple tasks of meal preparation, and even, how to rethink what a meal ought to be. For me, fun and delicious are at the top of the list.

Weelicious included Kid Chef in a sweet lineup of great kid-friendly books. Read more here.

Poppy Tooker dedicated last week's episode of her radio program, Louisiana Eats to young cooks. We did an interview together, which you can listen to here. Still cutting my interview chops and radio voice…. ;P 

The National Post in Canada did a lovely writeup featuring Kid Chef in back-to-school glory. 

In recent cook - style - shoot work……

Did you see the juicy story I produced in the Sweet Paul summer issue?  You can find it here, as well as many Anthropologie and Barnes&Noble locations. 

This terrific tomato galette recipe is another ideal use for your tomato bounty...

Recent projects with The New York Times…..

Hands-down delicious cast iron story with Julia Moskin and Charlotte Druckman - 

Crisp toffee bars

flattened chicken thighs

A leftover chicken salad - so good. Could easily be a page from my own playbook - 

For your armfuls of summer squash, this gratin duo -

 Look for more Kid Chef events in NYC as we swing into full back-to-school mode. There's always good eating to be had over at Instagram, and soon, I'll have more delicious content I can share with you here. 

Make something new today. Maybe it'll turn out terrific. You get the satisfaction of trying something new, and bonus - exciting new eating in your repertoire to revisit again and again. XO