Eggs are basic and yet one of the harder things to cook well. My two favorite ways to eat eggs are poached or softly scrambled. I like creamy scrambled eggs, cooked low and slow, and so soft that no curds form. When it comes to poached eggs, the yolk should be runny and the white should be firm, but not rubbery. It's crucial to dry the eggs after poaching, so they aren't waterlogged. Both recipes take patience to master, but once you do, you will have so many options.

The great thing about eggs, scrambled or poached, is that they pair well with so many other flavors and can be eaten any time of the day. I particularly like them for dinner. You can serve eggs with anything from the simplest fresh herbs to the most luxurious ingredients such as lobster, gravlax, caviar or truffles.


Earlier this month instead of going out for our anniversary, Lee and I stayed in for an over-the-top breakfast for dinner celebration for two. I supplemented some homemade gravlax (thanks dad!) with some Tsar Nicoulai caviar I bought. I folded the caviar into the hollandaise sauce and served it on top of the gravlax, poached eggs and English muffins, eggs benedict style. Mixing the caviar into the hollandaise sauce helps extend it and makes a dramatic presentation. You need about an ounce for two servings. Any kind of caviar would work, from less expensive paddlefish to high end osetra.


A few weeks later when the folks at Mirepoix offered me a couple of Summer truffles, I again thought of eggs. This time I scrambled six large eggs gently in butter with a knob of fontina and served them on top of sliced toasted brioche with a healthy shaving of fresh truffles. The earthy nuttiness of Summer truffles is easily overpowered with other ingredients but a delicate and mild preparation of eggs makes the perfect foil. I used one large truffle, about one ounce for two servings. Because they are so subtly flavored, it's wise to use Summer truffles as a topping, rather than cooking them. For a less expensive version of this dish using truffle salt or truffle oil instead of fresh truffles, check out my recipe for Creamy Scrambled Eggs.

With both of these dishes I would recommend drinking cava or Champagne. Something sparkling with a bit of sweetness. The bubbles help cut through the richness but don't overwhelm the subtle savory flavors.

What's the most extravagant egg dish you've cooked or eaten?

Mark Bittman is a genius when it comes to combining a few ingredients to create a great dish. In his Minimalist column in the New York Times, he simplifies recipes down to the bare bones and yet they retain all the appeal of more complicated dishes. I have several of his cookbooks, including the dog-eared How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and have given several of his books as gifts. I eagerly look forward to his columns in the New York Times, his Bitten blog posts, and especially his popular "101 lists."

Here they are in case you missed any:

* Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less

* 101 20-Minute Dishes for Inspired Picnics

* 101 Simple Appetizers in 20 Minutes or Less

* 101 Simple Salads for the Season

The loose format of these recipes works. Sometimes you don't need the typical list of ingredients and measurements, you just need good ideas and Bittman delivers plenty of them. So I was excited to check out Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express which consists of, 404 seasonal recipes that you can make in 20 minutes or less. Similar to the New York Times lists, they are written in paragraph form, though with a bit more detail. The flexibility of the measurements assumes a certain level of knowledge, but makes for a free and easy style of cooking I particularly like. The recipes themselves are intriguing though some more than others. Melon soup with pancetta, simplified sesame shrimp toasts, deconstructed raspberry souffles, and broiled eggplant with miso walnut vinaigrette are all flagged in my book. Other ideas feel too simple and obvious such as steak with gorgonzola or miso soup with tofu.

Unfortunately what works online, on Twitter and in a newspaper article is not the same as what works in a book. I find that hundreds of recipes in paragraph format organized primarily by season, make the book difficult to actually use. The recipes follow a progression from breakfast-oriented dishes to soups, salads, main dishes and desserts, but it's still unwieldy and frankly, many ingredients are not really all that seasonal. Recipes featuring ingredients such as boy choy, bacon, frozen peas, canned beans, eggplant, shrimp, raisins and olives could easily fit in more than one season.

The "More Ways to Navigate" section provides lists of recipes under headings such as Brown Bag Lunches, Desserts You Can Eat Any Time of the Year and Recipes to Toss with Pasta. I would have preferred if the book had been organized using those categories instead of just the seasons or the more typical headings--breakfast, soups, salads, desserts, etc. You can find what you are looking for fairly easily in the index if push comes to shove. Bottom line, if you are a seasoned cook looking for inspiration, this may be a good book for you, but a much more accessible book, in my opinion, is Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times.

Note: Still curious about Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express? You can browse inside the book here.

A couple of years ago during the screenwriter's strike Amy Ephron contacted me about writing for her site, One for the Table. I was honored and what a treat to finally meet her in person on my recent jaunt down to Hollywood! She gave me a very personal tour of the farmer's market at Third and Fairfax and afterwards we enjoyed breakfast and an order of pancakes, for the table. It was like hanging out with a long lost friend.

Mostly my pieces on One for the Table are reprints from this blog, but from time to time I write something new. The current posts are all about seafood and mine is about love, marriage and oysters. It's a bit of a departure from what I usually write on Cooking with Amy, I hope you enjoy it.

When the waiter asks what kind of water I say "tap," but my other half says "sparkling." Until recently we had been drinking plain filtered tap water at home, but not anymore, now our water sparkles there too. My dad used to buy seltzer water in cans by the case and then by the liter until he got a carbonating machine. He's been raving about it for ages, so when Soda Stream offered me a unit to review I said sure.

Soda Stream sells an entry level soda machine for under $100 and frankly, I can't imagine why you'd buy any other model. It's easy to use, takes up barely any counter space and doesn't even require an electrical outlet. You do have to buy carbonator cartridges, but the cost per liter comes out to only about 20 cents. I'm particularly impressed that the water bottles you get with the machine keep the water very fizzy even after they have been repeatedly opened and closed.

I'm fine with a glass of sparkling water garnished only with a slice of lemon or lime, but if you want to make soda, they also sell various syrups to mix with the water. The soda mixes I tried were too sweet for my taste, but then again, I'm not a soda drinker. If I was going to make soda, I'd use the lovely syrups from Sonoma Syrup.

Having switched to drinking carbonated water I can really see the appeal. Little bubbles just make water even more refreshing somehow. Last year I wrote about cocktails and spirits over at Glam and this year I've been writing on the same subject for Project Foodie. I don't have much experience as a bartender but I think I may start experimenting now that I have soda water on hand...

It's hard to believe it was a year ago I travelled to Campania to eat, explore and enjoy. I saved many of my discoveries for an article and slide show that is now up on Epicurious. Please head over for a peek at A Culinary Vacation in Campania, The top nine things to eat and drink in Naples, Benevento, Sorrento, Amalfi, and Salerno, including pizza, cheese, and pasta.

I hate wasting food but sometimes it happens. I buy too much of something or it just gets lost in the back of the fridge. The worst is when I buy a lot of food and then am not home to cook it. Some foods can be saved like mushy bananas that become banana bread. Floppy carrots, onions and celery go in my chicken stock to give it flavor.

I always used to throw away overripe kiwi fruit, but not anymore. In addition to my kiwi cake recipe, I discovered that mashed kiwis make a great sauce for fish. Next time you have overripe kiwi fruit, try mashing it in a bowl and tasting it. It's tangy and sweet at the same time. The crunch of little seeds adds nice texture. I added Asian flavors and put the resulting sauce on top of a simply cooked piece of salmon, but I bet this sauce would be good on halibut, scallops, shrimp or even fried calamari. The sauce keeps in fridge for at least 3 days.

Another way to use mashed kiwi fruit is in guacamole. It has an amazing ability to keep your guac from browning, must be all that vitamin C. What fruits or vegetables have you saved from the compost heap? I'd love to hear your success stories!

Note: When you cook fish you may be frustrated that it is overcooked by the time it gets to the table. Always take the fish off the heat or out of the oven a minute or two before it is completely cooked since it will continue cooking with the carryover heat.

Kiwi Sauce for Salmon
serves 2

Ingredients

2 fillets wild or sustainably farmed salmon, about 12 ounces
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 garlic clove, grated or finely mined
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Sauce
1 green kiwi, a bit overripe is fine
1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce
Sriracha hot chili sauce, to taste, a couple of drops is fine

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place fish skin side down on a foil-lined rimmed sheet pan, season with salt and pepper and rub with grated garlic and ginger and bake until not quite cooked through, about 10 minutes, it may take a few minutes longer if your fish is very thick.

Meanwhile mash the kiwi in a bowl and add the ginger, soy and Sriracha sauce and stir to combine. Plate fish and top with sauce.

Enjoy!

Zespri is sponsoring a kiwi recipe contest, if you have a recipe to submit, find more details here.

Last week, thanks to Sony Pictures, I saw a special preview screening of Julie & Julia. The screenplay for the film was adapted from two books: My Life in France, Julia Child's autobiography, co-written with her grand-nephew Alex Prud'homme, and Julie & Julia by Julie Powell. One book recounts (among other things) how Mastering the Art of French Cooking came to be, and the other is how one woman cooked every single recipe in it, in the space of a year. I also got to see a presentation with a past Top Chef contestant, the author Julie Powell and one of the primary supporting actors Chris Messina, but the most intriguing person I met associated with the film was the culinary consultant, Susan Spungen. She and an assistant managed to prepare and cook every single dish in the movie as well as prep the cooking scenes.



Susan Spungen is a cook, food stylist, editor and cookbook author. She worked as food editor for Martha Stewart Living magazine for over 10 years, was a restaurant pastry chef and went to art school early in her career. She is a stylist with the soul of a cook.

Having seen several presentations by food stylists, I get the feeling that their work with food is all about making it look good, and sacrificing taste is no big deal. As a food blogger who actually, you know, eats the food I photograph, I can't really relate to that. On a movie set, just like in my house, that's clearly not the case. Food often has to be eaten on film, in addition to being seen and even heard. Accuracy is important, whether that means making food look good, bad or just plain ugly. It has to be the right temperature and taste just so.

When you see the film Julie & Julia, you will see a lot of food. It gets prepped, cooked, eaten and enjoyed. The food has a starring role in the film and there are times you can almost smell and taste it, that's thanks in no small part, to Susan Spungen. I predict popcorn sales will be especially high during showings of this film.

Here's some of what I learned about preparing food on a movie set:

* You can't garnish with parsley because it might stick in the actors teeth(!)

* Because of multiple takes, the same dish must be prepared many, many times

* Sometimes recipes have to be changed to really work on screen

* Food must be quiet, or it will sound too loud, drowning out dialogue

* Bread is way too loud on screen so you'll rarely if ever, see actors eating it

* Actors don't drink wine, but Welch's grape juice in the movies

* An electric paint remover does a better job than a toaster to evenly brown and toast food

* To get cheese in French onion soup to stretch from bowl-to-mouth, add mozzarella

* Chopped onions have to be soaked in cold water to keep the actors from crying

* Making special sound effects and visual effects with the food is sometimes another departments responsibility altogether

* Lobsters have to be procured dead, even for a scene in which they are cooked, so as not to violate SPCA guidelines for avoiding cruelty to animals on set or location

I'm not supposed to review the film in detail, but I will tell you this much, Julie & Julia the film brings Julia Child to life. Meryl Streep is brilliant in her portrayal and director Nora Ephron is masterful at bringing the sensual nature of food to the screen but also at illuminating complex and fascinating real women, who are not simple stereotypes but people who find satisfaction and success through cooking. And that is something I can absolutely relate to!

More posts from those at the screening:

MattBites

Food Blogga

Baking Bites

Barbaric Gulp

Steamy Kitchen

Hollywood

Movieweb

NOTE: IF YOU LIVE THE LOS ANGELES AREA & WOULD LIKE A PAIR OF TICKETS TO A SCREENING OF JULIE & JULIA ON AUGUST 4TH AT 7 PM, PLEASE EMAIL ME ASAP. Sorry all tickets are now gone!

I remember when kiwi fruit first started showing up in the market and were a real novelty. It's funny to think they were originally named for their brown exterior, because I now think of kiwi as the vibrant green color of the fruit inside. Back in the 80's they seemed to appear exclusively in fruit tarts, providing a bright color contrast. Kiwi fruit is in season at the moment and thanks to a surplus, I've been experimenting. It turns out, they are surprisingly versatile and can take the starring role in many recipes.

There are two kinds of kiwi fruit commonly available and they are different both in look and taste. The green variety is tangy and has a citrus like flavor. The yellow version is a little more elongated and tastes sweeter with tropical notes. Technically both are berries, refreshing and juicy with a little crunch of seeds. They are full of vitamins and good both raw or in recipes. One kiwi has more than 100% recommended daily allowance of vitamin C and contains potassium, fiber, magnesium, vitamin E and is low in carbohydrates.

Because of the tangy flavor, kiwi is great in salsa, vinaigrettes and frozen in popsicles or sorbet. I made a terrific guacamole last week with some kiwi fruit and avocados, but ate it before I could snap a picture. I think you can use them almost anywhere you might use a fresh slice of tomato.

If you have too much kiwi and it starts to get soft, use it in this pretty green cake. It's a quick bread in the style of banana bread. It's tangy and moist, not too sweet, and great with a cup of tea. The matcha and lime just complement the kiwi but are not dominant flavors. You could leave out the matcha if you want, but if you are interested in finding ways to use matcha in baking, this is a good one. More great ideas and information about kiwi fruit are available on the Zespri site.

Kiwi Matcha Lime Tea Cake

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons matcha powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, (1 stick) softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup peeled mashed very ripe kiwi fruit, green, yellow or combination
Zest of one lime

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 5 loaf pan, preferably non-stick. ?Whisk together flour, baking powder baking soda, matcha powder and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time to creamed mixture and thoroughly combine. Stir in mashed kiwi fruit and lime zest. Fold in dry ingredients, stirring until batter is completely moistened. Spoon batter into pan and bake for one hour or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes on wire rack. Remove from pan and continue cooling on rack.

Enjoy!