The Feed: June 19, 2013

The Feed is my weekly round up of interesting food-related stories from newspapers, magazines, blogs and websites.

Washington Post: “Spirits: Pimping Dad’s gin & tonic,” by M. Carrie Allan.
The Post welcomes a new Spirits columnist today, M. Carrie Allan, whose introductory column is all about my favorite cocktail: Gin & Tonic! Allan lovingly recounts her father’s infatuation with the drink—and his depression-era habit of making it with cheap ingredients (including limes “harvested during the Bush administration”). With advice from bartenders Adam Bernbach (Estadio) and Nicole Hassoun (The New Heights Gin Joint), Allan gathers ideas for “pimping” her dad’s G&T with better gins, homemade tonics and aromatic touches like herbs and citrus peel.

New York Times: “Making Pizza with Mario Batali and Sons,” by Julia Moskin

Introducing Recipe Lab, which this month focuses on teaching children to cook, Moskin writes about making pizza with Mario Batali and his sons Benno and Leo from a recipe from the sons’ new cookbook, The Batali Brothers Cookbook. The recipe calls for cooking the crust on the stove and finishing the pizza under a broiler to cook the toppings. No oven needed, which is a great idea for summer time when heating your oven as hot as possible to make pizza is so unappealing.

The Little Ferraro Kitchen: “Roasted Caprese with Basil Oil,” by Samantha Ferraro

Roasted tomatoes are amazing. Caprese salad is amazing. Put the two together and, well, I don’t want to say it’s amazing again, but it is. Such a fabulous idea. Blogger Samantha Ferraro, who writes The Little Ferraro Kitchen, describes this as her favorite dish. It’s inspired by the classic Capreses salad of fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, only this time the tomatoes are roasted along with some garlic cloves and mini bell peppers (not sure where one would find those, but I bet quartered bell peppers would substitute just fine). I think this would also be great as a panzanella, especially if you could grill the bread.

Associated Press: “Food companies work to make it look natural,” by Candice Choi.

Choi explores how food processors, alert to consumers’ growing interest in whole foods, are making their processed foods appear less processed through a variety of tricks. 

James Beard Foundation: “Recipe: Crespelle with Red Wine Strawberries and Ricotta,” by JBF Editors.

The James Beard folks share this summery recipe for Crespelle, which is basically an Italian crêpe, stuffed with wine-macerated strawberries and ricotta.