Showdown at the Coffee Shop

BATTLING FOR YOUR TASTE BUDS From left, Sweet ’N Low (saccharin), Splenda (sucralose), Equal (aspartame) and a newcomer, Truvia (stevia), share a market of often impassioned fans.
By KIM SEVERSON
Published: April 14, 2009

BELINDA CHANG loves the balance of flavors in her Diet Coke.

EVER LOYAL “I’m a Splenda-holic,” said Medini Pradhan, who prepares dal with the sweetener at her home in Barrington, Ill.

Each can — she goes through about four ice-cold ones a day — has a reliable acid bite that marries well with the caramel taste of cola and the sweetness of aspartame. More

Sancerre: Say It With Feeling

Sancerre: Say It With Feeling
By ERIC ASIMOV
Published: April 15, 2009

SANCERRE. Say it with me, please. I don’t care if you’re on the subway, at your kitchen table, sitting at your computer or reading on your BlackBerry in a crowded commuter train. Just say “Sancerre” quietly and you’ll get an initial sense of the built-in appeal of this white wine from the Loire Valley. More

For Chileans, Passion Translates to Empanadas

THE FILLING’S UP TO YOU Empanadas can be baked, fried, half-moon shape or, in Chile, square.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT
Published: April 14, 2009

EMPANADAS are on the menu from the Rio Grande clear down to the Strait of Magellan — not to mention at fast-food courts all over the United States.

In Chile these folded meat pies, considered to be the national dish, are so treasured that soon after Salvador Allende was elected president in 1970, he spoke of celebrating his brand of revolution not with violence, but “with red wine and empanadas.” More

Recipe: Empanada Dough (April 15, 2009)
Recipe: Baked Meat-Filled Empanadas (Empanadas al Horno) (April 15, 2009)
Recipe: Fried Mushroom and Cheese Empanadas (April 15, 2009)

With Broccoli Rabe, What’s Not to Like?

By MARK BITTMAN
Published: April 10, 2009

WHY broccoli rabe was not a part of the American vegetable culture until relatively recently is completely beyond me. What can you not cook it with? More

Recipe: Spaghetti With Broccoli Rabe, Toasted Garlic and Bread Crumbs (April 15, 2009)

No-Fear Phyllo Torte

By MELISSA CLARK
Published: April 10, 2009

A FEW years ago, when my then-boyfriend-now-husband took me to a dinner party, I expected to be intimidated. The host, Roger, is an esteemed professor of French literature, and I’d heard his parties were multilingual, highly intellectual affairs. More

Recipe: Sonia’s Phyllo and Feta Torte With Dill and Nutmeg (April 15, 2009)