Food! Glorious Food!

Sriracha Factory Irritates Some California Noses, but Entices Politicians

Putting a Face on Pinot Blanc

Green Garlic Stirs a Pot of Chicken Soup
RELATED COVERAGE

Recipe: Spicy Green Garlic Chicken Soup

Recipes as a Guide, Not a Command

Many ethnic cuisines viewed through an American lens amount to CliffsNotes: crowd-pleasing highlights, clichés even, that never meander down back roads. With few exceptions, Greek food in restaurants and cookbooks is like that. What? No spanakopita? No pastitsio? No moussaka?

Actually, there is a moussaka recipe in the new “Smashing Plates,” by the chef Maria Elia, and it was among the first dishes to tempt me as I leafed through this inviting cookbook. It amounted to tomatoes stuffed and baked with a moussaka mixture of seasoned ground lamb and diced eggplant, crowned with a glaze of béchamel. It’s a stunning variation that still feels true to Greek cuisine while also improving on the ubiquitous tourist restaurant dish. “Greek restaurants miss what’s authentic,” Ms. Elia said in a recent telephone interview from her home in London.

RELATED COVERAGE
Recipe: Tahini Chocolate Cakes
Freedom From Fries
Recipe:

Steak Mock Frites

Steak That Sizzles on the Stovetop (Video Warning)
Recipe:

Cast-Iron Steak

-- speaking of hot times --

Times Ousts Jill Abramson as Executive Editor, Elevating Dean Baquet

WHY JILL ABRAMSON WAS FIRED
POSTED BY KEN AULETTA

Jill Abramson ousted from New York Times