About Arthur: The New York Times Magazine called Arthur Schwartz “a walking Google of food and restaurant knowledge.” As the restaurant critic and executive food editor of the New York Daily News, which he was for 18 years, he was called The Schwartz Who Ate New York. Nowadays, he is best known as The Food Maven, the name of his website. Whatever the sobriquet, he is acknowledged as one of the country’s foremost experts on food, cooking, culinary history, restaurants, and restaurant history.
The NYC Insiders Guide
for women who aren't kids
Arthur Schwartz
The Food Maven
15% off Extra virgin olive oil handcrafted from Villa Cappelli in Puglia, Italy. Experts say that the olive oil from Puglia is some of the most palatable in the world, characterized by its digestibility and high vitamin content.
1/2 Liter~16.9 ounces, regularly
$20.00, now $17 for tomatoes. Buy now.
Home / Archives / Experts / NYC Nightlife / NYC Shopping / NYC Restaurants/ Food&Recipes / Reviews / Events / Books&Movies / About Us
 | ||||
Just released. Arthur Schwartz's Newest Cookbook. Available at Amazon and major booksellers everywhere.
Football Food: Seven-Layer Dip and Manly Meatballs
Is it Super Bowl, or Superbowl, one word or two. You can see, I don't know much about football. However, I do know that the following Tex-Mex dip will be the most eaten dish in the country this Sunday. I was told this several years ago by a Houston food editor who knows about such things. She tried to track down the origins of this recipe, too, but finally came to the conclusion that it is what we call a grass roots recipe. In other words, some home cook somewhere made it up and it just got around. I don't know. I still think it must have been created by a home economist in a food company's test kitchen. You know, the mandate was to create recipes with canned refried beans, or with taco seasoning mix, or maybe things to go with corn chips. There are many versions of it that make the rounds, and it goes by various names. It even got into the latest, totally revised edition of the Joy of Cooking. That certainly makes it a classic.
Seven-Layer Dip
Some people make this entirely with convenience products – canned refried beans, frozen guacamole, canned tomatoes. And some people build the dip in a baking dish so they can put it under the broiler briefly and melt the cheese. I prefer it when at least a couple of the layers are fresh – like the avocado and the tomatoes – and I hate it when it is put under the broiler because the melted cheese cools quickly and becomes far less appealing than unmelted shredded cheese. Do whatever … . Obviously, you don't have to take the proportions too seriously either. Super Bowl watchers don't notice anything but the game anyway.
1 16-ounce can refried beans (or equivalent amount of homemade)
3 large avocados
3 tablespoons lime or lemon juice
2 cups sour cream
1 1-ounce package taco seasoning
1/4 cup (or more) chopped green chili peppers, pickled jalapenos or diced, fresh jalapenos
1 cup sliced, pitted black olives
1 cup chopped canned plum tomatoes, or finely diced fresh cherry tomatoes
2 cups grated Cheddar or jack cheese
1/2 cup chopped scallions, white and green
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro (coriander)
Spread the refried beans on the bottom of a glass serving dish (so you can see the layers) or a deep platter.
Peel and pit the avocados, then, with a table fork, in a mixing bowl, mash them with the lime or lemon juice into a slightly coarse paste. Spread the paste over the beans.
Mix the sour cream with the taco seasoning and spread it over the avocado.
Distribute the chiles over the sour cream, then the olives, then the tomatoes.
Make a top layer of cheese, then sprinkle with the scallions and cilantro.
Serve with corn chips for dipping.
Alan Richman's Manly Meatballs
Makes about 36
Alan Richman is the esteemed and always witty food writer for Gentleman's Quarterly magazine, but I take the blame for calling these his "manly" meatballs. He made them for a birthday party of our mutual friend Alexis Bespaloff, the well-known wine writer. As he was passing them on a platter, taking full responsibility for their simplicity and strong flavor, he explained that he made them because when he heard the menu planned by Alex's wife he felt there might be too much "sissy food" -- you know, pasta and salads. They are not, of course, anything like any recipe you've ever seen for Swedish meatballs, but to my mind they make an even better stand-in. Baking them on bread slices -- which, by the way, do not burn or get too hard, even though it seems as if they would -- makes them perfect finger food.
1 pound ground chuck (not leaner beef)
3 scallions, finely minced (use most of the green)
4 tablespoons dark soy sauce (or regular soy sauce, if that's all you have)
1 firmly packed teaspoon brown sugar (a rounded teaspoon, if using regular soy sauce)
1 baguette or ficelle (a small diameter French bread), about 20 inches long, sliced about 1/2-inch thick (if the bread has a large diameter, cut the slices in half, just a bit bigger than the meatballs)
In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients, except bread. With your hands, mix and knead thoroughly until the meat is a fine paste. Make balls the size of smallish walnuts. Place baguette slices on a baking sheet and place one meatball on each. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes in a preheated 450-degree oven until done to taste (Richman says "until just cooked through." I like them still rare.). Serve hot.
