My post last week introduced one of the friends I met through Molly O’Neill’s Cook N Scribble online food writing course. And this week I am overjoyed to reconnect with Judy Allen who I met on the same call and again in person at Molly’s Food Media Bootcamp. This experience introduced me to a roster of glorious new friends and with each of us otherwise engaged, it is an absolute delight to keep in touch!

Judy Allen and I partnered on the barn kitchen cooking assignment: go pick out some stuff at the farmer’s market and pair it with the pasta that Alicia is teaching, then photograph it and write it into a formatted recipe. We went with a Summer Carbonara--tiny cubes of yellow and green summer squash sautéed with green garlic, and tossed with some steaming pasta water and golden egg yolks in the style of a classic Carbonara minus the pancetta. We garnished with a delicate shower of Parmesan and buds from the green garlic, styled some photos, then savored every bite.

Judy’s credentials set her up to ace this exercise. After graduating from culinary school, she interned at Martha Stewart Living Magazine. She moved up in the ranks from recipe tester to senior food editor. After six years she left New York and returned home to Tulsa, Oklahoma. She’s written for ‘pretty much every publication’ in Tulsa and currently writes a weekly column in Tulsa World. With life in limbo, Judy describes her status as being on extended vacation while emergency homeschooling a sixth grader. She has a cookbook in mind to scrapbook her life as a keepsake for her family.

What’s your 20 minute recipe? Refrigerator pickles. I keep a giant Ball jar going in my fridge.

What’s your favorite city? It’s like asking me what my favorite restaurant is! It depends. I love Breckenridge where I can go and put my feet up, looking at the mountains and simply do nothing. Also I love New York City, I lived there and there’s no other place like it that I’ve ever experienced. It’s the polar opposite of the Colorado experience. Right now I would LOVE to go to New York!!

What’s your favorite restaurant in your current city? One thing that I really miss about New York is the pizza. We have a place here called Andolini’s, we go there a lot, and have been getting take out a lot. They even have make your own pizza kits which we have enjoyed doing recently, I also love Oren with a chef from Tulsa who worked in New York. He does smaller plates and gets really creative with everything he does. It’s the most creative restaurant in town. What’s happening now just kills me. We had a growing vibrant food scene and now there is so much uncertainty.

Treasured find in the back of your fridge? You can always find a hunk of cheese lurking! It might or might not be good...I also love to pickle things, so there’s always a jar of something pickled, I recycle the brine like a sourdough starter and keep adding new veggies to it.

Who taught you to cook? Initially my dad. He’s always been a really good cook! I was always watching Julia Child and the Galloping Gourmet with him. I was raised in the Time Life cooking era. He spurred my interest in food. I went to culinary school to learn to do the editorial work. I wanted to know more about who makes these magazines. My dad went to culinary school when he retired from surgery at 75. He loves to help prep in the restaurants in town. He’ll work for free. The chemist in him focuses on the science of bread formulas.

Surf? or Turf? I live smack dab in the land of turf and I do have half a cow in my freezer. I do love a good surf though! Some sort of shellfish. Clam pasta, lobster. I will take a lobster roll over anything. And I love crab!! A good bone in rib eye, medium rare with butter, that’s what I live for

What’s on your cooking playlist? Usually what my son is watching on TV. I’d say, Marvel, Star Wars or XBox. I love the Tom Petty Channel. The band Pink Martini takes me back to my New York days, throwing dinner parties. Or I binge watch HGTV in the background while I’m cooking.

Coffee, tea, or Kombucha? I am definitely a coffee girl. It’s my morning ritual, making coffee. One of my good friends from New York opened a tea shop in Brooklyn. Bellocq. She has the most amazing teas! They are so beautiful. One of these days I’m gonna say that I’m tea, but for now I’m coffee. I’ve always been a little bit curious about kombucha. A friend was making some in his home and the whole container exploded! I’m a little concerned about drinking something explosive.

Date night—at home? or out? We’re homebodies, we enjoy grilling steaks and salmon for my son. Pastas and smashburgers. I don’t fry at home. Fried chicken is one of my favorite foods on the planet but I don’t want to make it at home. The clean up isn’t really worth it when you can get really great fried chicken from Celebrity Club.

Most stained cookbook? Let me turn around here. I have a wall of cookbooks, I have sort of a problem. I have a JOY of Cooking from 1931. It is so dog eared and taped together. There are notes in it and it is definitely stained. I got it at a vintage cookbook store, maybe Bonnie Slotnick’s in New York? You can find some treasures if you visit these little shops. I have a Mastering the Art of French Cooking signed by Julia Child. I don’t even open it. It is on the top shelf all by itself. I use cookbooks mostly for ideas. I have a major cookbook hoarding problem. You know, I might need this someday.

Indispensable kitchen tool? The thing I use the most is the lemon squeezer, or a Microplane zester. I mean besides knives. Knives are a given. Or my onion goggles. I can’t chop onions without crying, so onion goggles to the rescue! Basically I need all these 3 things in my drawer. And I do love my Vitamix! I would never give that away. It is so versatile! I recently made ice cream and sorbet in it, I just froze the purees in a loaf pan. It was good!

Staple childhood comfort food? Probably mac and cheese. My mom always made homemade mac and cheese. She baked it in a Corningware bowl. The middle sized bowl in the set is her mac and cheese bowl. She still uses it! You get a wide layer of crunch and it’s deep so you get a lot of creamy. Also my mom always made lamb shoulder chops which are hard to find. Whenever I have them it reminds me of my childhood.

What’s your go-to dish for company? Depends on who’s coming! If it’s my sister and her family, yes mac and cheese. I love to do the ‘what can I put on a platter that’s really pretty’ type salad. Watermelon, peaches, burrata, something with the season. I also love to do taco nights which are great for do-ahead. In the winter I like to do a short rib braise with polenta.

Who would you most like to share a meal with? past, present or fictional? I would love to share a meal with Julia. I wish that Nigella and I were friends. I love her style, I love her personality. I’d love to have her over. I’d love to have Amy Schumer over for cocktails. I wish I had gotten more information out of my grandparents while they were still alive.

Best thing you’ve ever eaten in an airport? You know, there is a place in the Denver airport. Root Down. You’re usually in line at Starbucks or grabbing something at Chick Fil A. I had some time to sit down for a change and it was really good! It’s not a vegetarian place but they do have a lot of vegetable-heavy stuff. We had the lamb sliders and sweet potato fries! Mint-garlic slaw and harissa aioli.

Ideal grilled cheese? You know, I’ve had many grilled cheeses in my life. It’s hard to beat the classic white bread with American cheese slices. It’s not broken, why try to fix it? For this reason I always have Kraft singles on hand. I’ll even melt a slice on a flour tortilla if I can’t be bothered with buttering a slice of bread. I watched Padma Lakshmi make a griddled cheese on tortilla in Mexico and they flipped it cheese side down and it got all burnt like frico. I thought I’m gonna have to try that! We might be having that for dinner. People think I’m a cheese snob but I’m really not. I am a snob when It comes to martinis. I stuff my own olives with bleu cheese.

Favorite pizza topping? Fresh mozzarella. I could take it or leave it with anything else. There’s nothing like a good charred crust with fresh mozzarella. I like anchovies too! I learned that at John’s Pizza in New York

Where would you want to take a cooking class? I would like to take a cooking class from some pasta nonnas in Italy. Or with Thomas Keller at The French Laundry. (I ask if she’s been. She says, I have! It was epic! It was a long time ago, I’m due for a revisit).

What’s your Counter Intelligence cooking tip? For me it’s about prep. Make sure you have all your stuff, whether it’s prepped or measured. Just make sure you have what you need before you start the recipe. Get everything out before you get started.

Three things next to your stove? Crock full of spatulas, giant thing of salt and room temperature butter.

Favorite Sports Team? Yankees. I got into baseball when I moved to New York. When I signed up for Cook N Scribble and realized Molly is Paul O’Neill’s sister, that put her up another rung!!

Summer pickles, a versatile recipe from Judy Allen’s extensive scrapbook. Photo credit Judy Allen — Summer pickles, a versatile recipe from Judy Allen’s extensive scrapbook. *Photo credit Judy Allen*

Gran Jan’s Refrigerator Pickles

Note from Judy: My dear friend Valarie’s mom, known as Gran Jan, makes these quick and easy pickles throughout the summer. We love them as cucumber pickles, but feel free to use the pickling liquid over other vegetables – green tomatoes, zucchini, beets and even sweet potatoes are willing candidates.

A dozen or so smallish pickling cucumbers
1 medium Vidalia or other sweet white onion
2 fresh jalapeño peppers
Kosher salt for sprinkling
2 cups sugar
1 quart Apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1-2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

SLICE cucumbers, onions and jalapenos thinly on a mandolin or with a knife. They should be very thin - between 1/16th and 1/8th inch.

PLACE vegetables in a large paper towel-lined colander. Salt the vegetables liberally and let sit for at least 30 minutes to allow any liquid to drain off. Rinse well and set aside to drain again.

HEAT sugar, vinegar, water, soy sauce and red pepper flakes in a saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool slightly.

ADD cucumbers to canning jars or plastic containers. Pour vinegar mixture over them and refrigerate at least a couple of hours before eating.

Makes about 4 quarts

NOTE: Pickles will last for several months if kept refrigerated. Feel free to follow canning instructions to keep pickles longer at room temperature.