Main Dishes

  This probably never happens to you, but I sometimes find myself wanting to get in and out of the kitchen quickly after a tiring day.  If I can do that and still produce a great meal, I’m one happy camper. This is a recipe…

  I’ll confess right off. Eggplant and I have a rocky relationship. It’s not because eggplant isn’t Robert-Redford handsome. Just look at that smooth skin and that sensuous coloring. It’s also not because I don’t try. I do.  I just have trouble finding stellar recipes that…

It is the Christmas season here in Huntington Beach. I know that because my local Costco has Christmas trees for sale.   Seems a tad early to me, but there is some research that holds that people who decorate early for the holidays lead happier…

  You’re pretty sure to be the only person to bring this salad to the next potluck. It’s unusual. This recipe is adapted from one that appears in Hetty McKinnon’s imaginitive salad cookbook, Neighborhood. I find myself repeatedly going to her cookbooks when I want…

Pythagoras was so convinced that beans had souls that their consumption was forbidden among his followers. Don’t get me wrong. I love beans, but I’m not so sure about the soul part. Tiny little bean hearts, maybe. Truth be told, however you fix ’em, I…

  Today’s plat du jour on my table is ratatouille, a classic French vegetable stew that is a specialty of cooks in Provence and Nice. Apparently, a lot of other Mediterranean countries claim some version of this dish, too, so you may have encountered ratatouille under…

    I ate my first B’stilla years ago in Casablanca. I fell in love. (Cue the music: As time Goes By.) We had travelled to Spain to visit Jim Shelton, a teacher friend who had moved to Alicante. Then, on a romantic whim, we booked…

    Raise your hands if you don’t like baked beans.  Nobody?  I thought so. This baked bean recipe has it all. It shines with the best beans you can buy but it is also great with plain Jane canned beans. (I used Rancho Gordo…

  Oxi! (or is it Nai! ?) I could never keep yes and no straight in Greek. (Could be a dangerous confusion in any language. I know.) These Greek Baked Beans are delicious. I just made another big (for me) Rancho Gordo bean buy and…

  For regular people, this is a wonderful dish. For artichoke aficionados this dish makes the earth move. This torta has lots of meaty artichokes (two pounds of hearts) suspended in an airy parmesan cheese and egg custard. Artichokes and egg custard. Wow. This recipe…