Pasta

Carpe Diem and Pass the Chiles: Spicy Spinach, Bean and Pasta Soup

Carpe Diem and Pass the Chiles: Spicy Spinach, Bean and Pasta Soup

  “Ask not (’tis forbidden knowledge), what our destined term of years, Mine and yours; nor scan the tables of your Babylonish seers. Better far to bear the future, my Leuconoe, like the past, Whether Jove has many winters yet to give, or this our…

Lasagna And Nothing But An iPhone: Yikes!

Lasagna And Nothing But An iPhone: Yikes!

  When the going gets tough, there is nothing more comforting than a quiet table, a mellow glass of Malbec, an ooey-gooey plate of lasagna and the soft snoring sounds of a sweet pup snoozing nearby. That kind of comfort is just what I’ve desperately…

Cabbage and White Bean Minestrone

Cabbage and White Bean Minestrone

Brrrr. It doesn’t take Punxsutawney Phil to tell us it’s soup time.   Cabbage and White Bean Minestrone Save Recipe Print Recipe My Recipes My Lists My Calendar Ingredients2 T. extra virgin olive oil1 large onion (finely chopped)1 carrot (cut into medium chunks)1 celery stalk (cut…

The Best Things In Life Are…Well …Simple: James Beard’s Macaroni and Cheese

The Best Things In Life Are…Well …Simple: James Beard’s Macaroni and Cheese

  “Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify.” Henry David Thoreau     This very simple James Beard recipe for macaroni and cheese caught my eye on a day when I was craving the quintessential American dish. Sometimes a simple recipe reminds us…

Salad Days! Couscous With Tomatoes and Herbs

Salad Days! Couscous With Tomatoes and Herbs

  Salad Days! No. Not the Shakespearean kind of salad days full of reminiscences and regrets. You remember— Cleopatra lamenting her youthful indiscretions. “My salad days, When I was green in judgment: cold in blood, To say as I said then! ” Instead, these salad…

Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Keller: Elevating Macaroni and Cheese to an Art Form

Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Keller: Elevating Macaroni and Cheese to an Art Form

John F. Kennedy famously remarked that a White House dinner he held for Nobel Prize winners was “the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” Ah,…

Ravioli with Ricotta and Basil Filling

Qualcosa bolle in pentola!!!   That’s Italian for “something boils in a saucepan”– a delightful idiom meaning “Something’s up!” So, qualcosa bolle in pentola here in Huntington Beach. Huntington Beach’s two wild and crazy cooking divas (and a small sweet dog named Juliet)  are back…

Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese Sauce…sort of

When I can’t sleep (which is often), I read recipes or watch You Tube cooking videos with Juliet snoring contentedly by my side. I usually select a cooking theme and then I’m good for hours. During one recent insomnia-stained night, I came across this recipe…

Elaine’s Fettuccine Alfredo

Elaine’s fettuccine alfredo. If it was good enough for Jackie Kennedy-Onassis, this fettuccine alfredo recipe is worth a try. (Kennedy-Onassis said it was “terrific, ” by the way.) As recipes go, this is a simple one. Like so many  gourmet dishes, the magic is in…

Fresh and Wild Mushroom Stew (for the good times)

The vocabulary word for today is umami. Now don’t go getting all “low energy” on me. I really don’t want to see any of you putting your heads down on your desks and hyperventilating like this is just too hard.          …