Vegetables

A Salad Obsession: Me, Samin Nosrat and Via Carota’s Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

A Salad Obsession: Me, Samin Nosrat and Via Carota’s Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

This is a very good vinaigrette. Glorious, in fact. The hot new chef, Samin Nosrat, featured this salad dressing recipe in a recent New York Times Magazine food piece titled “Best Green Salad in the World.”  That kind of high praise made me think this…

Creamy Hummus: A Culinary Whodunnit

Creamy Hummus: A Culinary Whodunnit

Cooking brings people together. Right? Apparently that is not is the case if the food is hummus. The chickpeas themselves don’t seem to be the subject of much debate. It is generally believed that they have been harvested as food since antiquity. Harold McGee, in…

Sweet Corn Chowder (All Sultried Up) and a Hunky Breton Fisherman

Sweet Corn Chowder (All Sultried Up) and a Hunky Breton Fisherman

I’ve been making (and enjoying)  this soup for a very long time. This corn chowder recipe first ran in the Los Angeles Times on September 30, 1998–21 years ago. The Times food section had a “Quick Fix” column at the time and this recipe was…

Wow! Savory Cauliflower Cake

Wow! Savory Cauliflower Cake

This one’s a keeper. On my first taste, I knew that this cauliflower cake would be a party dish on my table. I’m pretty picky about what I serve my guests but this beautiful dish is that good. Love at first bite, I guess. This…

A Belated Happy New Year: Stir-Fried Tofu with Vegetables and Noodles

A Belated Happy New Year: Stir-Fried Tofu with Vegetables and Noodles

Happy Year of the Pig. I’m a bit late cooking for Chinese New Year. Life got in the way.   Here is a wonderful stir fry served with noodles that I’m pretty sure you will enjoy. No pigs here, though, just a great melange of…

Juliet–My Little Cabbage, and a Killer Cabbage, Leek and Potato Soup

Juliet–My Little Cabbage, and a Killer Cabbage, Leek and Potato Soup

My French neighbor, Nicole, loves Sweet Juliet. When she visits, she often greets Juliet with an affectionate mon petit chou. (Translated, that means “my little cabbage.”) Juliet has that effect on people. Absolute strangers and friends alike shower her with kind words and sweet kisses.…

Pearl Couscous With Creamy Feta and Chickpeas

Pearl Couscous With Creamy Feta and Chickpeas

I’m loving this dish. Couscous has long been a staple food in North Africa’s Maghreb but it has become popular around the world in recent years. I remember discovering it on a long-ago trip to startlingly-beautiful and exasperatingly-strident  Morocco. Most of us here in the…

Like A Boss: Glazed Shiitakes With Bok Choy

Like A Boss: Glazed Shiitakes With Bok Choy

Do Asian vegetables confuse you? Don’t know your bok choy from your choy sum? Neither do I, but when David Tanis, one of my favorite food writers,  published this recipe for Glazed Shiitakes With Bok Choy in his New York Times column City Kitchen, I soon found…

Hated the Biscuits; Loved the Bread Pudding

Hated the Biscuits; Loved the Bread Pudding

  I made biscuits the other day. It sounded like a good idea but I ended up hating them. B-o-r-i-n-g.  Even a generous pat of Kerrygold butter couldn’t bring them to life. OK. I’ll admit that it may have been me. I am in my…

Smooth As Butter: Roasted Butternut Squash With Lentils and Stilton

Smooth As Butter: Roasted Butternut Squash With Lentils and Stilton

How do you feel about butternut squash?  No, really. For those of you who might shy away from the squash, consider the following: It is a fruit; who doesn’t love fruit? It is a healthy food; who doesn’t want to eat healthy?  It is inexpensive;…