Vegetables

Cream of Carrot Soup Chez Claude

Cream of Carrot Soup Chez Claude

  My friend Sarah said to put this recipe on Blue Cayenne. Believe me, when Sarah gets that insistent tone in her voice, Blue Cayenne listens. I’ve been making this gorgeous (and delicious!) soup for a very long time. This recipe was adapted from one…

Gorgonzola-Baked Fennel and Cannellini Bean Salad

Gorgonzola-Baked Fennel and Cannellini Bean Salad

It takes a neighborhood and sometimes a bicycle! This salad recipe is adapted from Hetty McKinnon’s salad cookbook Neighborhood. McKinnon is an Australian cook who currently lives in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn but has hung her hat in the Mediterranean, Asia and France.…

Asparagus Soup with Fennel and Pernod

Asparagus Soup with Fennel and Pernod

I love adore soup!  All soup. Well…maybe not all soup. I was once on a school district committee where one of the elementary school reps reported on her school’s “soup day.”  Seems they had an activity where each student was asked to bring a can of Campbell’s…

Pass the poha…

Pass the poha…

    On a long-ago idyll in India, I discovered unimagined rice delights. There were soft puffy rice cakes called idli commonly eaten in the morning. Pilaf-like biryanis. Sweet pongals. Here is a take on a rice dish you probably have never imagined, a poha.…

Barley and Lentil Soup

Barley and Lentil Soup

I’ve always enjoyed soup. It is my idea of comfort food. There is something wonderful about the chemistry of making soup. You put all those healthy ingredients together and (sometimes) voila! For the last few weeks my love affair with soup has taken on a…

Eat Your Greens: Provencal Greens Soup

Eat Your Greens: Provencal Greens Soup

I was recently at a restaurant in downtown Santa Ana where I foolishly let myself be talked into ordering the house’s kale salad. I’m usually a hard sell when it comes to kale, but I liked the young waitress’ enthusiasm as she assured me that…

Baked Beans with Sweet Potatoes and Chipotles

Baked Beans with Sweet Potatoes and Chipotles

  You know how it is when you just plain crave baked beans. This rich baked beans recipe will satisfy your cravings and throws in healthy sweet potatoes to boot. And, then there is the complex smoky flavor of chipotle peppers. What’s not to love…

Swiss Chard Pie with A Vodka Crust

Swiss Chard Pie with A Vodka Crust

    I was out of vodka. For years I’ve relied upon my neighbors to loan me a little of this and a little of that–a couple eggs or a cup of milk. But…it is an entirely different thing to call a neighbor and ask…

Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Chickpeas, Tahini and Avocado

Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Chickpeas, Tahini and Avocado

    This recipe for Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Chickpeas, Tahini and Avocado has everything–good proteins, healthy cruciferous cauliflower, peppery watercress, and beautiful Cara Cara oranges. Did I mention there are avocados, too? And, oh! those Cara Cara oranges! I’ll admit that I’ve fallen head-over-heels…

Tuscan Farro Soup While Waiting For Hamilton

Tuscan Farro Soup While Waiting For Hamilton

  Oh, we strategized. We’d be at our computers at 9 a.m. sharp, fingers poised to click the button that read “buy Hamilton tickets” the moment the digital clock struck nine. Then, The Segerstrom Theatre would place us into a “virtual waiting room” where the…