Vegetarian

Creamy Sesame-Ginger Salad Dressing

Creamy Sesame-Ginger Salad Dressing

This is one wonderful salad dressing. A real keeper. This Creamy Sesame-Ginger Dressing is a Samin Nosrat recipe from The New York Times. You can find the original recipe here. Nosrat is the gifted author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, an exceptional cookbook that should…

Salante: Irish Coffee

Salante: Irish Coffee

My beautiful friend Michelle had the good fortune to visit San Francisco’s  Buena Vista Cafe recently and enjoyed a glass of their legendary Irish Coffee.  As she described the coffee’s deliciousness, I knew I needed to try this. And, of course, it was wonderful.  Here…

Birthdays and Apricot Cakes

Birthdays and Apricot Cakes

Apricots and I go back a long way.  Growing up, I always had a “Paradise Cake” for my birthday. The cake was two layers of yellow cake slathered with a tangy dried apricot puree and covered in coconut. I’ve tried to find the recipe online…

Phyllo-Wrapped Feta With Spiced Honey

Phyllo-Wrapped Feta With Spiced Honey

It’s flaky. It’s tender. It’s sweet. It’s savory. There is a bit of a sour feta bite.  It’s wonderful. This is a riff on Greek Tiropita–layers of crisp and flaky phyllo dough stuffed with pungent feta cheese. This recipe brings back memories of glorious stays…

Roasted Tomatoes, Eggplant and Hummus

Roasted Tomatoes, Eggplant and Hummus

This is a delicious hybrid recipe. It’s a riff on a hummus recipe we ran on Blue Cayenne back in April of 2019 here It occurred to us that a rich topping of roasted grape (or cherry) tomatoes and roasted eggplant cubes would complement the…

Oldies But Goodies: Plum Cakes

Oldies But Goodies: Plum Cakes

  Every month Blue Cayenne features recipes from our archive of more than four hundred recipes. These recipes are our “Oldies But Goodies.” Today’s Oldie But Goodie recipes are for plum cakes–two different plum cakes but equally delicious. Your call.  ( Here is the recipe.)  Want…

Baked Red Bean Nian Gao (Mochi Cake)

Baked Red Bean Nian Gao (Mochi Cake)

I’ve had this recipe in my burgeoning to-do file for some time. The original recipe is from The New York Times and the reviews are pretty strong.  A reader named  Isabel, for example, wrote that this cake may be one of the best things she’s…

Gotta Love Fritters: Spanakopita Fritters

Gotta Love Fritters: Spanakopita Fritters

Just about every food culture has a fritter–a fried and battered morsel of vegetables, fruits or meats. There are Indian bhajias, Japanese tempura, American apple fritters, and on and on.  The love of a fried morsel is all but universal.  This fritter has a Greek…

Light Those Candles!  It’s Birthday Banana Cake

Light Those Candles! It’s Birthday Banana Cake

So, where did the idea of celebrating birthdays with cakes come from?  It was the Greeks!!!, as my Greek friend Michelle would be quick to say. (Michelle proudly maintains that most good things originated with the Greeks. ) Michelle may have a point. According to…

It’s a Ten on the WOW Scale: Tahini Cake

It’s a Ten on the WOW Scale: Tahini Cake

Just WOW! This is such a good cake and a relatively unique cake flavor to place on your table to entertain your guests. I have to confess, though, that I’m not having a party and this cake is quickly disappearing off my counter! This is…