Vegetarian

Skewer Those Mushrooms: Crispy Oyster Mushroom Skewers With Crushed Chickpeas

Skewer Those Mushrooms: Crispy Oyster Mushroom Skewers With Crushed Chickpeas

Anyone out there love mushrooms? I’ve recently rekindled my love affair with the Long Beach Sunday Farmers’ Market and there are two delightful mushroom vendors. I love their fresh mushrooms and enjoy the snappy conversation. I’ve searched for recipes worthy of their beautiful mushrooms and…

What to do with those strawberries at the back of your refrigerator? Roast them!

What to do with those strawberries at the back of your refrigerator? Roast them!

I lost my  admittedly limited self-control at the local farmers’ market the other day and bought a flat of strawberries. Whoa! That’s a lot of strawberries for one cook and a sweet pup who enjoys a fresh strawberry treat now and then.  What to make?…

Elegant and Intense: Plum Ice Cream

Elegant and Intense: Plum Ice Cream

I’m a unashamed stone fruit devotee. I particularly love plums. This is my season! There were perfectly ripe plums at my local farmers’ market this week. So, it being summer, I decided to make ice cream. This is a David Lebovitz recipe from his cookbook…

Oldies But Goodies: Plum Conserve

Oldies But Goodies: Plum Conserve

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 recipe is for Plum Conserve–perfect for slathering on your morning toast or for incorporating into your pastry recipes. (Here…

Good Memories: Bean Salad

Good Memories: Bean Salad

This recipe brings back fond memories of parties in my home. On my buffet table, a three bean salad was always a reliable dish–easy to put together, flexible, and interesting. Recently, my local Farmer’s Market has been offering beautiful yellow was beans that reminded me…

Watermelon-Tomato Gazpacho

Watermelon-Tomato Gazpacho

It is the height of the tomato season and what a season it is! My farmer’s market has a great selection of heirloom varieties and I’ve been delving into some of the interesting versions of Gazpacho. (We’ve featured Gazpacho before on Blue Cayenne– here and here…

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…