Food, Photography and Bons Mots

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Let Recipe Failure Lead You to Success: Cabbage Soup With Onion and Farro
March 7, 2026

Let Recipe Failure Lead You to Success: Cabbage Soup With Onion and Farro

Love to try interesting-sounding new recipes? Me, too! Get a recipe failure now and then?  Me, too! All may not be lost. I enjoy experimenting with new recipes. Sometimes, a recipe just doesn’t appeal to my taste or it lacks the visual appeal that is…

Soups, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Comfort Food: Cream of Mushroom Soup
February 28, 2026

Comfort Food: Cream of Mushroom Soup

Here is a great comfort food to get you through unsettling times: Cream of Mushroom Soup. I used small brown baby bella mushrooms in this soup but you could mix things up with other mushroom varieties. This recipe uses a lot of mushrooms and yields…

Mushrooms, Soups
Oldies But Goodies…Stuffed Eggplant With Curry and Coconut Dal
February 26, 2026

Oldies But Goodies…Stuffed Eggplant With Curry and Coconut Dal

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 Goodies recipe is for Eggplant Curry. Here is the link: Stuffed Eggplant With Curry and Coconut Dal. 

Want to dive deeper into our recipe archive? Just click one of the categories at the top of this page or use the category search drop down menu on the right side of this page.

And…here is a link to Blue Cayenne’s main page: Blue Cayenne Food and Photography Blog. If you are in the mood to cook (or eat!), we hope you will take a moment to look at the many excellent recipes we have featured.

Eggplant, Main Dishes, Vegetables, Vegetarian
One More Time: Pavlova
February 19, 2026

One More Time: Pavlova

Pavlova:  A meringue-based “cake” with a soft marshmallow-like center and a crisp crust. How good does that sound? Throw in a story about a famed Russian ballerina and a century-long petty diplomatic dispute between Australia and New Zealand about the origin of the recipe and…

Berries, Cakes, Desserts
That Little Black Dress: Simple Marinara Sauce
February 7, 2026

That Little Black Dress: Simple Marinara Sauce

I’ve used the analogy before. There are simple recipes for cooking staples that I’ve compared to that little black dress in your closet. You know the one; it anchors your wardrobe whatever the crisis. This is another one of those anchors, a delicious and simple…

Uncategorized
An Improbable Soup: Pears and Zucchini
January 25, 2026

An Improbable Soup: Pears and Zucchini

I subscribe to an interesting app. It is titled Eat Your Books (https://www.eatyourbooks.com/myhome).

Eat Your Books allows me to intelligently (and efficiently) search my burgeoning cookbook collection.

Here is how it works. You enter the titles of the cookbooks you own. Once that is done, you can search your entire collection for a specific recipe or for a type of recipe. It’s magic!

The other day I was looking at my crisper bins in my refrigerator and found two zucchinis, a bunch of cilantro and a Trader Joe’s bag of baby arugula. On my kitchen counter, I had several bosc pears that needed to be used…like immediately.

After a brief search, Eat Your Books reminded me that I had a cookbook titled Soup for Syria. Soup for Syria: Recipes to Celebrate Our Shared Humanity is a compilation of recipes contributed by notable chefs like Anthony Bourdain, Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi, Alice Waters…and Patrick Herbeaux.

Patrick Herbeaux?

Herbeaux, it turns out,  is a medical doctor and avid cook. He is the founder of Pailettes et Confitures, a line of gourmet jams and fruit preserves.

Soup for Syria  was compiled to raise funds to help the people in Syria deal with their government’s disfunction and the civil war there while Assad was still in power. The profits from the book were donated to The UN Relief agency. (Poor Syria continues to face dire crises, of course.) You can still help these desperate people by contributing to the UN Refugee Agency or, indirectly, by buying this book. It is available through your local bookstore or on Amazon here.

Here is the recipe as I prepared (and enjoyed) it in my kitchen. 

Zucchini, Pear and Cilantro Soup

January 25, 2026
Print This
Ingredients
  • 2 T. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 onion (chopped)
  • 1 leek (trimmed and chopped)
  • 1 garlic clove (crushed)
  • 2 zucchinis (chopped)
  • 2 Bosc pears (peeled and chopped)
  • 1/2 C short grain rice
  • 6 C. vegetable stock
  • 1 small bunch cilantro
  • 1 large handful arugula
  • Salt and Freshly ground black pepper
  • A generous pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
  • Heavy cream or half and half (optional)
  • Thinly-sliced green onion for garnish (optional)
Directions
  • Step 1 Sauté chopped onion and leek in hot olive oil for several minutes until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes (don’t burn!).
  • Step 2 Add the zucchinis, pears and rice. Stir.
  • Step 3 Add the stock. Stir well and bring to a simmer. Partially cover the soup pot and cook for 15-20 minutes until the rice is tender.
  • Step 4 Add the cilantro and arugula. Continue cooking the soup for another 5 minutes or so.
  • Step 5 Take the soup off the heat and let it cool a bit. Put the soup into your blender (in batches) and puree until it is smooth. Return the soup to the soup pot and heat until the soup is hot. Season with salt, pepper and the (optional) cayenne pepper. (Cook’s Note: Optionally, you can add a glug of cream or half and half to the soup to make it creamier.)
Pears, Soups, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Baby Bok Choy Soup with Rice Vermicelli
January 21, 2026

Baby Bok Choy Soup with Rice Vermicelli

I remember first encountering bok choy years ago on a trip to China. Whether we were in Bejing or in The Stone Forest, bok choy was on our plates. It’s a staple in the Asian kitchen. Today, back in the United States,  bok choy is…

Asian, Soups, Vegetables, Vegetarian
A New Look at Marcus Samuelsson’s Ethiopian Beans: White Beans With Coconut Milk and Berbere
January 18, 2026

A New Look at Marcus Samuelsson’s Ethiopian Beans: White Beans With Coconut Milk and Berbere

Jose Andreas. Marcella Hazan. Jacques Pepin.  Elena Zalayeta Masaharu Morimoto Marcus Samuelsson. And on and on and on…and on. These women and men have enriched the American culinary world.  Immigrants all.  So here, in the spirit of recognizing  and celebrating the creativity, drive and good…

Beans, Main Dishes, Stews, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Cheese Blintzes Please!
January 10, 2026

Cheese Blintzes Please!

These cheese blintzes were a walk down memory lane for me.

I used to serve them for brunch all the time, but somehow they fell off my menu in recent years.

I have a local supermarket nearby that  specializes in Eastern European foods.  I kept seeing the bags of farmer’s cheese on their shelves and thinking blintzes sounded like an awfully good idea.


So, here they are–delicate crepes wrapped around a sour/sweet farmer’s cheese and ricotta filling with just a hint of lemon zest. Served with sour cream and blueberries, they will make your breakfast or brunch menu the talk of your social group.

The crepe recipe I used here was from an old old paperback cookbook titled Crepe Cooking by Virginia Pasley and Jane Green. The filling recipe was from the King Arthur Baking site. 

Here are the recipes as I prepared them in my kitchen.

 

Cheese Blintzes

January 10, 2026
Print This
Ingredients
  • For the Crepes:
  • 1 1/2 C. flour
  • 1 t. sugar
  • 1/8 t. salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 C. whole milk
  • 2 T. butter (melted and cooled)
  • For the Blintz filling:
  • 1 3/4 C. farmer's cheese
  • 2 C. ricotta cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 1 t. lemon zest
  • 1 T. sugar
Directions
  • Step 1 To make the crepes, put the milk, eggs, and melted butter in a blender first. Then put the remaining ingredients (flour, salt, and sugar)into the blender. Blend until smooth (about a minute). After a minute, turn off the blender and scrape down the sides. Blend for another minute until you have a totally smooth consistency. Put this batter in your refrigerator and chill for a few hours.
  • Step 2 Once the batter is thoroughly chilled make the crepes. Use a crepe pan or small frying pan.  Use about 1/4 c. batter for each crepe. To make the crepe, heat the pan and brush it generously with butter. Pour about 1/4 C. of the batter into the hot pan (off the heat), rotating the pan to thinly distribute the batter across the surface of the pan. Return the pan to the heat and let the crepe cook for a few seconds. After a few seconds, flip the crepe and let it cook for a few seconds more. I used a spatula to flip my crepes.Remove the crepe to a dish lined with paper towels and continue making the crepes. Your crepes should be about 8 inches across.
  • Step 3 To make the filling, put the ricotta (drained if wet) in a bowl with the farmer’s cheese. Mix in the egg, lemon zest and sugar. If you want a really smooth filling, you can blend the ingredients for the filling in a food processor. I left my filling a little chunky.
  • Step 4 To assemble the Blintzes: Put about 2 T. of the filing on each 8 inch crepe about 2 inches from the top of the crepe. Fold the top of the crepe over the filling then fold in the sides and roll the crepe into a roll.
  • Step 5 Saute the blintzes in a hot pan with about 1 t. neutral oil (I used canola.) and 1 t. melted butter. I refrigerated my uncooked blintzes at this point to firm them up and make them easier to saute. Put the chilled blintz seam down on the hot oiled pan and saute until the blintz is a pretty golden brown. Turn the blintz over and saute the other side of the blintz, continuing to saute until the blintz is heated through. Serve hot with sour cream and a dollop of blueberry compote.  (To make the blueberry compote, simply boil blueberries, water and sugar in a small pan until the blueberries begin to break down. Add a bit of cornstarch while the blueberries are boiling if you want a thicker compote. Chill before serving. Strawberry compote is also good with this.)
Breakfast Dishes, Fruits, Main Dishes, Vegetarian
Red Kuri Squash Soup
January 7, 2026

Red Kuri Squash Soup

As I sat steaming bowls of this beautiful soup in front of my New Year’s Day guests, I remember saying “This may be the most beautiful soup in the universe.” And it is.  The intense orange color of this soup is spectacular. And the edgy…

Soups, Vegetables, Vegetarian

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May 2026
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