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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…

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 marinara sauce.

Unexpected guests. Stinking work day aftermath. Whatever. This Simple Marinara has got your back.

This recipe is a Samin Nosrat recipe from The New York Times. Here is the link to the original recipe: NYT Simple Tomato Sauce. This sauce is thick and a bit sweet from long cooked onions, lots of them!, and a bit hot from chile pepper flakes. It’s perfect for an improptu plate of pasta on a stressful day and perfect, too, saucing your fanciest lasagna.

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.

Simple Tomato Sauce

February 7, 2026
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Ingredients
  • 6 T. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 5 cups yellow onions or shallots (diced)
  • Fine sea salt
  • 1 twenty-eight ounce can San Marzano tomatoes (crushed)
  • 4 garlic cloves (finely sliced)
  • 2 T. tomato paste
  • 5 large basil leaves (thinly sliced)
  • 1/4 t. red pepper flakes
Directions
  • Step 1 Heat 4 T. olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add a pinch of salt.
  • Step 2 Reduce heat to medium low and add sliced onions. (I used a combination of yellow onions and shallots.)Cook slow, stirring often, until the onions are a little brown and tender. This will take about 20 minutes.
  • Step 3 While the onions are cooking, open the can of San Marzano tomatoes. Pour the tomatoes into a large bowl and crush them with your hands. Add about 1 1/2 C. water to the empty can to recover any of the tomato juices left in the can and pour that into the bowl. Set aside.
  • Step 4 Once the onions have cooked, add the four thinly-sliced garlic cloves to the pan and continue to cook for about 90 seconds. Don’t let the garlic burn! Add the tomato paste and cook for another 3-4 minutes until the mixture turns a slightly darker color. Add the crushed tomatoes and water to the mixture and season with salt. Add basil and red pepper flakes. Bring the tomato mixture to a boil. Stir the mixture often. Once the mixture is boiling, lower the heat to a simmer and continue cooking for abourt 45 minutes. At that point, the tomatoes will have lost their raw taste.
  • Step 5 At this point, taste and adjust salt seasoning.Add the remaining 2 T. oil.
  • Step 6 Remove the sauce from the stove and let it cool a bit. I have proceeded in two directions at this point. For a really chunky and thick sauce, I’ve pureed the sauce (in the Dutch oven) with my hand blender. For a still thick but less chunky sauce, I’ve pureed the sauce in my powerful Vitamix blender. (Cook’s Note: This is a versatile sauce. I’ve used it on spaghetti with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan. I’ve also used it in making lasagna and other vegetable dishes.)
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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,…

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 food that immigrants have brought to the American table is  my adaptation of Marcus Samuelsson’s recipe for Black-Eyed Peas With Coconut Milk and Berbere . Here is the link to the original recipe: Black-Eyed Peas With Coconut Milk and Berbere. My dish substitutes white beans, actually Rancho Gordo Marcella Beans, for Samuelsson’s black-eyed peas. You could choose to go either way. I’ve made this before with black-eyes  (and featured the original recipe on Blue Cayenne ( Black-Eyed Peas With Coconut Milk and Berbere).  Made with black-eyes, this is a sweeter dish. Made with Marcella white beans, the dish is a bit more savory. 

Here is Samuelsson’s recipe as I adapted it to my kitchen.

White Beans With Coconut Milk and Berbere

January 18, 2026
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Ingredients
  • 2 C. dried white beans
  • Kosher salt
  • 4 T. unsalted buter
  • 1 large red onion (minced)
  • 1 1/2 T. fresh ginger (minced)
  • 3 garlic cloves (minced)
  • 1 jalapeno chile (seeded and minced)
  • 2 t. berbere seasoning
  • 1 t. ground turmeric
  • 3 medium tomatoes (chopped)
  • 1 C. full-fat coconut milk
  • 1 C. vegetable stock
  • 1/3 C. chopped cilantro
  • 2 green onions (thinly sliced)
Directions
  • Step 1 Prepare dried beans, drain, cool and set aside. Alternatively substitute drained and rinsed canned white beans. The original recipe used black-eyed peas, by the way.
  • Step 2 Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven. Saute onion, ginger, garlic and chile until softened and beginning to brown. This will take about 10 minutes.
  • Step 3 Add berbere spice and turmeric to the onion mixture, stir and continue to cook for 2 minutes.
  • Step 4 Stir tomatoes into the onion mixture and cook for about five minutes until the tomatoes soften. (Tomatoes are out of season here so I used an equivalent amount of San Marzano canned tomatoes.)
  • Step 5 Stir the coconut milk and vegetable broth into the onion mixture. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat until your tomatoes begin to break down and the sauce is thickened. This will take about 20 minutes.
  • Step 6 Add the cooked, drained and rinsed beans to the onion mixture. Stir. Continue to cook for another 10 minutes until the dish is heated.
  • Step 7 Garnish with cilantro and green onions.
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…

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
Little Black Dress: Vinaigrette
December 29, 2025

Little Black Dress: Vinaigrette

For just about every basic recipe, you need “the little black dress”–the basic fall-back recipe that never fails.

Here is a wonderful vinaigrette that hits all the right notes. It is tangy with just the right amount of sweet. 

This was a gift recipe from a good friend. I keep going back to it again and again and again. 

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen: 

Vinaigrette

December 29, 2025
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Ingredients
  • 1/4 C. balsamic vinegar
  • 1 T. honey
  • 2 t. Dijon mustard
  • 1 large garlic clove (minced)
  • 1/2 t. kosher salt
  • 1/4 t. black pepper
  • 3/4 C. extra-virgin olive oil
Directions
  • Step 1 Whisk vnegar, honey, Dijon,  garlic, salt and pepper together. Gradually drizzle the olive oil into your vinaigrette whisking to emulsify the dressing. Cook’s Note: You can vary this recipe a bit by choosing flavored balsamics.
Salad Dressings, Vegetarian
It’s Delish: Persimmon Cardamom Cake
December 26, 2025

It’s Delish: Persimmon Cardamom Cake

  Persimmons! My kitchen fruit bowls are brimming with persimmons this year.  In the past, finding myself with persimmons in the winter, I’ve pretty much defaulted  to making the usual fruit-cake-like loaves of persimmon bread. Those loaves have been good–sometimes very good–but eventually that iteration…

Cakes, Desserts, Vegetarian

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