If you want to impress with your cooking, there are a few simple techniques you can use to boost the flavors and depth of your dishes and easily elevate them to restaurant quality. One is grilling and another is pickling. In our take on gazpacho we use both. This recipe makes a great party starter. […]
Category: Recipes
Roasted Carrots with Manchego Carrot-Top Pesto and Sherry-Orange Vinaigrette
One of our family’s favorite children’s books is “Tops and Bottoms” by Janet Stevens. In it, a wily rabbit farms a bear’s land while the lazy bear sleeps the day away. Their deal is to split the harvest, each of them either getting the “tops” or the “bottoms” of each plant. You can just imagine […]
Sautéed Beet Greens with Pickled Stems
I have a friend who loves beets but never uses the greens when they come attached to the beets. She knows that I love them, so she dutifully passes them through the window to me at carpool rather than let them go to waste. I’m not sure if my friend doesn’t care for them or […]
Grilled Nectarine Salad with Burrata and Prosciutto
This is one of my very favorite summer salads — one I have taken to many a party and have served to many of my own dinner guests. You can almost use it as a salad template, substituting other lettuces, vinaigrettes, grilled stone fruits, berries and proteins. If you aren’t familiar with burrata, be prepared […]
Cucumber, Apple and Feta Salad with Cilantro-Lime Grilled Chicken
If you’re like me, salads are most appealing this time of year. Besides being appropriately light for summer, they are a great way to incorporate and celebrate all of the lovely produce coming to the markets right now. And without the mask of heavy sauces and other tricks, the quality of each ingredient is critical […]
Custard-style Pumpkin Pancakes
Back in the days before we switched to a migraine-free diet, we enjoyed pumpkin pancakes every weekend, particularly on crisp fall mornings like this one. Our daughter looked forward to these breakfast treats and lamented their disappearance when we eliminated them from our cooking repertoire. But also a fan of custard, she rejoiced when I […]
The easiest sauce you’ll ever make: Spicy Roasted Tomatillo Sauce Recipe
If the classic mother sauces have intimidated you, causing you to steer away from sauce making, here’s a manageable recipe for you. This is likely the easiest and most forgiving multipurpose sauce you’ll ever make. One of the best parts about it is that the ingredients are interchangeable, but the technique stays the same. Just […]
Tart Chicken and Chickpea Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette
Here’s a full-flavored, high-protein salad you can throw together this summer. It’s one of our standard beach eats because it’s fast, feeds many and is filling enough to sustain us for more fun in the sun. This salad also provides another good use for leftover dark meat from roasted chickens. The sharpness of the raw […]
Shrimp, leek and lime-stuffed cabbage dumplings
If you want to break out of the routine and try something a little different, this is the recipe for you. The lime broth really lightens up these stuffed cabbage dumplings, making it an ideal summer supper. I love tying up the dumplings like little packages hiding their surprise filling. Don’t be intimidated, you can […]
Coconut Collards with Fried Chickpeas
Often our meals consist of a melange of whatever looked good at the butcher counter thrown together with whatever goodies came in our weekly produce box. But as a restaurant critic, I’m fortunate enough to sample the creative genius of many chefs and am occasionally inspired to recreate the flavors of their dishes in my […]