Seasonal tags.

Seasonal tags have been introduced: spring, summer, autumn, winter.

Nam Pla. Kidney Bean soup. Pulses.

Article & Recipe: Keeping kidneys fit

Kidney bean and vegetable soup

This minestrone-style soup is a meal in a bowl. There are no strict rules about the ingredients other than they are seasonal and combine well.

Article & Recipes: Fishing for condiments

Nam pla is one of those seasonings whose qualities creep up on you.

Squid with chilli dipping sauce ... Chilli dipping sauce ... A summer salad of cucumber and cold chicken

Article & Recipe: Time for beans, peas and lentils

The link to the recipe sits under the pictures to the right.

These days, beans, lentils and the rest of the lovely legume family can be found gracing the very best tables in the state - their earthy goodness and low price making them the ideal choice for tasty winter warmers ... How you choose to prepare and cook your pulses also affects how they'll make you feel after eating them. Always discard the water in which you soak dried pulses ...

Recipe: Confit pork belly

Oven-Roasted Corn. Cauliflower. Radishes.

Blog Post & Recipe: Oven-Roasted Corn-on-the-Cob

At the risk of hearing a great collective "Duh" from my readers, I shall now impart unto you my new favorite way to cook corn-on-the-cob ...

Blog Post & Recipe: Simple Cauliflower Recipe

Cauliflower is endlessly adaptable, and cooking it this way is quick and delicious. After just a few minutes in the pan the cauliflower starts to brown, and then takes on a deep, nutty flavor. I'll share the version we made the other night - pan-fried cauliflower with garlic, chives, lemon, Parmesan, and flaky sea salt.

Blog Post & Recipes: How To Eat a Radish: Tips, Ideas, and Recipes

When we shared our quick appetizer, radish slices layered on bread with cheese and chives, several of you mentioned that you're trying to eat more of these crunchy, delicious spring vegetables ...

Radish Recipes

• An easy appetizer, with radishes, chives, soft cheese and bread. Pretty, too!
• Very quick radish pickles.
• A gorgeous creamy, crunchy radish salad.
• Fresh tuna with radish salad and wasabi dressing.
• Radish and mango relish to garnish a pea soup.
• Yes, you can cook a radish! Braised radishes with shallots.
• And again, this time with rice vinegar and mint.
• Bread and butter with radishes.
• Great snack: radishes with cream cheese and chives.
• And the classic serving idea: radishes with butter and sea salt.

Snails. White beans & tomatoes. Tofu Cacciatore.

Article: Edible common snails

It’s very wrong to toss snails over the garden wall into your neighbours’ nasturtiums. Far better to eat them: they don’t come back from that.

Blog Post & Recipe: Tofu & Vegetable Cacciatore with Microwave Polenta

Cacciatore means hunter in Italian."Alla cacciatora" refers to a 'hunter style' meal with onion,tomatoes,bell peppers,herbs and mushroom.It is normally or popularly made with braised chicken or rabbit ...

Recipe: Baked white beans with tomatoes

These are not the traditional Boston baked beans, but rather white beans cooked with tomatoes and lots of herbs. Begin with dried Navy beans or French flageolet, which are pale green, and soak them overnight (the quick-soak method is also given here).

Build a Better Burger. Seasonal Pasta Dishes. Ye Olde Cookery.

Blog Post: How To Build A Better Burger

... today we're talking about the physical order in which the ingredients are layered. By stacking your burger in a certain manner, you can actually help tame the rogue condiments and escaping vegetables (we're looking at you tomato) and enhance the flavor of your burger

Article & Recipes: Marrying pasta and veggies in southern Italy

I became an Italian food goddess when I realized the following:

Fresh vegetables of the season + pasta = a fabulous bowl of Italy.

Pasta by the [northern hemisphere] month

May: Asparagus Broth with Seashell Pasta, Lime & Pecorino ... June: Zucchini, Fava & Arugula Soup ... June: Watercress & Wonton Soup ... July: Yellow & Green Bean Soup with Ditalini ... July: Fennel & Tomato Soup, with Tiny Pasta ... August: Basil-Scented Zucchini, Yellow Peppers & Red Tomatoes .. August: Corn, Zucchini & Tomato Broth with Cheese Ravioli

Website: Gode Cookery

A compilation of medieval recipes from authentic sources adapted for the 21st century kitchen, along with diverse facts on food & feasting in the Middle Ages & Renaissance and other historical culinary items.

Example:

To make a Herring-pye.

Put great store of sliced Onions, with Currans and Raisins of the Sun, both above and under the Herrings, and store of Butter; put them into your Pye, and bake them.

(This is the entire recipe.)

Bulbs tag

I'm introducing a 'bulbs' tag to replace the 'vegetables' tag on those posts where it refers to onions, fennel, etc. 'Stalk and stem vegetables' is going to replace 'vegetables' where the tag refers to leeks, rhubarb, asparagus. 'Vegetables' is getting way out of hand.

Poached pumpkin. Mixed Grains. Asparagus.

Recipe: Afghan sweet poached pumpkin

This way of cooking pumpkin, based on a recipe from Afghanistan, is very moist, with the sweetness of the cooking liquid nicely balanced by the tangy yoghurt.

Not only is this a good winter accompaniment for lamb, it is a harmonious partner for a simple rice pilaf.

Blog Post: Quick Tip: Try Mixing Grains!

Because the two grains cooked at different speeds, quinoa melted into the longer-cooking rice and gave a creaminess to the whole dish ... I'll start by using the average amount of liquid required between all the grains and then approximating cooking time based on the grain that will take the longest to cook. This will definitely be a "taste and adjust as needed" kind of experiment!

Have you ever cooked mixed grains? Which combinations do you recommend?

Recipes: 12 asparagus recipes

Green-tea noodle superfood salad ... Raw asparagus salad ... Asparagus, prosciutto and egg pizza ... Grilled asparagus and hollandaise ... Leek, asparagus and tarragon salad ... Asparagus and pea shoot risotto with mint ... Warm asparagus, scallop and green bean salad ... Asparagus, lemon and goat’s cheese tart ... Asparagus and pine nut scones with goat’s cheese filling ... Asparagus, egg and bacon pie ... Asparagus, Pata Negra ham and white bean salad with confit egg yolk ... Asparagus Mimosa

Carrot salad. Lettuce Cake. Brown rice in the Oven.

Recipe: Carrot salad with chilli, mint and coriander

The carrots are really just a vehicle for the dressing, aromatic herbs and punchy chilli. These are the flavours your wine needs to worry about.

Blog Post & Recipe: Spiced Lettuce Cake Bars

The cake bars are pretty good, and you wouldn’t know that they have lettuce in them unless someone directly told you or you didn’t get a great “shred” and a few big pieces slipped into the batter. They’re moist and soft, with a good balance of chewiness and tenderness.

Article: Brown rice often cooks better in oven

Q . What method can I use to prepare brown rice so that it will be tender and fluffy? When I cook it, it always comes out very sticky.

A . Tender and fluffy might be asking a little too much of brown rice. Each and every rice kernel in your pot is encased in a straitjacket of rice bran. There's simply not much room for expansion in there.

It's not fair to ask brown rice to be white rice. Let brown rice be itself -- a chewy, nutty, highly nutritious whole grain with a personality of its own -- and save yourself the disappointment.

That doesn't mean you need to settle for the sticky, glutinous rice you've been turning out. There is a relatively foolproof way of dealing with this recalcitrant grain ...

Chicken Curry. Burgoo. Berry soups.

Blog Post & Recipe: Chicken Curry

Based on the simple onion tomato Curry Sauce, this is probably the most commonly cooked chicken curry in our home.

Blog Post & Recipe: Burgoo, classic Kentucky stew

This most quintessentially Kentuckian dish delivers in the delicious department, but boy howdy is it brown ...

The recipe we used as our base, from [Jean] Anderson's book [A Love Affair with Southern Cooking], is nothing more than chicken, pork, peas, corn, beans and salt and pepper. That's it, though it doesn't suffer from a dash of hot sauce.

Blog Post & Recipes: No Croutons Required - Berries

The challenge for May's No Croutons Required was to come up with a soup or salad featuring berries. A special thanks to all who contributed their lovely creations!

Gazpacho Soup ... Chilled Blueberry-Cocoa Dessert Soup ... Gingery Berry Soup ... Strawberry and Tomato Soup ... Spiced Strawberry Soup with Mint Cream and Choco-Nut Crisp ... Fresh Fruit and Berry Soup ... Rhubarb Soup with Strawberry Ice Cream ... Strawberry and Fruit Soup ... Strawberry and Cashew Salad ... Cauliflower, Cranberry, Feta and Walnut Salad ... Pepita and Cranberry Salad ... Red Groats ... Strawberry Pepper Salad ... Berry Soup with Cake Croutons.

Beet Gnocchi. Potato-Crusted Trout. Dairy Class.

Blog Post & Recipe: Beet Gnocchi with Herbed Garlic Butter

"They bleed when you cut them, look!"

Blog Post & Recipe: French in a Flash: Purple Potato-Crusted Trout a la Francaise

... it is served à la française, which means with a lemon butter sauce ... I spoon on a lightened version of sauce à la française which is flavored with curls of lemon zest and whole leaves of parsley.

Article: Milky ways

A journalist attends an adult education class called "Dairy Delights with Jeltje Gillian" and writes about her day.

At the end of a four-hour lesson I came home with butter, quark, mascarpone and cottage cheese -- all made by me. And along the way I had learned to make yoghurt, buttermilk, ice cream, labna and creme fraiche ...

The first job of the class was to begin the cottage cheese.

The milk is heated to just warm, then rennet is stirred in and it is left for an hour in a warm place to firm up. The result is a firm junket ...

Soy beans. Rice. Cheese wrapped in leaves.

Blog Post & Recipe: How to Make Perfect Asian Rice

Check the rice before you buy it. It should be lovely pure white, like the rice on the right. If it's chipped, dinged up, and has dark spots like the one on the left, take a pass. And believe it or not, most rice has an expiration date on the package.

Article & Recipe: Soy beans means simple

Most Japanese restaurants have soy bean still in their pods served as a snack. This is similar to the recipe I am giving you today. However, it's the soy beans, shelled and frozen just like frozen peas, I think we should all be serving ...

Soy ginger soy beans in the shell

Article: Cabbage leaf a nice cheese-wrapping resource

Cheesemakers have wrapped fresh cheeses in leaves for protection probably since cheese-making began. Grape leaves, chestnut leaves, fig leaves - whatever was handy and free would be pressed into service. The leaf wrap kept the flies away, slowed moisture loss and often imparted a desirable aroma.

Modern cheeesemakers working in pristine facilities don't need to worry about keeping flies out of their aging rooms, but they may enclose a cheese with leaves for aesthetic value ...

The Science and Psychology Behind Overeating

Article: The Science and Psychology Behind Overeating

An interview with "Former FDA commissioner David Kessler [who] examines the causes of excessive eating in his new book, "The End of Overeating""

WSJ: What about restaurant eating?

Dr. Kessler: Much of what we eat in restaurants is fat on fat on sugar on fat with salt. Pick any dish in any mid-American restaurant. What is spinach dip? Fat on salt with green stuff. Look at the average salad we're eating. If you look at the bacon, the croutons, the cheese…it's fats, salts and a little lettuce ...

WSJ: At times I couldn't decide whether you felt that the overweight were victims or undisciplined. Which is it?

Dr. Kessler: The answer is probably neither. Nobody has explained to people what is going on with them, or given them the tools to cool stimuli. Yes, you are bombarded throughout the day. You respond. And that creates torment for people ...

WSJ: What are the most important signs that people can recognize before they eat something they actually may not want?

Dr. Kessler: The fundamental question, when you look at food, is this: Is it real food, or is it food that is layered and loaded?

Bolognese Sauce. Easy Lentil Soup. Cut up a Chicken.

Blog Post & Recipe: Ryan’s Bolognese Sauce

According to Ryan, red onions are much stronger than yellow or white onions when they’re raw…but cooked down, there’s not much difference.

Blog Post & Recipe: Ridiculously Easy Lentil Soup

On one hectic evening this week, I needed a meal on the table in about a half hour ... I finished the soup off with canned, crushed, fire-roasted tomatoes (which are saucier and take less time to cook than diced) and some hickory salt for a great smoky flavor that made the soup taste like it had cooked for hours.

Article & Recipes: Marcello Fiorentino cuts up a whole chicken to save money

Begin with a good sharp boning knife to divide each bird into two pieces by making two cuts just behind the legs and through the backbone. It's a neat, clean V-shaped cut that divides the bird into a breast and leg portion. This is a different cut than many butchers make who cut the bird in half top to bottom.

Related links:
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Chicken Tenders With Shiitake Mushroom Sauce on a Bed of Spinach
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Chicken Parmigiana (Cotoletta di Pollo alla Parmigiana)
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Simple Tomato Sauce
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Pollo alla Cacciatore

Ricotta Gnocci. Four Iraqi dishes. Substituting Flour.

Blog Post & Recipe: Gnocci for Beginners. And Braggarts.

Ricotta gnocchi, where have you been all my life?

Blog Post: Good Question: Substituting White Whole Wheat Flour?

Here's a question from Kitchen reader Cara about working with whole wheat white flour in her baking:

At what ratio should white whole wheat flour be substituted for regular whole wheat? What about white whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour? Is the best way to substitute by weight 1 for 1?

Blog Post & Recipes: How about cooking Iraqi?

Recipes for four dishes are here for you to try:

1. Kubbat Mousel ...

2. Fasangoon ...

3. Sheikh Mahshi is one of the most loved stew dishes in Iraq and usually served with white rice fortified with roasted almonds and raisins ...

4. Timman Jazar ...

Aebleskivers. Moroccan Carrot Soup. Caramelized onions.

Article & Recipes: All about aebleskivers

Aebleskivers are a type of pancake cooked in a special stove-top pan with half-spherical molds. The center is soft and fluffy, almost creamy.

Recipe: Mrs. Malmberg's ... Recipe: Grandmother's aebleskivers

Blog Post & Recipe: Florence Fabricant's Moroccan Carrot Soup with Mussels

The recipe comes from Florence Fabricant's Pairings column ... All you have to is whip up a simple soup (fry an onion and cumin in olive oil, add a bunch of peeled, chunked carrots, boil, puree, done). Then you purée that into a smooth soup, and add fresh lemon juice ...

Article & Recipe: Turning onions into pure gold

... just because there are no long lists of ingredients or complicated techniques does not mean caramelizing onions is without pitfalls. The main one -- and it's a dish-killer -- is that caramelizing can come awfully close to burning, and once you've scorched the onions there's no way to get rid of that bitter flavor but to dump them out, wipe the pan clean and start over.

To avoid this, cook the onions in the heaviest pot you have over the lowest heat possible for much of the time, stirring as often as you can. That should be at least every 15 to 20 minutes for most of the cooking, shortening to 5 to 10 minutes when you get down to the end stages.

Caramelized onions

N.b. I've divided the 'soup' tag into 'soup' and 'vegetable soup.' It was getting unwieldy.

Grilled Salmon. Sweet Potato Falafel. Milk.

Recipe: Balsamic vinegar: not just for salads

GRILLED SALMON WITH BALSAMIC ONION GLAZE

Blog Post & Recipe: Baked Sweet Potato Falafel

These falafel are made with a mashed sweet potato and chickpea flour base, accented with a generous punch of spices, a nice amount of garlic and plenty of chopped cilantro. If you're looking for that crunchy, fried, falafel experience, this isn't it. But these are delicious in their own way.

Article: The right white stuff

Richard Cornish investigates why we have lost the taste for real milk.

The cream from the milk sat on the coffee in delicious yellow blobs. The person I made it for took a sip, paused and spat it on the ground. Retching, he said "That milk's off! It's disgusting!" "No," I replied, "it's unhomogenised."

Like most people brought up on processed milk, he was only accustomed to the texture of milk that had been homogenised. To him, milk was pure white, smooth, slightly creamy and, somewhere in the hazy background, a cow was involved.

Chicken Sizzling Rice Soup. Asparagus pasta. Composting

Blog Post & Recipe: soup for woolly

Obviously homemade chicken broth is going to kick canned chicken broth in the balls, but canned works here. I actually made this batch with half homemade and half store-bought because I ran out of the homemade. Bring it to a boil.

Chicken Sizzling Rice Soup

Blog Post & Recipe: asparagus, goat cheese and lemon pasta

It was getting late and I still didn’t know what to make for dinner, only that I wanted it to take no time at all because sometimes you look so hard for dinner inspiration, you sap all of your cooking energy en route. This had six ingredients. It took perhaps fifteen minutes to make.

Blog Post: A guide to composting for down-to-earth cooks

"I was so worried about ratios of green to browns," says Heather Hawkins, co-founder of the Web site EnviroMom (www.enviromom.com), a once-reluctant composter. "I realized, I should just focus on keeping food scraps out of garbage. That was a breakthrough for me."

Rhubarb cobbler. Fennel Salad. Chicken Potpie.

Article & recipe: Potpie is a simple treasure

Potpie is one of the most economical and easy dishes you can make ... two things determine the success of your potpie: having enough rich sauce to not just bind, but smother the solid ingredients, and a crisp crust to contrast with the silken sauce.

Chicken Potpie with Drop Biscuits

Blog Post & Recipe: Recipe: Lemony Shaved Fennel Salad with Bresaola

A few kitchen tools that make assembling this salad easy are a vegetable peeler for the cheese (you get nice thin, curly shards of cheese) and a mandoline for shaving the fennel. But if all you have is one good knife, you'll still make a great salad ... Bresaola is a ... lean air-cured beef ... Most gourmet shops that carry cured meats will have it. If not, substitute whatever you can find in the cured meat department (salami, prosciutto, etc.)

Blog Post & Recipe: rhubarb cobbler

Rhubarb Cobbler
Adapted from Claudia Fleming via New York Magazine

The biscuit topping includes the curious ingredient of hard-boiled egg yolks. I’ve been trying for days to find the reason behind it’s inclusion (as I am sure someone will ask) but without my cookbooks still boxed up, my access to technique information is limited. I know that some people grind up a hard boiled yolk in their sables, to make them sandier and would argue that this makes the biscuits a little richer and cakier.

Tomato Soup Cake. Peatini cocktail. Gallo Pinto.

Article & Recipe: How to make a peatini cocktail

To make a pea shoot puree, blend, in a liquidiser, the pea shoots with just enough water to make a puree.

Blog Post & Recipe: Warhol's Tomato Soup Cake

First published in a recipe booklet by Campbell's, the cake was featured in the 1942 book, How to Cook a Wolf, by M.F.K. Fisher. In her book she writes "This is a pleasant cake, which keeps well and puzzles people while you are cooking other things, which is always sensible and makes you feel rather noble, in itself a small but valuable pleasure." ... In the 1960's the recipe was revitalized and become more of an assembled concoction of water, a spice mix, and a can of soup.

Blog Post & Recipe: Dinner Tonight: Gallo Pinto

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup of canned beans, with liquid
4 tablespoons Salsa Lizano (or Worcestershire sauce)
Salt and black pepper
Handful of cilantro, chopped

Turnip Gratin. Harissa sauce. Food on film.

Blog Post & Recipe: Blue gratin of turnip

120g of your favourite blue cheese (a crumbly one) Preheat oven to 190C. Toss together the sliced turnip, onion and melted butter and place into a baking tray of around 23 cm square.

Blog Post & Recipe: Hot & Saucy

I like to make sauces such as salsa verdé ... A close second to that is harissa, a fiery North African sauce of red pepper and chilli that is so easy to make yourself and again, transforms the boring to the beautiful. Try it with fish or white meats, rice and salad. Make the most of your own little store in your kitchen and soon you will be a master of the leftovers.

Blog Post: Food on film: What's your taste?

What has been the greatest scene involving food in a film, and come to that, which has been the greatest food film ever? There's so much choice. I have a few personal favourites, among them La Grande Bouffe ... in which Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret and Ugo Tognazzi eat themselves to death. I'm particularly fond of the scene in which Ugo Tognazzi expires on the kitchen table, while being force fed with a terrine ...

The Sandwich Project

Website: Sandwich Project

The sandwich project began in the mind of Derren Wilson as he waited in the queue for a mass-produced supermarket sandwich about two years ago.

The site launched in September 2002: since then, the site has had over 100,000 visitors and more than 1,500 sandwiches submitted.

For example:

1. Chocolate and pickled onion toastie

What’s in it? Pieces of Dairy Milk. Pickled onions Tomato ketchup

What should we know? Don't be scared if lots of steam comes out of your sandwich toaster when making this. The weird thing is, I was sober when I first cooked this up. It tastes nicer than it sounds.

Bread Type? not given (toasted)

Micro melons. Shopping a farmers market. Sausages and Green Lentils with Tomato Salsa

Article: 13 strategies for shopping a farmers market

10 Bring cash, "especially ones and $5 bills," Lycan said. "The farmers really appreciate that."

Blog Post & Recipe: Jamie's Sausages and Green Lentils with Tomato Salsa

As someone who lives with a great cook of a husband, I tend to fear making just so-so meals. I'm working on both my skills and my fears, and this recipe is one that has helped me build confidence ... It's a Jamie Oliver recipe ... We recommend mixing this up as desired with various types of sausage (turkey, veggie, whatever you like) and adding a bit more garlic, cinnamon and/or red chillies to taste.

Article: 'Micro melons' 20 times smaller than regular size

No recipe here, just a novelty melon.

The rare Pepquino melon measures just an over inch (3cm) from tip-to-tip but has the identical external pattern and distinctive shape of traditional watermelons ... While it resembles its larger cousins, it has a fresh crisp taste similar to a cucumber and juicy light green flesh.

It can be eaten as a snack or appetiser, like olives, in a summer salad, stir fried or made into a sorbet and teamed with dark chocolate.

Pork Chops with Braised Fennel and Caramelized Onions

Blog Post & recipe: Dinner Tonight: Pork Chops with Braised Fennel and Caramelized Onions

This blogger found the recipe here.

One thing I love about braised fennel—besides the fact that gentle cooking brings out its sweetness and tones down the anise-y flavor—is that it retains a good sharpness along with its richness. I love braising vegetables because they cook in a fraction of the time it takes to braise meat, and braising turns them sumptuous and succulent. But sometimes the flavor lacks punch. Not so with fennel.

Grilled Fava Beans. Anchovies. Mushroom, Sausage, Goat Cheese, and Chive Grilled Pizzas.

Blog Post & Recipe: Grilled Fava Beans

The key is getting the grill (or pan) the right temperature - too hot and the pods char before the beans have time to steam in their pods.

Blog Post & Recipe: Mushroom, Sausage, Goat Cheese, and Chive Grilled Pizzas

This is a cross between crispy flatbread and chewy pizza with extra flavor from the char of the grill. If you don’t have access to a grill, bake the dough in the oven as you would any other pizza ... The mushrooms and sausage can be roasted up to three days ahead and warmed through before adding to the grilled dough.

Article & Recipe: And don't hold the anchovies

Look to the left for a link to "Roast leg of lamb with anchovies."

If one needs proof that anchovies are not natively malodorous, it's best to try Spanish or Italian brands in a jar (everyone agrees on the superior quality of the Spanish brand Ortiz). Anchovies also come salt-packed, requiring a brief soak in water. Even more impressive are the fresh fish ...

Related

* Recipe Roast leg of lamb with anchovies

Enfrijoladas. US Biscuits. How to saute fish.

Blog Post: The Basics: How to saute fish with lemon and capers

... two thin, boneless, skinless fillets of firm white fish (e.g., tilapia, sole, cod, rockfish, snapper) ...

Blog Post & Recipe: Dinner Tonight: Enfrijoladas

... enfrijoladas are tortillas dipped into a sauce and then garnished with all kind of fresh ingredients. The biggest difference is that instead of dipping the tortillas in a chile based sauce, these are dunked in a velvety bean sauce ...

Blog Post: Biscuits on Parade: A Recipe + A Biscuit Tip-Sheet

By 'biscuits' she means US biscuits.

The butter for your biscuits should be cold, cold, cold. Cut the butter into small pieces, drop the pieces into the bowl with the dry ingredients and toss, so that the chunklets are coated with flour.

Use your fingers or a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour. Don't be overly thorough here - you want some pieces to be reduced to flakes and others to be pebbly and about the size of peas ...

Tchicha bel Khoubiz. Mapo tofu. Hummus.

Blog Post & Recipe: Tchicha bel Khoubiz

If there is anything that keeps me from preparing North African inspired cuisine regularly, it’s the time consuming aspect. ... It was a sort of jackpot then that I discovered Tchicha bel Khoubiz , or Bulghur with Greens.

Article & Recipe: Mapo tofu as it was meant to be

Look to the sidebar on the left for the link to the recipe.

Fermented broad-bean sauce, chili-sesame oil, and Sichuan peppercorns are available in most Asian markets [in the US at least]. For the peppercorns, look for bags that contain mostly reddish-brown outer husks with only a few shiny black interior pods and stems. It is important to use silken tofu in block form.

Blog Post & Recipe: Classic Hummus

I’ve tried to buy prepared Hummus in the grocery store ... but they all have a decidedly acidic taste, the result of the citric acid added to ensure that it remains preserved. And it always, always falls short.

Making hummus at home is the only way to go, and it’s surprisingly easy as long as you can find tahini, a specialty sesame paste sold in jars.

Leftover refried beans. Star Trek Food. Pizza Blanco.

Blog Post: What to do with leftover refried beans?

We had tostadas with homemade refried beans for Cinco de Mayo, and I have quite a heap left. Any good ideas for a way to use them in a non-Mexican, or just atypical, way? I'm looking for something different than your typical burritos, etc.

Blog Post: A Primer to 'Star Trek' Food and Drink

That reminded me that food and drink is depicted routinely in the Star Trek franchise—across ten movies and six TV shows. There's no doubt—or at least, I hope—that there will be food references in the 11th movie, which will feature Romulans, Vulcans, Orions. As a refresher, I thought I'd take a look at what passes for serious eats in these alien cultures. Join me on this mission, won't you?

Blog Post & Recipe: Recipe: Pizza Blanco

Toppings for Pizza Blanco
1 large onion, chopped and caramelized (I cook these slowly over low heat, as I’m preparing everything else)
salt, pepper
glug of olive oil
2 small, boiled red potatoes
sprigs of dill
3/4- 1 c white sauce
1 bunch arugula, lightly dressed in olive oil and vinegar

Cherry beet cake

Recipe: How to bake: Cherry beet cake

A ruddy, beet-tinted crumb dotted with sour cherries under a streusel top

Pastitsio. Strawberry Lemonade. Enchilada sauce.

Blog Post & Recipe: Greece Is The Word

Pastitsio is like a Greek Moussaka with pasta, a delicious combination of meat, spice, egg and cheese that feeds the whole family ...

Blog Post & Recipe: Strawberry Lemonade

Add sweetener to taste. My husband prefers to use stevia, which is a natural sweetener sans the sugar. You can purchase stevia as a powder or as an extract ...

Blog Post & recipe: enchilada sauce

For the actual enchiladas, we just rolled up some corn tortillas with some grilled chicken that had been mixed up in a big bowl with cheese and the sauce, then topped them with more cheese and sauce, and baked them until the cheese got all melty.

Opening Jars. Hash Brown Quiche. Calamari, squid, cuttlefish: the difference.

Article: Two-minute expert: How to open a stubborn jar

Try a rubber band.

Recipe: Mother's Day recipe: Hash Brown Quiche

Press the potatoes into the bottom and up the side of the pie plate to form a crust, shaping it to stand above the rim of the pie plate if possible.

Article: Picking the difference between calamari, squid and cuttlefish

Q Is there any difference between calamari, cuttlefish and squid? I see they are all on menus but they all seem the same to me.

A Cuttlefish, squid and octopus are all of the same family but all very different ...

Q Could you please explain what Espagnole is. It is often referred to in a cookbook I have as an ingredient but I have never heard of it before.

A I get a lot of questions on classical French cooking terms, it must be enjoying a resurgence in popularity out there. Espagnole is ...

Red lentil, lemongrass and coconut soup.

Recipe: Red lentil, lemongrass and coconut soup

If, like me, you need to feel the fire on a regular basis, this is a great little recipe to have in your armoury. It involves picking up some lemongrass next time you're in the supermarket/Asian shop, but these hardy sticks last for a good couple of weeks in your fridge, and can be frozen to no ill-effect as well.

Save Bacon Fat. Roasted Tomatoes. Guacamole

Blog Post: Tip: Save Your Bacon Fat

See a theme? Essentially, use a spoonful of bacon fat anywhere you'd use a pat of butter or a glug of olive oil.

Blog Post & Recipe: Roasted Tomatoes

It’s a slow roasting process at 200-225° for about 8 hours. Yeah, I said 8 hours, but DON’T FREAK OUT. You don’t have to babysit them or anything.

Blog Post & Recipe: Perfect Guacamole

The name is derived from two Aztec Nahuatl words - ahuacatl (avocado) and molli (sauce). The trick to perfect guacamole is using good, ripe avocados. Check for ripeness by gently pressing the outside of the avocado. If there is no give, the avocado is not ripe yet and will not taste good. If there is a little give, the avocado is ripe. If there is a lot of give, the avocado may be past ripe and not good.

Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken. Asparagus. Re-Use Yoghurt Containers.

Blog Post: Quick Tip: Five Ways to Re-Use Yogurt Containers

1. Freezer Containers ... 2. Bulk Bin Containers ... 3. Spice Storage ... 4. "To Go" Containers ... 5. Container Gardening ...

Article & Recipes: The best spears of your life

There's nothing mysterious about cooking the perfect fresh asparagus. Just boil it in shallow water like any other vegetable, says Nigel Slater.

A tart of asparagus and tarragon ... Warm asparagus with melted cheese ... Baked asparagus with pancetta.

Blog Post & Recipe: Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken

This is a very simple dish to prepare, all you need is patience. The chicken ... is poached in a water bath then quickly dunk into cold water to stop the cooking process to retain its juicy smoothness texture. As for the bean sprout, it will only need to be blanched no more than 10 seconds, then drizzle with sesame oil and soy sauce, and a smidge of white pepper for bit of kick ...

Learning to Cook. Dr Pepper. Plumping Raisins.

Blog Post: Tip: How To Plump Up Your Raisins

While raisins are almost invariably delicious, it can be pleasant to change that hard, chewy texture into something softer.

Article: Solved? Mystery of Dr Pepper's secret recipe

A battered notebook discovered in a Texan antiques store could have finally solved a mystery that has baffled generations of sweet-toothed Americans: by what strange alchemy was Dr Pepper first created?

The yellowing pad suggests the distinctive drink was originally concocted from a mixture containing mandrake root and a large quantity of syrup. It was probably sold as a "digestive" to help make stomach medicine palatable.

Articles & Recipes: Learning to cook can be intimidating...

Lesson 1: How to make a basic butter sauce

Lesson 2: How to boil pasta

Lesson 3: How to bake pie crust

Lesson 4: How to make eggs

Lesson 5: How to make soup stocks

Lesson 6: How to dice vegetables

Lesson 7: How to work with garlic

Lesson 8: How to stir-fry

Lesson 9: How to saute

Lesson 10: Peeling pineapples

Lesson 11: Pesto

Lesson 12: Granitas

Lesson 13: Shucking oysters

Grilling 101: The ABCs of grilling steak and chicken

Cinco de Mayo

Recipe: Cinco de Mayo Recipe: Mango Michelada

A michelada is a beer cocktail with hot sauce, lime, and salt — a beer margarita, if you will. Without the liquor, so this is the perfect midweek drink.

Blog Post & Recipe: Pineapple, tequila are perfect companions for Cinco de Mayo

And since I'm eating healthier these days, this tequila-baked pineapple makes the perfect side dish for some grilled salmon or chicken and is sensational when served over pound cake or vanilla ice cream ...

Tequila and Lime Baked Pineapple

Blog Post & Recipe: Chipotle Chicken Fajitas (Grilled Indoors!) with Creamy Black Bean Spread

We should have posted this recipe a few weeks ago in honor of Cinco de Mayo, but better late than never...

Fajitas really taste best when the meat and veggies come off of a grill, but we're willing to compromise with a grill pan rather than give them up entirely.

Recipes: Cinco de Mayo, a.k.a. National Margarita Day

'National' here meaning 'in the USA.'

Cinco de Mayo isn’t celebrated very widely in Mexico (it’s often erroneously thought of as Mexican Independence Day, which is September 16), but it’s become so popular in the States that many people consider it the kickoff of summer ... Here’s an assortment of Mexican-influenced, but by no means traditional, cocktails that use beer, tequila, and rum.

* Spiked Pineapple Agua Fresca
* Mexican 75
* Paloma
* Red Chile–Guava Margarita
* Luchador
* Tamarindo Borracho
* Squirrel Horchata

Blog Posts & Recipes:

The Homesick Texan blogger's "Menu for Cinco de Mayo":

Tinga
Carnitas
Chorizo
Corn Tortillas
Mexican Rice
Nachos
Papalo salsa verde
Pico de Gallo
Chile con Queso
Sopapillas

I'll add more recipes to this if I find any. See also this post and this one.

Choko. Vegetable Casserole. Cornbread with Olives and Peppers

Blog Post & Recipe: Cornbread with Black Olives and Jalapeno Peppers

This is an easy bread to whip up once you've completed the somewhat laborious task of pitting the olives. An olive / cherry pitter speeds up the process.

Blog Post & Recipe: Italian Layered Vegetable Casserole

Everyone agreed that the white bean filling was not an adequate substitute for the original tofu filling ... In the end, I decided to post the recipe with links to the tofu filling so that you can have the choice of which way to make it.

Article: Choko is no joke

Choko is the name for this member of the cucurbit family of edible gourds, but it is known as such only in Australia and New Zealand.

It mostly goes by the name chayote, from an Aztec word chayotl, but is also known as christophine, vegetable pear, mirliton, mango squash, Buddha's hand gourd, and, perhaps most fittingly for this knobby prickly vegetable, alligator pears.

Blanching vegetables. Rosemary Chicken skewers. Cabbage and Fennel

Blog Post & Recipe: Simply Sautéed Spiced Indian Cabbage and Fennel

The sweetness of caramelized vegetables plays off the rich aromas of the Indian spices ...

Blog Post & Recipe: Grilled Chicken Rosemary Skewers - ode to simplicity

When it comes to everyday cooking, not many of us want to f%# with the food that much ... and our grilled chicken rosemary skewers are a perfect example of simple and tasty cooking. We can prep the chicken in half the time it takes for the grill to heat up, and once cooking, it is done before the beer is half gone.

Blog Post: Advice on blanching vegetables

This link comes to you via the Limes and Lycopene blog.

I have a question regarding blanching. I read in some recipes to bring water to a boil and then drop in vegetables and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or whatever. At what point do I start counting? After the water returns to a boil, or when dropping in the vegetables?

French Tart Dough. Cinco de Mayo. Mexican cheeses.

Blog Post & Recipe: French Tart Dough...à la française

I was expecting her to say, "You begin by taking some cold butter and work it into the flour.

But she started by saying, "You take butter. And you take water. You put them in a bowl. Then you put it in the oven for 20 minutes and let everything boil until..."

Article & Recipes: Say 'queso!' Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Mexican cheeses

See our primer on Mexican cheeses and how to use them. And if you can't find the Mexican cheese you need, there are substitutions, which are just as tasty.

Green Chili Cheese Puffs ... Mexican Rice with Salsa and Cheeses ... Mexican Torta with Asadero Cheese

Article & Recipes: Cinco de Mayo with Emilio Dominguez of Casa Maya Grill

These are the dishes that a young Emilio Dominguez watched his grandmother prepare in her kitchen in the Yucatan city of Progreso. She'd make them each day for her 14 children and 10 grandchildren who ate in her home.


Related links

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Cinco de Mayo Recipe: Poc Chuc (Sour Orange Marinated Pork With Pickled Red Onions)
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Cinco de Mayo Recipe: Pickled Red Onions
*
Making Casa Maya Grill Poc Chuc (Sour Orange Marinated Pork with Pickled Red Onions) Step-by-Step Photos
*
Cinco de Mayo Recipe: Tomatillo Sauce
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Cinco de Mayo Recipe: Spinach Enchilada With Tomatillo Sauce
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Mexican Ingredients: Sour Oranges and Tomatillos

Puff Pastry

Recipe: Quick puff pastry

Recipe: Puff pastry

What makes puff pastry so light and crispy? Well, the secret is in the folding. Puff pastry is made by placing chilled butter (or sometimes lard) between sheets of dough, then folding and rolling it many times to create hundreds of layers. As it cooks, steam lifts and separates the layers, resulting in a crisp, flaky pastry suitable for the tops of pies or the classic French dessert, mille-feuille (translates a "a thousand leaves").

Website: The youtube search results for 'puff pastry'

“puff pastry” results 1 - 20 of about 236

Recipe: Classical puff pastry

Go to the bottom of the recipe for instructions on how to do a few basic things with puff pastry:

For thinly rolled dough ... Bouchee ... Criss-cross Tartlet ... Puff Strip ... Vol-au-Vent

Recipe: Katherine's Puff Pastry

If dough is too sticky or dry, you may need to use extra flour or water. It is very important for good puff pastry that everything is kept very cold. Puff pastry is better made with bread flour because of the higher gluten content.

Albondigas Soup. Root Vegetable Shepherd's Pie.

Blog Post & Recipe: Albondigas Soup

Albondigas soup is a traditional Mexican meatball soup ("Albondigas" means "meatballs" in Spanish) that my mother has cooked for our family for almost 50 years. It is our version of comfort food. What makes the flavor of albondigas soup distinctive is the chopped mint in the meatballs.

Recipe: Root vegetable shepherd's pie

Dear SOS: I recently dined at Rustic Canyon Wine Bar & Seasonal Kitchen in Santa Monica. I had the root vegetable shepherd's pie with butternut squash purée main course. It was wonderful.

Dear Jacqueline: This is just the dish to eat right now, while we are still enjoying the last of that cool spring weather. Note that the recipe can be made ahead of time up until Step 10, then finished just before dinner so it's served piping hot.