Roasted Pumpkin Seeds / How to Cut Hard Winter Squash / Brussels Sprout Hash with Caramelized Shallots & Pancetta

Blog Post & Recipe: The Best Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

As I normally make savory pumpkin seeds, I decided this time around to go with a movie theater style pumpkin seed, and wow, am I glad I took this approach.

Video: How to Cut Hard Winter Squash Without Hacking Off Your Hand

Butternut squash, sweet pumpkins, acorn squash, and all those other tasty but rock-hard winter squashes are coming into season. They can be tricky to cut, but we've got you covered. Here are two video CHOW Tips for getting winter squash cracked open safely.

Blog Post & Recipe: Brussels Sprout Hash with Caramelized Shallots and Pancetta

The shallots are caramelized then sweetened with a bit of sugar and deglazed with some red wine vinegar. The pancetta is cooked until crisp. The Brussels sprouts are sautéed then steamed with a little chicken broth. This method makes them tender without over cooking them.

Lamb Burger / Pesto Eggplant Rollatine / Homemade Furikake

Blog Post & Recipe: Lamb Burger | Bifteki Arniou

This dish came about when we were looking for a Greek “hamburger” with the flavors of Cypriot cuisine.

Blog Post & Recipe: Pesto Eggplant Rollatine

Slices of eggplant are brushed with garlic oil, roasted, then filled with a concoction of cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, and spinach. Like a little Italian explosion in your mouth.

Blog Post & Recipe: Homemade Furikake |Japanese Rice Seasoning

So what is it exactly? In it’s basic form -the form I’m giving you today- it is toasted sesame seeds, sea salt, nori, bonito flakes** and an optional pinch of sugar ... Furikake: the salt and pepper of Japan.

Portabello Mushroom & Basil Pesto Panini / Roasted Sweet Potato Salad / Escabeche & Savory Granola

Blog Post & Recipe: Portabello Mushroom and Basil Pesto Panini [via]

I decided to have a vegetarian dinner for my family last night and picked up some big beautiful portabello mushrooms for our paninis. I also added fresh basil pesto, mozzarella, tomatoes and sweet vidalia onions to them.

Blog Post & Recipe: Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

And it definitely takes the right kind of potato salad to make me realize that it’s ok to eat something warm on a hot day. I simply have no patience for chill time when there are sweet potatoes, black beans, red peppers, cilantro, and lime involved.

Blog Post & Recipe: Escabeche + Savory Granola (+ Las Manas Tamales)

So, you can imagine our delight when a plate of pickled asparagus, beets and carrots topped with a mess of puffed millet, seeds and spices arrived at our table. After our first bites, we both nodded in agreement. This is so good ...

The vegetables were sharp, intensely flavored and very vinegary. The granola is toasted, salty, sweet, and umami.

Concept: use that grill as a sandwich press. (Or has this already occurred to you, M?)

Chrysanthamum Greens with Sesame Seed Dressing / Spinach Pkhali / Shoyu Ramen

Blog Post & Recipe: Seriously Asian: Chrysanthemum Greens

Lightly steamed or boiled, chrysanthemum greens have a mildly grassy, herbaceous taste with stalks that are sweet and slightly crunchy. The greens are common additions to sukiyaki and shabu-shabu, and are also very good in soups.

Chrysanthamum Greens with Sesame Seed Dressing

Blog Post & Recipe: Pkhali, Unearthed

Pkhali (the 'kh' is pronounced as a deep, guttural 'h') is a whole class of Georgian vegetable dishes that straddle the line between salad and dip. The constant is the walnut sauce, and the fact that the vegetable is cut very, very finely - almost (but not quite) to a puree.

Spinach Pkhali

Blog Post & Recipe: How to Make Shoyu Ramen at Home

A perfect bowl of ramen, unlike, say, a perfect steak, isn’t about coddling some cherished ingredient and letting it shine. No, it’s about a meticulous and flawless combination of about 28 different ingredients into a whole more powerful and important than any of the individual components could ever hope to be. That also means that it helps to have a crazed passion for the stuff, as it will undoubtedly take two days to recreate at home. It is a pain.

Pumpkin Seed Mole / Hot Soba / Lemongrass and Chili Relish

Blog Post & Recipe: Pumpkin Seed Mole | Mole Verde

In Oaxaca, green mole (mole verde) is one of the seven famous moles. What makes this one different is not just the lack of chocolate, but also the fresh herbs, which give it a fabulous green color.

Blog Post & Recipe: Dinner Tonight: Hot Soba

While I have a deep abiding love for noodles of all kinds, soba has never exactly worked for me at home. Part of the issue is that most recipes call for the soba to be cooked and then cooled. Obviously I'm doing something wrong, because they come out slinky and watery, and seem to repel flavor. Considering I suck at cold soba, I figured I should give hot soba a try.

Blog Post & Recipe: Old Fashioned Lemongrass and Chili Relish (naam phrik dtakhrai ; น้ำพริกตะไคร้)

Chili relishes are made by pounding together chilies with salty ingredients, such as fermented shrimp paste, salt or dry shrimp, to which various proteins are added, the mix is than further seasoned to sour, salty and sweet flavors. Burst with tastes, chili relishes are served in a central bowl and are eaten along with rice and a wide variety of condiments, sweet pork, grilled fish, salted meat and vegetables picked up fresh from the garden.

Elizabeth David Recipes / Using Nuts and Seeds / Dried Worms in Pho

Blog Post & Recipes: Elizabeth David

At Elizabeth David's Table: Classic Recipes and Timeless Kitchen Wisdom

Chicken with Tarragon ... Tarte à l'oignon ... Lettuce Soup ... Ratatouille ... more

Article & Recipes: Nuts and seeds

Here’s a roundup of eight delicious ways from around the globe to get the most from nuts and seeds.

Cashew Cream ... Pomegranate Khoresh with Chicken ... Boiled Peanuts (Stovetop Method) ... Three Sisters Black Mole ... Romesco ... Horchata ... Dukkah ... Picada

Blog Post: Pho Secret Ingredients: Dried Earthworms (Sa Sung)

If you read Saveur magazine, you may have seen the northern pho (pho Bac) article that I wrote for the March 2011 issue. One of the ingredients that I mentioned in the story was sa sung (Sipunculans), dried peanut earthworms that add a unique savory sweetness to the broth

101 Fast Recipes for Grilling / Hummus / Bird Seed Bread

Article & Recipes: 101 Fast Recipes for Grilling

A vast majority take less time to prepare and grill than it takes to watch your coals turn white.

Article & Recipes: The perfect hummus debate

What's your idea of perfect hummus, and if you can make it at all, what's your secret?

Recipe: hummus with ful

Blog Post & Recipe: Bird Seed Bread

I figured that I could ramp up my own version of it and cram a ton of different seeds into and on top of the bread. I wanted to make bread out of bird seed basically.

Recipes Using Seeds / Eight Tofu Recipes / 10 Tips for Storing Vegetables & Eggplant Parmigiana

Article & Recipes: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's seed recipes

There are few dishes that can't be improved by the addition of a small handful of seeds.

Poppyseed lemon cake ... Fennel meatballs ... Sesame dressing

Blog Post & Recipes: Weekend Wokking: Tofu - Delicious Round up

Lets see what delish dishes our awesome bloggers has made with this nutritious tofu.

Tandoori Tofu Kebabs ... Tofu with satay sauce ... Mr.Zhengs Soupy Tomatoes and Eggs with Tofu ... Steamed Fish and Tofu with Chinese Blackbeans ... Tofu and Squash Dumplings ... Semur tahu ... Vietnamese Dau Hu Chien Sot Ca Chua or Vietnamese Fried Tofu with Tomato Sauce ... Indian Style bites

Blog Post & Recipe: 10 tips for optimum vegetable storage

1. select the freshest produce ... 2. minimise physical damage ... 3. dirt is good ... 4. avoid cutting or trimming ... 5. select the best storage temperature ... 6. protect from exposure to light ... 7. minimise dehydration ... 8. avoid condensation & sweating ... 9. beware the banana ... 10. DON”T refrigerate your tomatoes

eggplant (aubergine) parmigiana

Swiss Carrot Roll / Roasted Parsnips / Seeded Flatbread

Blog Post & Recipes: A Christmas carrot recipe

Swiss roll of Savoy cabbage and carrot

What are your feelings on carrots at Christmas? A must-have, and if so, how do you use them?

Blog Post & Recipe: Roasted Parsnips

Recently I had the pleasure of attending a fabulous class, taught by and in the home of local cooking maestra Evie Lieb. In the class we covered many dishes, but my favorite was the Roasted Parsnips with Horseradish-Herb Butter.

Blog Post & Recipe: Seeded Flatbread Recipe

The flatbread is made from white whole wheat flour along with pepitas, sunflower, poppy, and mustard seeds. You can pull the dough out paper thin or leave it a bit thicker, serve it straight or bake it with toppings. Whatever you like, really.

Swede Tart / Steak Slice with Lemon & Thyme / 10 Pumpkin Dishes

Blog Post & Recipe: Swedeaphobia Cure

Here is a delicious recipe for one of UK’s most unpopular vegetables.

The blogger doesn't name the recipe, but it looks like a savoury swede/rutabaga tart with a layer of crumbs on top

Blog Post & Recipe: Have you ever marinated your meat after cooking it?!

Nigella's Steak Slice with Lemon & Thyme

Serve up the sliced steak with a bit of the marinade drizzled over the top. And your au naturale sweet potato...with just a slathering of moisturizer.

Blog Post & Recipe: Top 10 Pumpkin Dishes

Pumpkin Pie ... Pumpkin Puree ... Toasted Pumpkin Seeds ... Pumpkin Pie Milkshake ... Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream ... Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread ... Pumpkin Butter ... Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake ... Savoury Pumpkin Pie (Kolokithopita) ... Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

Black Pepper Ice Cream. Sesame Seeds, Sesame Seed Oil. Fougasse.

Blog Post & Recipe: black pepper ice cream

I remember the first time I had vanilla ice cream infused with peppercorns ...

M. -- yes, we'd need an ice cream maker. I just thought the idea looked interesting.


Blog Post: Sesame seeds and sesame seed oil

When buying sesame seeds, choose small packets and store in an airtight container. If not refrigerated, use the seeds within three months. Refrigerated, they last for six months and twice as long if kept in the freezer.

Blog Post & Recipe: Fan-fougasse-tastic

Fougasse is one of those breads that balances simplicity and sophistication. I especially like it because it’s so pretty in a bread basket, but the form isn’t for nothing. Its pretzelly spread out form means that it bakes in 15 minutes flat.

Lamb shanks. Poppy seed onion cookies.

Recipe: Poppy seed onion cookies.

Not very sweet, these can be enjoyed with coffee or tea or as a cocktail nibble.

Blog Post/Recipe: Herb marinated braised lamb shanks.

Lamb shanks come from either the forelegs or the lower hind legs of a lamb, which get a lot of exercise, and therefore are great cuts for stews and slow-cooked braises. The long cooking time is needed to break down the tough connective tissue in the muscles. At the end of cooking the meat should just fall off the bone.