Oh, my…I consider myself a bit of a crêpe buff, but I had no idea how creative crêpe dishes could get! How about beet crêpes with smoked fish? (The beet juice turns the crêpe an absolutely shocking shade of pink.) Or for dessert, toasted coconut crêpes. I can’t wait to try [...]
Ceres was the Roman goddess of agriculture. Her name eventually became associated with the single food that provides more energy for human beings than any other crop: grain. Unfortunately, today’s commercially-made cereals are often a far cry from their old-world roots. Just take a look at the labels–most cereal is made [...]
Palomino sauce is often overlooked in favor of its better-known cousins, marinara and bolognese. (Bolognese has meat; marinara does not.) Like those cousins, palomino is tomato-based–in fact, it’s marinara with cream added–and can be served over pasta, chicken, and seafood.
Here’s a lower-fat version of palomino: it’s made with goat milk instead of [...]
Fruit smoothies are great…and smoothies with fresh ginger are even better! Try this combination for a glass of morning zing:
1 peach, cut into rough chunks
juice of 1 orange or 3-4 clementines
about 1″ of fresh ginger root, peeled
Put the peach chunks and orange juice into the blender, then use a garlic press to squeeze the [...]
What a curious word; it sounds downright Lewis-Carrollian. It would fit well into his “Jabberwocky” poem: “‘Beware the kumquats, my son!’” (Also an excellent word to know when playing Scrabble.)
Kumquats look like tiny, oval oranges. Like oranges, they are rich in potassium and vitamins A and C. Their popularity has [...]
Most people quail at the thought of making their own bread from scratch–it’s complicated, they say, it takes a long time, and the outcome is so uncertain. It does take time, but 85% of that time doesn’t involve any work at all on the baker’s part. And while the process may seem complicated [...]
It’s not beer or wine, although it is fermented. It isn’t hard cider or perry (like cider, but made with pears), although it can contain fruit. Traditional mead is made from honey, water, and yeast, and it’s been around since recorded history began. It went through a bit of a slump in [...]
The little green teardrops sit in trays, lost between the piles of apples and pears–easy to overlook if you’re not scrutinizing every aisle. Worse yet, most of us can only relate figs to the Newtons of our youth. Fresh figs, however, are nothing like those doughy, overly-sweet cookies. Look for figs are [...]
As the summer shades into fall, herb-garden growers are faced with a dilemma: what to do with the last of our basil? If you’re anything like me, you’ve watered and de-budded and cherished your basil all summer long so that you could eke every last leaf out of it. (For first-time growers, [...]
Continue reading about The Classic Marriage of Basil and Pinenuts
I’m starting to think that pita is the most versatile form of bread on the planet–top it and bake it to make pizza, cut/tear it into pieces and then bake it to make chips, or stuff it and make a sandwich. Here’s my latest foray into the world of pitas: sauteéd pita pockets! [...]
