I used to think that hummus was a great dip. Then I moved on to thinking it was a great condiment and dip. These days, I’ve given up trying to categorize hummus — I’m willing to try it with darned near anything. (And I’m usually glad I did!) Somehow, that combination of smooth, creamy chickpeas [...]
Who says a tuna casserole can’t be glamorous? (Or gorgeous, for that matter.) It’s simply a matter of choosing your cheeses wisely — scrumptious cheese makes for a scrumptious casserole. For this concoction, I was fortunate to have a complementary selection of cheeses on hand: herbed Brie, English Stilton, and Dutch Parrano (which is a [...]
Spaniards have some delectable culinary customs, among them “giant” beans and “giant” corn. (I found the latter — salted and roasted, no less — in a flamenco bar in Cádiz, sold in cocktail-peanut-style canisters in a mini rotating vending machine. Like most bar snacks sold in disposable canisters, they weren’t very good, but still, I [...]
Continue reading about Frijoles Gigantes and Other Spanish Oddities
Cabbages aren’t exactly the hottest item on the vegetable menu: they don’t have the slim elegance of a green bean or the curvy voluptuousness of an eggplant. From Sauerkraut to Asian cabbage-parcel soups, however, they do feature prominently in most world cuisines. (To achieve the latter, stuff a leaf, tie it off with chives, and [...]
Crab cakes, I think, are one of America’s great culinary inventions. ( I once had a coworker whose father hopped in the car one day and drove from Detroit to Baltimore to satisfy his urge for crab cakes. A few months after that, he called his son to let him know that he was slurping [...]
Continue reading about Yes, Even Crab Cakes Can Be Whole Grain
Things are not always as they seem, not even in the world of cheese. Having grown up eating my share of pizza, I thought I knew what mozzarella tasted like, but when I took my first bite of mozzarella di bufalo — made of 100% buffalo milk — I realized I’d been missing out on [...]
Americans tend to think of pizza as Italy’s national dish, but Italians — particularly northern Italians — would probably beg to differ. Wheat fields in the south give way to rice paddies in the north, and where you find rice, you’re more likely to find risotto on the menu rather than wheat-based pastas, breads, and [...]
Americans eat oats for breakfast and in the occasional cookie. Scots eat them for breakfast, too…and for lunch and dinner and everything in between. They eat them in scones and stews and porridges and even with fish. And why not? Not only are oats one of the most nutrient-rich grains on the planet, they have [...]
A whimsical name for a whimsical dish: pasta tossed with guacamole. I got the idea when I wanted to make guacamole but was out of corn chips. What to do? Use corn in a different form, I decided. I did. I also deepened the flavors of the dish by sautéeing the garlic and onion before [...]
If you’re looking for a quick and easy protein-packed salad, you can’t go wrong with baby spinach, hard-boiled eggs, and canned tuna fish: you get the bitterness of the greens, the smooth richness of the egg, and the toothsome brininess of the tuna all on one plate. And if you have some beans or tomato [...]
