Lisa on March 21st, 2012

Just about everyone agrees that crab cakes are sublime. Just about everyone likes shrimp, too. So why not make shrimp-crab cakes? The tiny and amazingly cute wild rock shrimp that come in cans are ideal for making cakes since they’re already so small, plus they can hang out in your pantry right next to the [...]

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Lisa on March 16th, 2012

Want to get more efficient in the kitchen? Make multiple-pot meals. Heck, you’ve got four burners, so why not have them all in motion? If you simmer two ingredients while you sautée a third (and chop a fourth), your prep time will be only as long as the longest-cooking item of the bunch. For this [...]

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Lisa on February 27th, 2012

If you have access to sashimi-grade fish, making sushi is a snap. (Sashimi-grade fish is suitable to eat raw. NEVER consume raw fish unless it is sashimi-grade fish and you’re getting it from a reputable fishmonger or grocer.)* Short-grain brown rice and seaweed are available even in most mainstream stores, and nearly every American has [...]

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Lisa on January 11th, 2012

Who says you can’t have a fiesta in the wintertime? (Especially when it’s 48F outside. It’s like spring in the winter!) Unlike mexicanized restaurant food in the U.S., actual food in Mexico is fresh, vibrant, and light in a satisfying and hearty kind of way. Case in point: a crisp, refreshing version of pozole, served [...]

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Lisa on November 14th, 2011

I think creamy veggie soups are the perfect fall dish — they’re thickly hearty and warming, but all the vegetables remind me of summertime. (Ah, my poor garden! But hopefully the winter months will give the freshly laid compost some time to sink in…) And the fact that there are lots of ways to make [...]

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Lisa on July 29th, 2011

Unrefined oils are a deliciously wonderful thing. They can also be difficult to find even when you know what you want. Fortunately, though, extra-virgin olive oil is in just about every grocery store aisle nowadays, and many non-chain stores and health-oriented stores — read: not Wal-Mart, Costco, Meijer or Kroger’s — also stock unrefined peanut [...]

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It’s finally arrived, folks: wild salmon season! The sustainable wild salmon fisheries up in Alaska are running at peak capacity right now, which means not only can you get fresh wild salmon — as opposed to frozen — you’ll probably have a choice of different varieties available at your local fishmonger shop.  (Superior Fish had [...]

Continue reading about Featuring Two of Summer’s Stars: Strawberries & Wild Salmon

Lisa on June 3rd, 2011

Savory dips are just about the most versatile thing you can make, because not only can a neverending variety of items be considered dippables, the dip itself can become a sauce if you thin it a little bit and then toss it with pasta, whole grains, meat, you name it.  Or you could thin it [...]

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Lisa on April 29th, 2011

Compared to fish, clams, scallops, mussels — even lobster — shrimp strikes me as the richest, smoothest morsel of the sea.  Wild shrimp are especially sweet and creamy.  The only trick is not to overcook them into tough rubberiness.  Seeing as everyone loves a speedy and delicious dinner, though, the fact that they cook so [...]

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Lisa on November 15th, 2010

Something new — at least, new to me — is going on the citrus world: sweet limes.  Citrus fruits have long been cross-it-over favorites, of course, like the tangelo.  (Although I haven’t seen those in a while, I can still remember when they were the “in” fruit.)  That deliciously juicy hybrid is a combination of [...]

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