What started out as a way to make use of summertime tomato and basil became an exercise in finding out just how useful ground-up lentils can be. (Ground-up dried beans would be equally useful, but lentils are a lot thinner and therefore easier to grind in a coffee or spice grinder.) I like lentils in [...]
Continue reading about Tomatoes, Basil & Lentils Together at Last
I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll mention it again because it’s just too delicious to ignore: real-deal mozzarella cheese, made from buffalo milk. Like the fresh mozzarella made from cow’s milk, Italian mozzarella di bufalo is also a cheerful roundish knob of cheese that is packaged in its whey. (The whey is the cloudy liquid [...]
Continue reading about Waiting for the Buffaloes to Come Home
“Corned” meatballs might sound odd, but I’m hearkening back to the original meaning of “corned” here, back when corns referred to any small grains. Often, those grains were coarse grains of salt used in brines and pickling solutions. That’s where we get corned beef from — it doesn’t have anything to do with the kind [...]
Ever seen a bowl of soup that had tomato in one side and split-pea in the other? Perhaps with a line of cream down the middle? It’s a bit like modern art in a soupbowl. As a kid, I always used to want the red-and-green option…despite the fact that I didn’t like split-pea soup. The [...]
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, know that pinching [...]
Continue reading about The Classic Marriage of Basil and Pinenuts
Ah, one of the world’s most celebrated herbs! The French call it herbe royale, it’s considered sacred in India (and is often planted around temples and shrines), and it’s a sign of love in Italy. There are more than fifty species of basil; their various iterations are ubiquitous in cuisines ranging from Thailand to the [...]
Here’s a way to add crunch to your traditional caprese: add jicama! Ingredients Fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed or sliced Ripe tomato, in slices or chunks Fresh basil, cut into thin strips (chiffonade) Jicama, sliced Balsamic vinegar Olive or flaxseed oil salt & pepper to taste Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss. If you’re [...]
