Ever heard of matcha? It’s powdered green tea that’s a specialty of Japan, usually presented and served during an elaborate tea ceremony. The ultra-fine green powder is whisked into hot water with a bamboo whisk until it has completely dissolved. Not much is used since matcha is only made from the highest-quality, most flavorful tea [...]
Holiday appetizers ought to be simple and memorable. The best holiday appetizers, in fact, are so easy to make — yet so irresistible to eat! — that when your guests want to know how you did it, the “doing” was so quick that you can tell them on the spot. And they’ll actually remember what [...]
Bottled coconut water cannot compare to fresh coconut water. Of course, bottled is far more convenient and doesn’t require tools, but if you’re at home and you have a few basic tools, you’ll enjoy amazingly fresh coconut water AND coconut milk AND coconut meat for what you would have paid for just the coconut water. [...]
When I was a kid, every mall had an Orange Julius kiosk and every grocery store sported dry-mix packets of faux fruity milkshakes. (I absolutely loved those kiosks and those little packages.) I’m still a big fan of creamy fruit shakes, but nowadays I go the qualitarian route: whole milk plus suitable fruit (bananas, pears, [...]
Cold weather = a great time for hot soup. (And hot chocolate!) Hot soup with a Caribbean flair is an even better way to ignore the outdoor chill. I was lucky to have tinned conch on hand when I decided to warm up my evening with hot Caribbean soup, but you could just as easily [...]
‘Tis the season to seek out lush summer melons and enjoy them any which way you can. Right now, cantaloupes, watermelons, honeydews, crenshaws — even lesser-known melons like piel de sapo, or “toad skin” — are crowding the produce bins. You can trim away the hard rinds, then chop the flesh and add it to [...]
A yam is a yam is a yam? Nope. What Americans know as “yams” are actually just variants of sweet potatoes. About the only thing our yams have in common with true yams is that they both grow underground — the comparison pretty much stops there. True yams have a nutty, buttery flavor and a [...]
I always liked creamed spinach when I was a kid: it was rich and soft and vaguely nutmeggy, and it seemed to be just as good with chicken as it was with lamb or beef or veggies or whatever you wanted to serve it with. What I didn’t realize back then was how incredibly easy [...]
“Oh, the weather outside is frightful”…so let’s pretend we’re someplace a bit more tropical with a refreshing smoothie in our hand. After this much snow, I’m okay with the idea of being a bit unseasonal and including a summery banana with a wintery pear. Using coconut milk rather than dairy is another good way to [...]
Continue reading about Sipping Summer & Winter Out of a Single Glass
Assuming you have a sizable and sharp knife (an 8″ chef’s knife is ideal), winter squash is a great wintertime ingredient: it’s plentiful, versatile, and inexpensive. You can roast it and eat straight out of the skin, or you can simmer cut-up chunks of it in water or broth and then drain it and mash [...]
Continue reading about Making Winter Velvet Out of Winter Squash
