When the days get hot and the veggies get fresh, salads get even more appealing. Crisp cucumbers, anyone? For this salad, I contrasted the bright freshness of the cucumbers and quickly simmered green beans with savory, salty olives and a creamy hummus dressing. The same dressing could be used to marinate chicken tandoori-style, or you [...]
Continue reading about It’s a Dressing, It’s a Dip, It’s Delightfully Easy to Make!
It’s hard to say whether the current status quo is due to an onslaught of commercials featuring kids eating carrots while playing in valleys or whether Americans have a group-mind when it comes to dressings, but one thing is clear: Ranch is just about everybody’s favorite dressing. I love the concept, too — you can’t [...]
For sheer flavor punch — and kitchen economics — you can’t beat pickled ingredients. From pickles to olives to capers, a little goes a deliciously long way! And if you’re looking to create contrasting flavors, you can’t go wrong pairing a savory pickled ingredient with a creamy rich one, like cheese with olives or sour [...]
Traditional tapenade includes the holy trinity of salty garnishing ingredients: olives, anchovies, and capers. It’s an intense blend of flavors and a perfect example of the “a little goes a long way” school of thought. For this batch, though, I’ve decided to go alter the main ingredients and go with the holy trinity of umami, [...]
From ras-el-hanout to harissa to preserved lemons, Moroccan cuisine features some of the most stunning flavors on the planet. Sadly, there’s no Moroccan restaurant in my neck of the woods, but it’s easy to include some signature North African inspiration when you’re in your own kitchen. To make this batch of salsa, I blended sautéed [...]
Continue reading about Blending the Familiar with the Exotic: A Taste of North Africa
Roasted peppers are one of the most versatile ingredients to have on hand and also one of the easiest to make yourself. (You can buy jarred roasted peppers, but it’s much more cost- effective to pop some raw peppers into the oven.) And since most bell peppers are pretty big, one roasted pepper can go [...]
If you visit my e-kitchen on a regular basis, you know that when I like an ingredient, I tend to use it a lot. The only thing better than having plenty of [insert favorite ingredient here] on hand is getting creative with it! Recasting a favorite is also a delicious way to love your leftovers [...]
If you’re in the mood for an unadorned artichoke, nothing beats a freshly steamed one, but if you want to make a dish featuring artichokes as the main ingredient, the canned route suddenly gets a whole lot more appealing. To make this savory baked custard — which is fantastic for either breakfast or lunch — [...]
Continue reading about A Heart(y) Breakfast, Artichoke Style
Sometimes recipes develop out of necessity. This dip, for example, happened because I was out of chickpeas. (Not sure if there’s been a massive chickpea crop failure or Metro Detroit is in a chickpea feeding frenzy right now, but lately I’ve had a heckuva time finding my favorite brand of canned chickpeas!) I was out [...]
Although I like beans in general, I’ve never been a big fan of the traditional three-bean salad, mostly because red kidney beans are my least favorite bean. I utterly adore Great White Northern beans, though. And small red and black and cranberry and chickpea and really any other bean except lima. If you’re like me [...]
Continue reading about Reimagining a (Very Simple!) Bean Salad
