Lisa on December 12th, 2011

I’ve never been much of a beef fan — I’ll take the surf over the turf any day — but ever since I first went to Olga’s as a kid and had the Original Olga, I’ve been crazy about lamb. (I’d love to try mutton, but I guess I’ll have to wait until I’m in [...]

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Lisa on January 3rd, 2011

I just love northern African cuisine — it’s fragrant and nuanced, yet easy to prepare and dependent on inexpensive staples like rice, lentils, and legumes.  You may need to purchase a few spices to make your dishes more authentic, but spices last for six months to a year if you store them in a cool [...]

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Lisa on September 24th, 2010

Dips are fantastically fabulous: you can make them out of nearly any ingredients that you can purée, you can serve them with a variety of dippers (crackers, tortilla chips, raw veggies, etc.), and if you make the dip less thick, it becomes a sauce for pasta, a marinade for meats, even a spread for sandwiches.  [...]

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Lisa on July 23rd, 2010

Chowder is one of America’s great culinary contributions: a hearty one-pot meal that you can customize to your stomach’s delight.  While many chowders sprang out of a seafood tradition (think Manhattan and Boston clam chowders), there are also vegetable-based versions.  I created this one to make use of plentiful summer crops like corn and tomatoes [...]

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Lisa on July 2nd, 2010

You know the rice that sticks to the bottom of the pot (or steamer) when you cook it?  The crunchy, coveted, burnt-but-not-burnt grains that everybody fights over?  It’s definitely the best part of the rice, but you usually don’t get much to enjoy per batch of cooked rice. Well, here’s an idea: purposely make a [...]

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