Our lawns are lush, our gardens are already going gangbusters, and we’ve been topping 80 degrees for over a week. (I just got back from Spain, where it was even hotter — it was more like 95 in Córdoba. Thank goodness for refreshingly cool Moorish courtyards! The ones with flowers and fountains give new meaning [...]
Continue reading about A Must-Have Summer Pair: Sweet Berries & Fresh Herbs
If pizza had originated in Morocco rather than Italy, I have a sneaking suspicion that lamb would have been the meat of choice, not pepperoni. (Or perhaps pepperoni made with lamb. Hint, hint… I can only hope the American Lamb Board is reading this!) And perhaps the sauce would have been been made the way [...]
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
Ever since I had baked Feta at a lovely out-of-the-way restaurant in Panamá, I’ve been wanting to make it myself. The idea is just so simple! I’d had baked Camembert plenty of times in Germany — when I lived there, baked Camembert with rote Grütze was one of my favorite dishes, right up there with [...]
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 [...]
The best part about roasted vegetables isn’t the fact that they’re ridiculously easy to make. It isn’t even the fact that they taste so good that avowed vegetable haters have just as much of a penchant for roasted vegetables as vegetarians do. No, the best thing about roasted vegetables is that leftover roasted veggies can [...]
Dressings are probably the #1 Best Thing to Make Instead of Buy. All you need is an oil, an acid, and maybe some spices or condiments. Oils can range from extra-virgin olive oil (great with everything!) to unrefined peanut and sesame oils (fantastic with Asian dishes) to delicate nut oils like walnut and pistachio that [...]
Sometimes you might be in the mood for a crunchy taco, sometimes you might want a soft taco. The only problem with the latter is that it’s hard to find Qualitarian soft taco shells — the majority of the store-bought ones have all kinds of chemicals in them to keep them soft and supple. And [...]
Continue reading about Alternative Soft Tacos (in a French Kind of Way)
I’ve always thought lentils were interesting — they’re not quite a pea and they’re not quite a bean, but they are a member of the legume family and as such they make great salads and soups. Nowadays, the standard brown soup lentils of my childhood have given way to speckled round French lentils, flat green [...]
I’d heard of moussaka, but I’d never tried it before — whenever I went to my favorite Greek restaurant as a kid, I’d be too caught up in the Opa! saganaki appetizer to think about anything else. (Even now, I’d have to say that the lushest eggplant on the planet can’t really compete with shooting [...]
Continue reading about Lasagna in a Greek and Noodle-less Kind of Way
