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 [...]
I have a new love: capers. I’ve been on my caper honeymoon for a week now, and it doesn’t look like the affair will be over any time soon. (A week is a long time for an inquisitive foodie who rarely makes the same thing twice.) Sure, I’ve always had a passing fancy for the [...]
They call it raita in India, tzatziki in the Middle East, and tarator in Bulgaria. We call it tartar sauce, and we make it with pickles instead of cucumbers and mayonnaise instead of yogurt. Frankly, though, it’s time to revisit the original versions for some inspiration, because rich, creamy Greek yogurt kicks commercial mayonnaise to [...]
Continue reading about Adventures in Sauce (or How to Make the Dip Your Own)
Even though we think of salsa as necessarily involving tomatoes, onions, and garlic, “salsa” just means “sauce” in Spanish…which kicks the pantry cupboard doors wide open to interpretation. (There’s also the dancing kind of salsa, but I won’t even get started on that for fear of ditching my food writer’s post in favor of the [...]
Continue reading about Grapes Are Good for More Than Just Wine
Breaded chicken, breaded shrimp, chicken-fried steak (which is breaded steak), breaded fish…breading always has been a popular way to prepare foods, and it always will be. But for the sake of those who can’t eat wheat-based breads and for the sake of those who like trying new things, why not try non-bread breaded dishes? If [...]
It’s pomegranate season! Bottled pomegranate juice is good, but the 100% fresh version is even better, plus the whole seeds add a chewy crunch to anything they adorn. And once you’ve excavated the seeds from a few fruits, the process gets much easier. I’m not even worried about the Stain Factor any more. Some tips [...]
Rare are the foods that are delicately delicious on their own yet have enough oomph to stand up and be noticed amidst other ingredients. Trout is one of those — it can grab center stage, support another star, or be the almost-unnoticed extra whose presence is crucial to the plot. For this dish, I baked [...]
Seeing as Halloween is just around the corner, I thought I’d sample my first blood orange. (And yes, since I’m still watching all the back episodes of True Blood, it’s fun to do a dinner-and-show vampire theme. Beets and red wine are also popping up on my table…) Blood oranges are mottled a darkish-orange on [...]
“Arctic Char,” the sign said. I was standing in the fish market and looking a bit sideways at a fish that was shaped like a trout but was nearly the color of wild salmon. “Is that the char?” I asked the fishmonger. “It looks like a cross between trout and salmon!” “That’s exactly what it [...]
Fish makes the perfect summer meal. It’s light, delicate, and pairs well with nearly any kind of fruit: tropical salsas made of mango, pineapple, and papaya; citrus wedges like lemon or lime; even cherry- and cranberry-based chutneys. (You’d be amazed at how well salmon pairs with Bing cherries and pinenuts!) For this round of rainbow [...]
