From tortillas to naan to crepes, every culture has its favorite flatbread. (As opposed to risen, rounded breads.) One of my favorite flatbreads is whole-corn tortillas. While crepes are delightfully supple and soft, tortillas become magnificently crunchy after a few minutes on the stove — just heat in a dry skillet over medium heat for about two [...]
Continue reading about The Secret to Thin-Crust Pizza: Tortillas
Conceptually speaking, one of my favorite things to do for dinner is to embellish something I already have. Creative embellishing is an ideal way to translate leftovers into new dishes. (Although there’s a lot to be said for the whole idea of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” — i.e., if you loved a [...]
Continue reading about How Your Kitchen Budget and Fresh Herbs Are Connected
This is a tale of two culinary possibilities: turning a classic pasta dish into a pizza of sorts and how to save your summer tomato surplus without having to resort to canning. I’m all for canning, mind you, but it’s a lot easier to throw something into a bag than can it. The fact that [...]
Thinking of Italy probably makes you think of pasta…and with good reason. But in many parts of Italy, pasta isn’t the preferred culinary co-star. Arborio rice — the kind used in the famed Italian risottos — isn’t always a front-runner, either. Polenta is. The Romans adored this simple corn-mash-turned-cake and ate it everywhere, from the [...]
Continue reading about An Ancient Roman Favorite in Modern Times
You hear a lot about umami these days. “Umami” is the Japanese word for that elusive fifth flavor, the one that’s a combination of the basic four — sweet, bitter, salty, and sour — plus something else, something inherently savory that’s hard to define. Technically speaking, though, it’s easy to define: umami is a naturally [...]
I’m a big believer in making your own sauces, dressings, and condiments — they’re usually easy to make, and it’s a lot quicker and cheaper to craft your own blend with ingredients you already have on hand than it is to go out and buy a big bottle/jar of something that’ll take you forever to [...]
Marinated mushrooms: those tasty fungi at the end of grocery-store olive bars that pretty much everyone ignores. I must have passed by the garlicky little suckers a dozen times before I even registered their presence. Once I tried them, though, I knew they’d be delicious in a wide variety of dishes … not to mention [...]
When I was kid, the very concept of fish in tins was appalling. Then I got older and realized that a can is no different than a tin and that many delicious tuna sandwiches had gone from a metal container — albeit round, not rectangular — to my plate. I always loved my mom’s Caesar [...]
Continue reading about Welcoming a New Ingredient into the Kitchen: Sardines!
Ever seen a bowl of soup that had tomato in one side and split-pea in the other? Perhaps with a line of cream down the middle? It’s a bit like modern art in a soupbowl. As a kid, I always used to want the red-and-green option…despite the fact that I didn’t like split-pea soup. The [...]
Mirepoix is a French culinary term for three basic vegetables (carrots, celery, and onions) that are chopped or diced and then used as the base to create sauces and soups/stocks. (The Spanish version is sofrito–it includes onion, garlic, and red pepper.) In this case, I added mushrooms, red pepper, tomato sauce and herbs to create [...]
