It may not be the typical “Mexican flag” dish (one primarily consisting of tomatoes, white onions, jalapeños), but this sprout salad has a distinctly Mexican flair. I stumbled upon the idea when I realized that my windowsill sunflower sprouts were the perfect size for lunch…and that I just happened to have some extra black beans [...]
Here’s a twist on taco salads: Ethiopian lamb salads! Simple, satisfying, and significantly lighter than its North American cousin, this salad was a happy meeting of leftovers and inspiration. (I had cooked ground lamb with berbere spice mix, chopped onions, minced garlic and diced tomatoes the day before.) When I saw the lettuce and Greek [...]
Fusion cuisine is a wonderful, wonderful thing–it allows us to enjoy the flavors from several different cultures all on one plate…and discover new taste adventures along the way! For this dish, I used the idea of the Mexican quesadilla to provide a platform for Moroccan flavors. The spice mixture–za’atar–is a simple mix of sesame seeds, [...]
You may have seen these paddle-shaped cactus leaves at your local produce market and wondered what to do with them–while nopales are popular in Mexico and parts of the southwestern U.S., they’re a bit of a curiosity to those of us who live in cooler climes. Their sharp spines also lend them a rather forbidding [...]
Despite its secondary name of “Indian date,” the tamarind is not a date. Nor is it native to India. It originated in tropical Africa, but due to the fact that it was adopted by the Indians with gusto when it reached their shores, when it boomeranged back west, the Persians assumed the Indians were the [...]
Now that the days are turning chilly in Detroit, it’s time for some comfort food! In order to tweak this classic dish, I used a corn tortilla instead of noodles and made my own cheese sauce rather than topping it with canned cream soup. (Doing so not only drastically cuts your intake of carbohydrates and [...]
This leafy green herb is just as at home in Latin America as it is in Southeast Asia–from salsa and guacamole to dal and curry, cilantro takes center stage. It is, in fact, the world’s most-widely-consumed fresh herb. Many people know cilantro by its other names–Chinese parsley or Mexican parsley–but not many people realize that [...]
Continue reading about Cilantro–Bold, Flavorful, and Versatile
Whether you’re making this for lunch or an appetizer, Gruyere cheese and spinach are classy companions to the crabmeat. (Spinach, I’m finding out, acquires much more versatility when the leaves are rolled up and then sliced thinly across to make a chiffonade.) Serve these quesadillas with a side of fresh salsa for an even more [...]
Move over, Taco Bell! You can whip up this quick and tasty lunch in less time than it would take you to make a run for the border. (Whoa…isn’t it amazing how long TV ad jingles stick in the brain?) And not only is this muy rapido to make, it’s a much healthier choice than [...]
Continue reading about Crispy Corn Tortillas with Salsa & Avocado
Its Greek name originally meant “joy of the mountain.” Aphrodite, it was said, created oregano to be a symbol of happiness. Today, its most common uses in the States are in pizza sauces and Greek salad dressing. There are also Turkish and Mexican varieties of oregano; each differs slightly in taste. Brazilians, Cubans, and Colombians [...]
