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 [...]
Trees aren’t the only plants that acquire jewel tones in fall — cauliflower does, too. And the thick-skinned winter squashes certainly have their own quirky multi-colored and multi-shaped lumpy and bumpy appeal. In other words, this is prime time to find unusual produce at the farmer’s market! Especially since these cool-weather crops last longer than [...]
Continue reading about Fall: It’s Tastier (and Easier) Than You Think
Assuming you have a sizable and sharp knife (an 8″ chef’s knife is ideal), winter squash is a great wintertime ingredient: it’s plentiful, versatile, and inexpensive. You can roast it and eat straight out of the skin, or you can simmer cut-up chunks of it in water or broth and then drain it and mash [...]
Continue reading about Making Winter Velvet Out of Winter Squash
Who says pumpkin is only for pies? It’s a squash, after all, and we use every other kind of squash — acorn, butternut, spaghetti — in savory dishes. It’s a shame that zucchinis are the only squashes that have managed to make the jump from savory (in countless Mediterranean dishes) to sweet (quickbreads and fritters). [...]
Risotto is one of those luxurious dishes that I don’t take the time to make very often–the stirring and cooking seem to take forever. Maybe because it’s so hard not to immediately start eating something that smells so good! Fortunately, last week I invented a dish with that lovely creamy-crunchiness of risotto and a blend [...]
Continue reading about Visiting the Wild Side, Italian-Style
This tropical summer squash is the peridot of vegetables–often overlooked in favor of its more-brightly colored cousins, this pale-green vegetable has virtues of its own. Like zucchini, chayotes complement both savory and sweet dishes: stuff them with everything from cheese to mushrooms, boil them as you would a potato, or sauté them in fine slivers [...]
