Until the last decade, the classic Sichuan flavor combination ma la (numbing and hot) was hard to come by in the United States. Sichuan peppercorns, the only common source of the numbing, tingly sensation called ma in Chinese, were banned from import to the US because they could transmit a kind of citrus canker. Fortunately,…
Salmon Rice Bowl with Soy-Wasabi Sauce (Sake-Don)
My recent obsession with Kokoro Japanese Restaurant finally bled over into my own kitchen. I wanted more Japanese food, but I wanted it to be as quick and simple as it was delicious. Paging through my copy of Japanese Soul Cooking, I saw a gorgeous picture of a bowl of vibrant red tuna slices brushed…
Fried Apples with Cinnamon
There’s nothing in the world like waking up to a beautiful, elaborate breakfast. I assume. Occasionally my sweetie brings me a Frontier breakfast burrito and orange juice in bed on special occasions, and I’ve had room service breakfast a few times. But for the most part, if I want an elaborate breakfast, there’s no button…
Easy Oven-Roasted Brown Sugar Bacon
I love bacon. It’s hard not to. Sweet, smoky, salty, chewy, crisp, rich… Good bacon hits on all cylinders. But I’ve always considered it a pain to cook. Standing over a skillet, laboriously flipping each floppy strip, grease spattering everywhere – even if you’re using a splatter screen, because you can’t flip without removing it….
The riddle of Ethiopian injera: Is sourdough starter the answer?
Ah, injera. Ethiopian food is unthinkable without injera, the flexible, sour teff-flour flatbread that doubles as both edible utensil and plate. (And, at the end of the meal, is the best part, soaked as it is with the juices of all the stews.) I remember the first time I saw injera, folded and tucked in…
Spiced Apple Cider Caramels
Caramel is magic. Caramelization (and its close cousin, the Maillard reaction; colloquially we use the term “caramelization’ for both) takes bland foods and makes them incredibly complex and delicious. It’s responsible for so much of the deliciousness of cooked foods. And you can just unwrap all that and pop it in your mouth. Recently, caramel…
Easy Braised Sweet-and-Sour Red Cabbage
I’d never eaten braised red cabbage until three nights ago – and I’ve already made it twice. On a whim, I had bought a pretty little head of red cabbage, and I needed a side dish to go with a beef Stroganoff I was making. It seemed to me that the astringency of a sweet-and-sour…
Joe Froggers – the chewiest, spiciest, best molasses cookies
I love molasses spice cookies. Almost any molasses spice cookies, from simple gingersnaps to those packaged Archway cookies to the triple-ginger cookies at Flying Star. (Those really are awesome.) But none come close to this oddly named cookie I found in the pages of the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. So dark brown they’re almost…
On Vegetable Tacos, with recipe: Potato-Soyrizo Tacos with Lime Crema
It was Rick Bayless who turned me on to the idea of vegetable tacos. Not just vegetarian tacos with the meat replaced or removed – bean and cheese, or soy crumbles, or whatever – but tacos that truly celebrate vegetables. When I turn to the “Tacos, Enchiladas and Other Casual Fare” chapter of my battered…
My Favorite Chocolate Chip-and-Chunk Cookies
This one doesn’t really take a lot of explanation. Who doesn’t like cookies? And who among us cookie-lovers doesn’t count chocolate chip near the top of the list? Sure, I love all kinds of cookies: oatmeal-raisin, peanut butter, a wide variety of molasses-spice (Joe Froggers recipe coming soon!), butter cookies with or without fruit fillings,…