I am inordinately proud of this soup. It is perfect Unfussy Epicure fare – extremely simple to make and stunningly delicious. It’s just a variation on roasted cauliflower soup, a cold-weather staple that I’ve made with curry, with potatoes, with garlic. But this variation is so easy, so elegant, and makes such an incredible difference…
Juicing: Cucumbers and Chard and Kiwi, Oh My!
Clockwise from top left: Taboulleh Juice, Kiwi-Chard, Golden Rule, Cucumber Mojito, Heart Beet This has been a very difficult autumn. Actually, it was a pretty rough summer too. As you know if you read my mid-July post on congee, I’ve been having trouble swallowing all year. Much longer than that, actually, but this year it’s gotten…
Slow-Braised Green Beans with Tomato
We’ve been done a disservice by the cult of al dente vegetables. While there’s no doubt that many vegetables are at their best very lightly cooked – all types of peas spring to mind – the idea that every veggie is at its best steamed for 30 seconds is as misguided as the thought that…
Pasta with Marcella Hazan’s Simple Tomato-Butter Sauce
This is not going to be my most original post, because it seems like every food blogger has, at some point, posted Marcella Hazan’s recipe for tomato-butter sauce. It’s not hard to see why, even before you taste it: It has three ingredients. You throw them in a pan and let them simmer. If it’s…
Grill-Roasted Summer Tomato Soup
Things continue to go really well in my garden, at least as far as tomatoes go. (Squash is a different matter – my plants were ravaged by squash bugs and had to be torn out.) This is the first year I’ve had enough tomatoes to share with my neighbors. And enough to try recipes that…
Recovery Food: Simple Congee with Vegetables
This blog is about good times – delicious food, breezy work, sharing with the ones you love. Happy, simple times. But food and eating are not simple. They are complicated by all sorts of things – social pressures, money issues, environmental concerns (local vs organic, anyone?), and all manner of health concerns ranging from managing…
Ricotta-Stuffed Fried Squash Blossoms
This is the culmination of a dream. I don’t even remember where it is that I once tasted a battered, fried zucchini blossom. But ever since, I’ve wanted to make them myself. They’re so elegant, so unexpected, even kind of crazy. I mean, we do eat flowers – broccoli, for instance, or artichokes – but…
The Garden Takes Off!
Apparently, this year I’m doing something right. My garden – as you may remember, two tall raised beds in our sunny front yard – has exploded into life. Everything is flowering and starting to bear fruit. The two eggplants have beautiful purple blossoms, and the yellow squash have huge golden ones. (See Unfussy Epicure on…
Baby Lettuce Salad with Lemon and Olive Oil
When I was a kid, “salad” meant one thing to me: iceberg lettuce drenched in fluorescent orange Kraft Creamy French Dressing. Catalina, a red French and my mother’s favorite, would do in a pinch, or maybe Italian. But I was devoted to the slightly chemical tang of my orange dressing. In restaurants, before choosing between…
Chicken with Beer BBQ Sauce over Creamy Calabacitas Salad
I had to figure this dinner out in a hurry. It was 5:30. A pot of Sticky, Spicy Beer BBQ Sauce was simmering on the stove, thickening to perfect glossiness… and I had just discovered that the racks of baby back ribs in the refrigerator would need several hours to cook to tenderness. I…