Last week I picked up a cookbook from the library: The Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook by Christina Tosi. I read it cover to cover, in one sitting, like an irresistible novel. Tosi, the chef at Milk Bar – the bakery and sweets outpost of David Chang’s Momofuku brand of restaurants – is a lot of fun. Her…
Fluffy Biscuit-Topped Blueberry Cobbler with Pear
I didn’t really grow up with dessert. Not that my family never made sweets; the heirloom box of Grandma’s recipes is practically nothing but sweets, written in an endearing yet frustrating shorthand style with helpful instructions like “Mix. Bake.” But we certainly didn’t have dessert every night, and when cakes and cookies and butterscotch haystacks…
Quick and Easy Whole-Wheat Flatbread
It happens to me all the time. I have a good idea for dinner, and all the components are in the house, but it sure would be nice to have some kind of bread with it. Something delicious and whole grain. But it’s too late to throw something in the breadmaker, and I’m too lazy…
Quick Eats: Middle Eastern Grain Salad
This is less a recipe than an idea. A really tasty, simple, healthful idea. It came about from a half-cup of leftover bulgur, a fridge full of odds and ends with a vaguely Middle Eastern flair, and a need for lunch. I tried something similar with quinoa and with brown rice, also to good effect….
Stuffed Collard Leaves with Savory Pork Filling
It turns out that a name is not just a name when you’re writing a blog. My poetry group used to tell me that about poem titles too (“Kristin, you can’t just call them all ‘Untitled!’”), but I think the reasoning was different. With a food blog, you need a descriptive title so that someone…
Spiced Breakfast Bulgur with Winter Fruit
It’s January. The holidays, with their fuss and excess, are over. Thoughts turn, with some relief, to New Year’s resolutions: specifically, to diet and exercise. I don’t really like New Year’s resolutions, and I specifically am not a fan of diets – America’s favorite resolution – which I think set us all up for endless…
Creamy Chicken Soup with Black and Green Olives
I spend a lot of time trying out and creating new recipes. People who find out I’m a cook and food blogger often ask me, “What’s your favorite thing to cook?” I hate this question, because I rarely make things over and over, and can never think of an answer. (For some reason people…
Basque Piperade (Red Pepper and Tomato Stew) with Eggs
Arne and I traveled to Portland for Thanksgiving this year. While the family festivities were near the coast, of course we had to fly into Portland – previously covered on this blog as my favorite food city. And while we were there, naturally we had to try a couple of new restaurants. We had breakfast…
Peasant Casserole of Potatoes, Tomatoes, and Cheese
This is true peasant cooking. Which means, essentially, “What-have-I-got-in-the-fridge” cooking. It’s in the tradition of folks all over the world who rummage through their root cellars, vegetable crispers, and bread boxes to summon forth delicious, hearty, nourishing meals for their families out of what may seem like nothing. True, this isn’t a soup made from…
Holiday Gingerbread with Raisins and Pears
I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long! My computer totally flaked out on me. And now that I’m back (with a brand-new computer!), I feel like I’m kind of cheating. Because this recipe is simply a variation on my beloved Elsie’s Gingerbread, which I posted back in February 2010. But I came up with this variant…