One of the most exciting cookbooks I’ve come across this year is Asha Gomez’s My Two Souths. Gomez spent her childhood in Kerala, at the southern tip of India. She learned to cook with her family there, and was often called upon to hand-grind spice mixes, reveling in the scents of classic South Indian spices like black…
Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Sesame-Lemon Dressing
On our way home from a Thanksgiving family reunion in Phoenix, Arne and I stopped in Flagstaff for lunch at a place called Pita Jungle. It’s an Arizona chain (with one location in California). It sounded like a pleasingly healthy, vegetable-focused option – just what we were in the mood for. As soon as we…
Smoked Trout and Strawberry Salad with Sweet Cream Dressing
The strawberries have been a surprise of the most delightful kind. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I am a deeply lazy gardener. I never remember to water, so we set up an automatic system. I’m terrible about deadheading (as you can see in the photo below, with all that sprouted mustard in the top…
What I’m Reading: Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes
I have subscribed to Lucky Peach, David Chang‘s cooking magazine, since the very first issue. I remember how excited I was when that first issue came, with its cover photo of a plucked chicken being lowered into a stockpot. I felt very, very cool. Like I was a tangential part of a crazy punk-rock cooking scene. Lucky Peach…
Creamy Japanese Carrot-Ginger Salad Dressing
Not long ago we visited Arne’s parents in Woodland Park, Colorado, where they took us to a bustling restaurant called Fusion Japan. The place was jam-packed, and I have rarely seen servers hustling the way our waitress did! For some reason we each ordered a different chicken dish. (We didn’t try the sushi – a…
Tangy Thai Salad with Canned Tuna? It’s Delicious!
I adore Pok Pok, the Thai street food restaurant in Portland that has now expanded to NYC. When I saw that its chef Andy Ricker was putting out a cookbook, I was excited, but cautious. I was concerned that it might be excessively “chefy” – that is, full of brilliant ideas, but terribly complicated…
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…
Spring Bounty: Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Radishes and Braised Turnips with Sugar Snaps
Ah, spring in Albuquerque. Daffodils, irises, wild temperature shifts, sand blowing in your eyes… it’s not all perfect, for sure, but the lengthening days and the tiny seedlings poking their heads up from the garden soil make my heart light. Very little local produce is available yet, but we do have some beautiful local radishes…
Warm Kale Salad with Farro and Feta
I know, I promised you pictures and stories about my trip to La Paz. And you will get them. But first (and while I’m getting that image-heavy post ready), I want to share a delicious salad for when you’ve over-indulged. Maybe you’ve eaten too many cheeseburgers lately, or had a crazy night out on the…