Spring has sprung! It’s grilling time. Asparagus will soon be ubiquitous in stores. And that works out well, because one of my very favorite things to grill is asparagus. It’s the perfect side dish to grilled meats, fish, or tofu and, if you’re grilling already, will add almost no time to your dinner prep. I…
Honeyed Blue Cheese Terrine with Dried Fruit
I don’t watch as much food television as you might imagine. I still enjoy Nigella Lawson; her unabashed – nay, wanton – love of food always delights me. Her show was pioneering in its stylishness (you may recall that she originally aired on Style, not any food network), with artsy shifts in focus and food…
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….
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…
Indian Sour Chickpeas (Channa)
I’m starting to run out of foods I don’t like. Radishes? I like those now, especially when they’re young and fresh. Turnips? I love them – there’s nothing I’m happier to see in the CSA box. Winter squash… well, I’m softening there. And chickpeas. I used to really dislike chickpeas, except ground into unrecognizability in…
The Essence of Summer: Steamed Corn Custard
Driving home the other day I saw a lovely sight: a dusty red truck parked in an empty lot next to a gas station. The truck was swathed with a yellow cloth banner reading “Fresh Moriarty Sweet Corn.” I missed the turn for the lot, and confess that I made some rather foolish driving maneuvers…
Quick Eats: Melon and Feta Salad
Apparently it’s not so uncommon nowadays, but I first heard of melon and feta together in Nigella Lawson’s book Forever Summer – recently re-released as Nigella Fresh. (A hardback copy of the original Forever Summer is listed on Amazon.com for the unlikely price of $7,607.21.) Nigella’s version is much more complex than mine – and,…
Roasted Asparagus
For years, I always cooked asparagus the same way – steamed in a covered saute pan with a little water. It is delicious that way, very simple and pure tasting. But then I tried roasting it, and I haven’t looked back. It’s utterly simple and frees up space on the stovetop (which is always at…
Sichuan Hot-and-Numbing (Ma La) Cucumber Salad
Following my great success with Fuschia Dunlop’s second cookbook, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province, I decided to go back to her first book, Land of Plenty, on Sichuan food. I love cucumber salads and am always on the lookout for a new one. (The old salt-sugar-chile-vinegar one pales after a few hundred variations.)…
Potato and Sunchoke Gratin with Leeks
This light, elegant gratin is perfect for spring. The oven-baked gratin form acknowledges still-chilly spring evenings; the delicate flavor of leeks and sunchokes evokes visions of the first green shoots of spring. Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, are the tubers of a flower that looks like a small sunflower. They are dug in the…