It’s the end of summer, or so the autumn-lovers among us hope. Most days are still hot, but there are hints of fall: a brush of yellow in the trees, cooler mornings and evenings, the scent of roasting green chile in the air at the growers’ market. And, at the store, piles of ears of…
Summer Salmon and Berry Salad with Cardamom-Honey-Lime Dressing
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…
Fresh Corn and Green Chile Fritters
Oh, the end of summer. How I love the cooling days, the longer evenings, the patches of yellow leaves in the cottonwoods. And how I love the harvest. This is the most wonderful time of year to just go to the growers’ market, co-op, or grocery store, see what’s fresh and beautiful, take it home,…
Super-Rich, Super-Easy Vegan Chocolate Mousse
This is one of the greatest bang-for-your buck recipes I have ever come across. It rests quietly in the pages of Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything under the unassuming name “Chocolate Tofu Pudding.” I don’t even remember why I first decided to try it- it must have been because he said it was the…
What Is American Food?
On this patriotic holiday – as on pretty much every other holiday – I have one deep philosophical concern: “What shall we eat?” In today’s case, I wonder what foods are patriotic? How do things like that get decided, anyway? A simple answer is that classically seasonal summer foods – grilled hamburgers and hot dogs,…
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…
Braised and Grilled Beef Short Ribs with Sticky, Spicy Beer BBQ Sauce
Last week, I was suddenly possessed by the need to make the Sticky, Spicy Beer BBQ Sauce I blogged about almost exactly one year ago. I grabbed a can of Santa Fe Brewing Company Imperial Java Stout (which we always have on hand because of its long standing as one of Arne’s very favorite beers) and…
Eating ABQ: Pop Fizz
Is it wishful thinking, or is there a whiff of fall in the air? There’s something in the sound of the wind, an autumnal rustling. If you look closely, a few trees are sporting clumps of yellow leaves. And green chile is starting to appear in CSA baskets and at the farmer’s market. Just one…
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…
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…