Quick Recipes
Refried beans should not be eaten cold. There, I've said it. I don't usually put my foot down about food preferences, but cold refried beans are about as appealing as a cold hamburger. This is why I make 7-layer dip...
You know one of the great things about being a home cook? You can basically do whatever you want in your kitchen. Mix up cuisines. Pair unlikely foods. As long as it tastes good and you like it, no great...
I was charged with providing lunch for several kids (ages 4, 6, 7, and 9) a few days ago and prepared for them one of my favorite quickie lunches - chicken and apple quesadillas. The kids gobbled them up, and...
Every year about this time we are inundated with fresh apricots from our neighbor's tree. And every year I tell myself I'm going to make a chicken dish with them, but never get around to it. Instead, we'll make apricot...
Selland's market-cafe in Sacramento is an uncommonly good café and often a source of inspiration for foods to prepare. Recently I had some of their asparagus and loved the texture - slightly crunchy (definitely not mushy!) - and the hint...
Although for the most part we can get asparagus all year long, I usually only get them in the spring, when they are in season. How can you resist, when you see hundreds of them in the produce section, saluting...
My father got bit by the frittata bug this week and made these for us for lunch a few days ago. This is a quick and easy, no-nonsense recipe that makes a terrific frittata in hardly any time at all.
Mark Bittman of the New York Times recently did a write up of simple meals ready in 10 minutes or less. This avocado tomato salad would be my entry, but in five minutes or less, and that would include picking...
Looking for a last minute New Year's appetizer? From the recipe archive. Brie wrapped in pastry and baked until it has thoroughly melted inside is one of the world's easiest yet tastiest appetizers. In this recipe the brie is topped...
When we were kids, my mother used to make a broiled chicken dish which we called Chicken Parmesan. It was so good, we would fight over the drippings. Then my mother gave up wheat for 20 years and the recipe...
My father had never eaten scallops before this year, but he was so inspired by this scallop dish prepared by his friends Fred and Patricia, he has spent much of the last month experimenting with them. What I love about...
A dish doesn't have to be complicated, or take a lot of time, to be good. My father found this recipe for baked shrimp in a tomato sauce with feta cheese in a special publication by Fine Cooking (one of...
Have you ever heard of a dessert called a slump? The Joy of Cooking defines a slump as "steamed fruit topped with dumplings". I first encountered the idea of a slump in a cookbook about the cooking of Newport, Rhode...
Some people get chocolate cravings. I get broccoli cravings. Sometimes I think it's my body's way of telling me I've been laying on the bacon a bit too thick (or maybe the chocolate!) But honestly I could eat broccoli every...
Ah, the bounty of summer. Italian bruschetta (pronounced "brusketta") is a wonderful way to capture the flavors of ripe summer tomatoes, fresh garden basil, and garlic. I had this the other night at my friend Suzanne's house where her friend...
Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic as he shares one of his favorite quick and easy brussels sprouts recipes. ~Elise "It's funky. Abrasive. It's not afraid to get in your face and call your mama ugly." That's...
Making your own caramel sauce from scratch is a lot easier than you might think, and it takes practically no time at all. This recipe comes from my friend Suzanne who is a baking genius. I've watched her make caramel...
These cheese biscuits from Garrett are the best, enjoy! ~Elise There are a three secrets to making successful biscuits. 1. You have to be willing to get your hands dirty. Mixing with a spoon overworks the dough. Your hands keep...
Most kids grow up learning how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so they can help themselves in the kitchen when they want some lunch. In our family, it was cheese tacos. It's our stand-by what-do-you-make-when-you-haven't-really-thought-about-it-in-advance lunch. There's always...
My friend Michelle loves to throw big parties, with plenty of food and plenty of friends. I think it must be the large Italian family thing, one is never at a loss for food or great company at her house...
Here it is September and this is the first cherry tomato salad I've had all summer. The culprit? My own greedy hands, the hands that pick them when I'm out in the garden and pop them in my mouth like...
You know what the best thing is about boneless, skinless chicken breasts? They cook up in about nothing flat. Great for midweek meals when you are just rushing to get something on the table. Chicken breasts also take to sauces...
Sometimes, especially after the holidays, all you want is a light, good meal. "Light" as in you're trying to cut back, and "good" as in, can we make it taste good even though it's light? This chicken cutlet recipe, with...
Dear chicken Florentine. I like you. I like your spinach and your cream sauce. But honestly? I don't love you. You're missing a little pizzaz. So, I would like to introduce you to my friend pesto pasta. You kinda need...
Chicken pieces coated with Parmesan and bread crumbs, fried and covered with a tomato basil marinara sauce, and topped with melted Mozzarella. My mother made this chicken marinara for dinner tonight and it was fabulous. She uses chicken thighs because...
Chicken marsala is one of those Italian American dishes that seems to be a standard in many a home cook's repertoire. It consists of flour-coated thin chicken breast cutlets, cooked with a Marsala wine reduction and usually mushrooms as well...
We tried this thyme mint cream sauce from another recipe and loved it so much I decided to make it with chicken and pasta. Great flavor combination, and the kicker is that by the time the pasta water has come...
The last time I visited my friends Fritz and Leigh Anna in Chicago, Leigh Anna prepared this prosciutto-wrapped, batter-dipped, fontina-broiled chicken cutlet for her family and me. So good! The recipe is from the Dean & DeLuca Cookbook and is...
My mother and father make the best chicken salad. It's a joint effort; dad assembles all of the ingredients, mom makes the dressing. There are a few things that distinguish this chicken salad recipe from a standard version. First, we...
Updated from the recipe archive. Originally posted in 2004. We first posted this recipe years ago, it came from my dear friend Heidi H in Carlisle, Massachusetts. I think she got a version of it from the Boston Globe. With...
It's amazing what elegant meals one can serve quickly when one has a well stocked pantry (or liquor cabinet). This is a simple sautéed chicken breast recipe, distinguished by a creamy sauce based on crème de cassis, a lovely sweet...
We have a patch of arugula in our garden that not only re-seeds itself every year, but manages to seed itself outside its raised bed as well. No one in a temperate climate should ever have to pay a dime...
This is one of my father's favorite chicken recipes. We don't make it nearly often enough.
Fresh summer tomatoes, garbanzo beans (also known as chickpeas), hard boiled eggs, and sweet onions, tossed with a light vinaigrette - here are the makings of a surprisingly delicious summer salad. I made this for lunch yesterday from a recipe...
Several years ago a Rick Bayless recipe for chipotle meatballs appeared in the Wednesday section of the New York Times. Fortunately we didn't notice the recipe until a correction for it appeared in a subsequent paper, correcting the 2 cans...
We were eating some store-bought chili-lime nuts the other day and it occurred to us that it should be easy enough to make them at home. But how to get the spices to adhere to the nuts? Egg whites. Nature's...
Growing up, we had some of the standard American foods for breakfast - cream o' wheat, oatmeal, waffles, fried eggs, pancakes (no sugar coated cereals in this household!) - and a couple things I never saw in any of my...
Under the headings of quick, easy, and a good way to stretch a half pound of pork, I present my friend Heidi's Citrus Pork with Egg Noodles. I'll admit that I was skeptical at first, but it's surprisingly good and...
This delightful cold pea salad recipe comes from my friend Chigiy's friend Beth, who brought it to a recent BBQ. It calls for Smokehouse Almonds, but I think it could easily be made with tamari almonds too. Perfect for picnics...
The word "coleslaw" comes from the Dutch word, "koolsla", "kool" meaning cabbage and sla, salad. The word entered our English language from the Dutch in New York in the late 1700s. Since then it has been a featured side dish...
My brother Eddie was over for dinner a while ago one fortuitous night when we happened to be having collard greens. I say fortuitous because Ed introduced us to a wonderful new way to serve these healthful, somewhat bitter greens...
Most crab lovers know that fresh crab pairs well with avocado. But have you ever tried it with roasted hazelnuts (also called Filberts)? I got this idea from a crab hazelnut pear appetizer prepared by Oregon chef Jason Stoller Smith...
The debate usually begins like this. ME: Dad, how do you make your hash browns turn out so crispy? DAD: Use a potato ricer. It's the only thing I've found that really gets the moisture out of the potatoes. The...
When the hot weather hits, nothing is more cooling than a cucumber salad. Inspired by a fabulous cucumber salad shared with a friend at the Sea Salt restaurant in Berkeley, I canvassed my neighborhood grocers for some delicate Persian cucumbers...
We eat a lot of hot and spicy dishes around here; a great way to cool the palate is with the delicious combination of yogurt and cucumber. This easy-to-make cucumber salad, also called "tzatziki", is a refreshing accompaniment to spicy...
Back in 7th grade home-economics, the cooking segment consisted of learning how to make pizza with English muffins, some spaghetti sauce, a little cheese and a toaster oven.
My father has been making this soup for several years now. It is incredibly easy to make, given how tasty the results. The key ingredient is the clam juice, though I have prepared it for people with shellfish allergies substituting...
I'm on vacation this week, so am pulling forward a few recipes from the archives that we've recently updated. This gorgeous Greek salad is one of them, originally posted in 2005. So pretty, isn't it? And perfect for the hot...
Updated December, 2011. A month ago or so I made some potato salad. I love potato salad and was well pleased with this one. Then the next week my father made his version of potato salad. It was great too...
Deviled eggs. Easter egg hunts and summer picnic potlucks. I have been known to devour a dozen of these in one sitting. These were quick and easy. If you want them to be a little prettier, put the egg filling...
Black beans and rice is such a classic combination, especially in Caribbean or Southern cooking. There are probably dozens of ways to make it; this one is an easy recipe that cooks up quick and tastes great. Now, if you...
Well, summer has finally come to Sacramento. After weeks of remarkably pleasant 80-degree weather, the hundreds have arrived. Yesterday 108°F. Today, 104°F. And when the mercury goes up, the grill comes out. Who wants to heat up the kitchen when...
Poaching eggs is one of the easiest, quickest, and lowest calorie ways of preparing eggs, as there is no added fat. Poached eggs make great additions to salads, such as the French salad Lyonnaise, or sandwiches, or just served simply...
Edamame (eh-dah-MAH-may) are nothing more than fresh soy beans. Typically cooked in heavily salted water, they are usually found in the shell served at Japanese restaurants. Having first encountered them in bars when I lived in Japan, I've always thought...
Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord as he shares his favorite Chinese egg drop soup. ~Elise In college one of the dishes I relied on was my own version of egg drop soup. It was simple, tasty, comforting and (most...
Egg salad sandwiches are some of the easiest sandwiches in the world to make, especially if you have some hard boiled eggs sitting around in the fridge (like around Easter). I've found the best combination for a great egg salad...
Enchiladas were a family staple growing up, though thankfully this cheese enchilada recipe has much less fat in it these days. My mother, a fifth generation hispanic Arizonian, learned this recipe from my grandmother. Note that there are many kinds...
I had to laugh when I first heard about this recipe from my friend Heidi H. In fact, at first blush the thought of it was not particularly appetizing. You take slices of hot dogs, sauté them in butter with...
Mmmm. Fettuccine Alfredo. So simple, but so so good. Most of us in America know this dish in its cream-based form, with a little nutmeg sprinkled on top. But did you know that the original fettuccine Alfredo sauce didn't use...
A favorite from the archives. A new post and recipe will be up soon, I promise! ~Elise All I had to do was read the ingredient list of this recipe and my father was half-way out the door to the...
In Mexico, practically every meal is accompanied by a stack of fresh warm corn tortillas, much in the way that bread is served here in America. As you eat, you can wrap whatever is on your plate in a fresh...
Recently I got a call from my friend Elizabeth who said, "You've got to try my mother's flank steak; it's soooo good!" I begged the recipe from Maria (Elizabeth's mother) and tried it out last night. It was terrific. Very...
Is there nothing better than French toast for Sunday breakfast? Thick slices of bread, soaked in a mixture of beaten eggs with milk and cinnamon, toasted in a frying pan, and served with butter and maple syrup, this has to...
A standard and almost necessary accompaniment to most Mexican food is salsa. Salsa (meaning "sauce" in Spanish) comes in many different ways, the most common being chopped tomatoes, onions and chile. Growing up with a Hispanic mom from Tucson, we...
One of my mother's favorite breakfasts to prepare for our family has always been German Farmer's Breakfast, also known as Bauernfruhstuck. I remember eating this several times a month as a kid. It's sort of like a large breakfast hash...
My friend Steve-Anna recently sent me this wonderful recipe for ginger chicken and claimed that it was one of her all time favorites. My father doesn't eat ginger if he can avoid it, so when I made it I just...
This simple but delicious salmon recipe comes via my friend Heidi in Carlisle, Massachusetts, who got it from the Boston Globe (Thanks Heidi!). Because there are so few ingredients, the recipe relies completely on the freshness of the ingredients.
Years ago I visited the Caribbean island of Trinidad and was struck not only by the music of steel drums filling the air everywhere, but also by a street food called "roti", which is sort of like an east Indian...
Green beans are the labradors of the vegetable world, they just seem to get along with everyone. Which is why you will usually find some incarnation of green beans on a holiday dinner menu. This simple preparation of green beans...
My mother is the only person I know who prepares green beans with salsa. It is such an easy and delicious dish and perfect for the summer when fresh green beans are plentiful. The trick of course to great tasting...
It doesn't take much to dress up green beans for a holiday meal. In this recipe the beans first blanched and then sautéed with pancetta and shallots, with some salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning. You can use...
Please welcome Hank Shaw as he takes us through the steps of grilling a whole fish, using sustainably farmed branzino. ~Elise Branzino. Sounds kinda like a the name of a 1940s prizefighter. If it’s ringing a bell, that’s because this...
My friend Heidi H prepared this grilled chicken dish for me last month when I was visiting her and family in Massachusetts. It was absolutely delicious and I couldn't wait to try it at home on our grill. The recipe...
Get ready for something fabulous. Steak and mushrooms. Grilled flank steak that is, and assorted mushrooms dry sautéed first, then sautéed with butter, shallots, and cooked down in a red wine reduction. If you don't want to navigate between the...
Mid July is about the time of year when tomatoes start coming full steam into season. I have 5 tomato plants in my garden that are now producing more tomatoes than we can think up ways of using them. (Gazpacho...
Sunday breakfasts are a favorite activity around here. More like a brunch, they are usually somewhat more elaborate and filling that what we eat for breakfast during the week. Ham and potato hash is a perfect side dish for fried...
One of my favorite recipes on this site is our beef stroganoff made with strips of top sirloin that have been fried in butter. In the recipe several commenters offered their takes on the dish, including making it with ground...
Rachael Ray has nothing on my mother. As far as this family is concerned, my mom invented healthful, delicious comfort food that one can cook in 30 minutes or less. This hamburger and macaroni dish has been served in our...
Looking for a quick, easy, yet special meal for Valentine's? Try this hanger steak, just cut the recipe in half if you are making it for two. ~Elise One of the best things about having a butcher close by who...
We had dueling home fries here the other day, a veritable home-fry cook-off between my mother and father. Mom makes her fried potatoes sliced, using raw potatoes, and usually serves them as a side when we have fish for dinner...
Winter. Dungeness crab season. Super Bowl. Need I say more? It's been raining and in the 40s for the last month now (okay, no need to tell me that I'm a California wimp, I know it's probably worse where you...
Please welcome guest contributor Garrett McCord as he shares this recipe for a Chinese American favorite, hot and sour soup. ~Elise Hot and sour soup is a lot like chili; every family has their own recipe, and each family thinks...
Huevos al la Mexicana, or Mexican-style eggs, are essentially eggs, cooked and scrambled in salsa. My mother has been serving "huevos" (pronounced weh-vose, with the beginning like "when" without the n) prepared like this forever, as her mother before her...
This basic hummus recipe calls for using canned garbanzo beans. I've made hummus using dried beans, soaking them, cooking them, etc. but the results just weren't as good. The canned beans actually mash up pretty well.
My parents have been making spaghetti this way for several years, ever since first learning about this method from watching a Martha Stewart program. Martha apparently got it from some famous chef in New York City. The beauty of this...
Most summer grilling is done for large groups and as such is not too fancy - burgers, hot dogs, steaks, and the occassional kabob. For this recipe I've borrowed a tip from my good friend Jim Honniball - a way...
How is it that one could eat flour tortillas for over 40 years and never once think to make them with peanut butter and jelly? Here's to the things kids can teach you. My young friends Piper (4), Alden (7...
Recently returned from a year teaching English in Korea, my friend Kerissa Barron has been introducing me to some of her favorite dishes, including this one, a spicy cold noodle salad, with lots of toppings. It's known as bibim guksu...
Please welcome contributor Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic as he shares one of his favorite go-to Chinese (American) dishes, Kung Pao Chicken. ~Elise Kung Pao Chicken (also known as Gong Bao or Kung Pow) is probably the dish most associated...
We recently found this recipe using halibut in Real Simple magazine and decided to give it a go, but with ling cod instead. Mom and I loved it, dad wasn't so sure. For me, it was reminiscent of our favorite...
Once a month, my entire childhood, mom would serve us liver and onions for dinner. I think it was the only dish in which whining was even remotely tolerated. "Liver and onions, OH NOOOOO," was the hue and cry from...
Fresh mango salsa is easy to make and perfect with halibut or salmon or as the salsa in fish tacos.
Do you love a good three bean salad, you know, the kind with a sweet vinegary dressing? I do. It's sort of that last minute pantry item type of dish that is quick and wonderfully filling when you are hungry...
Molasses spice cookies are sort of like ginger snaps except bigger and chewy. The recipe for these cookies comes from Cook's Illustrated's The Best Recipe cookbook. Here's a hint on preparation - don't reduce the amount of sugar, the cookies...
We have 3 apple trees on which we grow 15 varieties of apples, so we are always looking for good and easy apple recipes. My mom started cooking up apples this way for an everyday dessert a few years ago...
I'm smiling as I write this. Why? Because there is no dish that reminds me more of my mother than her ground turkey with peppers. I've never had it anywhere but at home, not even at a school cafeteria, where...
Our favorite way to eat steak, updated, from the recipe archive. Originally posted in 2006. Enjoy! ~Elise "London Broil" used to be a way of describing a method for cooking lean beef cuts such as flank or top round, which...
My mother is the only person I have ever known who can make summer squash taste this good. Often this time of year gardens are overflowing with zucchini and summer squash. This quick and easy recipe is a great way...
Please welcome guest author Jaden Hair of the ever-so-Steamy Kitchen. Jaden and I have been visiting Seattle recently, take a look at the interesting scenery we encountered there. ~Elise Because I'm the resident foodie here in my neighborhood, I'm usually...
Here is a quick and easy appetizer, tasty and fun to make. Preparing these today for an afternoon barbeque I was assisted by my sous-chef Alden, of Carlisle, Massachusetts. Aldie is just about 6 years old and loves to help...
Recipe updated March 3, 2011 With cheese, onions, and potatoes, how can one go wrong? Unless of course you are on a diet, in which case you should probably stay away from this one. This recipe is easy to make...
My dad pulled out a favorite recipe today to make and share with "the people on the website." A "discussion" then ensued between the rental units for at least half an hour along the lines of "What do you mean...
"Bacon" variety avocados are in season in the winter; lighter in flavor than the more popular Haas variety, these large, thin-skinned avocados are exceptionally creamy and are perfect for using in sauces. While remoulade is typically made with mayonnaise, in...
Panko is a Japanese type of bread crumb that is especially light and crunchy, popular these days with chefs because it doesn't get soggy. What I love about this way of preparing salmon is that the panko topping seems to...
When springtime rolls around I find almost any excuse to cook fresh asparagus we bring home from the market. This is an easy pasta dish with asparagus and chicken breasts. Goat cheese melts into the cream sauce to make it...
We are big fans of cauliflower, especially roasted cauliflower. Now if you start with nutty roasted cauliflower, and add some Parmesan, some chopped prosciutto, a few roasted tomatoes, some garlic, and stir in some tender greens like baby arugula or...
Here's a little secret: olive oil-packed canned tuna, chili pepper flakes, and pasta is a master combination (and classic Italian). One of my favorite dishes on this site is the tuna, arugula, chili pepper, pasta recipe. So when I stumbled...
Canned tuna has never tasted this good. I came across this recipe on Sher's What did you eat? blog, where she got it from the San Francisco Chronicle. You make a sauce for the pasta with tuna, olive oil, garlic...
Have you ever tried smoked mozzarella cheese? It's sort of like a mozzarella version of gouda. I had never encountered it until my father used it in a recipe he got from a local butcher shop. This is the recipe...
My mother made a pasta dish the other night that took everyone by surprise. My skinny-as-a-spatula 10-year old nephew who won't eat anything, ate his serving with gusto and asked for more. My carb-avoiding sister couldn't resist it. My father...
Have you noticed the brightly colored bell peppers in the market lately? They're glorious. Here's a quick and easy recipe for Italian peperonata, or fried peppers, with onions, fresh plum tomatoes, garlic, and basil. This is one of those "I...
Guacamole, a dip made from avocados, is originally from Mexico. The name is derived from two Aztec Nahuatl words - ahuacatl (avocado) and molli (sauce). The trick to perfect guacamole is using good, ripe avocados. Check for ripeness by gently...
Making popcorn from scratch can be tricky. Not only do you want as many kernels as possible to pop, but you also want to keep the kernels from burning at the bottom of the pan. Until my mother showed me...
Based on a tip in Alice Waters' new cookbook, The Art of Simple Food, that fuyu persimmons make a good fruit salad, I begged some just picked fuyus from my neighbor and fellow blogger Andrea and set about to make...
The season for potluck barbecues is here and a quick and easy dish to prepare for a gathering is pesto pasta salad. Spiral pasta catches and hold the bits of basil pesto. You can dress up the pesto and pasta...
A family favorite meal around here is steak, salsa, and beans, often served with some warmed fresh corn tortillas on the side. Usually the beans for this ensemble are refried beans, but this week we decided to serve the beans...
As fond as one may be of bacon and butter, sometimes the body just wants something light. What do you make when you want a light meal? I've taken to poaching chicken, using a pretty cool method taught to me...
This poached salmon recipe is one of the first recipes my father taught me a few years ago. It's his favorite way to prepare salmon because not only can it be prepared in 10 minutes or less, but it doesn't...
This is one of the first recipes I learned to cook from the Silver Palate Cookbook decades ago. I've made some adjustments to the recipe over the years. The original recipe calls for black currant jelly. I find red currant...
We eat a lot of pork in this family, even given my father's Germanic background. Pork chops are the most convenient, which is probably why I remember my mother serving them so often growing up. The chops were thinner, and...
Picadillo is a spicy Latin American meat dish often served as a stuffing in chilies, taco filling, or served with rice. I nabbed this recipe from my friend Heidi H's recipe collection one day because it looked intriguing. What a...
Dad clipped this recipe from Bon Appetit several years ago and finally got around to making it this evening. It was excellent, and very easy to prepare. The mustard, capers, shallots, broth, and cream make a wonderful sauce for the...
The first time I traveled to the land of my Austrian ancestors I was taken to a restaurant where I saw "schnitzel" on the menu. Of course I ordered it, thinking I could use a good German sausage in a...
Updated, from the recipe archive. Originally posted in 2004. Pork tenderloin is one of my favorite things to cook, especially for a midweek meal. It's no fuss, partners well with fruit (especially apples), onions, or mustard, loves spice rubs, and...
Potato leek soup is so easy to make and delicious too. This recipe can be prepared in 40 minutes or less.
Hank made this seafood bisque for us the other day and it was so outrageously good I begged him to make it again. I served some of it to a friend from Provence whose eyes lit up upon tasting it...
I grew up making quesadillas, the benefit of having a Hispanic mother who is a great cook. "Queso" is cheese in Spanish. And a quesadilla is a toasted tortilla with melted cheese inside. But in addition to cheese, you can...
Sometime in the mid-80s I gave my father a subscription to Gourmet Magazine for Christmas. I think this goes down in family history as the most appreciated gift ever given to him by one of his kids. He continued to...
I don't know about you, but I could really use some comfort food right now. Updated, from the recipe archive. Originally posted a gazillion years ago. ~Elise A few months ago I prepared macaroni and cheese this way for some...
This is one of the quickest, easiest, tastiest artichoke dip recipes around. All it takes is 3 simple ingredients, plus salt and pepper if you want, heated quickly in the microwave. Dress it up if you want, with garlic, chili...
Flank steak is a lean, flavorful cut of meat that is probably best prepared marinated and cooked over a grill. But sometimes you just don't have time to marinate the meat or deal with the grill. My mother raised 6...
One of my favorite foods is quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah), a grain-like seed native of South America. It's a lot like couscous, but nuttier in flavor, and smoother on the tongue. It's also high in protein and completely gluten-free. You can...
Helpers Alden and Piper show off the rice We found a "three-flavor" rice recipe in a recent Parade magazine - long grain white rice accented with carrots, lemon, and mint. Excellent served with roast chicken. I can't quite figure out...
Who knew that cauliflower could be such a perfect vehicle for olive oil, lemon, garlic, and Parmesan cheese? I'm used to eating cauliflower raw, steamed, or puréed. I love cauliflower and will eat it any way it is prepared. But...
Normally fennel tastes like a cross between celery, cabbage, and licorice. Roasting, however, brings out an entirely new flavor - as if pine nuts decided to join the party.
Often this time of year, our gardens are filled with more zucchini than we know what to do with. Here is one quick and easy way of preparing zucchini. I had a variation of this the other night at my...
Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord, who grilled these chicken skewers with me the other day to rave reviews from the 'rents. ~Elise I've always been a fan of combining sweet fruits with savory spices, it sets up a certain...
This recipe comes by way of my Tennessee friend Keith Gray, who when I asked him, "does this recipe work with ducks you shoot, or that you buy in a grocery store?," replied with a puzzled look, "I've never bought...
I distinctly remember the tall cans of dark pink salmon that used to be in our pantry when I was a kid. Although we could any time open a can of tuna or sardines and eat to our hearts content...
Raising six kids on a teacher's salary, my parents were always cooking on a budget. Being Catholic, with the Lenten requirement of meatless Fridays, this meant that we ate a lot of tuna macaroni salad and fried fish. Frequently mom...
Here's a salmon dish made for summer. Fresh tomatoes, fresh chopped herbs, a few shallots, lemon juice, balsamic and olive oil make a perfect sauce to accompany baked salmon fillets.
Hot days are upon us. A great way to cool off is with a refreshingly chilled salmon salad. This salad is also one way to use up leftover salmon from a summer barbecue. Easy and quick.
Every year in mid September, my friend Jim organizes a group of his friends to go salmon fishing off the coast of Marin, north of San Francisco. For the second year in a row, I didn't a catch a fish...
This recipe is so easy, it's surprising how good it is. You just line a baking dish with chicken breasts, pour over plenty of salsa verde, bake, sprinkle with some cheese, bake some more, and presto wham-o you're there! Serve...
All this talk of the sweet goodness you can make apples this season, and as someone rightly pointed out to me, there are many savory things you can make with apples as well. My dear Minnesota-raised father, who cannot resist...
For years I've walked by those packages of baby artichokes at Trader Joe's not willing to try them because they just didn't seem worth the effort. I'm glad to report that I was completely wrong. They actually take less time...
This is a classic Sicilian side dish, prepared with leafy greens, toasted pine nuts and raisins. It may sound like an odd combination, but it works; it's sweet, savory, salty, spicy and just a little bitter. So as my mother...
After several years of observing the results of my feeble gardening attempts, my next door neighbor Pat (76 and still going strong) graciously responded to my pleas for help and has been guiding me this spring with soil amendments, starter...
Recipe and photo updated July 25th, 2011 One of the benefits of having your own cooking website is that your friends and relatives start sending you recipes to try. The basis for this recipe comes by way of my cousin...
My father loves to watch cooking shows and is often inspired to try out a new dish he sees prepared on a show. Today he drew inspiration from Weir Cooking in the City a program of public television KQED in...
In the world of party appetizers, there's a time for fancy, and there's a time for oh-my-gosh-I-only-have-10-minutes-to-make-something-that-I-wouldn't-be-ashamed-to-serve-to-guests. Usually I'm in the latter camp, having grossly underestimated the time it takes to get organized. For these times it's helpful to have...
Please welcome guest author Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen who is doing a series of Chinese American food recipes for us here on Simply Recipes. ~Elise The first time I attempted to cook fried rice on my own, I was...
Quesadillas have to be my favorite go-to food for lunch. They're just so easy to make! Especially when you have tortillas and cheese in the fridge, which we almost always do. Recently I had lunch with an old friend at...
Do you have a favorite meal for those need-something-quick-and-don't-want-to-have-to-plan-or-work-too-hard days? I like keeping a bag of shrimp in the freezer just for those times. I'll put some frozen shrimp in a bowl of ice water, and if I'm serving them...
Okay, pardon me in advance, but I think I've just had a Sandra Lee moment with this dish. Wait, the parsley is fresh from the garden, does that count? Let's look at the ingredients - shrimp (best to get frozen...
What better way to cool down in the heat of summer than with a delicious cold salad? Freshly cooked shrimp and creamy avocado are a perfect match, especially with a crisp vinaigrette. The best news? It only takes a few...
Making soup doesn't have to be difficult, and if you are working with fresh, high quality vegetables, you don't even have to add stock. This cauliflower soup couldn't be easier; just blanch cauliflower florets for a few minutes, purée them...
I wasn't always a lover of peas. When I was a kid, on the days peas were being served for dinner, my siblings and I would jockey for a particular seat at the dining room table. This spot had a...
There are two basic types of tomato-based salsas - salsa made with fresh tomatoes and salsa made with cooked tomatoes. When cooking salsa, as we do when we make enchiladas, we always use the cooked-tomato version, not the fresh. This...
From the recipe archive, a warm dish for a chilly day! ~Elise Just hearing the words "sloppy joe" from my mother used to send us kids into a tizzy. There was something wonderfully fun about getting to eat a burger/sandwich...
What I love about this recipe, other than the ingredients (smoked salmon, pine nuts, yum!) is that it can be pulled together so quickly and it's not particularly heavy, as so many cream sauce pastas can be. There's also room...
Spring has sprung here in Northern California. The sweet peas are blossoming, the snap peas are climbing, and I have peas on my brain! Today I had a hankering for snow peas and cooked up a bunch this afternoon just...
Recently my father announced he had a cunning plan. He found a grilled turkey burger recipe that he wanted to try, but rather than just use any old ground turkey, he would make half the burgers with ground dark meat...
I will be the first to admit that I love my mother's turkey soup, the one she makes with the turkey carcass and leftover turkey from Thanksgiving dinner. That said, by the time the fourth day of eating leftovers comes...
If you have friends growing zucchini, right about now they are probably delighted, bordering on desperate, to give some of it away. Especially problematic are those huge, baseball bat-sized monsters, that appear out of the blue when you've neglected to...
Updated, from the recipe archive. First posted November, 2005 I never get tired of eating spinach. Good thing it's so good for you! This is a fun take on spinach, a Korean version, with the spinach wilted in sesame oil...
Updated, from the recipe archive. First posted 2006. Enjoy! ~Elise Steak Diane is tradtionally made with a thinly pounded steak, and a cognac, butter, and shallot sauce that is flambéed right before serving to great dramatic effect. Doing some research...
Steamed broccoli is the best cure for over-indulgence I know. It's cleansing, healthful, high in vitamin C, protein (45% of the calories in broccoli are from protein), and fiber. The easiest way to dress broccoli is to mix in a...
Stewed tomatoes is one dish I've never had any place but at home, cooked by my mother. I've never seen them on a menu anywhere, have you? Too bad, too; as they are truly delicious, and so easy to make...
Every time I take a cooking class from Sacramento chef Evie Lieb I'm inspired for weeks with new ideas and recipes for bringing out the best from ingredients. This summer pea soup is an Evie inspiration, a re-creation of soup...
Evie suspected that when I tried her summer squash salad recipe that I would have to eat my words (no pun intended) regarding my mom being the only one who could prepare squash well. Well, I have eaten my words...
I never liked Swiss chard, until several years ago I had some that had been freshly picked from a friend's garden. It was so sweet and buttery I couldn't believe it was actually Swiss chard. It was then I learned...
Recently I had the privilege of dining with one of my favorite food bloggers, Carol Blymire, who after cooking her way through the French Laundry cookbook and blogging about it, is tackling an even more absurdly wonderful but complicated project...
You know the cool thing about tarragon? You only have to plant it once. (Assuming you don't pull it up thinking it's a weed when it surprises you by coming up the second year. Yes, that would be me.) I...
One of the benefits of having a well-stocked pantry is that it gives you so much more flexibility when you want to get a meal out quickly. Case in point, this teriyaki chicken. Classic teriyaki sauce is made with soy...
Happy Chinese New Year! Please welcome Garrett McCord as he shares a favorite Chinese chicken dish with us, Three Teacup Chicken. ~Elise 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit (兔) which is a welcome thing after the previous wild and...
Tilapia, a tasty farm-raised fish originally from Africa, has become more and more popular here in the states. I recently brought home a whole tilapia from our local Asian fish market and made quite a mess of trying to fillet...
Have any leftover roast beef? Here's how we make roast beef hash. From the recipe archive. First posted in 2004. Happy holidays! ~Elise Hash is a great way to use up leftover cooked meat. We tend to use roast beef...
Tuna patties! All you have to do is say these two words and I'm flooded with childhood memories. We kids are only a few feet high, have tiny feet, scabbed knees, and boundless energy. In between chasing each other around...
My parents started making tuna fish salad sandwiches this way years ago, and as far as I'm concerned theirs is the best and only way to make a tunafish sandwich. First it helps to start with high quality canned tuna...
Sacramento can't make up its mind if spring has sprung or not. Everywhere you go, trees are in bloom, my star magnolias included. For the last few days the sun has been shining brightly. They sort of trick you, that...
What to do with all those turkey leftovers? We decided to make turkey stroganoff with some of ours. Stroganoff is a classic Russian dish, popularized in America after World War II, which typically has beef and mushrooms served in a...
I'm guessing that you are either a turnip lover or not. Turnips aren't one of those happy-go-lucky neutral vegetables, like green beans for example, that seem to get along with everyone. No, turnips have a bit more "I dare you...
Dad found this recipe for turnip and potato patties in an old (1985) issue of Gourmet magazine and made them the other night. They were terrific, not too turnipy. Sort of a cross between a pancake and a fritter.
When I first encountered a recipe for a thin-crust pizza using a flour tortilla as a base I was indignant. "That's not a pizza! That's a quesadilla!" But I soon got over my ire. This approach is actually rather brilliant...
Why I didn't think of this earlier in the summer, when the zucchini beast was putting out two zukes a day, I don't know. But here it is, a veggie taco that combines the best of summer produce, that you...
Call me unadventurous, but I had never even heard of a watermelon feta salad before versions of it started popping up on food blogs everywhere. Even then, the very thought of it gave me pause. Watermelon, with salty cheese? Yeah...
Every weekend during the summer, if we are lucky, there will be a good supply of wax beans at the farmers market. These golden yellow (and sometimes purple) versions of green beans are harvested young, and are sweet and tender...
With all the hot weather much of the country has been experiencing, we thought we'd suggest a gazpacho, a chilled soup, one that you can make quickly, with minimal use of the stove. Not all gazpachos are made with tomatoes...
Zabaglione is a simple Italian dessert made of egg yolks, sugar, and Marsala wine. It is usually served warm, though it can be served cold, or as a sauce, or even frozen. The Gourmet Sleuth writes,"Zabaglione is said to have...
Zucchini season is upon us, and already neighbors are coming by with bounty to share. Here is a favorite recipe for zucchini fritters, which look a lot like potato latkes, except without the potato. A tasty, easy option if you...
There's something magical about the combination of pasta, eggs, Parmesan, and cured pork. The flavor base is the salty, fatty pork (in this case prosciutto), noodle-y pasta makes it filling, and a creamy sauce is created with eggs, lemon zest...
Did you know that yesterday was "Dump Your Extra Zucchini On Your Neighbor's Doorstep Day"? According to our local newspaper it was, though I think they may have been joshing. Then again, maybe not. This excellent zucchini ricotta frittata recipe...
