Wheat-free Recipes
Are you familiar with Cook's Illustrated? It's a magazine and a website from the same people who create the PBS show America's Test Kitchen. It's the only cooking show we watch with any regularity, and we read each issue of...
The foggy coastline of Northern California is artichoke country. Like finding small hole-in-the-walls that serve clam chowder in New England, here one can sometimes find local diners that sell delicous artichoke soup. I first developed a taste for artichoke soup...
Winter in California is the season for arugula, along with many other lettuces. A few years ago we planted some in our garden and now each year the arugula re-seeds itself and takes over with a flourish, starting in December...
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...
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...
Sometimes the simplest things are the most enjoyable. My mother whipped up this quick and easy baby bok choy dish the other night. It was so good I made her make it again the next day so I could watch...
I admit, I am not the greatest fan of bok choy, perhaps as result of too many poorly done stir-fries during college. That said, my father made this recipe the other day and it was so good I made a...
It's apple season here in New England, where I am visiting my goddaughter and her family. We went apple picking a few days ago and came home with so many apples, we'll be cooking with them all week. Today the...
My father's been going through 20 years of old cooking magazines, looking for interesting things to cook and hoping to clear up some space on his bookshelf. Last night we enjoyed this delicious stew, pulled from a back issue of...
This beef stew recipe is from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. It cooks up in about half an hour and is surprisingly rich in flavor given its short cooking time.
According to the Wikipedia, Beef Stroganoff was invented by a chef working for a Russian general, Count Pavel Stroganov, in the 1890s. It became popular in the U.S. in the 1950s from servicemen returning from Europe and China after WWII...
As some of you may be aware, California has been hit with some stormy weather recently. We warm-weather low-landers don't do cold and wet too well and for the last several days of rainy and cold I've been craving some...
My father made the most succulent, tender, "Wow" beef short ribs this week. Yes, it is a 2 day process, but the actual hands-on cooking time is at most two hours, and is broken up over two days. It is...
Braised onions are the side of choice with beef Bourguignon but they are also wonderful with roast beef and other stews. Trader Joe's sells a pack of multi-colored pearl onions that cook up beautifully as braised onions. The catch? You...
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...
Football (American) championship season. Sports bars, beer, and spicy things that make you want to drink more beer. Darts, pool, loud conversation, an either ill-spent or well-spent youth, depending on your perspective. Once in my early twenties I happened to...
Our next door neighbor Pat has a wonderfully productive garden where she grows much of her own food. We are the lucky beneficiaries of her overflow in times when, for example, she has harvested 15 large butternut squash and there...
These homemade, candied caramel walnuts are a little sticky, and a little chewy, but oh so good...
Enter any Mexican taqueria in California and you'll find carnitas on the menu, usually pork butt (the shoulder roast) braised first, pulled apart, and then roasted on high heat to caramelize. This is my father's favorite recipe for pork carnitas...
Being a quintessential Swiss dish, cheese fondue conjures up images for me of alpine ski huts, deep snow and 20°F weather. Well, we don't get much snow or cold weather in the California central valley, but that doesn't mean we...
I received a review copy of Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times in the mail this week and thumbing through it found this recipe for a quick chicken curry. Are you familiar with Mark Bittman...
We've been experimenting with chicken lately and stumbled upon a recipe in a 10 year old Good Housekeeping for chicken paprikash, a Hungarian dish. The printed recipe actually called for roasting a whole chicken; we chose to use pieces. What...
This is one of my father's favorite chicken recipes. We don't make it nearly often enough.
I recently tried out this chickpea potato curry recipe from my friend Ann's new cookbook, Hands-Off Cooking: Low-Supervision, High-Flavor Meals for Busy People. Curry recipes can be a bit problematic over here, as the spices don't always agree with my...
It seems as if there as many ways to prepare chili as there are cooks who make chili. Ground beef versus chunks, pork versus beef, pinto versus kidney beans, beans versus no beans, red chili or green chili - the...
This Chinese chicken salad is a colorful and tasty way to use up some leftover chicken and makes for a light lunch. I experimented with few different dressings and ultimately settled on this one which I think is quite good...
Tostadas are toasted or fried corn tortillas, topped with a layer of refried beans and other things such as cheese, lettuce, and salsa. Growing up, my mother made tostadas or tacos for us at least once a month, the main...
When I put the call out a few weeks ago for July 4th grilling suggestions, Simply Recipes reader Chuck mentioned bacon-wrapped shrimp. I'm sure this is a standard fare for many of you, but I can't remember ever eating bacon-wrapped...
"I'll make cioppino," my brother John announced as the family discussed what to make over the holiday weekend. "Great!" said my father and I, relieved that someone else would do the cooking for a night. "Have you ever made cioppino...
Grated carrot salad has to be one of the easiest dishes in the world to prepare, as well as being pretty kid-friendly and good for you. The trick is to start with the best carrots you can find. Here is...
Cobb salad is the quintessential American salad, first pulled together on a whim by Robert Cobb of the former Los Angeles landmark Brown Derby restaurant when he needed to feed Sid Grauman late one night (1937). It was such a...
My parents experimented for 40 years before finally settling on this one chicken soup recipe. It is a variation of a Colombian recipe (Ajiaco) and is served with a special salsa, "Aji", that truly defines the dish.
During the winter months, our local Whole Foods gets one or two shipments in a week of freshly cooked Dungeness crab. Like all seafood, crab tastes best when it is as fresh as possible. When buying crab, ask the guy...
Winter is fresh crab season here in Northern California. When our local Whole Foods gets in a shipment, we're first in line for the biggest (anything greater than 2 lbs) fresh, cooked crabs, already cleaned and broken. Dad calls it...
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...
Cream of mushroom soup was the first soup I fell in love with as a child. Of course, back then it was Campbell's. At age 8 I could make it myself, quickly learning that adding milk tasted a whole lot...
This delicious cream of spinach soup is as rich, smooth and creamy as the label "Cream of" would imply. It's basically a vichyssoise, with spinach in addition to the potatoes, and can be served either hot or chilled.
Spring here means strawberries and rhubarb, sweet peas and asparagus, and dreams of the summer bounty to come. Asparagus are everywhere, big, fat, and fresh. And yes, although we can get them all year round, I'm especially happy to eat...
Looking for a special soup to serve over the Thanksgiving holiday? Consider this creamy sweet potato soup seasoned with nutmeg and maple syrup. We found this recipe in an old issue of Bon Appetit and made it this weekend. I...
Tis the season for squash and pear. My friend Lorenza gave me this recipe back in the spring, when neither were in season. I finally made it last week, and it was lovely! Similar to the spicy pumpkin soup I...
One of the most filling, delicious and affordable dishes one can make is turkey stew. You make it with turkey thighs (or legs), which, in addition to being the tastier dark meat, you can usually get for $1.50 per pound...
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...
Shepherd's Pie is an English dish, traditionally made with lamb or mutton. Americans typically make Shepherd's Pie with beef. The English (and Australians and New Zealanders) call the beef dish a "cottage pie". Naming conventions aside, Shepherd's Pie is essentially...
Here in the San Joaquin Valley, the eggplant season is in full swing. At our local farmers market last weekend one could find eggplants of every variety - globe, Japanese, striped, white, even eggplants that looked like tomatoes. I have...
A few weeks ago I was wondering what to do with the end-of-season eggplants, tomatoes, and chiles from our garden and stumbled across this recipe from Food and Wine, which also calls for pomegranate molasses. The recipe comes from the...
Preparation time: 30 minutes. 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...
I made these fingerling potatoes a few days ago as part of a composed salad and we loved them so much I made them again tonight just on their own, to accompany steak. These potatoes can be served warm, room...
Years ago I remember my father making vanilla ice cream for all of us with an ice cream maker that required a lot of crushed ice and salt. Can't remember now if it was hand crank or electric. But man...
Every year we plant basil and every year the plants do so well that we can't use it up fast enough. What to do? Basil pesto, of course! Here is a simple recipe. Note that pesto is always made to...
Gazpacho soup was invented for the summer. Refreshingly cold on hot summer days, this adaptation of the classic Spanish cold tomato soup deliciously combines the best of summer vegetables. Make sure you only use the freshest, highest quality ingredients for...
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...
Have some plain leftover rice? This is a great rice side dish for shrimp, pork, or chicken that calls for starting with chilled, cooked rice. I grilled some shrimp with some fresh pineapple the other day and served it with...
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.
A recipe for those of us who love both beets and brussels sprouts. (Isn't it pretty?)
Note that thyme is the essential accent which brings all the ingredients together.
Grapefruit and avocado are one of those natural food pairings, like lamb and mint, or dark chocolate and raspberries. They just taste good together. They are perfect for a summer salad when avocados are relatively cheap and the grapefruit from...
I found this recipe in the weekend edition of the Wall St. Journal as good "noshing" food for New Year's and had to give it a try, with a few minor changes. It comes from chef Michael Symon of the...
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...
Where to start? Somehow I suspect that the following method - fat is good, flame is good - is going to get me in trouble with some of you. But since this was the best lamb roast I've ever eaten...
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...
The first time I tried grilling corn-on-the-cob, by placing shucked corn directly on the grill, the results weren't all that stellar. Too dried out and chewy. I consulted "She-who-knows-everything-when-it-comes-to-home-cooking" (a.k.a. mom) who informed me the way to do it was...
This recipe for grilled chicken, marinated in lime juice, and served with a cilantro infused black bean sauce comes from my dear friend Steve-Anna, who, by the way, lives in Arizona, and is clearly not afraid of using her grill...
The secret to grilling pork tenderloin, as I learned from my friend Vaughn, is to watch it carefully, with a meat thermometer in hand, because "once it goes, it goes quickly." A pork tenderloin is a long, narrow cut of...
As any Southerner will tell you, the proper way to cook ribs is to barbecue them "low and slow" in a smoker built for that purpose. But not everyone has a smoker, and not all of us have the time...
From the recipe archive, another great use for leftover ham. ~Elise 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...
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...
These got a little browned, but they were still crunchy and delicious. When I announced that I wanted to make brussels sprouts, inspired by a recent recipe in the New York Times, my father let out a loud groan. Dad...
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 into Steak Diane, I found that the "Diane" part refers...
Summer is tomato and basil season, and there is nothing better than heirloom tomatoes with fresh basil from the garden and fresh mozzarella cheese. What are "heirloom tomatoes"? Heirloom tomatoes are what tomatoes used to be before all of the...
This is my father's favorite recipe for roasting a whole chicken. Adapted from a recipe by Jamie Oliver.
This honey-glazed lemon chicken is a very simple roast chicken recipe that we found in an old issue of Bon Appétit. The lemon juice marinade tenderizes the chicken while the honey glaze adds a sweet balance to the lemon.
Years ago, on a little island off the coast of Marblehead, Massachusetts, a friend's aunt showed me how to eat a lobster, including the fine art of sucking the tender meat and juice out of the spindly legs. It was...
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.
This flank steak recipe is one of our favorites for company and family get-togethers. A large flank steak is first butterflied, then marinated in an olive oil and vinegar marinade, then layered with prosciutto, basil, Parmesan, roasted red bell peppers...
A few weeks ago my mother and I attended a cooking demonstration by our local celebrity Italian chef, the delightful Biba Caggiano. We Sacramentans are proud to call Biba our own; she has a fabulous restaurant, is the author of...
Sometimes I'll mention a recipe to my father, and if it starts with the words "Italian sausage" I don't think it matters that much what words comes after, he's already sold. We recently made this risotto recipe together; dad did...
My father loves ratatouille and Italian sausage, so when he saw a recipe in a magazine that combined the two, he was inspired to create his own version. This is a great way to use up last-of-the-season garden vegetables.
I recently had the jerk chicken at a local Davis hangout, the psychedelically inspired Delta of Venus. The place looks a bit scruffy, but my oh my is their jerk chicken good. And hot. My meal there led me to...
Living for a while in Japan does strange things to your food preferences. Instead of thinking, "eating seaweed? PHEW!" one gets a warm glow and a faraway look in one's eyes thinking, "Eating seaweed? Ahhh. Yummm. Which kind do I...
Preparation time: 2 to 2 1/2 hours. The trick to delicious lamb shanks is to brown the shanks first.
For those of you snow-bound, this is a rich and hearty dish, perfect for a cold winter day. For me it conjures up images of ski lodges and cabernet, it's so warm and comforting. Flavorful lamb shanks are first browned...
Following this recipe from the NY Times the other day, I made a sweet lamb stew with honey, almonds, and apricots. The stew is a traditional lamb tagine called Mrouzia, prepared throughout North Africa during Ramadan. I had several problems...
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...
Who says strawberries have a monopoly on shortcake desserts? Mid summer is the season for many varieties of blackberries, which are delicious served over biscuits with whipped cream. Sweet and juicy marionberries are native of Oregon, but we found some...
No, not that Martha. This Martha is a friend of my friend Suzanne, who prepared her favorite chicken salad for a gathering of girlfriends a while back. A great recipe for summer picnics (you might want to double the recipe).
According to the Wikipedia, minestrone is an Italian soup made with fresh seasonal vegetables, often with the addition of pasta or rice. Common ingredients include beans, onions, celery, carrots, stock, and tomatoes. There is no set recipe for minestrone, since...
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...
Ninety-five percent of the time when we have enchiladas, it is my mom's (amazingly good, incredibly awesome) cheese enchiladas. Once in a while however, she'll make chicken enchiladas. With chicken enchiladas she often uses a red chili sauce which is...
"London Broil" used to be a way of describing a method for cooking lean beef cuts such as flank or top round, which originally was to pan-fry it quickly on medium high to high heat, cook it only to medium...
The word primavera refers to being served with fresh vegetables; it is from the Italian (alla) primavera, or (in the) spring (style). Pasta primavera is almost always a simple-to-prepare dish using the fresh vegetables of the season. In spring you...
Turkey ready to go in the oven My mom's turkey is unlike others. The breast meat isn't dried out, requiring cupfuls of gravy to taste good, but moist and flavorful. I've been watching her make our family turkey for...
Preparation time: 20 minutes. 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...
A month ago or so I bought a tagine, an earthenware cooking and serving pot, with which to experiment. My first foray into cooking with the tagine was with this Moroccan chicken dish which turned out beautifully - succulent, tender...
Whoever came up with the term "mushroom caviar" must have been in marketing. Mushroom caviar just sounds so much more catchy than "mushroom spread" or "minced mushrooms and shallots sautéed in butter", even though that's basically what it is. Pretty...
When my father announced he was interested in trying out a stir-fry recipe, I was skeptical. I've been avoiding my mother's stir-fry my entire adult life (twenty years of experiments with water chestnuts, bok choy and soy sauce and still...
Salad Niçoise (pronounced nee-suaz) is essentially a French composed salad, much like our American Cobb salad, but with tuna, green beans, and potatoes, instead of chicken, bacon, and avocado. Salad Niçoise hails from Nice, on the Mediterranean Sea, though like...
My father discovered this potato gratin recipe in Bon Appetit magazine and it has since become a family favorite. With cream, cheese, onions, and potatoes, how can one go wrong? Unless of course you are on a diet, in which...
The trick to quickly prepared meals is just a little foresight and planning. In this case you marinate the chicken pieces overnight, but once you take them out of the marinade, they take less than 20 minutes to cook. My...
Here's an orange and beet salad to brighten up a Winter day. The peppery arugula complements the sweetness of the beets and oranges.
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...
Recipe accompanies the recipe for Beef Bouillon Soup from Oxtails and is from a recipe in the December 1993 issue of Gourmet. Once making the bouillon, you can use the cooked oxtail meat to make a delicious oxtail pâté. I...
One of my most favorite breakfasts is a poached egg on toast, with a side of papaya and lime. Including some prosciutto with the papaya just takes it up a notch further. Papaya is filled with enzymes that help digestion...
Please welcome pastry chef extraordinaire Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater who is our guest author for this article on Pavlovas. ~Elise It's no coincidence the late Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, for whom the Pavlova dessert was named, is said to...
I love peppermint ice cream! Too bad around here the grocery stores only stock it during the holiday season. This week I decided to make my own and got some great advice from the king of desserts himself, David Lebovitz...
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...
Most pickled beets I find are much too vinegary, hiding rather than enhancing the naturally sweet flavor of the beets. I usually just boil beets and eat them unadorned, but my mother has a way of preparing pickled beets that...
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...
My father found this recipe in a recent Sunset Magazine and it sounded so good he just had to try it. He even made the polenta from scratch instead of using the store-bought prepared version which the original recipe called...
Pork chops are easy-to-make, convenient, and delicious. Pork works well with a sweet-and-sour sauce which you can easily create by combining a dark jelly with dijon mustard.
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...
Can be prepared in 1 1/2 hours. My old neighborhood in San Francisco used to have a fabulous Hungarian restaurant where I loved to go for pork stuffed cabbage rolls. The restaurant has since gone out of business, but my...
This is an easy way to make tender, succulent pork tenderloin. The sliced apples add a nice complimentary sweetness to the final dish.
Pot roast was a standard growing up, and still continues to be in my parent's household. It requires slow cooking over low heat to ensure tender, flavorful meat. Pot roasts typically use the tougher cuts of beef - a chuck...
Prime rib refers to the king of beef cuts, the standing rib roast, "standing" because to cook it, you simply position the roast on its rib bones in the roasting pan, no need for a rack. Estimate 2 people served...
Have you ever tried cooking with smoked paprika? A few months ago I posted a recipe for roasted chicken with smoked paprika in which I told how I first encountered smoked paprika in a kumara soup in New Zealand. Like...
The easiest way to prepare parsnips is to slice them, steam them, and dress with butter and salt. However, to get the fullest, richest flavor from the parsnips, they should be roasted. The browning caramelizes the natural sugars in the...
Frijoles Refritos Pinto beans, prepared Mexican style, are such a staple in our house a week rarely goes by without my mother making up a batch. Although beans have a relatively long shelf life, the older they are the longer...
Trying to get a recipe out of my mother is like pulling teeth. Mom doesn't follow recipes. After 50 years of cooking for her family she doesn't need to. She cooks instinctively, pulling ingredients from what we have on hand...
This ricotta stuffed chicken recipe is based on a recipe from a Weber grilling cookbook, and as such requires that you butterfly the chicken (makes it easier to grill). Although the recipe is designed for grilling, it can easily be...
Ever stumble upon something that everyone else seems to know about or has tried, but for you it's a brand new oh-my-gosh discovery, and then you feel like an idiot, because, where have you been? For me, that something was...
My mom knows a lot about cooking beef. She knows all of the cuts and what to do with them. This must have something to do with growing up at a time where people went to their local butchers for...
The most important thing to remember about cooking a lamb roast is to not over-cook it. Lamb has such wonderful flavor on its own, and is so naturally tender, that it is bound to turn out well, as long as...
My mother found this recipe in the weekend Wall St. Journal and we were all quite pleased with the results. The recipe comes from Orange County restauranteur Liza Goodell. Mom cooked the chicken in a large cast-iron frying pan, and...
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. Unfortunately, it is very hard to take an appetizing photo of...
Years ago my pal Peter showed me how to roast garlic whole and eat the warm, toasty cloves right out of the head. How wonderfully simple! And perfect for garlic lovers.
The trick to this tender, succulent roast chicken is the overnight brining. We usually roast chickens breast side down to ensure tender breast meat. But with the overnight brining in a roasted garlic and lemon juice marinade, the breast meat...
Here is a flavorful alternative to boiling your beans - roasting them with a balsamic vinegar honey coating, topped with toasted walnuts.
Perfume makers should give up on chasing pheromones and start trying to mimic the scent of truffles instead, the aroma is so irresistible. Have you ever used truffle oil in your cooking? I think I have a new best friend...
My mother visited her friend Claire today and returned with this fabulous red bell pepper soup made with fresh peppers from Claire's garden. Claire made it with non-fat milk and it was still wonderful, even though her original recipe called...
Have you ever encountered a stubborn teenager who outright refuses to eat something new, in spite of everyone telling her how good it is? At some point you just give up and say, "oh have it your way, all the...
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...
My sister Karen (Austin's mom) is in town, flush from completing a grueling, 500 mile bike ride from San Francisco to LA. Karen has always been a super athlete, and with her current passion for triathlons takes a lot of...
In Bahia in Northern Brazil, there is a savory fish stew called "Moqueca" that they make with local fish. Fernanda Guimaraes Rosa, who writes the Brazilian food blog Chucrute com Salsicha, brought a Vancouver friend's salmon version of Moqueca to...
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.
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...
The Swiss chard I planted last spring survived the winter to vigorously return this year. Last week we made a yogurt dip with the leaves of some swiss chard I picked. The ribs from that bunch went into this dish...
There are many ways to make delicious scalloped potatoes. For this version, I consulted several books - Kitchen Sense, two James Beards, and the Joy of Cooking. Basically you layer thinly sliced potatoes with any number of extras - cheese...
After completing graduate school in the late 80s, I spent a year studying martial arts at Kyoto University in Japan. The school cafeteria served many things that one would never encounter in the states (natto spaghetti for example), but one...
One of the benefits of having your own cooking website is that your friends and relatives start sending you recipes to try. This recipe comes by way of my cousin Laurie in Maryland (thanks Laurie!) and is adapted from one...
We recently had sherry potatoes (potato slices baked in sherry and butter) at Selland's, our favorite local cafe. They were so good that we spent many tries attempting to recreate them in our kitchen. I scoured the Internet looking for...
At a recent cooking class at Scott's Seafood (Folsom, CA), Chef David Lamonica set us to work preparing shrimp with orange beurre blanc (a French butter and shallot sauce). Chef David says the best shrimp to get are fresh, Gulf...
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...
We pulled this recipe recently from the Wall St. Journal and finally made it the other night. It was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I've never tasted pork so tender. The "Melted Apples" part is the gravy, which is prepared in part...
I first experienced smoked paprika on a trip to New Zealand last year in a sweet potato soup. My host laughed as my eyes lit up with "Wow, what's in this?!" Ever since then I've been keeping my eyes out...
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...
Also known as "Pollo Estofado" this stewed chicken recipe is Spanish in origin. The chicken is marinated overnight in a spicy vinaigrette with olives and raisins. The chicken is then cooked in its marinade with the addition of wine and...
Can be prepared in 40 minutes or less. One of my mother's signature dishes is her Spanish rice, a delicious accompaniment to steak, chicken, and Mexican entrees such as tacos or enchiladas. Spanish rice is prepared by browning the rice...
Spareribs with sauerkraut is something I've never had outside of my own home. My father claims that there are restaurants in Minnesota (where he grew up) that serve them. But I certainly have never seen them as a menu item...
We often cook all drumsticks or all thighs when we prepare chicken. We love the more flavorful dark meat and the fact that the chicken pieces all get done around the same time. The following recipe is based on one...
Here is a delightful spin on a fall favorite - cranberry sauce. The cranberries are cooked in Pinot Noir and spiced with curry, ginger, fennel seeds, and other spices. Simply Recipes reader John Klem passed this Epicurious recipe on to...
My father found this recipe (adapted from the New York Times) for chicken coated with cilantro, garlic, jalapeño, and cashews, and thought (rightly) that it might be worthwhile to try. When my 9-year old visiting nephew proclaimed, "Hey, this chicken...
Throughout the coastal areas of Latin America, you'll find local variations of "Camarones al Ajillo", freshly caught shrimp, fried quickly in olive oil with garlic and chiles. My friend Arturo grew up near the beaches of Acapulco and learned a...
This recipe, adapted from one in the Niman Ranch Cookbook, is actually billed as a tagine, a savory Moroccan stew. Tagines also refer to the earthenware cooking and serving dishes for the stew, which are conical in shape and with...
With shorter days and colder nights, this richly flavorful lamb stew with butternut squash is a great way to fill up and stay warm.
I love pumpkin soup, don't you? This recipe is adapted from one featured in Oprah Magazine. The original called for the soup to be served in roasted carved-out sugar pumpkins - a nice touch, but a little overkill for my...
Popeye was the best thing that ever hit the spinach industry. When I was a kid you couldn't pay me to eat lima beans or peas, but spinach? I begged for it; we all did. Especially if it came from...
We found a recipe for a Korean version of spinach in Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World, and had to give it a try. It was a little garlicky for my taste (yes, I know it is a...
Split pea soup is one of those wonderful hearty soups of winter. Made with dried "split" peas, and cooked up with a flavorful, smokey ham hock, it's warm, filling, and satisfying. This split pea soup recipe is based on one...
Steak salad is such an easy and delicious thing to make with leftover steak. At a minimum it is simply slices of steak over salad greens with your preferred salad dressing. I tend to spiff mine up a bit with...
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 protein), and fiber. The easiest way to dress broccoli is to mix in a tablespoon...
Strawberry and rhubarb has to be one of the world's best pairings. We love the way tart rhubarb (ever try to eat raw rhubarb?) dances with sweet strawberries in cobblers and pies. In this terrine, orange zest makes an appearance...
We recently came across an intriguing recipe for strawberry mousse cake in Martha Stewart Living and decided to skip the cake part and just make the strawberry white chocolate mousse. It was fabulously cool and rich, just the dessert for...
My father is of German Austrian descent, so naturally we eat a lot of pork chops and sauerkraut. Recipes containing the same have almost a genetic pull over him. Add some kielbasa and the urge to try the recipe becomes...
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...
A reader emailed the other day asking if I was Austrian on account of the sauerkraut and cabbage recipes on Simply Recipes. My father's grandparents on both sides were from Austria and he grew up with many traditional German and...
Tzatziki is a Greek dip made with yogurt, olive oil, garlic, and cucumbers. This version (from Martha Stewart Living) replaces the cucumbers with Swiss chard and is delightful with toasted pita. Dad announced a couple weeks ago that he didn't...
Tex-Mex "Lasagna" (also known as "Mexican Casserole" or "Mexican Lasagna") is called such because like the Italian lasagna we know and love, the Tex-Mex version is a baked casserole dish comprised of layers. Only in true Tex-Mex fashion, we are...
3-bean salad is one of those quintessential American summer picnic foods. It's usually made with canned green beans instead of the cannellini white beans I'm using here. But I really don't care for canned green beans, so cannellini it is...
Baked beans are just the thing for a blustery day. My father pulled this recipe out of Bon Appétit magazine years ago and we've been enjoying its tangy, rich flavor ever since. A great side dish to pork or steak.
Tortilla soup encompasses all the things I love best in Mexican cooking. Do you like salsa? avocado? cilantro? fresh hot tortilla chips? Tortilla soup is like a soup version of my favorite enchilada, with chicken, and tortilla chips. And avocado...
In preparation for Thanksgiving, and in anticipation of turkey leftovers, we've been experimenting with various turkey dishes that use cooked turkey. This recipe is an easy one for turkey chili using turkey leftovers. (My mom makes great chili beans if...
One of my favorite things to make with leftover turkey is turkey tacos. Usually I have some leftover cranberry relish (I always make too much) to go with the tacos in lieu of salsa, but this time I thought I...
Sometimes deciding what to make for dinner comes starts with the inspiration of just one ingredient. A friend of mine sent us some wonderful blue cheese this week and my father decided that he wanted to make twice baked potatoes...
My father found this recipe by Wolfgang Puck, who says that he got this recipe from his mother. It's really an excellent vegetable soup. Surprisingly tasty.
Tamales are a Latin American favorite, a delicious filling surrounded by corn meal dough, and steamed until cooked. Most tamales that we have the occasion to eat here in the US are wrapped in corn husks, the method typical of...
According to the American Century Cookbook, the first Waldorf Salad was created in New York City in 1893, by Oscar Tschirky, the maître d'hôtel of the Waldorf Astoria. The original recipe consisted only of diced red-skinned apples, celery, and mayonnaise...
Now this is a salad made for summer - fresh garden green beans, ripe tomatoes, Parmesan, and pancetta. You can substitute bacon for the pancetta, but if pancetta is available, we recommend using it. The flavor works marvelously well with...
We've had some wonderfully cold, rainy, winter storms here lately in Northern California. This soup is the perfect hardy accompaniment to a cold winter day. Note, this soup is the kind that is much better the next day, as the...
Is it that time of year yet for hearty soups? Maybe, maybe not. In any case, this one is a family favorite, combining a potpourri of colorful vegetables with the creamy texture of white beans.
If you've ever grown cherry tomatoes in your garden, you know how wonderfully prolific they can be in summer months. The following salad combines the sweetness of summer cherry tomatoes with white beans and parsley. The secret sauce is the...
Okay, so why didn't we think of this earlier? White beans, Italian sausage, tomato sauce. It's sort of like spaghetti but with white beans instead of pasta. Filling? Yes. Resistible? No.
My friend Steve-Anna, who has been tempting me with tales of her white chili for years, finally sent me the recipe. It originally comes from the Beyond Parsley cookbook, by the Junior League of Kansas City, MO. Both she and...
This rice salad is a perfect accompaniment to many fall and winter dishes - roast chicken, stews, pork chops. You can use brown rice, wild rice (not really a rice at all), or a combination of the two. Both wild...
Old fashioned watercress is getting harder to come by, at least around here in Sacramento. Whole Foods carries watercress, but the leaves are too tender, and lack the bite of what I grew up eating. This is my mother's recipe...
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...
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...
My father found a recipe for zucchini sautéed in butter and olive oil with onion, parsley, and thyme in one of his decade-old Food and Wine magazines. He made it a few days ago and it was perfect - tender...
