My son Nick brought me a pile of garlic scapes, which are the tough stalks of the garlic plant. He suggested we make a pesto out of it, which we have done and enjoyed with pasta and pizza. This is an example of the general principle that tasty pesto-like mixtures can be made with Read More …
In recent years I have frequently seen references to Elote as a popular way in Mexico to eat corn. Since a key part of Elote is smearing mayonnaise on the corn, this sounded very dubious to me, but tonight my curiosity overcame my caution. No real surprise, Elote is actually quite good, and is also Read More …
Spaetzle is real central European comfort food, and is a very easily made form of fresh egg pasta. This is the version I have made several times, since it uses chickpea flour and is therefore a relatively low glycemic form of pasta. The only real trick in making spaetzle is to have a way Read More …
When I home-make pizza sauce, this is the recipe I usually use. It is an adaptation from Peter Reinhart’s great book American Pie on American pizza styles. Years ago, when I was scoutmaster of a troop in Houston, I once went to Lake Somerville before the troop to snatch the best possible campsites along the Read More …
Rice pudding is a real comfort food dessert, and is easy, although a bit time-consuming to make. This is the way I usually make it, which is an adaptation from Cook’s Illustrated’s book, The Best Recipe. The rum gives a lot of flavor to the final pudding, but it can be omitted if you do Read More …
This is an adaptation of a recipe in Natalie Dupree’s New Southern Cooking. This was a hit at a couple of family dinner parties. A nice feature is that it can be easily made in advance and warmed for serving. 2 lbs. green beans, ends removed and cut into 2-3 inch pieces 1 Tbs, white Read More …
Shakshuka (or Shakshouka) is a popular Israeli brunch or breakfast dish which seems to be everywhere these days, including in Yotam Ottolenghi’s very popular Jerusalem: A Cookbook, which my sister-in-law Patricia gave me for my birthday. It looked like a good dish for Fridays in Lent, so I made it last night. This is one Read More …
I am a great fan of dishes which combine bread with a filling (dumplings, calzone, empanadas, etc.) or with a topping (pizza, etc.) This is a slightly unusual variation on the Greek feta triangles made with phyllo, which are called Tiropites. These use a home-made dough, olive oil instead of butter, are less rich, and are adapted from Read More …
This is an adaptation of a recipe in The Food Lab cookbook. The idea is to combine the concepts of hasselback potatoes (thinly sliced potatoes placed with the slices vertical and with some fat and flavorings between the slices) and scalloped potatoes. By placing the potato slices vertically in the pan, there are lots of Read More …
This sauce appeared in James Beard’s Theory & Practice of Good Cooking as a sauce for gravlax. It is good for that, but more typically I use it with smoked salmon as an alternative to cream cheese or a horseradish mayonnaise sauce. It is also good with broiled or grilled salmon. 4 Tbs. German mustard Read More …