Can you eat hummus while backpacking or canoeing? Absolutely, if you have the foresight to dehydrate it first. This successful experiment was inspired by Laurie Ann March’s book, “A Fork in the Trail”, the basic message of which is that a very wide range of foods can be eaten while backpacking as long as they Read More …
Nothing beats the heat and uses up the bounties of the garden like the Spanish classic, gazpacho. We are currently drowning in ripe beefsteak tomatoes and cucumbers, and this chilled soup put a dent in the inventory. Make this a few hours in advance to give the flavors time to meld and the soup Read More …
Now that we are in the height of the summer fruit season, and there are fresh plums in the supermarket, I made this old favorite. It has an interesting and complex flavor since, as the name says, it uses three kinds of plums, fresh plums, prune juice, and plum brandy. Fruit brandies are the real Read More …
This is a cold soup of Turkish origin which is very refreshing and light during the summer. We served it at a recent family dinner and it was very popular with the women of the family. (The men liked it fine but were not asking with enthusiasm for the recipe.) We made it out of Read More …
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 …