Dried beans and rice together in a dish is a staple food of many cuisines around the world. Caribbean black beans and rice (Christians and Moors), Cajun red beans and rice, Indian dals with rice, Southwestern pinto beans and rice, Japanese sweet adzuki beans and rice pudding, their names ring as poetic as descriptive. For … Continue reading Wild Rice and Chick Peas with Pea Sprouts and Kumquats
At one time I thought of an omelet and a glass of wine as a solitary repast, perfect for enjoying a quiet, and elegant, meal alone. It’s a notion introduced by the brilliant and lusty food writer, Elizabeth David, who, in spite of being quite petite, held forth with great gusto in numerous engaging cookbooks, among … Continue reading An Omelet and a Glass of Wine
My very first cookbook, a gift for my 20th birthday, was Michael Field’s Cooking School. Michael Field was an acclaimed concert pianist who later turned his creativity to cooking. He became equally renowned in culinary endeavors as a chef, cooking teacher, and editor of the first, priceless Time/Life Foods of the World series. (There was, later, a second … Continue reading Breakfast Soup of Spinach and Scallion with Sieved Egg
Around the world, in colors ranging from brown to yellow, green, white (!), and red, lentils provide culinary goodness across the courses–appetizers to entrees. A salad/side dish of lentils with scallions and feta cheese is by now almost iconic in my repertoire, starting from the beginning of my shop, Pig-by-the-Tail, to countless picnics, backyard barbecues, … Continue reading French Lentils with Scallions and Feta Cheese
My mother had a repertoire of soups she made from scratch. It wasn’t a huge list, just three strong, but that was perfectly sufficient. They were potato soup, celery soup, and beef soup with tomatoes and carrots. Staunchly unvaried, they nourished and succored through many a hunger as I was growing up. Later, though, nostalgia … Continue reading Trending Home with Potato, Leek, and Celery Soup
The shank is a cut from the bottom, below the knee, of either the foreleg or the hind leg of the animal, in this case lamb. The hind leg shanks are larger and meatier compared to the leaner, lighter forelegs. There’s little taste or texture difference between the two except for a slightly more delicate nuance with the … Continue reading Lamb Shanks Braised in Red Wine with Dried Figs and Turnips
Pears are so convertible. Top up or top down, they breeze through town lending a bit of culinary exotica to the dark days of winter. Cooked, they provide a welcome blast of fruity, subtly spicy perfume for many a dessert, think pear tarts, pears poached in syrup of one sort or another, etc., etc., etc. And then there are cooked pears, not sweetened, that lend an aura of mystery to the savory side of the menu. One such is this, adapted from my latest cookbook Bold: A Cookbook
of Big Flavors (Workman, Dec. 2013), co-authored with Susanna Hoffman. While we designed the dish to accompany roast duck, it easily segues to almost any warming meat, poultry, or game dish. Continue reading “A Savory Pear Side for Autumn and Winter”
