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Snow Cream!

We are midday through a nice little snowstorm today, a beautiful one actually, with loads of fluffy snow (10″ and counting) and mild temps in the mid 30’s. A perfect snow for a walk in the woods which we may do after lunch. It is also perfect snow for Snow Cream: Snow Cream 1 cupContinue reading “Snow Cream!”

Tamara’s Ratatouille

This is jam packed with red peppers, butternut squash, parsnip, zucchini and eggplant, and feels healthy and filling and cozy. I’m continuing to work through the Yotam Ottolenghi cookbook Plenty and am filled with inspiration and ideas! Let me make this for you soon.

Barley, celery & cranberry salad

A really nice winter pick-me-up kind of dish here: the barley offers a heartiness, the crunchy celery folded in adds a bite, dill & parsley keep it interesting, and little surprises like allspice and sherry vinegar keep it very bright and playful. The original recipe, from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty, called for pomegranate seeds, but IContinue reading “Barley, celery & cranberry salad”

Caramelized Fennel with garlic & dill

What a lovely little dish, thanks to Mr. Yotam Ottolenghi once again. Lightly browned fennel slices, removed from the pan briefly in order to add coarse sugar and fennel seeds, then returned to the pan to caramelize gently. Remove from heat, mix carefully with a touch of garlic and chopped dill, then plate and addContinue reading “Caramelized Fennel with garlic & dill”

Leek Fritters

These fritters are officially in my rotation! Full of sweet, oniony flavor and light, light texture from various incorporations of baking powder (making the batter fluffy) and warm, lovely spices thanks to the coriander, cumin, turmeric and cinnamon. I altered slightly from the Plenty cookbook but you can find the original recipe here: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/feb/02/recipe.vegetarian MakeContinue reading “Leek Fritters”

‘Jerusalem’ Orange, Semolina & Coconut Cake

This cake comes from the cookbook ‘Jerusalem’ by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi. The recipe hits all the high marks: great texture & bite, just the right amount of sweetness, familiar flavors (orange & coconut) but with a greater intensity (thanks to marmalade & orange blossom water), yields two loaves (which you will be gratefulContinue reading “‘Jerusalem’ Orange, Semolina & Coconut Cake”

Duck Breast

How about a super quick (literally 25 min) and incredibly tasty (has balsamic vinegar ever let you down?) protein for dinner tonight with your salad? A duck breast or two can offer just this: score fat (good, definite markings but not so deep you pierce the muscle), quick braise in bit of olive oil onContinue reading “Duck Breast”

Milk Stout Gingerbread

I happily bake gingerbread or ginger cakes all year long, but adding a heady stout to the mix feels like a December kind of thing to do. So after reading a reference to an Irish blog post about an Irish stout gingerbread, I swapped in American made Left Hand Brewery Milk Stout and the resultsContinue reading “Milk Stout Gingerbread”

Celery-celery Soup

This soup offers the neatest tricks: it is good for you, is easy to make, and has a short ingredient list: butter, celery stalks, onions, apples, celery root, bay leaf, thyme, stock. And if that weren’t enough, when I tasted it for the first time, I thought : ‘oh yes, celery, so lovely and familiar’,Continue reading “Celery-celery Soup”

In with the new

I recently got my first Japanese cookbook and was tickled to have a new list of recommended condiments to acquire. Walking into HMart (our huge and well-stocked Asian marketplace http://www.hmart.com ), one can literally feel transported to another continent in the most wondrous way. Searching for a Japanese soy sauce, I was overwhelmed suddenly byContinue reading “In with the new”