Rice

Artichoke Risotto

April 7, 2024

  In Chez Panisse Cooking, Paul Bertolli prepares artichokes by boiling them whole, then separating the hearts from the leaves. He-or, more likely, a sous chef–then scrapes the “meat” from each individual artichoke leaf, mixing it with chopped shallot, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. The resulting artichoke mush may…

Continue Reading »

People assume every meal around here is a multicourse wonder, each dish more stunningly photogenic than the next. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, over the past few days, as markets filled with spring produce, I couldn’t think of a damned thing to cook, much less blog….

Continue Reading »

Chicken Livers with Rice

October 9, 2021

I was well into adulthood before learning chicken livers are considered offal. When I think of offal, I think of lungs and testicles, ears and eyeballs, tongues and tripe. Clearly I am in the minority. Determined to defend the delights of chicken livers, or at least get to eat some…

Continue Reading »

  Many American readers know Roopa Gulati through Diana Henry’s books. Roopa’s Spicy Scrambled Eggs appear in A Change of Appetite. Her Lemongrass Turmeric Chicken recipe has stained many a copy of A Bird In The Hand. Her Mumbai Toastie recipe, printed in Simple, has acheived cult status. This is…

Continue Reading »

On Risotto

May 1, 2020

Certain foods carry a mystique around their preparation. Whipped cream, souffles, mayonnaise, pie crusts: all are imbued with advice, caveats, admonishments. Your batterie de cuisine must be immaculate, your hands chilly, your heart resolute. Or you must stir until your arm falls off–this exact wording frequently used. Stir until your arm…

Continue Reading »

Thai-Style Chopped Chicken

February 5, 2020

Before the cultural appropriation police come knocking, know I make no claims of authenticity regarding this Thai-style chopped chicken, save one: it’s delicious. This is an immodest claim, but the ingredients do all the work. And yes, the ingredient list is longish, but committed cooks likely have most of this…

Continue Reading »

leftover rice

March 12, 2019

Apologies for the quiet. My computer decided to stop working properly, and the people I hired to repair it made it worse. My photos are safe, but I can’t upload all of them right now. So we’ll limp through together, okay? — Every rice-eating culture in the world has devised…

Continue Reading »

Gong Bao Chicken

May 6, 2018

According to Fuchsia Dunlop, the precise origins of Gong Bao Chicken are unknown. We do know the dish is named after Ding Baozhen, who governed China’s Sichuan province during the Qing Dynasty. As Ding Baozhen was very fond of eating this dish, the chicken was cut into very small pieces to…

Continue Reading »

Anyone who cooks maintains a mental recipe box. Organization methods vary, but it’s safe to say everyone’s box shares the following categories: -will cook this someday -delicious but too expensive/work intensive to prepare on a regular basis -holiday set pieces that cannot be changed -Wednesday night specials: dull but easily…

Continue Reading »

Beef stir-fry with leafy greens and rice sticks began as “Beef Slivers With Water Bamboo” from Fuchsia Dunlop’s  Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. Korean rice sticks, called tteokbokki are stubby, chewy, and completely addictive. I keep mine in the freezer, where they tend to crack. This has no impact on their better qualities. I used…

Continue Reading »