Carrot Rice
Carrot Rice has its origins in Sri Owen’s classic The Rice Book. I use Three Ladies Basmati rice, bought in five-pound bags. It is remarkable how quickly two people can go through five pounds of rice. — I have tinkered with the original recipe, but at its most basic,…
Ribollita
Ribollita, Italy’s soup of water, beans, greens, and bread, is one of the country’s many ingenious methods of using up stale bread. The inspiration for today’s post comes from Carol Field’s classic The Italian Baker. — Before going any further, the obvious must be stated: I am not Italian. I…
Broccoli Stuffed Baked Potatoes
I know, I know, the nineties called. They want their recipe back. Stay with me. We all remember–at least, those of us old enough to recall such things–the classic cheese/butter/sour cream/bacon versions of the stuffed baked potato. Delicious they are. But the world, to quote Stephen King out of context,…
Summer Squash Gratin
This morning a friend emailed. So, she said, you haven’t updated the blog for a while. Um, yeah. I know. Believe me when I say it wasn’t for lack of effort. Anyway, here we are. And here is a post. — Okay, so summer squash, which for today’s purposes encompasses…
Hot weather foods
As I write, much of the Eastern United States is smothering beneath what climate experts call a “heat dome.” Rather than go into technicalities, know that heat dome basically means it’s extremely hot, with little relief in sight. Atop this, wildfires are burning in New Mexico and parts of California….
Cherry Cranberry Muffin Cake
Cherry Cranberry Muffin Cake is just what it sounds like: muffins that have become cake. Credit for the muffin cake concept goes to Dorie Greenspan. Writing in Baking From My Home to Yours, Greenspan describes having readied the ingredients for apple nut muffins only to have her brunch guests show…
Greetings from the East Bay
I am still here. My internet connection is another story. Some of you may recall my complaining loudly about our crummy internet setup. I’ll spare you the details; suffice to say, we finally got fiber and thought our troubles were over. How very silly of us. While it’s true we…
Pasta with chicken, greens, and chickpeas
Pasta with chicken, greens, and chickpeas is a mouthful, literally and figuratively. It’s also lacking in originality. But pasta with chicken, greens, and chickpeas compensates for its unwieldy name and creative lack with flavor and lots of fiber, our new best friend chez IK. The ingredients for pasta with chicken…
Remember me?
Hi. It’s been a while. There’s no way to sugarcoat this. On May 1st, at about 5pm, John asked me to help him use the toilet. Without going into undue detail, the request was unusual. As I lifted John from his wheelchair to the toilet, we discovered he was hemorraging….
Artichoke Risotto
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…