Buttery, tangy cauliflower
A few weeks ago I bought a broccoflower-a broccoli-cauliflower cross–at the market. It was a perfect specimen, pale orange, beautiful. But the world was ugly that day, and posting broccoflower pictures online felt tone deaf. That night I cooked my perfect broccoflower with butter and seasonings. Distracted, I paid little…
Creamed Kohlrabi
Perhaps, like me, you’ve been kohlrabi-avoidant. Or maybe life hasn’t brought you into contact with the vegetable Yotam Ottolenghi compared to an alien. He’s right: kohlrabi is a strange looking vegetable. Don’t let this deter you. After almost sixty years of kohlrabi avoidance, I recently discovered what I was missing,…
Olive-Oil braised Celery with Potatoes and Carrots
With the holidays approaching, it is never the bird, the cranberries, or even the stuffing (roast in the bird or out?) that gives me pause. It’s not the sides, or whether or not to prepare brussels sprouts, which invariably go uneaten. Friends, it’s the celery. (We’re just talking food….
Thai Salt-Pickled Cabbage (Pak Dong)
If you are feeling ever so slightly depressed these days, you might take heart at the notion of fermented cabbage as a unifying force. Hear me out. At a time when people are busy insulting one another on social media and doing worse IRL, some of us have been equally…
Stir-Fried Okra
Today’s recipe, a simple stir-fry, came about after consulting numerous cookbooks. Few American cookbooks mention okra, and those who do often have little good to say about it. Deborah Madison, writing in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, can only manage “okra is slimy, and rather than try to ignore this fact,…
String Beans Provencal
The word “Provencal,” like “Tuscany,” sets off a chain of associations: sweeping vistas, weathered farmhouses, trestle tables laden with oozy cheeses and ripe figs. In lieu of such wonders, I give you our back yard, two weeks ago, when the wild roses were blooming . The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook…
Zucchini & Tomato Baked Pasta
Zucchini and tomato baked pasta is one of those recipes that reads long and complicated but is neither. It’s also vegetarian and easily made vegan, should the need arise. Still not sold? Zucchini and tomato baked pasta improves with keeping, meaning it may be prepared ahead of time. The dish…
Simple Spring Pasta
Simple Spring Pasta isn’t going to win any awards in the novelty department, but who needs additional novelty right now? I for one would welcome a few hours of (hunts frantically for an adjective, fails to find one) ….serenity? Quiet? Normalcy? (That’s a good one.) There….serenity. I have to…
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,…