Before I mislead you any further, I’m going to come clean. I don’t know the secret to making lemon-ricotta pancakes. In fact, what I flipped around the griddle on Saturday morning was nothing short of a disaster. Breakfast was saved only by the bacon. Which leads me to the “secret” I am referring to in the title. Several weeks ago, I was up in San Fran dining with a few friends for brunch....
This Indo-Italian dish is a perfect family favorite and finds its way to a breakfast, lunch, or dinner menu. This Italian delight is not high on spiciness but is undoubtedly packed with flavors and nutrients from sauces and veggies. It is indeed a comfort food for those hectic days when you look out for something really quick, easy, and super tasty. This gorgeously delicious Masala Macaroni is a super easy recipe that contains the scrumptiousness of onions, bell peppers, and carrots, and the exquisite flavors from Marinara sauce and the Italian seasonings!...
Last fall my friend Diane emailed me this recipe for vegan “no-tuna” salad from the Minimalist Baker’s cookbook, Everyday Cooking. “Everyone who tries it,” she said, “asks for the recipe.” I only just got around to making it a few weeks ago, and while I wish this salad had entered my life sooner, I’m especially grateful for having it now, with the holidays behind us, as I find myself craving all things fresh and light....
Sandwich season is upon us, and it’s imperative to have a stash of pickles on hand, which make nearly all sandwiches better, from assemblies as simple as sliced deli turkey and Swiss cheese to more whimsical combinations with roasted sweet potatoes and ramp aioli. There’s nothing wrong with store-bought pickles, but it’s fun to know how to make pickles from scratch, and, as with the aioli, the process couldn’t be easier....
What to do with leftover roasted chicken? Make soup! This is the simplest of simple chicken noodle-ish soups. The stock is made with the leftover carcass of a whole roasted chicken, and the vegetables and seasonings are classic: carrotsonionsceleryparsleysalt and pepper I like the texture of fregola, a toasted Italian pasta, but any shape pasta you like will do. The key? Cook the noodles and the soup separately — don’t combine the two until just before serving....
Within a day, Pepita was back to her old self, as bubbly and vibrant as ever. I am always amazed by the resiliency of sourdough starters, how they can spring back to life from what appears a very unpromising state. Nothing about a hooch signals: “Everything is fine!” I have yet to make a loaf of sourdough bread, but I have been keeping Pepita on my countertop with the intention of doing so soon....
If you struggle with anger management, this post might be a good one to skip. Just send it straight to your trash can if you’re reading via email; just skip back to the grilled cheese or the French toast, if you’ve happened upon here via google. At apple-rosette attempt three, I envisioned flinging this tart frisbie style straight into my tv; at apple-rosette attempt five, I imagined raising it above my head, slamming it straight down, and splattering it all over my kitchen floor....
From tainted pet food to lead paint-coated toys, China is taking heat for a numer of its potentially dangerous products. Most recently, activists warn consumers to be wary of China’s farm-raised fish and specifically its farm-raised shrimp. While America currently imports 90 percent of its shrimp from farm-raised fisheries in Asia, this reality may change as more people learn about the the foreign industry. The environmentally irresponsible practices employed in many of these Asian facilities have been widely documented....
Unlike other cheeses which uses rennet for coagulation- preparation of paneer includes – heat coagulation of milk by adding any one of these food acids- critic acid, vinegar, lemon juice or curd. Curdling of milk results in light greenish white tinge of whey -use it to knead dough which results in softer puris and rotis. MY INTAKE ON SOFTER PANEER – Since my home science days I have made paneer with all of the above mentioned food acids....
Rains and samosas…. delicious combination. Can never say no to samosas. Had Phyllo sheets on hand so prepared a flavor-licious recipe – Chicken Keema Samosa. Minced chicken sauteed in spices then wrapped in pastry sheets and baked to perfection!! Prepared both the non- veg samosas and veggie samosas for my family! Don’t let the long list of ingredients daunt you from trying out this delicious recipe, once the meat mixture is done from there on the recipe is pretty easy....
Three weeks in a row (several weeks ago now), an enormous bunch (or two!) of basil arrived in our CSA. Initially I used the basil as needed, but the bounty eventually caught up with me, so I made a very large batch of basil pesto, and for the first time ever, I froze it in individual blocks using my ice cube tray. This is probably something you all have been doing for years, and I absolutely should have been, too, but alas I have not....
A few weeks ago a friend emailed me telling me she had taken a pledge to eat pulses once a week for 10 weeks. Despite some reservations concerning my lentil-, legume-, and chickpea-recipe repertoire, I decided to take the plunge, too. And so I’ve been cooking my way through the bean chapter of Twelve Recipes, which unsurprisingly has been a joy: last week I discovered dal and over the weekend, a spicy black bean soup flavored with orange zest, a subtle but bright touch to a wintry dish....
These things sit — preserved, certainly — but effectively, trashed. Inevitably, I clean out the freezer several months down the road and toss the cracked tortillas and frost-encrusted heels of bread into the garbage can. Anyway, last weekend, I rescued four flour tortillas from meeting their cold fate. When I spotted them in my fridge, I recalled a recipe I had seen on the Blue Heron Farm Web site for asparagus quiche that used tortillas as a shell....
At the height of stone-fruit season, I love nothing more than making these free-form tarts, always with a layer of frangipane slicked over the pastry, the combination of almond cream, warm fruit and buttery pastry nothing short of perfection. But if I were feeling nitpicky and had to find one fault with this dessert it would be its circular shape, which doesn’t lend itself to feeding a crowd. And in this season of backyard celebrations, the height of which is nearing, feeding the masses is the name of the game, one at which cobblers and crisps, in the fruit-dessert category at least, succeed in particular....
This post is all about spicy Pethe ki sabzi or let’s say kaddu ki sabzi. Petha or kaddu is a Hindi term used for yellow squash/pumpkin. Petha is the most popular vegetable used during fasting time. Apart from being a nutritional vegetable, it has a very low-calorie count. I have to admit that I usually am not into pumpkins – not at all. This was not my type of sabzi....
When it comes to busy weeknights, this BBQ Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo is my go-to dinner recipe! This flavor-packed pasta is so easy to pull together and can be on your dinner table in less than 40 minutes.When it comes to feel-good comfort dinners, pasta often makes it to the list. The idea of fusing soft pasta with rich, delicious alfredo sauce can make anyone drool. So, how about a creamy chicken Fettuccine pasta for a change?...
As you might know, I’m a fan of brining beans overnight and cooking them stovetop, a method I love for two reasons: But my recent slow-cooker black bean experiment reminded me of the virtues of the slow-cooker: how nice it is … … “to set it and forget it”.… to not have to fiddle with the temperature dial to ensure the water simmers just right.… to not have to worry about foamy overflows and the messy aftermath....
Over the weekend, it’s my routine to sit down and plan my weekly meals. This not only takes the stress out of weekly dinner planning it also eliminates those desperate last minute trips to the grocery stores. Saves me a lot of time, keep me in control and makes the week run so smoothly! And when that inevitable question pops at me – “Mom, what’s for dinner tonight?”, I am already ready with my mise-en-place....
Your taste buds will be charmed by the delicately spiced and delectable flavors of this tomato shorba recipe. Shorba or chorba was traditionally a thick and spicy version of the vegetable or meat gravy with a soup-like consistency. It has undergone multiple modifications since its inception to match up with different taste buds, and many varieties of vegetarian and non-vegetarian shorbas have originated. In this term – tamatar ka shorba, tamatar translates to “tomato” in Indian, and shorba or chorba, on the other hand, means a rich stew....
Middle child that I am, afraid to miss out on any fun, I immediately followed suit. That night by the light of my itty bitty book lamp, I poured through every chapter, making mental notes of ingredients to purchase and recipes to try, feeling more wound up with every page I turned, finally closing my eyes to a photo of a sheet pan lined with chocolate chip cookies, the last beautiful image in the book....
