AN OCCASIONAL KITCHEN WISDOM POST Every so often a recipe (such as my Dragonwagon-Dewitz Pickled Eggs) will call for a “non-reactive” pot, saucepan, or other cooking vessel. Has this happened to you, and are you WTF-ing? I suspect so, if you found your way to this page. So here we go. REACTIVE VS NON-REACTIVE What’s a non-reactive pot? First, understand… Read More
“IMPOSSIBLY GOOD” VEGGIE BURGERS
Refried beans, walnuts and tempeh add heft and heartiness; the smoked tempeh also gives a little bit of that grilled-over-a-fire taste. Shiitake mushrooms double down on umami savor. Although I’m generally a from-scratch girl, using a few ingredients that already have seasoning greatly simplify the usual home-kitchen veggie-burger prep. These are vegan. INGREDIENTS 1 (15.4-ounce) can vegetarian organic refried black… Read More
THE *** BEST *** BLACK-EYED PEAS FOR NEW YEAR’S DAY
HAVE YOU PURCHASED YOUR BLACK-EYED PEAS YET? DO YOU, PERHAPS, EVEN HAVE ‘EM SOAKING? (EITHER BECAUSE YOU LIKE TO DO THINGS A LITTLE AHEAD, OR BECAUSE YOU KNOW THAT THE LONGER INGREDIENTS IN ALMOST ANY KIND OF STEW-Y DISH CO-MINGLE, THE BETTER THE FLAVOR?) HOWEVER… HERE IS A CROCKPOT VERSION OF AN EXCELLENT BLACK-EYED PEA RECIPE, WHICH YOU CAN EVEN… Read More
COMFORT ME WITH APPLES… BUT MAKE THEM *BAKED* APPLES, PLEASE.
THEY COULDN’T LOOK MORE UNPREPOSSESING. AND THEY COULDN’T BE EASIER. AND THEY COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE MORE DELICIOUS, OR MORE PERFECT FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. MEET MY MOTHER’S BAKED APPLES. AND, IF YOU HAVE SOMEONE AT YOUR THANKSGIVING TABLE WHO IS GLUTEN- OR GRAIN-FREE, OR AVOIDING ADDED SUGAR, OR VEGAN, BUT YOU STILL WANT THEM TO BE ABLE TO… Read More
GREEK-STYLE SMOTHERED OKRA
IF YOU THINK YOU DON’T LIKE OKRA, JUST TRY THIS RECIPE. I do three vegetables in this way, with slight variations: summer squash, and green beans (my Greek-Style Green Beans were featured on The Splendid Table, and were one of the show’s three most popular recipes of that year). P.S. The reason they are Greek-style rather than Greek, is that… Read More
OKRA: LOVE IT, RIGHT NOW
OKRA-HATERS! STOP MALIGNING A VEGETABLE YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND OR HAVEN’T HAD COOKED RIGHT! OKRA-LOVERS! LEARN A NEW WAY TO ADORE THOSE GREEN PODS! EITHER WAY, DO IT QUICKLY, RIGHT NOW, BEFORE SUMMER DEFINITIVELY ENDS. (PLUS, TWO DON’T-MISS BOOKS, AN EXAMPLE OF YANKEE WTF-NESS, RACISM IN THE KITCHEN, AND THE QUESTION OF SLIMINESS, DEALT WITH ONCE AND FOR ALL) People who… Read More
MY MIXED-BERRY UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE: FROM SCRATCH, OH-SO-EASY & SIMPLY DELICIOUS
To dessert-lovers, a good cake has no down side. Unless, of course, it happens to be an upside-down cake. (Go directly to recipe here.) To those of us who love making dessert — who find baking from scratch as much or more fun than eating it — the upside-down cake is a high-scorer. If short on time needed for your… Read More
“PAROXYSMS OF JOY”: EASTER BRUNCHING ON FEATHERBED EGGS
FEATHERBED EGGS, A SWOONINGLY DELISH, DO-AHEAD CASSEROLE — AN EGG MIXTURE IS POURED OVER CRUMBLED, SLIGHTLY STALE CORNBREAD, AND THE WHOLE SHEBANG IS BAKED TO A FARE-THEE-WELL — IS PROBABLY THE PERFECT MAIN DISH FOR AN EASTER BRUNCH WHERE YOU DON’T WANT TO SPEND THE WHOLE TIME FUTZING IN THE KITCHEN. IN HONOR OF THAT, THE RECIPE, WITH THIS STORY… Read More
PUCKER UP, BUTTERNUT: SOULFUL WINTER SQUASH SOUP WITH GINGER-APPLE SALSA
The circle turns. The green world again goes gold, yellow, red. Instead of the zucchinis, the excess of which we may have complained about only six weeks ago, we now coo over adorable gourds and mini-squashes, admire big honkin’ pumpkins and sweet, bright creased or crook-necked winter squashes. So pleasing aesthetically, sculptural, decorative, signal of the season. And then! Beneath those… Read More
COOL HAND CUKE: CUCUMBER-YOGURT SOUP WITH MINT, & GRAPES, WITH A VEGAN VARIATION.
THE ONLY SUMMER SOUP RECIPE YOU WILL EVER NEED. SO SAVE YOUR GORGEOUS SUMMER-RIPE TOMATOES FOR SOMETHING ELSE. BECAUSE, FRANKLY, THIS LEAVES TRADITIONAL GAZPACHO IN THE SHADE. It got up to to 96 degrees yesterday. In Vermont! And it wasn’t even quite July yet! This struck me as cruel and unusual punishment, because part of the reason I adore Vermont… Read More
STILL BEANING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
There’s no doubt of this: New Orleans is a city which knows its beans. So when Camellia Beans, a well-respected and well-loved brand of dry beans based in that municipality approached me about using some of the lima bean recipes from my book Bean by Bean, of course I gladly said yes. They have just put up the post featuring three… Read More
BISCUITS AND GRAVY, A SIDE OF OVER EASY: LOVE, BREAKFAST, MEMORY
I’m in New York at the moment, with my boyfriend. I woke up early, suddenly and fully this morning, filled with reasonless happiness. He was asleep, warm beside me. I started thinking about what to make for breakfast. Out of nowhere, in that funny discursive way memory has, biscuits and gravy came to mind. THE SUN KITCHEN I used to… Read More
