Cold day, warm appetizer or lunch It hardly ever snows in Portland anymore, thanks to global warming. But when it does, the kids get really excited and rush out to play in it. Coming from the Northeast, I always think it’s funny when the kids are excited about two inches of snow. How to make …
Category Archives: Main Dishes
Salmorejo
Andalucia and morning sickness The first summer I spent in Andalucia was also the summer I was pregnant with my first child. Even though Andalucia’s a great place to eat, with all kinds of new foods I was eager to check out, practically everything I ate made me feel ill. I wound up sadly eating …
Pistachio soup
Again with Ottolenghi: This is a radical simplification of a recipe from Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem, which was delicious the way I did it, though I’m sure it would be better the way he did it. Only more expensive and harder. I left out saffron, and substituted an onion for leeks and shallots, among other things. How …
Lettuce soup
Really? Lettuce Soup? Even though I am the world’s worst gardener, one year we did have a bumper crop of lettuce, which I have never been able to achieve again. But that year we just had too much lettuce. I was desperate for ways to use lettuce that weren’t salads. One good way is Thai lettuce …
Gazpacho
Real gazpacho with stale bread The origins of gazpacho have nothing to do with tomatoes; like many other recipes such as bread pudding, this was a way to use up stale bread. Medieval gazpacho recipes are Most gazpacho recipes today don’t even have any bread in them, and are just basically cold tomato soup. This …
Cucumber soup
Cucumbers for snack It’s very hot in North Africa in July, and Tunisian women spend most of their time behind the thick high walls of their courtyards, lying down on mats in the shade and fanning each other. The women’s usual snack, all over our village, was cold cucumber sticks, sometimes salted and sometimes plain. …
Zucchini eggs
Mediterranean Thyme The summer I spent on an archaeological dig on the island of Cyprus, digging up an Early Bronze Age village and cemetery, the hillside we worked on was covered with wild thyme bushes, as you can see in this picture. After smelling thyme all day long, all summer, I couldn’t face using thyme …
Wontons and broth
Frozen Wontons or make at home? Yeah, you can get frozen wontons, and they’re yummy, but they’re also full of salt and sugar and grease. These are healthy and fun to make. It took about an hour, but you’d get faster at it with practice. Also, it would be fine to make the wontons and …
Vegetable soup
French cafeteria food As a child in France, I used to get this soup at least once a week in the school cantine as the appetizer for winter lunches. I loved it, and so did everyone else. How much better than just plain carrot sticks or boiled carrots! (For another yummy carrot recipe, try candied carrots.) How to …
Latkes with vegetables
Why use vegetables instead of potatoes? These have a lot more flavor than just potato latkes, and they’re less fattening too. My kids like vegetable latkes so much that I make them even when it’s not Hanukkah. I also often make them for company, when the company involves a lot of allergies and food restrictions, …