Twice baked potatoes

Cooking for Occupy Portland Last fall when I was cooking for Occupy Portland, we needed to make dinner for about a thousand people a night (no kidding!) with whatever jumble of ingredients people happened to have donated. One winner was these twice baked potatoes – they’re cheap, they’re easy to make, and they’re easy to …

Turnips au gratin

Why turnips and not potatoes? You could make this with potatoes, but turnips have much more flavor. And turnips have fewer calories, too. How to make turnips gratin: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Slice two large turnips very thin (about 1/8 inch thick). In a saucepan over medium heat, melt 1/4 stick of butter …

Quiche

The one recipe French women can make Most French women can’t really cook – and why should you, when delicious food is right there at the charcuterie? – but they all know how to make chocolate cake and quiche. Quiche, as you might expect from this story, is not that hard to make. Because eggs were in …

Mac and cheese

Poor people’s food? When my partner was about ten, his family was really poor for a few years following his parents’ divorce, while his mom got back on her feet again. They ate a lot of macaroni and cheese, and he’s always disliked it since as poor people’s food. But this version certainly doesn’t taste …

Chickpea crepes

Why chickpea flour? You could just make wheat flour crepes, but these chickpea flour crepes are not much harder and have a lot more flavor. Plus, they don’t have any gluten, so if you’re cooking for a vegetarian with a gluten allergy, this is a good direction to go in. How to make chickpea crepes: …

Braised endives

Eew, endives? Isn’t that some weird foreign food? Well, it’s not the most ordinary American food, but in France people think of endives as perfectly normal, regular food. Children eat them. Think of them as small cabbages, or thick asparagus. My kids loved these braised endives – generally kids like soft cabbage, and of course …