Our Greek cook Vasiliki During summers years ago when we were excavating a Roman town (with a Stone Age village underneath it!) in Central Greece, we hired a cook whose main qualification was that she was used to cooking at home for a large family. Vasiliki was worried about cooking for Americans, because she didn’t …
Tag Archives: potatoes
Salade Niçoise
Salad for dinner? If it’s hot, sometimes a cold dinner is just what you want. This one can be served warm or cold. How to make salade Niçoise: Start by making homemade bread to serve on the side. While the bread is rising and the oven preheating, make three hard-boiled eggs: gently place three eggs in a …
Rabbit stew
Old Friends When I had just moved to France, at nine years old, and was just beginning to speak good French, one girl in my class was willing to be my friend. We left after a year for the States again, but when we came back to France when I was thirteen, the same girl …
Potato curry (no rice)
Indian food without the rice We wanted to have curry, but we had already eaten enough rice that week, so I made this potato curry, which was filling without the rice. How to make potato curry: Dice six baking potatoes, and chop an onion, half a cabbage, and a bell pepper. Heat 1/4 cup of …
Homemade pizza
Pizza before baking “You can get pizza delivered?” Once I was on a long plane flight with the kids, and we were going to get home late for dinner, and the kids were hungry. They wanted to know what I was going to make for dinner, and I said oh, maybe we’d order a pizza …
Moussaka
Good for company dinners One problem of eating mostly meatless dinners is what to serve when people are coming over, to make it seem like a party. For several years we just bit our tongues and served roast beef or salmon when people came to dinner, but around here we have people to dinner nearly every weekend …
Leek and potato soup
A base for many soups Leeks are, like celery and chives, one of the first plants available in the spring, because they’re stalks and not leaves. So leeks are a great seasonal food for early spring. Leek and potato soup is great by itself, but it’s also a good base for many other soups. Add …
Duck with cranberries
A Paris recipe My sister created this recipe when she was living in Paris, and posted it on her blog. Her main idea was to show that you didn’t have to sweeten cranberries in order for them to taste good. It was a huge hit at our house, although I think it’s easier to make …
Chicken with clementines
Another one from Ottolenghi This recipe was originally from Yottam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem cookbook, where he does it with fennel root instead of potatoes and arak instead of wine, and serves it over rice or bulgar. That might be interesting to try sometime, but this is a one-pot meal, and I was able to make it with …
Calamari and fries
Pulpa! In Rome, I once took a bunch of American students out for dinner. We all ordered different appetizers, but when the waiter brought the food, he had brought pulpa – sliced cold octopus – for everybody, instead of whatever they had ordered. He explained (in Italian) that the pulpa was really exceptionally good that …