Cooking from scratch People used to always encourage me to make tacos – the kids love tacos – but I never did because people meant for me to buy canned refried beans and pre-made tortillas and that’s not cooking, it’s just assembling. But then I thought, I’ll try making my own refried beans and tortillas. …
Tag Archives: yogurt
Sole and chive oil
Fresh chives In early spring, chives are one of the first fresh greens you may have growing in your garden. Chives are easy enough even for me to grow: plant them once, and they just come back every spring, and they spread too so there are more every year. You’ll need a couple of good …
Shrimp quenelles
Fish meatballs French people call these quenelles but most Americans might think of them as fish meatballs, or as fish-flavored matzo balls. So whatever. A way to make fish a little fancier. Or, looked at another way, a way to make fish stretch a little further. How to make shrimp quenelles: Put on a large …
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 …
Oatmeal cakes
Yummy use for leftover oatmeal In Scotland, where people pretty much lived on oats, it used to be pretty common to let oatmeal get cold and solid and then slice it up to eat for lunch. These oatmeal cakes are another version of that idea. I serve them with salmon or lox because that’s another …
Nachos from scratch
Why from scratch? I grew up on the East Coast, where I never had nachos or any other Mexican-type food, so I’m not like a native nachos-eater. I like nachos, but I find it disturbing that people say they “made nachos” when all the ingredients are foods that are already heavily processed like corn chips …
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 …
Lentil soup
Halloween The first time I make lentil soup in the fall is usually for Halloween, when the kids are just itching to be off trick-or-treating and I want them to have something solid in their stomachs before they start eating all that candy. Lentil soup can simmer on the stove, so if anything upsets the …
Lamb meatballs with plums
Not quite Ottolenghi This is another in the series of recipes adapted from Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem – this one, a way to use up some summer plums and basil. Ottolenghi’s version called for dried figs, if that sounds better, and for mint and cilantro instead of basil. This takes about an hour. How to make lamb …
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. …