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Main Course Recipes Side Dishes

Cool Off a Hot Summer Night: Edamame Hummus

We’re in the dog days of summer, finally. Days so hot all you want to do is sit in front of an oscillating fan and sip a cool glass of iced tea. Days so hot nothing is getting cooked, except you in your car on the commute home. I’ve got something for you. It’s cool, crisp and refreshing. It’s….a sandwich. Well, a dip and a sandwich. Break out the food processor, we’re making edamame hummus, which you can do as dip for dinner with veg and pita chips, or as a great spread on sandwiches for the “Damn, could it get any hotter?” nights ahead.
August 15, 20122Comments

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Cooking Recipes Side Dishes

Israeli Couscous with Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette

As a cook, my grandma was a product of her generation. Raising kids in the 50s and 60s, she cooked both from scratch and from boxes and packets as convenience foods came on the scene -- say chicken and dumplings, with Bisquick dumplings. Some days when I was a kid, she'd start dinner at 2 pm and other days she'd whip together a one-skillet meal in half an hour. Green beans and tomatoes always remind me one of her one-pan dinners served over rice. She’d sauté chunks of onion with garlic and either chicken or pork in a little oil, then add canned tomatoes and some green beans, cooking until the beans were tender. Salt and pepper was the only seasoning. It was simple, and it cemented green beans and tomatoes for me. This Israeli couscous salad takes inspiration from that dish with just cooked green beans and a roasted tomato vinaigrette, brightened with a trio of herbs.
July 17, 20125Comments

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Recipes

Antipasti Party: Insalata di Farro e Ceci (Chickpeas & Farro, Yo!)

I keep the weather in other cities on my phone just to torture myself. Right now the line up is: home, Victoria, BC; San Francisco; Sydney; San Diego; Denver; and Arezzo. We went to Italy two years ago and Arezzo still hasn’t been deleted from the list. It’s in the low 90s, high 80s this week in Arezzo, just a tad too hot, but still the idea of sitting out under a pergola, looking out into a valley in Tuscany as the sun dips beneath the horizon, sipping a little pinot grigio, with a little antipasti…well, that sounds like dinner.
June 21, 20121Comment

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Book Reviews Recipes Side Dishes

Bulghur Pilaf from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty

Getting more whole grains in your diet is easier than ever with the wide availability of bulghur, quinoa, barley and spelt, but it's also easy to fall into a rut with the most basic preparations for these grains. My regular bulghur pilaf is pretty simple, relying on onion, crimini mushrooms and chicken stock for its flavor. That simplicity makes it a great side dish when your main, say baked chicken, has a more dominant flavor profile. But why should a side dish have to take a back seat?
February 6, 20120Comments

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Main Course Recipes

Build a Better Burrito: Black Bean, Kale and Yam

  My first "Build a Better Burrito" post was more for meat eaters and focused on Alton Brown's Taco Potion #19. This time around, I'm doing a vegetarian burrito -- starring home-cooked black beans. I was a hold out on dried beans for a really long time. At New Year's, I'd make red beans and rice (yeah, I know it's technically supposed to be black-eyed peas), but I never just made beans on the regular to have them ready to go. And then, I made this pot of black beans and a light finally flicked on in my head. It took a little time, but they tasted better, cost a fraction of the canned version and froze well. I'd heard all that before, but like I said, a light flicked on.
October 27, 20110Comments

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