Skip to content

Posts tagged ‘recipe’

May 9

Whole wheat banana bread with brown butter

I’ve always loved banana bread. When I was young, my great-grandmother made it every few weeks and keep it wrapped in wax paper in a kitchen drawer, and I’d sneak slices whenever I could, preferably slathered with a pat of salted butter. After I stopped spending every day at her house before and after school, my opportunities to eat banana bread became more scarce, particularly because most people (and bakeries) fill their banana bread and banana muffins with walnuts or some other lurking nut menace.

slices2

All of this means I eat banana bread pretty rarely, and the last few times I made it at home I was always a little disappointed. It was tasty, certainly, but somewhat boring. A little too sweet, and a little too cakey, and a little too simple. It always left me wanting something more complex and flavorful – something toastier and more subtly sweet, that would fit as comfortably on a plate with eggs as with a cup of coffee in the afternoon.

I’ve outgrown the banana bread of my youth. Read more

May 4

BLT bread salad

blt_bread_salad

One of the things I love talking about when I’m teaching is how to take the flavor combinations of your favorite dishes and apply them to something completely different. It’s all about food as a canvas for whatever sorts of additions and ingredients you usually love in a completely different context.  Read more

Apr 27

Summer cocktail: strawberry basil margarita (weekend time!)

Sometimes, you just need something sweet and fresh and boozy. Weekend time!

strawbasil_marg

Two-thirds of your normal margarita equation, together with some fresh garden ingredients. Weekend time!

I also tested this cocktail with gin and lemon juice instead of tequila and lime, and found that version far too sweet and two-dimensional. The beauty of this recipe is that the slightly-smoky flavor of the tequila really shines here among the sweetness of the berries (which also cushion tequilas vegetal agave flavors in a really nice way). I now totally see why strawberry is such a popular flavor for those slushy “margarita”-type things they serve in restaurants.

Enough margarita snobbery for the moment. It’s weekend time!

strawberries

Strawberry basil margarita

Makes 1, easily scalable

  • 3 large strawberries, stem removed and quartered (plus more for garnish, if desired)
  • 3 large basil leaves, roughly chopped (plus more for garnish, if desired)
  • 2 tsp. sugar, divided
  • 1 1/2 ounces tequila
  • 1 ounce lime juice

– Sprinkle 1 1/2 tsp. sugar over the quartered strawberries in a small bowl or cup. Let sit for at least 15 minutes so the berries release juice.  Smash with a muddler, a fork, or the bottom of a smaller bowl or glass until mainly liquid with chunks of berries.

– In the bottom of a shaker, muddle together the basil and the remaining 1/2 tsp. sugar. Grind until basil is torn into bits.

– Add mashed strawberry mixture, tequila, and lime juice to the shaker. Fill at least halfway with ice, then shake and strain into a cocktail glass.  If there’s a good amount of fruit and juice left in the shaker, spoon into the glass as desired. (The less the strawberries are mashed, the more might stay behind in the shaker.)

Apr 25

Chipotle chilaquiles (a tasty exercise in fridge diving)

chilaquiles_2

Fridge diving (aka “kitchen scrounging”) should not be underestimated as a handy skill, particularly for an everyday or last-minute dinner.  It can take a bit of creativity, flexibility, and technical skill to put together something delicious from what you happen to find around your kitchen, but often to very good results!  Maybe you find a head of cauliflower beginning to live out its last days in the back of your refrigerator, a stale butt of a baguette, and half a bag of pasta. (Penne with roasted cauliflower and garlicky bread crumbs, anyone?) Or maybe it’s an open can of coconut milk. A few spoonfuls of leftover salsa. Unidentifiable grains scooped out from the bulk bin at the grocery store. Read more

Apr 4

Whole wheat shortbread sandwich cookies

Whole_wheat_shortbread_cookies

I’m pretty pumped up about my new jam making skills. Except that I’m not actually a big jam eater.  I’ll have a piece of toast and jam every now and again, if it’s particularly good jam, or maybe put some between some cake layers.

I actually once asked a professional jam maker what the heck he does with all the jam. I think he was a little offended, but it was a serious question. So much jam!

After I made a bunch of strawberry vanilla jam on Sunday and wondered what the heck I would do with it, the vision came pretty quickly – nutty, earthy, salty, sweet shortbread cookies. Read more

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »