Monthly Archives: June 2011

Now is by far the best time of the season (at least in Illinois) for the farmers’ markets. Among the fresh berries, tomatoes (that’s another post!) and apples are some really amazing sweet peppers. Red, green and yellow bell peppers are actually the same plant (a cultivar ofCapsicum annuum),  chosen at different stages of ripening for different … Continue reading »

  Clockwise from top: tomato cucumber salad, hummus, curried grains, and chicken shawarma I first started cooking Middle Eastern food a few years ago during a few weeks when I decided to see what it would be like to go completely vegan. I ended up doing a lot of falafel sandwiches with tahini sauce and … Continue reading »

In Illinois, asparagus is in season, so every farmer’s market is overflowing with fresh, purplish green stalks. I love it grilled in the summer, but was looking to mix it up tonight and use some other ingredients I had on hand. I ended up making rotini with chicken and a grilled asparagus tomato sauce finished … Continue reading »

I saved some salmon we pan-seared last night for breakfast this morning to make salmon and eggs. I love salmon for breakfast (particularly the smoked kind), and it goes very well with eggs. I started by putting a bit of white truffle oil in a non-stick pan and then cracking eggs directly into the hot … Continue reading »

I’ll admit — this one was kind of a fun experiment for me. My friend Brian was talking about some healthy cookies he made the other day that involved banana, and I figured since I’ve had a banana in the freezer for the past 2 months, I’d give the cookies a shot. I looked a … Continue reading »

There are some things that you buy and immediately find a thousand uses for. I first picked up a few white cotton flour sacks when I was making Mark Bittman’s [now famous] No-Knead bread. The recipe called for a “lint-free towel”, and my first attempts with a dishcloth left me with a thoroughly unusable piece of … Continue reading »

Today’s concoction was tabouli. I didn’t set out to make it — while it’s good, it isn’t necessarily a dish that stands on it’s own or something I want to eat all week. However, it happened to fit the bill since I had on hand a bunch of parsley from my ceviche. I picked up some tomatoes … Continue reading »

Sometimes you make a dish, and you end up with a lot of a certain spice or ingredient left over. Such was the case when I made the Moroccan Beef Meatball Tagine a month ago for Valentine’s Day. The recipe calls for 1/8 tsp of saffron, but The Spice House only sells saffron in bags that have 2-3 teaspoons. With an interesting … Continue reading »

Good Eats had an episode about catfish the other day, as part of a few shows about sustainable seafood. While he covered his bases with a part about classic fried catfish, the real jaw-dropper was the recipe for catfish ceviche. Personally, I’ve never really thought of things beside scallops, shrimp or halibut in my ceviche, but this … Continue reading »