Here’s a nifty meal helper for when you have a busy week coming up: make-ahead alfredo sauce!
The sauce can be made in about 10 minutes and then stashed in the fridge until you need it. Reheat and toss with pasta, veggies, or anything that could use a little saucy, cheesy assistance to make it delicious.
My husband is British, and therefore incredibly picky about Indian food. He bemoans the lack of restaurants that serve “proper curries” in our neighborhood.
This is why, on our annual trek back to UK to visit his family over the holidays, we’ve started the tradition of going to an Indian restaurant on New Year’s Eve. We skip the champagne, the sparkles, and the countdown in favor of eating our fill of spicy curry.
In an effort to ensure that we’re not deprived of Indian food the rest of the year, I am learning how to cook more Indian dishes at home. I’m starting off with the quintessential British Indian dish: chicken tikka masala.
Have you ever heard of Joe’s Special? This is a classic San Francisco diner dish dating back to the 1920s. It’s a hearty scramble of eggs, ground beef, spinach, mushrooms, and onions.
This scramble is great any time of day, but in my house growing up, we always had it for dinner, with thick slices of San Francisco sourdough bread alongside.
Continue reading "Joe’s Special (Scrambled Eggs with Spinach, Beef, and Mushrooms)" »
It’s Mardi Gras season, time for gumbo! If you question anybody from Louisiana or the Mississippi Sound about making gumbo, the first thing they will tell you is about making the roux.
My college roommate (from Metairie), my brother’s girlfriend (Biloxi), and my parent’s neighbor of 35 years (New Orleans), have pretty much all told me the same thing, “My mother used to take out an old penny and sit it next to the pot. ‘You’re done when the roux is the color of this penny.'”
Now, these women certainly did not have the same mother, but they shared the same story. I’m guessing making a proper roux must be a rite of passage for a kid from around those parts, and probably a bit challenging because it requires a little patience. 25 minutes or so of stirring can seem like forever to a 10 year old!
When you add lots of spices to a dish, sometimes that’s all you can taste. But I’ve found that lamb is one ingredient that can handle a lot of spice.
This hearty lamb stew is well-seasoned with cinnamon, cumin, coriander, and cayenne. The meat keeps its delicious and distinctive taste, while the seasonings add intrigue to every bite.
The minute anybody in my house comes down with the slightest sniffle, I run to the store for ingredients for chicken soup. It’s the go-to cure-all around here!
The recipe I make is classic and very simple, but to get it ready even more quickly, I make it in the pressure cooker.
Continue reading "How to Make Chicken Soup in the Pressure Cooker" »
There is a certain beauty in discovering a shortcut that is both convenient and just as good — if not better — than the real thing.
Steel-cut oats normally require a good ten to twenty minutes of stovetop simmering to render them creamy and soft. This is worth the effort for a fantastic bowl of oatmeal, but let’s be real here: not many of us have that kind of time in the morning.
Overnight oats, on the other hand, only require you to mix the oats with water and let them hang out together in the fridge overnight. A minute or two in the microwave the next morning, and you’re good to go.
For a not-at-all-morning person such as myself, this is game-changing.
Looking for something quick, healthy, and budget-friendly for dinner tonight? Try these curried chicken thighs!
They’re boldly spiced with an Indian curry mix and boast a delicious crispy skin. Serve it on a bed of wilted greens and thinly sliced onions for an easy meal.
Continue reading "Crispy Curried Chicken Thighs with Wilted Greens" »
Valentine’s Day just begs to be celebrated with something red and bubbly, right?
Enter one of my favorite cocktails—the classic French 75—but instead of using lemon juice, we infuse the drink with something to make it brilliant pinkish red—blood orange.
So pretty! And just as lovely to drink as the original, if not more so.
This quick, easy chocolate pudding can be thrown together in less than 10 minutes, and it’s so rich and creamy you’d never guess it was dairy-free!
The secret is using avocados. You won’t really taste the avocado in the finished pudding, but it helps give it a thick and creamy consistency.
Continue reading "Vegan Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pudding Cups" »
One of the dishes Northern Brazil is known for is their “Moqueca“, a delicious savory fish stew made with a local white fish, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and coconut milk.
Several years ago a Brazilian friend of mine introduced to me a salmon version of this stew she had improvised, given that the typical Brazilian fish used for moqueca isn’t found around here.
A few years ago, I’d never even heard of pho, let alone tasted it. Now, giant bowls of this traditional Vietnamese noodle soup are a regular meal in our house.
There are three things I can thank for this change: 1) Moving to a part of the country where pho restaurants are as common as pizza joints. 2) Several months of gluten-free eating last year due to a health issue. 3) Meeting and becoming friends with Vietnamese cooking expert Andrea Nguyen.
Andrea has now published a new book entirely devoted to — what else?! — pho, and I’d like to share with you her recipe for Quick Chicken Pho.
This recipe is a great introduction to pho if you’ve never had it before. And for pho addicts like myself, it’s a good one to have around when a pho-craving strikes.
Friends, I have a new favorite way to cook eggs—in a mug, in a microwave.
No kidding. For reals!
Why??? Well first, it takes only a couple minutes to make, and clean-up is easy.
Second, while so many microwave mug recipes result in a poor substitute for something properly cooked, a microwaved mug omelette is surprisingly tender and delicious.
Third, when I’m trying to eat light, this way of cooking eggs cuts down substantially on added fat. It just uses a quick spray of cooking oil (or a wipe of olive oil) on the inside of the mug. (For those of you who count calories, I counted 200 in this recipe, your analysis may vary.)
It doesn’t get much healthier than this vegan vegetable and chickpea stew!
Humble veggies like carrot, sweet potato, and parsnips shine when paired with the intoxicating Moroccan seasoning known as ras el hanout.
Have you ever tried this spice mix? The main components are cumin, coriander, ginger, and cinnamon — they make a warming blend that’s perfect for perking up a hearty vegetable stew and serving on a cold day.
Continue reading "Moroccan-Spiced Sweet Potato and Chickpea Stew" »
I am a freezer hoarder. I can admit that here, right?
My freezer is jammed to the gills — and not only with normal things like frozen fruit and chicken sausage, but also with the random bits of food that one tends to collect as a professional food writer and recipe tester. (Witness: several cups of unused rugelach filling, enough frozen whipped cream to last for months, and more Thanksgiving turkey than you need to know about.)
This is all to say that I have learned a trick or two regarding Freezer Tetris and how to maximize space.
Since I had a few batches of pressure cooker beans in urgent need of freezing, I thought I’d share my favorite way to freeze soup, beans in their cooking liquid, and broth to both save space and make my weeknight meal prep a little easier.
Time to curl up under a cozy blanket and enjoy a warm bowl of soup. This week’s pick? A classic creamy celery soup.
Like cabbage, celery is an oft neglected vegetable, prized for its place in a mirepoix, but rarely the star of the show. Which is silly when you think about it, given how good celery is in soups. (Can you imagine chicken soup without it?)
You’ve got to admit it: they’re cute. These individual bites of not-quite-muffins and not-quite-French-toast are almost too good to be true.
Not only are they scrumptious, but they work on your schedule. Throw them together tonight and bake them tomorrow morning for an easy warm breakfast. They also reheat well, so you can make a batch this weekend and have them for breakfast all week long.
Whatever your breakfast situation, these French toast muffins are up to the challenge.
