From Scratch

There are several dishes I took for granted in New York; they were everywhere and it never occured to me to make them at home. Cold sesame noodles are in that group. It’s almost impossible in my part of New England to find a Chinese restaurant that serves them. I found them only twice: a white-tablecloth place […]

I love it when I check email and find a recipe I can use, especially when it coincides with my make-ahead lifestyle. When it reminds me of a former favorite that fell out of favor for nutritional reasons, so much the better.
Cook’s Illustrated  sent this recipe for 24-Hour Omelet with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Mozzarella. Assemble it today, […]

One of the best surprises is finding an interesting recipe while I’m already at the market. When it turns out to be good enough for the regular rotation and fast enough for any weeknight, I’m thrilled. This delicious, refreshing recipe goes together so quickly the first thing I did was put the water on for the […]

Something about food blogging should have been obvious from the start, but wasn’t: I think about food more than I used to and probably a lot more than you do. So while I was at dinner at an Indian restaurant recently, enjoying my raita, I thought about the no mayo deviled eggs I was working on […]

I enjoy a challenge so when my friend and fellow blogger, linshaolin, (see Breakdown in the Fast Lane in the blogroll) requested some deviled eggs recipes I was happy to give it a try, even though I hate mayonnaise, as I’ve mentioned more than once.
I had two goals: to come up with tasty and satisfying […]

The first cookbook I ever bought — that’s it on the left – was chosen for one simple reason: it explained how to boil an egg.
I was a sophomore in college, hooked on chef’s salads, and decided to try making them myself. The catch was that I did not know how to make a hard boiled egg. […]

When fresh, sweet corn is available, locally-grown or from warmer states, I make this wonderful side dish over and over. It takes little more time than the five minutes needed for the couscous, a pasta not a grain, to steep. In winter I use frozen corn and it’s almost as good. And when I haven’t got fresh chives, like […]

I love this quote from Julia Child, in Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom:
The perfect vinaigrette is so easy to make that I see no reason whatsoever for bottled dressing.
Neither do I. Not only does home-made vinaigrette taste so much better, it eliminates the chemicals and high fructose corn syrup in most bottled dressings. (Corn syrup is so […]

I was going to wait until tomatoes are at peak season to post this, but it occurred to me that by the time they’re abundant in The Little Snowball, they’ll be past peak in most other places. So here it is, my very favorite Jacques Pépin soup recipe, good cold as well as hot. It’s from […]

For many people, the upcoming Memorial Day weekend means a three-day weekend. The holiday also means:

the unofficial start of summer
the official start of women wearing white (the rule holds in some circles)
get out the grills, America, we’re cooking outdoors

Don’t you wish you had a dime for every burger that’ll be cooked on a grill Monday? […]

It wasn’t too many years ago that tilapia was relatively new at supermarket seafood counters. Now, according to the American Tilapia Association, it is the fifth most-popular fish in the US. It’s easy to see why. It has only 100 calories and 1 gram of fat per serving (3.5 oz) but it has 90 milligrams […]

Lent is long gone, but I don’t limit my meatless days to Lenten Fridays. I try for two meatless days each week, and fish is on the menu at least one of those days. Tonight I’m trying a new curried tuna recipe, but about twice a month I make this favorite. Not only is it meatless, […]

I have a rule: only one carrot item per Easter dinner.  It’s not that I don’t especially like carrots — I love them — but the holiday, after all, is not about a mythical bunny. In fact, if I didn’t love carrots, I might banish them from the Easter menu just to avoid any suggestion of […]

Mr. Knife Skills and I have spent a good part of the day working on our menus and cooking schedules for Passover and Easter. If you haven’t figured it out, he’s the Jewish half, I’m Catholic. My mom, G-d rest her, was Protestant so blended beliefs are a way of life for me. This year, Passover […]