From Scratch

This has probably happened to you: you start searching online for one thing and end up with another. In this case, I was looking for Cuban-style yellow rice and black beans and after a few clicks I was at red beans with white rice billed as Jamaican. I suppose the coconut milk is partly the […]

Labor Day weekend will mean baked beans for many in New England. When I moved here and knew nothing about making them, even I knew that a recipe for Boston baked beans that began with two jalapeno peppers wasn’t authentic. It was an Alton Brown creation (bless his Southern heart) which, mercifully, is not on […]

As much as I love chicken adobo, I rarely make it in summer. Instead, I make this simple and eye-catching chilled chicken and pasta salad that has some of the same flavors plus the added dimension of a touch of sesame oil.
Even though the price of wheat is up substantially, pasta is still an economical […]

This is a perfect, refreshing accompaniment to grilled poultry or pork. Its tropical flavors are welcome in hot weather and complement chicken, turkey or pork that’s been prepared with its companion recipe, a Caribbean spice rub. Both recipes are fine on their own but together, they are more.
I found this at Fine Cooking, in one of the […]

Think of this as a cousin to Spanish rice but with a kick, a high kick the Rockettes might envy. I love rice, I love hot stuff. Put ‘em together and I’m in heaven.
You can tone it down, of course. Most of the heat is from Tabasco sauce, not the jalapenos, which are mild. I […]

I love Asian flavors. Love. A few months ago, somewhere in my travels by mouse click, I spotted an interesting recipe for roasted vegetables with sesame oil. I was sure I saved it but when the mood for such a thing struck, I couldn’t find it for the life of me.
Luckily, roasting veggies is not on a […]

I hate last-minute cooking for a big meal, holiday or otherwise. That’s why I prepare make-ahead gravy at Thanksgiving. But not every meal includes turkey and often, everyday meals need gravy that I am still not willing to scramble around to make at the final moment.
If you’re the same way, set aside your thoughts about […]

It wasn’t too long ago that the appearance of asparagus at the market, in time for Easter dinner, heralded the arrival of spring. Now, like so many fruits and vegetables, it has become virtually seasonless, nearly always available, although the more tender white variety can be harder to find. Despite that, it’s still a labor-intensive vegetable and therefore […]

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving for most people without cranberry sauce, but often it’s treated like an obligation. Is there anything on the holiday table less appealing than a jelled roll of canned cranberry “sauce”, sliced into quivering discs that still bear the marks of the can? It’s one of those retro relics of the Fifties whose time […]

If illustrator Norman Rockwell were still alive, I wonder if he’d do a vegetarian version of his iconic Freedom From Want? The painting, from his Four Freedoms, is seared onto our national consciousness as an idealized family Thanksgiving but for millions, a turkey on the table is neither ideal nor desirable.  
These days there are plenty of choices for […]

Martha Kostyra has died. She was 93 and was known as “Big Martha” to all who saw her on her daughter’s TV show. Martha Stewart announced it on her own blog and posted a recent video tribute to her. No cause of death was given but Stewart said on her show last week that her […]

The first Thanksgiving was in 1621 and if we pretend it was observed every year thereafter, that would give us 334 years of Thanksgiving meals without green bean casserole.
For those outside the US, the five-ingredient side dish is built around a can of cream of mushroom soup and it’s estimated that it’s served in nearly 20 […]

People who know me know two things: I won’t dirty more pots, pans or bowls than I have to and if it’s a holiday meal, I like to make as much of it ahead as I can.
Thanksgiving brings the American mega-meal, of course, but I hate the  rush of finishing side dishes while the turkey rests. I […]

The first time I ate gnocchi I was about seven years old and was served them at a playmate’s house. We had a lot of fun saying the word over and over, wrinkling our noses in an exaggerated way on the “nyuh” sound. It was certainly more fun than eating them; they were leaden starch balls and altogether […]

This is a kugel for those who like their noodle puddings pure: no pineapple, no applesauce or raisins, nothing to detract from its sweet, comforting goodness. Is it dessert or a side dish?  Take your choice.
My cyber friend Sunny, who shared the recipe, agrees it can go either way and whichever way it goes, it disappears […]