Alison Roman's Decidedly Not-Sweet Granola

Cook and food writer Alison Roman has come out with a new cookbook I just can't put down.  It's called Dining In, and it's chocked full of recognizable ingredients combined in some subtly surprising ways.  Recipes are meant to be low-effort (usually) but put-together enough for guests.  Though she lives in NYC these days, Roman's SoCal roots show in her love of fresh produce and the gorgeously sun-drenched photos remind me of summer, or every day I have ever spent in L.A.

As a savory breakfast fan, I got super excited about her recipe for "Decidedly Not-Sweet Granola" in the grains chapter.  She suggests several uses for this: breakfast with yogurt and cucumber, as croutons over salad, and as a snack.  I haven't gotten past the breakfast trick, which has kept me full and satisfied all morning today, and I can't imagine getting sick of it anytime soon.  Plain yogurt + diced cucumbers + this savory granola is her recipe; I added a squirt of lemon over the whole thing, as well.

I also made some adjustments based on what I had in the kitchen, as she encourages.  So, here's the actual recipe:

https://www.tastecooking.com/recipes/decidedly-not-sweet-granola/

I had no nigella seeds and didn't want more sesame seeds, as she suggests, so I threw in a scant 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut.  I also skipped the egg whites, because what am I going to do with three egg yolks?  The result is a finer granola that doesn't clump together, but that's fine by me. Finally, I just used plain old crushed red pepper flakes in place of aleppo. I mean, I got them at the tortilleria down the street, so I don't know if they're aleppo or not. Come to think of it, they look similar.

If you're in the market for a new cookbook that is also a feast for the eyes, get Dining In.  It's lovely in every way.  And make this savory granola for something, even if you're hooked on Pop Tarts for breakfast.  I promise you'll happily find a use for it.

Sauces and flavorings from The New Mediterranean Table

I checked out Sameh Wadi's The New Mediterranean Table from the library, and it was OK, but I'm not going to make most of those dishes.  They sound great, and like something I would prefer to pay someone else to make for me. Wadi often cites Saffron, his restaurant in Minneapolis, and I plan to go there when I am visiting next year and tell you all about it.

What I do make again and again from this book are these sauces and spice mixture. They make so many dishes better, keep in the fridge for weeks, and they're really not that much of a pain to make.



Tahini Sauce: 1 cup tahini, 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 grated garlic cloves, 3/4 cup water, salt
Use it: as a dip for vegetables; watered down as dressing for a buddha bowl or salad; tossed with hot pasta and steamed broccoli with sesame seeds sprinkled on top.




Charmoula: 1/4 cup garlic cloves

1/4 lemon juice
sea salt
3 tablespoons cumin
3 tablespoons sweet smoked paprika
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups canola oil
Make a paste of the garlic, lemon juice, and salt.  Stir in remaining ingredients. Will keep refrigerated for 1 month.
Use it: as a sauce over fish, grilled tofu steaks, or meat; drizzled over fresh sliced tomatoes before sprinkling with fresh mozarella in a variation on a Caprese salad, stirred into rice with slivered almonds, smeared onto eggplant slices before grilling or broiling.




Za'atar: 3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, 2 tablespoons dried oregano, 1 tablespoon dried thyme, 1 tablespoon dried marjoram, 3 tablespoons ground sumac, 1 teaspoon salt
Use it: sprinkle on popcorn, hummus, guacamole, pureed white beans, or any other dip; over fish or chicken; stirred through quinoa with steamed vegetables.

Black Pepper Tofu and other Genius Recipes

The good folks at Food52 have come out with an in-print book, Genius Recipes: 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook. It's actually a compendium of other famous chefs' recipes throughout the ages (including Julia Child's lovely grated zucchini casserole and Marcella Hazan's weirdly boring tomato sauce with onions and butter). Notes from the editors at Food52 explain how and why the recipe works and include "kitchen hacks" like "you can cut the amount of butter if you want."  So really, they've done a great job of rounding up some excellent recipes and putting them in one place for us to use.  It's debatably ironic for a well-established food blog to be in the printed cookbook business at this point in the 21st Century, but I still enjoy the tactile sensation of flipping through it, at any rate. And the photos are very nice.

Two of my favorite recipes are pretty modern in origin, including one from fellow blogger Smitten Kitchen.  I have included my own substitutions (or "hacks", if we must). Buy the book if you want, or just subscribe to Food52's excellent blog. You really will learn new things.

Yotam Ottolenghi's delicious Black Pepper Tofu recipe

with these substitutions:

• just use 9 tablespoons of soy sauce, and add one more tablespoon of sugar
• I used four small serrano peppers because it's what I had
• I could not for the life of me crush my black pepper by hand--it just kept jumping out of the bowl. So I used a pepper grinder and did more like 3 tablespoons (to make up for the heat of the serranos)
• I used 6 green onions and about 2 cups of steamed broccoli

Another great recipe included is Debra Perlman's (Smitten Kitchen) Mushroom Bourguignon. I actually used a mix of white and shitake mushrooms, because it's what I had, and I definitely had to add some water to keep the gravy from being too pasty in the end.  I also added salt, because I apparently like it more than she does.  But it's a totally solid foundation for a recipe. 

Vegan cooking with the Shannons (+ recipe)

Dan and Annie Shannon must be the cutest damn couple.  They have kids and they're fun-loving, frugal vegans!  Nah, I shouldn't make fun--I wanted to like their book, Mastering the Art of Vegan Cooking. They want to use (mostly) common ingredients, they want to be cheap (they even break down the cost per serving of making each dish), and they're open about ways to use leftovers.  What's not to like?  But many of the recipes are just bland, some measurements don't work (the lemon-tahini sauce turned out to be a gloppy mess of tahini with some things stuck in it), and they rely too heavily, IMHO, on meat replacements, which are ironically expensive, and totally unnecessary if you can just get past the mindset of needing a serving of meat on each plate. (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall offers a great restructuring of the common meal, for instance.)

But here's a version of a recipe I really liked (though I doubled the amount of pepper to give it some kick). This works great with some steamed veggies and cooked rice (you can actually use the leftover marinade, whisk in a little corn starch and chili-garlic sauce, and cook it up as a sauce for the veggies), but it's also a great snack by itself for cocktail hour with friends. The authors also suggest tucking the tofu into a sandwich, and if I did that, I think I'd make a bright little vinegary cole slaw to throw on top. 

Black Tea and Pepper Tofu

Adapted from Shannon, Mastering the Art of Vegan Cooking

Serves 4

2 cups strong brewed black tea, room temperature (I like Russian Caravan for its smokiness)

2 tablespoons crushed black peppercorns, plus more to sprinkle on top

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

Juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 16-oz. package extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into squares or strips

¼ cup neutral oil (grapeseed, canola,…)

Lemon wedges, for serving

In a shallow dish, whisk together the tea, pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice, and soy sauce.

Pat tofu dry and place in the marinade (above). Leave for 10 minutes, then flip and marinade for another 5 minutes.

Heat the oil over medium heat. Working in batches, fry the tofu on both sides to golden. Drain pieces on a paper towel-lined plate.

Serve hot, seasoned with more pepper if desired and lemon wedges for squeezing over the top. 

corn + peanuts = delicious

I have long been a fan of food writer/photographer Heidi Swanson, and I even reviewed her cookbook, Super Natural Everyday, here on this blog a while back.  Her latest in-print creation is Near And Far, and it is a glorious, if slightly strange, melding of travel diary and recipe collection. What's strange about it, from my perspective, are the recipes, which basically amount to warm and cold salads, dips, and soups.  Many of them are great, but need to have rice or pasta added to round out a meal.  Case in point, her Vaghareli Makai, which is basically Indian stir-fried corn and peanuts.  It's so delicious and simple it's ridiculous!  But you need to put some rice underneath it for lunch or dinner.  I also added steamed green beans, because I had them and thought it would be tasty.  It was.

So, here's my version:

Vaghareli Makai

Serves 4

1 medium serrano chile, stemmed, seeded (if desired), and sliced
2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
One 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
¾ teaspoon sea or kosher salt
1 tablespoon peanut oil (or other neutral oil)
1 ½ teaspoons yellow or brown mustard seeds
3 cups corn (frozen fine; rinse under warm water and drain)

1 cup steamed green beans
½ cup roasted peanuts
1 cup chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

3 cups cooked jasmine or brown rice, for serving
lemon or lime wedges, for serving

With a mini food processor, grind the chile, garlic, ginger, turmeric, and salt to a paste.

Heat the oil in a wide skillet. Add the mustard seeds and cook, stirring until they pop, which will take a minute or two. Stir in the corn kernels and cook a few minutes, stirring frequently, until they just start to feel tender, which will take a couple of minutes.

Stir in the peanuts, green beans, half of the cilantro and the chile paste. Cook for another minute then taste. If desired, for additional heat, add more of the chile paste and perhaps a bit of salt.

Serve the spiced corn over rice, topped with the remaining cilantro and sesame seeds  Serve with lime or lemon wedges--don't skip this step!

A month of brunches: week 1

What's more luxurious than forcing yourself to shove aside all your weekend work, pour yourself a beermosa, and pig out on fatty, salty fried things as a treat just for getting out of bed in the morning?  That's right, nothing.  And when it's warm enough outside to sit on the patio listening to the neighbor kids fight while you munch your potatoes, that's even better (at least, it is if you live in the Rocky Mountains or the Midwest, where patio time is very limited each year). This month, I am celebrating my laziness, my desire to eat nonstop, and this beautiful spring weather with Saturday brunches, and I'm inviting you to join me.

Week 1: Testing Thug Kitchen's Baked Okra and Potato Hash


Here's the original recipe on Google Books. I didn't change too much here, but I did swap out the paprika in the original recipe for 1/2 teaspoon of Old Bay and 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika for dusting the potatoes. I also served it with additional lemon wedges on the side, because I still wanted more sour.

The roasting directions, including times given and ratios of veggies to oil, worked perfectly for me. Hey look, there they are up above. I also used frozen okra, which I thawed first and then chopped as per recipe directions.  It doesn't clearly state this, but the recipe reads like you're supposed to be using fresh okra. However, I live in Colorado, so forget that.  The frozen worked just fine.


I also added a fried egg on top, because otherwise this would just be a side to nothing.  I thought it was delicious.  Serve with various hot sauces, coffee, beer, and orange juice.  Liberally.

Best Cookbooks of 2014

In my humble opinion, these cookbooks were worth buying in 2014.  My criteria were:

1) I wanted to copy over 60% of the recipes in the book for regular future use

2) Most recipes did not require trumped-up bullshit ingredients that I have to special order from Tunisia, etc.

3) Recipes were strong on flavor, moderate-to-low on time and effort (because I do have other things to accomplish during the day besides make one freaking meal)

4) Swear words.  Only one cookbook fit this category, but it was pretty fun.

The Kitchn Cookbook: Recipes. Kitchens and Tips to Inspire Your Cooking, by Sara Kate Gillingham and Faith Durand





America Farm to Table: Simple, Delicious Recipes Celebrating Local Farmers, by Mario Batali and Jim Webster

Bar Tartine: Techniques & Recipes, by Nicolaus Balla and Cortney Burns

Thug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook: Eat Like You Give a F*ck 

by Thug Kitchen

Buvette: The Pleasure of Good Food by Jody Williams

Gifts fit for a food lover

Winter Solstice is just around the corner (that's right, roll your eyes), and I love the excuse to give presents.  Not all of my friends care that much about food (ahem, french fry aficionado, you know who you are), but for the ones who do, food-themed presents are an easy way to give a unique, stand-out gift to your inner circle.  And hopefully they'll serve it when you're around. Here are some very clever products I have been checking out:

Boozy Stuff:

These mixers (and one very special bourbon) will make you into an alcoholic.  But a happy one. 

Owl's Brew Coco-Lada: a beverage mixer with pineapple, coconut, and chai spices (whaaat?!) with a black tea base makes vodka, rum, and just about anything else magical.

Quince & Apple Honey Lemon Syrup: pour it into whiskey

White Whale Filthy Liar: lychee-rosemary-clove mixer tastes great with gin or just club soda.

Wyoming Whiskey: in true cowboy fashion, these guys have had a slow and disorganized start, but if you can place an order early enough (or just make it a mid-winter surprise when it finally shows up), their small-batch whiskey and newly released bourbon really are worth the wait.


Stuff Your Face:

It's fun to do all of your own cooking and baking, but it's also fun to sample amazing talent from around the country while you sit on the couch watching t.v. and drinking fancy cocktails

Caramels from Fran's Chocolates: handmade in Washington state, the smoked salt caramels are my favorite.

French macarons from the iconic Macaron Cafe in NYC: I love the caramel "fleur de sel", cassisviolette, and jasmin, but you do what you want.

Looseleaf tea from englishteastore.com: the packaging is far from luxurious, but these guys have the best tea, hands down, and at a very low price.  I first discovered them when I had their Monk's Blend (black tea with vanilla, caramel, and grenadine) at an organic shop, but have since become hooked on their chocolate orange and Earl Grey cream, as well.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I get all my tea here.


Cookbooks:

It may seem a little old-fashioned, but I just don't believe that cookbooks translate well to e-reader, especially with the beautiful artwork modern books all seem to have.  Consider some beautiful, and practical, food porn for your favorite curmudgeon this year.  

Yvette van Boven: Homemade  
I loved her Homemade Summer, and this is the one that started it all.  She's Irish and runs a restaurant in the Netherlands, and her recipes combine traditions from the two cultures in a carefree, relaxed way. You know these people for whom hosting parties, making cocktails, looking perfect, etc., is just natural?  This is how her recipes will make you feel about your cooking.

Christopher Blain: In the Kitchen with Alain Passard: Inside the World (and Mind) of a Master Chef
Super fun graphic novel with clean, spare artwork.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: River Cottage Veg
I mentioned this cookbook here in this blog last summer, and it's still one of my new favorites. F-W is pragmatic in his love of vegetables; this is a no-fuss collection of recipes which will sometimes surprise you in the combinations and textures he manages to create.  Plus, he's the only guy who consistently put Gordon Ramsay in his place on the F-Word, so he's earned some serious street cred, as far as I'm concerned!

Michael Hudman and Anthony Ticer: Collards & Carbonara: Southern Cooking, Italian Roots
These recipes highlight the best of both Italian and Southern cooking, from the use of fresh, local produce in season to simple preparations that retain the character of the original foods.  

Aki Kamozawa and Alexander Talbot: Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
From the bloggers who created Ideas in Food, this book takes a very scientific approach to solving standard challenges in the kitchen.  These guys are geniuses, and you will learn more about your food so that you can be a more intelligent cook.

Edward Lee: Smoke and Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen
For the meat lover; this guy was a real douchebag on Top Chef, but his recipes are brilliant, and I love the pairing of Asian and Southern elements--it works surprisingly well!

Ivan Orkin: Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes from Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint
I think you all know how much I love ramen, but even if you are not as into it as I am, this will teach you a new appreciation for the art of excellent ramen making and give you some great recipes to try.  This book is total geekery. 

Recipe review: Yvette van Boven's Spicy Labneh

I love Yvette van Boven's latest cookbook, Homemade Summer.  The recipes are clever and inviting, the photography and typesetting, a mix of "handwritten" and typed fonts, is whimsical without being sickening, and van Boven's writing style is carefree and empowering in the kitchen.  An example: "you could add some sugar here, though I never do."  Another example: "you could add a splash of vodka, but then it won't be virgin.  Oh well."  Here's my adaptation of her super-fast, super-tasty yogurt-based dip which is heaven on the patio with drinks and unexpected friends.

Spicy Labneh

Adapted from Homemade Summer

1 garlic clove, minced and smeared into a paste
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 cup plain yogurt
generous handful chopped fresh herbs (mint, basil, parsley, dill, cilantro...)
extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
pinch crushed red pepper flakes

In a dry, hot pan, toast the cumin and sesame seeds until fragrant, about 2 minutes (stir constantly).  Combine garlic, salt, and yogurt in a small serving dish.  Sprinkle paprika, toasted seeds, and red pepper flakes on top, drizzle with a little olive oil, and then sprinkle with fresh herbs.  Serve with toasts or a baguette.

Recipe review: Mushroom "risoniotto"

If you haven't yet explored River Cottage Veg by the terribly clever Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, you really should.  Junkies of all things Gordon Ramsay will recognize him as the agricultural consultant on The F Word (by far Ramsay's best show, in my opinion)--he was the guy bringing over lambs, hogs, and other temporary family pets destined to be slaughtered and served in the kitchen at the end of each season.  Never mind the therapy those Ramsay kids will need in their adult lives, Fearnley-Whittingstall is admirably insistent on sustainability and staying as close to the farm with our food as possible.  River Cottage Veg is the latest in his series of cookbooks detailing what he serves on his urban-ish farm, River Cottage.  The entire book is vegetarian, and it uses practical, common ingredients in some creative (but not crazy) combinations.  A great example is his comforting risotto-like dish made from mushrooms and orzo pasta.  I made a several alterations here, which I think would be Hugh's style as well.  This is an easy, tasty dish to serve on the side of something more substantial or as a main course with salad, and it's open to substitutions as your pantry and refrigerator demand.

Mushroom "risoniotto"

adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg

Serves 2 as a meal, 4 as a side

2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 pound mixed mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
8 oz. whole wheat orzo
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons plain yogurt (the original calls for heavy cream, which would be less tangy)
salt and black pepper
generous handful fresh parsley, chopped

Bring a medium saucepan of well-salted water to boil and cook orzo according to package directions.

In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft, about 8 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and some salt and cook until their liquid has released and evaporated and there is a little browning in the pan.  Add the balsamic, garlic, and thyme and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes, until there is almost no liquid left.  Add the white wine and do the same.  Lower the heat to a low simmer and stir in the yogurt and parsley.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the cooked orzo and stir into the mushroom mixture.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

(This photo is from Hugh's fancy-schmancy book.)

Recipe review: Kale Salad with Cherries and Pecans

This is another recipe from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, and although I could not find it on her blog, I did find several other bloggers who had adopted (or adapted) it for themselves, so I guess I'm not the only one who thinks it's a keeper.  You can find the original recipe in the cookbook; I have included my substitutions in the directions below.  

I love this over leftover white rice for a lunch salad or on the side with just about any grilled protein.

Smitten Kitchen's Kale Salad 2.0

SALAD INGREDIENTS: 
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I prefer walnuts) 
8 ounces kale
4 ounces radishes, sliced into paper-thin rounds
1/4 small red onion, thinl sliced (my addition)
1/2 cup dried cherries (or cranberries)
2 ounces soft goat cheese, chilled

FOR THE DRESSING:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Wash and spin kale to remove excess water. Chiffonade the kale leaves into thin strips (SK recommends removing stems and veins, but I leave 'em in and just make sure everything is chopped super fine). Add the kale ribbons to a large salad bowl. Add the radishes and red onion.

Whisk dressing ingredients together in a small dish, and pour the dressing over the kale, radishes, and red onion.  Toss to coat and allow to sit in the refrigerator at least one hour.  SK does not give these directions, but I find it slightly "cooks" the veggies so that they are tender and infused with flavor. If you're in a hurry, just serve right away.)

Add pecans and cherries. Crumble the goat cheese over top.

Jenifer Rubell gets a little sloppy..and I love her for it.

My last cookbook review is a departure from the other three--there's steak and chicken all over the place, and the emphasis is on tasty but quick and relaxed cooking styles. I love it, and it has revolutionized the way I host.  (And it's not too late to order for the socialite on your Christmas list.  Yes, I said Christmas.  This is a book with steak recipes in it, after all).

Look how much mad fun she's having!

Jennifer Rubell: Real Life Entertaining.  Published by Harper Collins, 2006.

The author promises “easy recipes and unconventional wisdom” underneath a fun-loving picture of her partying down in the kitchen as she cooks.  It makes you want to be like her--fun!  Not stressed out!  Hangin’ with the guests!  And actually, this is a great handbook for getting there.

Rubell’s recipes are very simple and quick without relying on pre-packaged food; the premise is that, as the hostess, you want to spend time with your guests rather than being chained to the oven all night.  The other premise is that you live in a city with tons of friends who drop by in large numbers without warning, and you need to be able to whip up something tasty on the sly.  I do not suffer from this particular problem too often, but I have certainly suffered from the former, and it’s nice to have an arsenal of tasty, impressive-looking dishes at your disposal to make entertaining more fun.  It’s also nice to be able to do it on a weeknight for your family, guests or no.  She also cleverly includes a list of staple pantry items so you can pull these recipes off without running to the store just as the guests show up.

As for the unconventional wisdom, I would say most of it really falls into the category of giving you permission to not be a perfectionist.  She has tips in little yellow boxes scattered throughout the book offering advice on how to enlist guests in some of the prep work while keeping a fun party atmosphere, how to lay a classy table with odds and ends from the Salvation Army, and when it’s OK to serve buffet style and make people get their own damn food (hint: most of the time).  She offers recipes along with hosting advice organized into themes: Drop-In Dinners (that’s when the freeloaders show up looking for chow), Sit-Down Dinners (an elegant yet casual affair in Rubell’s mind), Brunch, Lunch Buffets, One-pot Meals, Dinner for a Crowd, and Get-togethers.  Her chapter on desserts is mostly to report that she doesn’t really like dessert, so she artfully arranges some chocolate bars in mismatched bowls and passes around the brandy.  How could you not love this style?

Perhaps it would have eventually come with age, but when I first read this book in my early 30s, shortly after moving into my first house with my (husband’s) first real, grown-up job, I was killing myself playing hostess.  Rubell’s style is welcoming, relaxed, and makes having guests a pleasure for all, and this was a revolutionary idea to me.  I can honestly say that, whether or not I follow her recipes (they’re pretty good, but there’s a lot of steak), I have become a much better hostess from adopting the ideas in this book.

From the book:

“Mashed Potatoes with Figs and Parmesan (from the chapter entitled Sit-Down Dinners)

Serves 8

7 dried figs
10 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 tablespoons butter
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 ¼ cups grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Bring a pot of water to boil.  Place the figs in a bowl and cover with some boiling water ladled from the pot.  Soak for about 10 minutes.  Place the potatoes in the pot.  Boil them until they’re fall-apart tender, about 10-12 minutes, then drain and place in a serving bowl.  Remove the figs from the soaking water but don’t throw the soaking water away.  Chop the figs and add them to the potatoes with ¼ cup of the soaking liquid, the butter, olive oil, Parmesan, salt and pepper.  Mash everything with a fork until it’s well-combined but still a little lumpy (homemade style).   To be served with Grilled Skirt Steak with Orange-Mint Chimichurri and Thyme-Roasted Brussels Sprouts.”

Cookbook Review #3: World Vegetarian Cuisine

I know, I know--it's another vegetarian cookbook.  But why am I apologizing?--everyone knows vegetables are more interesting than meat.  Consider it my gift to you--healthy eating in the new year.  And it can be your gift to someone who needs it in your family...


Celia Brooks Brown: World Vegetarian Classics.  Published by Pavilion Books, 2005.

This book was a gift from my sister-in-law, who sampled one of its recipes at a dinner party.  I can honestly say that if she never gives me another gift, I will be perfectly satisfied to have gotten this from her.  It’s that good.

I love travel, but  am cheap. This book sets out to share recipes (entirely executable, despite the daunting task of trying to emulate other cultures) in tandem with some basic geographical and cultural facts, and each section is edited by a chef who claims expertise in that area.  The photography is also beautiful, though being British, Brown uses measurements which occasionally translate awkwardly for Americans (she provides the conversions, they’re just strange amounts).  Almost all ingredients can be easily procured in the local supermarket, and the flavors really open up new worlds of cooking.  Chapters are organized by geographical region: North America, Latin America/Caribbean, Northern Europe/Russia, Southern Europe, Middle East, North and West Africa, Central, East, and Southern Africa, Japan/China, India/Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia (who knew they’d have such interesting recipes!?).  This book is not only a great collection of recipes, it’s a fascinating trip around the world.   One of my favorite casseroles comes form here:

From the book:

Photo courtesy of pink-apron.com.  Check her out!

“Macaroni Baked in Yogurt (Armenia)

Serves 4-6

Olive oil, for frying and greasing
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
7 oz. dried macaroni or other pasta shapes
2 medium eggplants (about 1 lb. total), sliced into rounds about ¼ inch thick
2 cups plain yogurt
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoons dried dill
1 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
3 large tomatoes, sliced into thin circles
3 ½ oz. feta cheese
1/3 cup slivered or flaked almonds

Grease an 8 x 12 inch casserole dish with olive oil and set aside.  Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Bring a large saucepan of water to boil and salt well.  Cook the macaroni until al dente.  Drain thoroughly.

Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add a shallow pool of oil.  Add the eggplant slices and fry until soft and golden.  Drain on paper towels.

Beat together the yogurt, egg yolks, fennel seeds, dill, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.  Stir the pasta through this mixture to coat evenly.  Scoop into the baking dish and smooth the surface.

Cover the pasta with interleaved rows of sliced cooked eggplant and tomato.  Sprinkle the feta and almonds over the top.  Cook in the oven until hot and bubbly and golden on top, about 20-25 minutes.  Serve with a crisp green salad.”

Cooking with Photographer Heidi Swanson

Continuing my December project to share with you the greatest cookbooks in my kitchen, I humbly present to you photographer and cook Heidi Swanson.  You can follow her blog, 101 Cookbooks, to get a better sense of her style.  If you like this (it's what got me hooked), I guarantee you will appreciate her published works, as well.


Heidi Swanson: Super Natural Every Day.  Published by Ten Speed Press, 2011.

Swanson is a gifted, minimalist food photographer, which just adds to the food-porn nature of this beautiful book.  Written in a calm, Zen-like language and employing a whole heck of a lot of slow-cooked grains, one might dismiss this book as a one-note hippie handbook from a Californian artist.  She’s vegetarian, cooks heavy on the fresh produce, and uses spelt generously.  But the recipes are easy to execute and consistently delicious.  And perhaps more than any cookbook of late, I have learned so much from it.  These recipes may sound simple, but Swanson manages to come up with some rather unique flavor and textural combinations that I had never thought of, all while using very simple, down-home techniques.  She freely mixes and matches different cooking traditions in Harissa Ravioli, Dilled Green Beans with Seitan, and Chanterelle Tacos, among others.  She also gives some great tips on utilizing leftovers, cooking slow things (like beans and heavy-duty grains) ahead and freezing, and has a terrific section on homemade snacks that will keep you from feeling tempted by those crappy, dried out Starbucks pastries in the middle of the afternoon (see below).

Some ingredients will be difficult to acquire in rural areas, but all are available online in bulk.  And yes, the recipes basically all have whole grains and vegetables as their base (and cheese…SO much cheese!), but each one manages to taste unique and exciting, nonetheless.  The book looks good, reads good, and makes you feel like a better person just for owning it.  And the wonderful surprise about a book like this is that you will actually use it, and be healthier (and happier) for it.  It’s a great choice for anyone interested in being healthier and not sure where to start (or for people who are already eating this way and want some new options).

From the book, one of our new favorite recipes in my house:

Oatcakes (In Swanson’s charming introductory essay to this recipe, she mentions the ubiquitous nature of at cakes in her local San Francisco coffee shops, describing the disappointment in how dry and heavy they are. This is her at-home replacement, smaller, tastier, and lower in calories):

“Makes 12

3 cups rolled oat
2 cups spelt or whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
 2 teaspoons salt
¼ cup flax seeds
¾ cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup peanut or coconut oil
1/3 cup unsalted butter
¾ cup maple syrup
½ cup natural cane sugar (we use brown sugar in my house)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 325°F with a rack in the top third of the oven.  Butter a standard 12-cup muffin pan.

Combine the oats, flour, baking powder, salt, flax seeds, and walnuts in a large mixing bowl.  In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine the oil, butter, maple syrup, and sugar and slowly melt together.  Stir just until the butter melts and the sugar has dissolved, but don’t let the mixture get too hot.  You don’t want to cook the eggs on contact in the next step.

Pour the oil mixture over the oat mixture.  Stir a bit with a fork, add the eggs, and stir again until everything comes together into a wet dough.  Spoon the dough into the muffin cups, nearly filling them.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges of each oat cake are deeply golden.  Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for a couple of minutes.  Then, run a knife around the edges of the cakes and tip them out onto a cooling rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature.”

Cookbook Review: Bittman's Vegetarian Cooking

Not sure what to buy your loved ones for Christmas/ Hannukah/ Kwanzaa/ Winter Solistice/ Early President's Day this year?  How about a great cookbook?  I'm not talking about one of those crappy cookbooks with poorly written recipes or boring dishes (so, no Easy Livin' Microwave Cooking, please).  Cookbooks can open a new world of flavor profiles (I learned that smug phrase from watching Top Chef), teach you better technique, and generally change your life when they're good.

This is not an acceptable holiday gift. 

So in the spirit of giving (my opinion, for free), I am adding a new feature in December: every Monday, I'm publishing a review of one of my favorite cookbooks, along with a representative recipe so you can see how genius these authors really are.  Let's start with the obvious...



Mark Bittman: How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  Double B Publihsing, 2007.

There is a carnivorous version of this book, too, but as you already know, I often find meat boring, even when I am eating it.  This book has recipes to convince any meat-lover to go meatless once in a while (Bittman himself says in the forward that, although he cooks a whole lot of meat, he often eats like a vegetarian at home).  Chapters are divided into logical categories: salads, soups, eggs/dairy/cheese, fruits and vegetables, pasta, grains, etc.  Many recipes are inspired by other national cuisines (Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Italian all feature prominently) but all but the most authentic-sounding Asian fare can be made with basic American grocery store items.  He also includes a short essay on planning a vegetarian menu and gives sound advice on stocking the pantry and purchasing quality equipment.

I have tried most of the recipes in this over-900 page book, and they all work perfectly.  I am not even tempted to adjust and experiment as I follow along, like I am with so many other cookbooks; I have learned that if I trust Mark Bittman, he will take care of me.  Flavor combinations are not generally very surprising, and there is nothing avant garde in this book.  Directions are thorough and very intelligently written with occasional sketches to help guide technique.  And what I like best about this book is Bittman’s indefatigable practicality; most recipes have an “add-ins” or “variations” section immediately following, and he recycles leftovers in some ingenious ways.  The result is a cookbook that really teaches you the basic techniques of many stock dishes (omelets, stir fries, homemade pastas…) and then gives you tons of variations on those dishes for an incredible amount of variety.  This is a great book for novice and experienced cooks alike, and can serve as a guide for any vegetarian or omnivorous diner trying to cut down on meat without sacrificing great flavors and variety.  For a professional food writer and chef, it is laudable that Bittman gives such respect to his meatless cuisine, and this book can really serve as a bible for vegetarian cooking.

A recipe from the book:

“Huevos Rancheros

Serves 2

¼ cup neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, plus more as needed
4 5-inch corn tortillas
¼ cup refried beans (recipe in book) or any soft, well-seasoned beans
4 eggs
Sat and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup Salsa Roja or Cooked Tomatillo Salsa (recipe sin book) or store-bought salsa
¼ cup queso fresco or grated Monterey Jack of cheddar cheese
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley for garnish

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.  Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium heat.  When hot but not smoking, fry the tortillas one at a time until softened and heated through, about 3 seconds per side.  Make sure they do not crisp.  Drain on paper towels.

2. Spread 1 tablespoon beans in the center of each tortilla and set aside.  (You can prepare the dish to this point up to an hour or so in advance.)

3.  Use a little more oil to fry eggs sunny side up, sprinkling with salt and pepper as they cook and following the directions for Fried Eggs on p. 168.  Put an egg in the center of each tortilla, then top with 2 tablespoons salsa and 1 tablespoon cheese.

4.  Carefully transfer the tortillas to a baking dish that holds them snugly.  Bake until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes, and serve immediately.

Simplest Huevos Rancheros.  Omit the tortillas and beans.  Scramble the eggs in oil; as they are beginning to set in the pan, stir in the salsa and cheese.  Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper to serve.

Huevos Rancheros with Red Mole.  A luxury, but a mist if you have leftover sauce: Instead of salsa, use the Red Mole sauce from the Cheese Enchiladas recipe on page 223.  Garnish with chopped tomatoes and scallions if you like.”