Almost every night at my house, we have some type of salad. When the lettuce runs out, we turn to longer lasting vegetables to be the headliner. Celery is one of those choices. There are loads of theories about how to best store it. I trim the bottom and cut the bunch in half crosswise. After swishing the freed stalks…
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Date bars can be tastebud chameleons. As a simple sweet they can be dusted with powdered sugar and enjoyed as bar cookies. But my palate loves to modify them to be a salty-sweet partner with cheese. Dates, of course, are the ingredient backbone. Many supermarkets sell them already chopped, but lately when I’ve used these pre-chopped dates, they have been…
. I’ve been cooking and writing about it for decades, in books, magazines and newspapers. Along the way I’ve collected a list of my favorite recipes. Asparagus Lasagna is on my “great-recipe lineup.” Asparagus and pasta are a perfect couple; they create a luscious contrast in flavors and textures, especially when bound with a creamy goat cheese-spiked sauce. Roasting asparagus…
This dish is downright irresistible. It’s easy to prepare and has a short ingredient list. Chicken with Roasted Grapes is a one-skillet wonder that is a weeknight favorite, but certainly is delicious enough to serve as a company dinner entree. The whole red grapes, chicken, and peeled garlic cloves, team with rosemary, black pepper, and kosher salt. A luscious sauce…
Recently I welcomed Tara Punzone to my home kitchen to show me how to prepare her scrumptious Pesto Cavatelli. Punzone is the celebrated vegan chef behind Pura Vita, the 100 percent plant-based Italian restaurant and wine bar in West Hollywood. Her new cookbook, “Vegana Italiana” (Rodale), is a lively celebration of old-world Italian flavors transformed to be entirely plant-based. No…
For just a couple more weeks, it will be fresh Hatch chilies season. Their flavorful flesh takes on an alluring scent when roasted. Once roasted, peeled and seeded, they are irresistible in a wide variety of dishes. One of my favorite ways to use them is to show them off in a Hatch Chili New Mexican Style Sauce. As the…
This colorful salad is a luscious addition to brunches, or showcased on a buffet table. Guests who have lukewarm attitudes towards fruit salad my find themselves coming back for seconds! Switch up the ingredients to align with the season. In the summer when stone fruit is at its best, include some plums, or apricots, or nectarines. Plums are divine. In…
Skillet-toasted cheese bread is super delicious with this perky salad. I found this salad recipe from PBS television star Lidia Bastianich’s newsletter. Bastianich, restauranteur, and cookbook author, pairs a salad of radicchio, endive, apple, and pecorino cheese with skillet-toasted cheese toasts. I’ve modified her recipe to add Bibb lettuce to the mix and reduce the amount of radicchio and endive….