This is a very telling salad. In the intro to the recipe, author Becky Selengut writes that Salade Nicoise is a dish where cooks show their personality types: "Anal types will place each ingredient in efficient, color-coordinated piles, most likely not touching each other. … [Read more...] about Salade Nicoise à la Selengut
Main Dishes
Thai Pumpkin Curry with Mackerel and Fish Sauce
I wrote about how I was gifted a pumpkin at a farmers market. Well, a girl can't live on pumpkin smoothies alone, try as she might. And I didn't try very hard. So I ended up with half a pumpkin to cook. And that, dear reader, called for pumpkin stew. but I don't really like your … [Read more...] about Thai Pumpkin Curry with Mackerel and Fish Sauce
Thanksgiving 2012 – The Photos
Wow. What a dinner. The brined turkey tasted like amazing pho' broth soaking into the most tender meat. The stuffing with gluten-free bread absorbed it all too, with just a little smokiness (others said. I couldn't taste the smoke), maybe from the oven, which was smoking, or from … [Read more...] about Thanksgiving 2012 – The Photos
Remaking a Champion: Seared Mackerel and Mango with Ratatouille
This is a far cry from Becky Selengut's original recipe, but when I saw her make this at the Queen Anne Farmers Market in Seattle with peaches instead of figs, I knew I could get away with a few changes. Now, she used peaches because they were in season, but as peach season had … [Read more...] about Remaking a Champion: Seared Mackerel and Mango with Ratatouille
A Successful Cooking Demo at the Nun’s Island Farmers Market: Indian cauliflower, leeks vinaigrette, and sausage with grilled eggplant
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Ile-des-Soeurs market yesterday. It was a beautiful day for Indian-spiced cauliflower, leeks in apple cider and parsley vinaigrette, and Toulouse sausages with grilled eggplant, all straight from the market producers to my portable grill. … [Read more...] about A Successful Cooking Demo at the Nun’s Island Farmers Market: Indian cauliflower, leeks vinaigrette, and sausage with grilled eggplant
Geoduck à la Modernist Cuisine: Spaghetti alle vongole with clam noodles
Do you know the expression, "There's more than one way to skin a cat"? Well there are a grand total of two ways (that I know of) to skin a geoduck. What's a geoduck? It's a kind of clam, pronounced "gooey duck," and is very much not a duck. Each geoduck costs about $45 and for … [Read more...] about Geoduck à la Modernist Cuisine: Spaghetti alle vongole with clam noodles
Like a Kid in a Candy Shop: Lychee-Black Sesame Marshmallows and Olive Oil Gummy Worms at the Modernist Cuising Cooking Lab
I grew up in a city that didn't have a candy shop. We had one-cent candies and nerds you could buy at the convenience store, but the closest I got to an actual candy shop was the store in the Halifax airport that sold 20 flavours of candy canes when I was 10 years old. Now, … [Read more...] about Like a Kid in a Candy Shop: Lychee-Black Sesame Marshmallows and Olive Oil Gummy Worms at the Modernist Cuising Cooking Lab
Dairy-free Mussel Chowder
What's chowder without milk or cream? After reading Mark Kurlansky's "The Last Fish Tale" I'm happy to say it's "authentic." When there was no milk or cream to be had in the Northeastern United States, you used water. So this chowder, cooked for me by lovely people in PEI, was a … [Read more...] about Dairy-free Mussel Chowder
Nordic Shrimp Creole adapted from the New York Times Cookbook
Nordic as in the shrimp, not as in the flavours of the recipe. There's no sour cream or dill involved, thank goodness. Just lots of tomatoes, peppers, celery and onions with salty capers, bright lemon peel, warming cloves and calming thyme. There's also eggplant to give it a lot … [Read more...] about Nordic Shrimp Creole adapted from the New York Times Cookbook
Lemon Risotto with Zucchini and Parsley
How did spring pass into summer without me making a single risotto? It's the ultimate spring comfort food and so perfect with seasonal asparagus and mushrooms. Every magazine and blog worth its salt seems to have featured it, except me. I use Hawaiian pink salt for goodness sake. … [Read more...] about Lemon Risotto with Zucchini and Parsley