In which scones are given a make-over with roasted sweet peppers, sundried tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and thyme: flavors reminiscent of Southern France. In fact, this recipe is more of an American biscuit recipe than a traditional British Scone recipe (pronounced sc-on, to rhyme with gone). If you want to find out why, here is a good article from Food 52 . Scone or biscuit, this is delicious and a great substitute for cornbread, rolls or bread in any meal. One of the great things about cooking is that techniques overlap. You learn something in order to make one dish and use the same ...
Salads and Sides
SPRING RADISHES AND SMOKED SALMON TART
I love the changing seasons! There is something wonderful about moving from hot to cold and back again. The colors of the world change along with the temperature and the foods we eat change with them. Spring puts me in the mood for colors and lighter food. It also makes me feel like baking fruit tarts and pastries. Maybe it’s an Easter thing, I don’t know! This Spring I have been working on making my own puff pastry. Or actually, Rough Puff Pastry which is one step below traditional puff pastry in labor. Don’t worry, I’m not throwing that at you yet. I need to make it a few more ...
PORK LARB: AN ASIAN MEAT SALAD
You didn’t think I only made one dish with my Red Wattle Pork from Sugar Creek Meats, did you? Pork Larb, which can be made with almost any protein is, at its heart, a ground meat salad. The two most well known versions come from Laos and Northern Thailand. As an interesting aside, the Laotian version includes fish sauce and lime juice which is what I would have expected to find in the Thai larb. My recipe includes elements from both cuisines. You can serve your larb over rice or noodles, in lettuce cups, or pretty much anyway you want. It can be a light meal or a full dinner. Make ...
HODGEPODGE WEEK: WHITE BEAN AND CAPER CROSTINI, CITRUS AND HERB MARINATED FETA, AND A WORD ABOUT KNIVES.
It’s Hodgepodge week here: the week I give you a couple of short and easy recipes in a mix-up of hors d’oeuvres, sauces and other items. This serves two purposes. It allows me a moment to catch my breath after a crazy two weeks baby sitting in Chicago followed rapidly by catering an event in Charlotte (which was supposed to be for 50 people but the actual attendence more than 80), and it lets me share with you a few recipes which aren’t really long enough or hard enough for a post of their own. I am going to start with an easy recipe for a quick appetizer which has the added bonus of ...
MAKING PEA SOUP LOVELY
The other day as I was struggling to take a good picture of my homemade pea soup I realized that winter food is a lot like winter: a lot of it is brown and dreary looking. This is not to say that winter does not have its delights. There are warm and cozy evenings indoors by the fire. The first snow. The night sky on a cold and clear evening when the stars shine bright. And of course, the smell of something cooking long and slow on the stovetop with its promise of a delicious meal to come. And thinking about that, I decided not to get too fussed about the fact that pea soup is ...
FRENCH ONION SOUP
It’s cold out there. People are talking about snow, some with delight and some with dread. Here in Asheville we are in the freezing cold rain season. My backyard and driveway are a mud pit big enough to handle a herd of hippos. This calls for something warm, with cheese, and carbs. In short, it calls for French Onion Soup. I got this recipe from a friend of mine almost 50 years ago. It’s been a family favorite for a long time and is our traditional Halloween night dinner, good enough to tempt children away from a bag of goodies and also make tired parents happy. It’s not hard to ...
OTT0LENGHI’S EGGPLANT WITH BUTTERMILK SAUCE AND POMEGRANATE
This is a big week for me. I am moving into my new home! It’s kind of hard to believe the day is here at last, especially as the place is still crawling with painters and cabinet makers, but Caine says it will be done when the movers arrive and he is always good for his word. So I hope you will excuse me if this week’s offering is not one of my recipes but that of Yotam Ottolenghi, an Israeli-British chef, whose stated mission is “the idea of celebrating vegetables or pulses without making them taste like meat, or as complements to meat, but to be what they are.” Ottolenghi brings ...
SALAD: A MANIFESTO
How many times have you heard it said that “women have issues with food”? I am calling baloney on that one. Women do not have issues with food. They have issues with a culture that implies (and sometimes outright states) that you need to be thin to be loved. I am telling you right now, as someone who has maintained her weight within five pounds for her entire adult life, that it’s not how you look in that dress that makes his eyes shine, it’s you in that dress that he is seeing. And if he doesn’t love you, you could be Marilyn Monroe and he won’t notice. Eat well because you like the ...
SUMMER FRESH TOMATO BASIL SAUCE
Here in Asheville people like to talk about living in the now but that’s pretty hard to do when merchants are always rushing the next season at us. It is the middle of summer and the food magazines at the check-out line are pushing cozy fall dishes. Meanwhile the reality is that your basil plants are getting leggy and woody and going to flower. Your two (or three) tomato plants have decided to ripen all of the tomatoes on the vine at the same time. And if your CSA basket holds one more onion you will have no place left in the bin to store them. Feels like the height of the growing season ...
TOMATO STUFFED ROASTED RED PEPPERS
This is such an inadequate title for this dish! Firstly, properly roasted red peppers are filled with umami. They just melt in your mouth and they taste divine making any dish you use them in even better. Couple that with the best garden fresh tomatoes of summer, some garlic and basil and you have a super easy, super tasty side dish that just screams of summer. I discovered this dish when we lived in England. It makes me think of long summer nights, children playing outside and dinner with friends. I can remember the first time I served them to my father. He was a man who ...
