Potato, Leek and Mushroom Gratin (gluten-free or not)

Its time to make gratins again!  Here is the beautiful thing about a gratin….while it is true that it takes a bit of effort to make, it prepares a large amount of  food that you can then reheat for your dinners all week-long.  With a salad, a gratin counts as a complete meal! If you…

Yam, Swiss Chard and Chipotle Gratin

I recently made a very, very good yam and swiss chard gratin from Smitten Kitchen.  I also recently made a pork loin with fruit stuffing and a chipotle sherry cream sauce from a restaurant cookbook.  The fruit stuffing was delicious and the sauce was amazing but altogether the pork loin dish managed to be simultaneously…

Chicken baked with Prunes, Capers and Green Olives

This  is adapted from a very famous recipe called Chicken Marbala.  It was the signature dish of the Silver Palate, a wildly popular catering company in New York in the 1980s that published two wildly popular cookbooks.  If you are someone who cooks food for decadent parties, I cannot recommend these two books strongly enough….

Easiest of the Easy: Lentils Monastery Style with New-style Southern Cornbread

Well…. I’m still struggling with the fact that working in a commercial kitchen; however excellent, fruitful and fulfilling, diminishes my desire for cooking at home. Tonight I’m trying to convince myself that cooking is easy and satisfying by making two of the easiest and yummiest dishes in my repertoire. They are Monastery-style Lentil Soup and…

Pork Chops with Boozy Jam Pan Sauce

This is a quick, simple, adaptable dish that I make it a lot when I get busy. You brown some pork chops and then make a pan sauce with a bit of booze…

Red Snapper Hash

During college, and for a few years after, I worked for a fashion designer.  In general I did not fit in well in the fashion world, partly because I talked to much about food and upset my dieting co-workers.

Vegetable Korma and Biriyani

The biriyani that we made for our wedding welcome dinner involved two major steps.  First, you make the vegetable korma, which elevates humble vegetables by braising them in an elegant cardamom nut sauce.

Savory Sweet Corn Pudding

When I first moved to Brooklyn there was only one fancy restaurant in my immediate neighborhood.  It was called The New Prospect Cafe and it was on Flatbush, across the street from where the Jamaican Patty place used to be.  With its small seasonal menu, it was a harbinger of Brooklyn’s culinary future.  When I…