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…

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.

How to Roast Asparagus in Under 10 minutes

You know,  I am pretty sure that I had never tasted or even heard of asparagus until I came to the east coast to go to college.  When I did finally try it, I found it delicious but entirely unaffordable.  I find good prices on asparagus all the time now, which makes me very happy!…

Winter Salad Variations Starring Roasted Beets

I am a fan of winter salads.  In January I usually feel the need to cut down on my expenses by packing lunch from home.  I also feel the need to eat less ridiculously meat filled meals after indulging myself over the holidays.  The result is that I have a lot of good recipes for…

Smoked Salmon Hash with Fresh Herbs

Many years ago my family made a cookbook for our family reunion.  Everyone in our family cooks so it was a pretty great little cookbook.  This was the recipe from my cousin Gary and his wife Constance.  They are seriously fantastic cooks and fabulous people in general.  They recommended this dish as a Christmas morning brunch….

Salads with Pears

I am in love with fresh pears.  You have to be patient with them. I buy them hard and place them in a sealed brown bag for 4 days to ripen.  You can tell that they are ripe when they smell like pears.  If you want them to ripen faster, throw a banana in the…

Tomato Cognac Soup

I am sick.  When I am sick I really only want to eat tomato soup.  I’ll eat other food as long as tomato soup is involved in the menu.   So here is another tomato soup recipe, which I served today with grilled cheese and a spinach salad with bacon, avocado, blue cheese, chives, tomato,…

Rima’s Indian Inspired Green Beans

This recipe is from the lovely and talented Rima Fand.   I served them recently with the goose braised in port, but they would be very good in any menu.  They are simple, easy and totally yummy! RIMA’S INDIAN INSPIRED GREEN BEANS   some mild oil  (about 2 Tablespoons) cumin seeds (about 2 teaspoons) black…

Braised Goose with Port and Vegetables

Our friend Kerthy threw a second Thanksgiving on New Years and it was a big success.  We had a turkey, goose, rabbit (or was it a squirrel?), cornbread stuffing, green beans, yams, green salad, apple pie, pumpkin pie and a lovely group of happy, thankful people.  Hooray! This is the second time I have made…