Tofu Salad with Mint and Toasted Rice Powder

Many of the Thai dishes that I have learned to cook are part of my attempt to recreate restaurant dishes that I like.  This recipe is different. It is from a very creative and inspiring cookbook called True Thai, The Modern Art of Thai Cooking by Victor Sodsook. I do not think that I have ever…

Chili Cream and Swiss Chard Soup

So we steep chilies in cream at work to make delicious spicy cream. And there was a batch recently that got left to steep for a bit too long. My co-worker Jen was going to throw it out but I said, WAIT! That is delicious spicy cream! It is fatty and spicy and those are…

Green Vegetables in Yellow Bean Garlic Sauce

You may not realize that you have eaten yellow-bean garlic sauce, but if you have ordered long beans or water spinach at a Thai or Vietnamese restaurant in an attempt to counteract the quantity of coconut milk curry and fried spring roles that will be consuming…chances are you have had this sauce.  It’s a very…

Arugula and Herb Salad with Dates, Almonds and Sheep Cheese

I recently made this salad for a dinner party and everyone loved it!  We liked it so much that we made a second batch of it after we ate the main course.  It’s loosely based on a salad in the Plenty cookbook by Ottolenghi.  I failed to pick up the turkish sheep cheese that the…

Cabbage Slaw with Mango, Peanuts, Mint and Pungent Lime Dressing

A couple of summers back, we spent a glamourous weekend celebrating a friend’s birthday at a farm-house in the Catskills.  Everyone in this particular circle of friends happens to cook amazing food.  There was fresh-baked bread, Tomato Pie, chickpea and butternut squash salad with tahini dressing, fava bean salad, smoked salmon hash with fresh herbs…

Roasted Potatoes and Fennel with Za’atar

Every year around my birthday I go out for  dinner at one of my favourite restaurants, The Kebab Cafe, in Astoria Queens. I don’t really eat out much, because it interferes with my desires to spend all of my time cooking in my own kitchen, but eating at the Kebab cafe is deeply satisfying to…

Wilted Dandelion Salad with Cured Meats

The mother of my childhood best friend used to make salad from dandelion greens that grew in her yard.  She is one of the most elegant, magical, beautiful women I have ever known.  She read us all of the children’s classics in her beautiful English accent.  She’s an actress and it’s probably partly her fault…

Swiss Chard Stems with Tahini

I am quite excited by this swiss chard stem dish.  The recipe is from “Moro, The Cookbook” by Sam & Sam Clark.  I eat a lot of swiss chard.  In the winter the stems are a little bit intense so I like to cook them separately from the greens and beat them into submission with…