first
One of the first cookbooks that I ever bought, that I still have, was Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I was living at home, still in school, and my mother did all the cooking. I don’t remember what possessed me to buy the book but I do remember my first recipe was […]
I love crab cakes but I wanted to make something different for this party. So this is my riff on a crab cake. This is as enticing but uses wild shrimp, corn and gluten free crackers, so my friends with true gluten intolerance could enjoy them. Also, usually crab cakes are pan seared so they […]
This is a composed salad. It looks like a work of art, Dutch Old Masters, when you present it; but then when the guests dive in, it morphs into a Jackson Pollock: a mess of colors and shapes. A composed salad can include anything. I choose seasonal ingredients, keeping in mind what I know my […]
Once I knew how I was preparing the halibut, I thought that a light lemon risotto with fresh oregano would balance the meal. Risotto is an Italian dish that features arborio rice: a short grain, high starch rice that is cooked very slowly in stock. It requires constant stirring. When it’s done, you add Parmesan […]
When I was a child, there was a restaurant we frequented for breakfast that served lightly breaded, sauteed chicken livers. The livers were perfectly cooked. They had a dark, rich, crusty, brown exterior and tender, moist, juicy, pink insides and were perfect with softly scrambled eggs. My father and I were the only ones in […]
One of my friends does a holiday party every year. She always serves simple appetizers, salami, cheeses and turkey liver pate. Most of her guests are really health conscious, so I am always surprised that the pate totally disappears. I know where she buys the pate and I went and bought some. I made the […]
Many years ago, I had a new acquaintance and we found ourselves talking about — what else? — food. We were amazed to find out that we both were hooked on sesame Ryvita crackers. These are a simple whole grain, healthy cracker that we both loved. We talked about how we like to slather them […]
Growing up, we rarely ate fish. On the few occasions my mom made fish for dinner, the entire house took on a fishy smell. Not very appetizing. I don’t know what kind of fish she cooked because it was always served with a huge glop of heavy mayonnaisey tartar sauce. I figured that the tartar […]
