Two years ago, I shared the pasta I served at my brother-in-law’s rehearsal dinner: tagliolini with pistachio-orange pesto, and it feels right to be talking about pesto once again, because who likes making intense tomato sauces once summer hits? (I do, at least when the really good tomatoes start popping up in the market and…
Salmon-avocado ceviche, inspired by Rafael Palomino’s Viva la Vida.
Most weeks, usually on Wednesdays, I download the latest episode of the Office Ladies podcast and take a walk across the harbor to Whole Foods in order to pick up fish in order to make either a ceviche, a tiradito, or some similar dish where the fish would likely only be cooked in some acid….
Basque-style montaditos of crème fraîche, sun-dried tomato puree, and anchovies.
Sun-dried tomatoes deserve to make a comeback: there, I said it. I know that they went from a trendy restaurant ingredient in the 80s to being completely overdone in the 90s and 00s, but it’s 2021, we’re emerging from a pandemic, and I think enough time has passed that we can give them another go….
Air fryer Catalonian-style chicken wings with allioli.
Even though it’s been nearly seven years(!) since we last were in Caldes d’Estrac and eating at El Taller, I still think about their signature roasted meats served with a ramekin of allioli made completely from scratch. (By that I mean they made the emulsion only using some garlic, salt, lemon juice, and olive oil…
Fresh mafaldine with herb-pistachio pesto and peppered mascarpone cheese.
Recently we signed up for Discovery+, and let me tell you: it’s a trip. I’ve been able to revisit so many of the shows I used to watch like Barefoot Contessa, Mexican Made Easy, and Everyday Italian, while also being able to check out newer shows while avoiding six-hour marathons of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives…
Roasted shrimp cocktail with roasted tomato cocktail sauce inspired by Ina Garten and Tom Colicchio.
When it became absolutely clear that we were not going to be going anywhere for Thanksgiving back in November, I wasted no time in planning a good meal for us that would be a combination of our favorite foods: roasted duck legs, green bean casserole (for Michael), roasted mushroom soup (for me), tortellini, a Basque-style…
Txangurro (deviled crab gratin), or the Basque take on Baltimore crab dip via The Basque Book.
If you’re not from the Mid-Atlantic region, then the idea of crab dip is probably one you are familiar with in a meaningful way. My mom makes it as a cold dip, mixing canned crab, diced onion, and cream cheese into a ball and then smothering it in cocktail sauce, but here in Baltimore it’s…
On croque monsieur pizza and finding inspiration in unexpected places.
Inspiration comes from weird places sometimes. While scrolling through Instagram recently I noticed someone trying to pass off something as a croque monsieur that was anything but, and following some stewing over it, I was inspired to dedicate one of our upcoming Friday night pizzas to adapting a croque monsieur to a pie. I’ve written…
Tender chickpea stew with a little help from Koita almond milk, a pressure cooker, and a fourteenth-century Catalonian cookbook.
Disclosure: I was sent a case of Koita Foods almond milk and almond-coconut milk to sample and review, and all opinions are my own. One of my favorite bits from any episode of Nigella Lawson’s many cooking shows is when she takes a moment to stand in front of her wall-to-wall bookcase teeming with cookbooks….
Snowy day flaky biscuits and chile-lime mango jam from Carla Hall’s Soul Food.
Years ago, back in my college days, a Popeye’s stood at the corner of 54th Street and City Ave in Philadelphia, right at the then-edge of Saint Joseph’s University campus. Early in my first semester, I ended up walking with a classmate over to the restaurant because she was in the mood for some biscuits…
