Melissa Clark’s smoky lentils and sausages from Dinner in an Instant.

Remember when Instant Pot, and subsequently Instant Pot recipes were absolutely everywhere? We received a digital pressure cooker about a year prior to when they got big as a gift from a friend, and at the time we were only using the recipes that came with it, which were fine…but not revelatory. Then Instant Pot…

Cannellini bean and tomato soup, inspired by the late Franny’s in Brooklyn.

I’ve been in a soup mood for the past couple of months, and I’ve been making batches of cauliflower soup (which is great hot or chilled) and beet-tomato gazpacho to enjoy as a light snack during the week when I’m at home. It’s prompted me to revisit some soup sections of my favorite cookbooks, and…

Marcella Hazan’s red and orange* bell pepper and sausage sauce with homemade lasagnette.

Happy 2024! I hope your holiday season was filled with good cheer, great food, some kickass presents, and at least a little relaxation. I have a lovely little stack of new cookbooks, albeit most of them from my birthday (and our most recent trip to Puerto Rico) rather than at Christmas, and as I write…

Provençal-ish air-fryer pork meatballs with red pepper rouille, inspired by bouillabaisse.

Back when we lived in Stamford, I blogged about making Alton Brown’s “Positively, Absolutely Not Real Bouillabaisse” while we watched Day for Night/La Nuit Americaine, and while making the stew is kind of a pain due to the sheer number of ingredients it requires, the non-fish flavors have stayed with me ever since, because they’re…

Chicken thighs in charred chile and tomatillo salsa, inspired by Mexico: The Cookbook.

As much as I like cooking, I have to admit that especially on weekdays, I can be a creature of habit. Mondays we typically do tacos, Tuesdays are for chicken thighs that will turn into leftovers for the week, and Wednesdays I’ll make some sort of raw fish dish. Often with my Tuesday chicken thighs…

Chicken thighs in peanut-chile salsa, inspired by Mexico: The Cookbook and Hotel Xcaret.

The food at Hotel Xcaret really exceeded my expectations, though I will be honest–my expectations weren’t that high. This is not a reflection on Hotel Xcaret, but more my wariness of resort cuisine in general. I was sold, however, on their culinary bonefides when I saw how prolifically they used chicken thighs for meals across…

Chicken liver spread with pancetta on toast, or: a return to sabor de soledad.

Since I’ve been able to join M on a lot of trips recently, it’s been a minute since I’ve had the kitchen to myself for a few days while he’s on the road. Recently he had to go to Atlanta for a show, and as we had both been to Mexico the week before, I…

Sabor de soledad: making Padma Lakshmi’s rustic wild mushroom soup, only with pasta instead of potatoes.

Michael spent much of the second week of November in Phoenix at a conference, and I didn’t go along with him this time because he was technically staying at a resort in Scottsdale, and it didn’t seem worth spending all that time on a plane to just wander around a resort, however nice it was….

Celery root soup with apples and Hawaji from the Zahav cookbook.

Now that it is unmistakably fall, I’m trying to deal with it by embracing autumnal dishes, including soups. Michael isn’t the biggest fan of soup, but I’ve made inroads with him thanks to how refreshing gazpacho is during the summer. That said, when it comes to cold-weather soups, I need to show him something compelling…

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….