Love at First Sight I picked up Salad as a Meal: Healthy Main-Dish Salads for Every Season on a whim at the library recently. It looked like my kind of book. Along with Dorie Greenspan and Georgeanne Brennan, Patricia Wells is one of my favorite modern French cookbook authors. I either own, or habitually borrow from the library my favorite books of theirs over and over and re-read them like I re-read my favorite novels; every few years or so I have to revisit them for renewed inspiration. So I brought it home and began to browse through it after the kids were in bed. Within a few minutes I had to set the book down and rummage through the junk drawer. I was in search of my stash of [... To read more, click here ...]
Mar 122012
Jul 012009
One of my favorite, easy but oh so flavorful, always-have-the-ingredients-for-it meals is Pasta Puttanesca. I make it with shrimp. I make it with chicken. I make it with leftover chicken. I make it when I have fresh tomatoes. I make it with canned tomatoes in the winter. I make it with artichoke hearts and capers when I’m out of olives. I up the olive quotient when I’m out of capers. It is that kind of a recipe. Versatile. And always a hit. That is, until we decided to go grain free a while ago. After our move, we have not one box of pasta in our house. I can’t cheat. So what did I do? I experimented with spaghetti squash. And found a NEW favorite! Spicy Spaghetti Squash Puttanescaserves four [... To read more, click here ...]
I hemmed and hawed and debated back and forth whether or not I should share this recipe. Not because I questioned it, but because it is so, so good, it is kind of a family secret for special dinners. (I just made this last week for T.’s 30th Birthday Dinner!) And actually, I confess, I augmented it just a teensy bit from my sister’s version to make it my own. . . . (in terms of extra crab and extra artichoke hearts, some of my favorite foods!) And then, seeing as I found another version of this recipe elsewhere, I decided I had to share. Just don’t be surprised if I serve this to you if you come over for dinner. Halibut Iliamnaa family secret . . . sshhhhh. . [... To read more, click here ...]
May 062009
Smoked Salmon Spread with Pecans courtesy of my mom and dad One 1-lb. can of wild, Alaskan salmon One 8-oz. package of cream cheese, softened 2 teaspoons grated white or yellow onion 1/4 teaspoon sea salt * 1/2 cup chopped pecans 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice 1 teaspoon horseradish 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke * 3 Tablespoons fresh parsley, snipped (or 1 Tablespoon dried parsley) 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika Drain, removing bones and skin from salmon. Flake salmon into a bowl. Combine cream cheese, lemon juice, onion, horseradish, salt and liquid smoke with salmon, mixing well. Chill several hours or overnight. About an hour before serving, combine pecans, parsley and paprika. Shape salmon mixture into a log or ball and roll in pecan mixture. Chill. Serve with crackers, sliced baguette and sliced [... To read more, click here ...]
