I’ve been making a lot of salads lately in an attempt to incorporate both more greens and more fiber into my evening diet. One way that I trick myself into eating an item I’m generally not too crazy about is by adding what should have been really obvious: fried potatoes. This has been the basis [...]

When I was a little girl, I lived in Seoul, South Korea for some time. My family sometimes ate at the Italian restaurant at the Seoul Hilton–foreign food was a delicacy to us back then (early 90’s), and sometimes real cravings surfaced. Since my mom is a pretty accomplished home chef (and has managed some [...]

For Two:
Italian style loaf bread, sliced thick
1/2 lb rare roast beef
1/4 large onion
pesto
Swiss, Leerdammer, or Bleu Cheese (Blue d’auvergene, St Agur, etc)
olive oil
salt & pepper
Heat your panini machine, slice the bread. Dice the onion and place into hot sautee pan with olive oil, adding salt & pepper. Cook until translucent.
Assemble sandwiches–Spread blue cheese on one [...]

Roast Vegetable Ragout
2 large heirloom tomatoes, preferably green/purple variety or other rich color
2 large carrots, peeled & trimmed
1/2 medium onion
6+ garlic cloves, peeled & trimmed
1/2 red bell pepper
Cut all vegetables into chunks; carrots diagonally. Put into baking dish, toss with 1/4-1/3 C olive oil, pleanty of sea salt & cracked pepper. Cook for 45-90min until [...]

Crepe Batter:
1/2 C Hazelnut “flour” (finely ground hazelnuts)
1/2 C -2T all-purpose unbleached flour
3 eggs
2T melted butter
1 1/3 C whole milk
dash salt
dash fresh grated nutmeg
Mix dry; Mix wet, add into a “well” of the dry and whisk together to avoid lumps, slowly incorporating the dry. The batter should be the consistency of light cream.

2 large fresh [...]

Including: How to make fresh pasta for tortelloni and other stuffed pastas & ravioli
Most of us who are at least a little enamored with Italian food realize and recognize the vast and unending code for Italian pasta shapes. They range from fairly consistent (spaghetti is spaghetti just about anywhere you go) to the incredibly confusing [...]

This one is Stephanie Approved Y’all!
1 butternut squash
6 spears asparagus (large)
1/4 vidalia or other sweet onion
1 large eggplant
1 C quinoa
2 C water
1 slice 1/4 inch thick pancetta, cubed
olive oil
salt & pepper
Cube butternut squash, egglant. Dice onion. Section eggplant to 1/2 inch sections.
Wash quinoa and combine with water in saucepan. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat [...]

One bunch swiss chard
1 zucchini
1 carrot
1 cucumber
2 green onion
1 red beet
2 limes
good olive oil
sesame seeds
cayenne
salt & pepper
Wash all vegetables. Toast the sesame seeds and place in grinder. Alternatively, run roughly through mortar & pestal. Reserve.
Julienne zucchini, carrot, cucumber, red beet. Slice thinly the green onion. Whisk juice of two limes with several T olive oil [...]

Served on Cauliflower Gazpacho.
2 boneless halibut filets
1/2 one ripe mango, cubed
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 ripe avocado, cubed
4 large garlic cloves, minced
juice of 1/2 lime
good olive oil
salt & pepper
Mix the salsa ingredients together, adding avocado last, and giving one final turn over gently to coat in lime juice and prevent browning. Salsa can be made [...]

Fresh green beans or blue lake green beans (haricot-vert)
Lots of fresh, firm garlic, peeled & minced
Great olive oil
1-2 T butter
salt & pepper
Wash & trim the green beans. Cut into smaller, uniform pieces.
Bring a skillet to medium high heat. Add butter. Once melted and water cooks out, but before browning, add minced garlic. Reduce heat to [...]