Pesto
Pesto may have become more popular than is good for it. Marcella Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking A few years ago my husband offered to plant some kitchen herbs for me. “What would you like?” he asked. “Basil?” I responded tentatively. Three years later, the basil plants are merrily…
Fish Cakes
Before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1998, the closest I’d come to sampling a fish cake was the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish. I say that without sarcasm. In 2000 I found work at a large university. My colleagues and I often lunched out. One of our haunts was a…
Nearly Summer Salad
Why nearly summer? Well, I don’t know about where you are, but where I am, it’s still cool. We even had rain a few days ago. More importantly, as salads go, it’s still too early for luxuries like heirloom tomatoes or baby cucumbers. Instead, nearly summer salad relies on some…
Minestrone
For the non-Italian, deciding to prepare Minestrone can feel a little intimidating. Minestrone itself–a substantial vegetable soup–isn’t difficult to make. The problem is deciding which minestrone to make. Elizabeth David, writing in Italian Cooking, gives five recipes for minestrone. In The Essentials of Italian Cooking, Marcella Hazan offers a recipe…
Photographs
A photography post for mid-May. Downtown Oakland. More Downtown Oakland. Feeble attempts to mimic Hipgnosis record covers. Late by four decades. Flowers, grown by spouse. Pyrex cups, shot for a recipe that failed. Jasmine rice. See above. Wild rose season is upon us, in all its brief glory (it lasts…
Chicken with Baby Artichokes and Rice
People assume every meal around here is a multicourse wonder, each dish more stunningly photogenic than the next. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, over the past few days, as markets filled with spring produce, I couldn’t think of a damned thing to cook, much less blog….
Rockfish Fillets with Panko
Rockfish fillets grace our dinner table almost weekly. Given this fact, you’d think I’d have written about them by now. The fact is I find rockfish and the entire whitefish tribe boring eating. Unrelated photo. My husband does not share this view. So I cook rockfish for him and eat…
English Rarebit (Toasted Cheese)
The name of this dish was cause for lively discussion on instagram. Is it a rarebit or a rabbit? Is it Welsh or English? All my British friends assured me the dish is now referred to as a “rarebit.” Whether or not it is English or Welsh likely depends on…
Repairing a Ruined Recipe
Today’s post is less about “recipes” than it is about thinking creatively. More succinctly, it is how I turned one awful dish into two good ones, and saved the world. Well, maybe not that last bit. I am not the type who recycles leftovers into new dishes. As far as…
Cheese Straws
Some readers may feel cheese straws are right up there with gelatin molds involving mayonnaise. Stay with me, for the cheese straw has possibilities beyond the dinner-party-appetizer-with-drinks. I mean, seriously, do you ever hear me discussing my dinner party plans? Right. So hang in there. Cheese straws do necessitate turning…
