When I was a kid, I remember loving the way radishes looked. What was not to love about the way the prettiest of roots appeared, all round and pinkish red on the outside and crisp white, almost translucent on the inside? The problem, however, was that my love stopped there. Every time I ate one, the first taste on my palette was good slightly sweet, with a hint of cruciferous funk, but then the scorching heat and bitterness hit. I swear it would have caused a less precocious child to spit.
Radishes, however, were pervasive in my life. They were pink-ringed dots in gorgeous green salads, bright spots on long wooden tables, and buttered lovelies at breakfast in France. Being rather like a bird, attracted to pretty shiny things, I kept trying radishes, but it was not until I pulled one from the ground at my Auntie Gilda’s house in Napa that I loved a radish.
For years after that, I always ate my radishes uncooked and rather plain- maybe with sea salt or in salads or with a bit of butter and more sea salt if I was feeling decadent. There was a week in New York at my friend Joey’s where I lived on mostly olives and radishes and it felt like heaven on earth. Then, about a year ago, I learned about roasting radishes and a whole new world opened up.
This roasted zucchini and radish salad is served warm with mint and chive vinaigrette and finished … get the recipe
I have just returned from Atlanta where I was a speaker at Blogher Food. I am not quite ready to give you the full wrap up, there’s just too much to say. I will say that I had a fantastic time with friends both old and new and I learned some valuable things both inside and out of the sessions at the conference.
I also ate a lot of heavy rich food while away- which can happen when you’re eating out for every meal. Even the veg-food tended to be fried or doused in lots of fat. These Thai prawns with mango dipping sauce are a light and summery dish. The prawns are coated in a spicy marinade- steeped in the scents of Thailand- Kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, and ginger and garlic. They are served with a silky mango dipping sauce.
I had a fantastic time in Atlanta, and I will write more in the coming days, until then, enjoy this recipe, which feels like home to me.
- INGREDIENTS FOR THAI PRAWNS
- 1 lb spot prawns*, peeled, deveined, tails left in tact
- 1 thumb sized knob of ginger
- 4 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 cup of sauvingnon blanc
- 2 stalks of lemon grass chopped into one inch pieces
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 serrano chiles (seeded if you want to remove the heat)
- INGREDIENTS FOR MANGO DIPPING SAUCE
- 4 Manilla mangoes
- 2 tablespoons coconut extract
- zest of 1 lime
- pinch of sea salt
I am off to Atlanta tomorrow for BlogHer Food where I’ll be presenting with Irvin of Eat The Love. We’ve been hard at work getting ready for our panel “Design and Branding 101 for Food Bloggers”. At last count, I think we had 130+ pages. If you’re going to BlogHer Food, don’t let that scare you, the session is still going to be super fun, we hope. If all else fails, someone suggested, Irvin could just throw in his nudie foodies picture to liven things up.
Even though I’ve been super busy getting ready, there are still other things on my plate- pardon the pun. I have my column for Mission Local due tonight. While I had been working on another recipe, it ended up being too complicated to post even though is was really fun to develop.
I switched gears today- yes today. I made garam masala fried seitan inspired by the garam massala fried chicken at Foreign Cinema. This is the quick no-cook chutney I made to accompany it. You can serve it right away, but if you let it sit for an hour or six or eight, the flavors have a chance to develop beautifully.
I hope to meet some of you at BlogHer Food. If you’re at our Session on Friday morning, you can tweet under the hashtag #BHFdesign. Also, you can follow Irvin and I at @eatthlove and @thetomatotart respectively.
- INGREDIENTS
- 1 ½ cups blackberries
- 1 tablespoon of unsweetened flaked coconut
- ½ tablespoon
… get the recipe
My friend Irvin of Eat the Love hosts a monthly party at 18 Reasons, the nonprofit run by the incredible Bi-Rite Market. It always has a theme, and this month’s was mom’s best dessert. Although my mother was a marvelous cook, dessert (if we had it) was often just berries in Grand Marnier with a bit of ice cream. While I adore that, something in me, can’t show up to a dessert party with macerated berries when people know I eat a mostly vegan diet. It just seems too easy.
Now my grandmother, she made dessert! Tarts, lovely gateaux, crème puffs, everything you can imagine all from scratch. When I was a child, though, I loved chocolate mousse. It seemed so glam in the 1970’s airily whipped chocolate sometimes, scented with orange liqueur and topped with a single berry. I loved it most when she served it in her crystal stemware.
So, chocolate mousse, I would make- and I would top it with whipped crème scented with orange and sprinkle it with vanilla beans—and I would make it vegan. So there!
This month’s dessert party was so fun. I did have a tiny taste of everything- all of those homey-flavored desserts were amazing- I’m totally NOT telling my favorite. Who wants to insult anyone’s mom, right? I loved that everyone got super excited when they saw chocolate mousse. A couple of people said it brought them back to childhood. The best part is that people seemed genuinely shocked … get the recipe
There are occasions that call for luxury—times when sumptuous textures and rich flavors are the only option. I created this butterbean and white truffle pâté for just such occasions. With its velvety texture and deep flavors coming from caramelized onions, a Riesling reduction, and a good dose of white truffle oil, this dish would be at home on the finest table, but it’s also just as comfy at a simple picnic in the park.
No one will ever guess it’s healthy (ahem vegan and gluten free) easy to make. I make a double batch and eat it for lunch by the spoonful- because, hey, I’m a girl who loves luxury.
Now, speaking of the luxuries in life, we need to talk truffle oil. *Most truffle oil uses truffle essence, not actual truffles. This means, when you see that big bottle of white truffle oil for $8, don’t buy it. It’s not worth wasting your dough on. Look to spend at least $25 on a couple of ounces of truffle oil and look at the label to make sure it contains actual truffles. Also, buy it from a reputable source, and ask your shopkeeper. If they don’t seem sure, and your label is iffy, wait. It is so worth it to have the real thing. The good news is that with the real stuff, a little goes a long long way. Store it away from the light in a cool place. I tend to put truffle oil on lots of things. … get the recipe
Congratulations! You have been selected to attend Pebble Beach Food and Wine.
I let out a little screech that made the dog jump when I received this email from Foodbuzz. Pebble Beach Food & Wine is one of the most fancy pants food events of the year featuring celebrity chefs (Hello- Daniel Bolud, Tom Collechio, Masaharu Morimoto, and Jacques Pepin! Just to name a few), very fine wines, and one of California’s most breathtaking settings as it’s backdrop, and Foodbuzz was sending me to cover it!
Irvin Lin, of Eat the Love, and I set out early Friday morning for Pebble Beach hoping to check into our adorable boutique hotel, relax for a moment, and pick up our tickets for our first event, The Belgian Beer Lunch. Well, that sort of didn’t happen. Our hotel didn’t have room for us or our baggage- which was no big deal. We eagerly set off on the next leg of our adventure.
Well poor Irvin, doing all the driving and relying on me and my first generation Android phone for navigation (and my poor understanding of maps that are not on paper). We drove round and round and round the woods and finally good to the Inn at Spanish Bay with only 15 minutes to spare. There was only one problem. No tickets. After some calling around, Kiersten at Foodbuzz who is both professional and sweet as can be, pulled some strings, and we were walked into an event that was a … get the recipe
An elegant lunch makes me feel like a lady- especially in this weather where I can take enjoy it outside on my (admittedly tiny) patio. While I love the idea of pesto, I actually don’t really love pesto. I find it’s often heavy and oily and after being struck with pine mouth last Thanksgiving, I am completely pine nut phobic.
This recipe plays up my long time obsession with kaffir lime leaves, which I always keep stocked in my freezer and my deep love of yuzu. Anyone who knows me will tell you that citrus of any kind will raise my eyebrow. Asian citrus; however; blows my skirt up in that full on Marilyn sort of way!
While I try to stay away from soy because it can trigger migraines for me, this was an experiment to see if it was only tofu that was a trigger. Unfortunately, I will not be eating this again as I got a horrid migraine shortly after having a fabulous lunch, but I will it with fresh fava beans, fresh or frozen peas, or even fresh garbanzos! This recipe is so delightful, and so incredibly easy there is no reason not to eat it. One note, the matcha green tea is not necessary, but it adds a little depth of flavor and ups the green color of the dish, but go easy, the stuff is powerful, and nobody wants Shrek pasta.
- INGREDIENTS
- 3 cups thawed frozen organic non GMO edamame
- ¼ cup grapeseed oil
… get the recipe
Those who follow this blog, may know that I am part of a recipe swap. A small (but growing) group of food bloggers led by Christianna of Burwell General Store. Each month, we revamp vintage recipes from a combination cookbook/hymnal that Christianna found at a swap meet.
This month’s recipe was an Ozarkian Taffy Apple. The first dish I made for this month’s swap was a vegan baked French toast with sautéed apples and maple caramel, but I just spent two days at Pebble Beach Food and Wine eating incredible food in the spring sunshine. Upon my return, I realized that the French toast dish was fine comfort food, it was gobbled up happily, but it was neither spectacular nor spring-like. It had to go!
I came home from Pebble Beach Food and Wine with a LOT of berries from Driscoll’s who was one of the sponsor’s of the event, so I knew they would come into play. This morning, I was checking out Cooking with Amy’s latest post since I had the pleasure of meeting her at Pebble Beach. In her gorgeous eatalogue of San Antonio, there was a fabulous photo and description of sopapillas.
Now, I have a major soft spot for these fried dough treats. When I was in college, I worked in a Mexican”ish” restaurant, where the kitchen staff had what I like to think of as an endearingly obscene nickname for me. They’d say, “Hey, jugosas, you hungry? You want a sopapilla?” And they’d fry … get the recipe
