This is one of my favorite recipes. It is light, flexible, and healthy. It is delicious with fresh broccoli from the farmers market, and equally good with winter broccoli from the grocery store. Best of all, it gets better with time and tastes good warm or cold, so it makes excellent leftovers! Broccoli and Fennel Salad Ingredients (serves … [Read more...]
Swiss Fondue
We're perched in the Swiss Alps looking out over breathtaking peaks. In an effort to fully get into the spirit of Switzerland I decided to give fondue a try. Amazingly I've never had fondue before and I've certainly never made it before. It turned out to be quite easy, very tasty, and super rich. I wouldn't suggest having it as a regular part … [Read more...]
Spring Salads
Spring is a season of salads! Actually, I think there are great salad for all seasons, but spring is one of my favorite times to celebrate bitter greens and fresh garden toppings. There are endless delicious combinations and lots of room for creativity. I've been making salads often during our travels. It's usually easy to find fresh greens and … [Read more...]
Lemon and Garlic Asparagus
Asparagus is a quintessential spring vegetable -- full of green flavor, only around for a short season, and a harbinger of more summer bounty to come. It's one of my favorites and I always try to make an asparagus-focused dish to kick-off the season. Last year it was spring quesadillas and this year it was asparagus with lemon and … [Read more...]
Turmeric and Ginger Glazed Carrots
Life on the road means making simple meals. I'm limited to locally available ingredients that I can purchase in small quantities. It is definitely a shift in mindset not to have my usual kitchen stocked with all my favorite pantry staples. This is a good exercise for me because I enjoy the hunt to find great flavor with simple … [Read more...]
French Onion Soup
I'm trying to cook as many traditional French meals as possible while I'm here. My most recent conquest was french onion soup and it was a total hit. I honestly don't know why I've never tried making it before -- it's totally delicious and surprisingly good for you. I always assumed that rich, creamy flavor came from loads of cream and butter, … [Read more...]
Holiday Brussels Sprouts
I made these for friends recently and we all decided they would be perfect as a holiday side dish given the vibrant red and green colors. They also happen to be delicious! I will be recreating them on Christmas Eve for my family and am already looking forward to eating them again. As you may remember from my top five vegetables post, I love … [Read more...]
Fiddlehead Salad
The fiddleheads are here! It's a sure sign of spring when seasonal wild edibles begin to appear at the market. I was thrilled to find these at Whole Foods last weekend and begin planning my first fiddlehead meal. Fiddleads are actually the coiled tops of the Ostrich Fern. They are harvested in the wild before the fern has unfurled. They … [Read more...]
Curried Pear & Butternut Squash Soup
This soup tastes like chilly fall evenings curled up by the fire. My mom made it when I was growing up and it seems to be the perfect antidote to cold, dark nights. It highlights the best of seasonal cooking, while tasting rich and decadent without any dairy. It's also pretty darn simple to make, which is always a plus! Curried Pear and … [Read more...]
Tongues of Fire Beans
How could I resit these beautiful beans? I found them at the farmer's market and had to give them a try. The farmer selling them told me they are called Tongues of Fire because of their pink shells and described them as a mixture of fresh summer beans (think green beans) and dried winter beans. They are semi-dried, so they need to be cooked, but … [Read more...]