Fresh spring rolls are actually way easier to make than you might think. Armed with a few fresh ingredients – quite possible already in your refrigerator – the rice wrappers and the 5 ingredients needed for the peanut sauce you are ready to go. My…

My husband and I never can quite agree about what type of fish should go into cioppino. He says it must be salmon for the rich flavors it imparts in the broth. He also has a memory association from the first time he tasted it…

I’m in one of those phases where I will only consider a recipe if it takes less then 45 minutes to prepare and if it’s in one pan. I spent several weeks in April working on three different asparagus recipes with this goal in mind…

Tomato season is here and for me there is no greater sense of urgency then now to enjoy their sweet full flavor and plump juicy texture. It’s truly how nature intended them to be. Technology and farming techniques have made it possible to grow and…

The reasons to love meatballs are easy. Little flavor bombs packed with ingredients to make them way more interesting to eat than the meat on its own. For the cook they’re easy to throw together, roll and brown in a bit of oil and difficult…

Winter salad ingredients can be every bit as inspiring as those in summer. Thinly sliced Brussels sprouts, baby kale leaves, juicy mandarin orange sections, creamy avocado chunks and pomegranate seeds all tossed together with a lime honey vinaigrette are proof of that. The addition of coarsely…

I consider black beans the little black dress of food. Elegant and simple, they can be dressed up depending on what you put with them. Curry powder, turmeric and cinnamon create a little exoticness in this one pot soup that makes enough to enjoy more…

It’s salmon season and if you’re like me you are always interested in a new way to prepare it. And honestly, as much as I like the flavor of salmon, it’s possible I eat it perhaps more because it contains Omega-3 fatty acids that have…

My Mother’s Day wishes have changed with every stage of parenting. First it was all about sleep. When our kids were babies the best gift was an uninterrupted night and waking up at whatever time I wanted. The toddler to preschool and first few years of…

Many people have their favorite way to prepare lamb this time of year. Bust in case you don’t and you haven’t seen my lamb posts from a few years back or you’re like me and sometimes wait until just a few days before your event to decide how to prepare something… I am reposting two of my favorites. The butterflied leg of lamb works well for a larger group and the rack of lamb for a smaller gathering.

Using a microplaner, lightly remove just the outer zest – do not grate into the white layer

Remove peel from gingerroot Cut into ¼ inch slices Cut each slice into ¼ inch sticks, line up and cut across to chop Continue cutting to mince

Remove tops of stems from the bunch Remove leaves from the stems Stack leaves in a small bunch and chop Continue chopping moving the knife all around the parsley to uniformly chop leaves

Separate a clove of garlic from the head Using the side of your knife, lightly smash the clove of garlic to make it easier to remove skin; remove skin Slice off stem end Slice into thin vertical strips Cut across vertical strips to make mince…

The goal is to make horizontal and vertical cuts on the onion in a grid pattern to make it easier and more uniform to chop Slice off the end of the onion With the cut end of the onion down, slice the onion in half…

Ah, such a simple dish, really.  Bread, ham and cheese. I’m tempted to say the French version of our American grilled cheese, but I think it works the other way around. I so distinctly remember my first croque monsieur in Paris at the very hip…