I ate a fried pumpkin dish in a family-owned Chinese restaurant like 10 years ago and have been dreaming about it ever since. The pumpkin had a salted egg yolk coating that I couldn’t get enough of. So when I saw a package of salted egg yolks at the Asian market, I had to buy…
Tag: Side
Sweet Pea Soup with Coconut and Ginger
Cookbook Club – In Bibi’s Kitchen In October we used Hawa Hassan’s cookbook In Bibi’s Kitchen for Cookbook Club. Hassan gathered the stories and recipes of bibis (grandmothers) from eight African nations: Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Madagascar, and Comoros. To get a taste of the foods we tried from these bibis’ kitchens,…
Cheddar Bay Biscuits
My boyfriend’s dad is obsessed with Old Bay Seasoning. He buys it in bulk and puts it on everything. At his prompting, I bought some and my first order of business was to try my hand at making the cheddar bay biscuits everyone talks about. It’s the basic Bisquick biscuit recipe with some cheddar cheese…
Chipotle-Garam Masala Olives
Cookbook Club – Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food September’s Cookbook Club book was Nik Sharma’s Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food. Sharma’s stunning photography showcases his take on Indian cooking in this gorgeous cookbook. To see all the beautiful food, go to my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish! I got as far as…
Guava Ricotta Hors D’oeuvres
My cheese hookup came through again… this time with the creamiest, most incredible ricotta I have ever eaten! I just happened to have made guava jam using guavas gifted to me by my neighbors (I feel so lucky to have friends who like to give me food!), and it occurred to me that I could…
Guava Jam
My neighbors gave me some wonderfully ripe guavas fresh from their tree. I love the taste of guava, but I hate the multitude of seeds. I know that some people eat the seeds, but I find them unpleasantly hard. These guavas were so fragrant that I even tried eating one, but the seeds distracted from…
Cheese-Swirled Bread
When I make this bread, my boyfriend will eat the whole loaf in one day. The bread is soft and fluffy on the inside, with a crispy cheese crust on top, and delish herb cheese swirling through the middle. I have tried every combination of cheese and herbs – my favorite is cheddar with green…
Hummus Honey Salad Dressing
I was at a friend’s for dinner and she made a salad with a really tasty dressing. When I asked her about the dressing, she said it was mostly hummus with a little honey, apple cider vinegar, and some other seasonings. I kept thinking about that dressing for weeks after the dinner, so decided I…
Pizza Dough Focaccia
Did you know that you can make focaccia using pizza dough? We’ve been doing a lot of pizza parties, but often we end up with leftover dough. It’s a snap to turn that dough into a very snackable rosemary focaccia. Guessipe pizza dough olive oil flaky sea salt rosemary Generously oil a baking pan. Coat…
Fresh Mozzarella Plate
My friend’s cheese company supplies restaurants, so when he brings me cheese the quantities are laughably large for a home cook. And of course with my aversion to wasting food, I have to use it all up before it goes bad. Not that I’m complaining about having to figure out what to do with massive…
Caprese
More hookups from my friend at the cheese company! This time he gifted me fresh mozzarella! Of course the first thing that popped into my mind was caprese – the combination of mozzarella, tomato, and basil dressed with olive oil, balsamic, and salt is so simple yet so scrumptious that it’s no wonder it’s on…
Spicy Garlic Tofu
Thanks to the air fryer I’m not avoiding frying tofu anymore, so I’m free to experiment with what I can do with fried tofu. At a local restaurant recently my boyfriend had a spicy garlic tofu that he wouldn’t stop talking about. I tried a bite and it was indeed tasty – spicy sweet with…