Tagged: vegetarian
Bittersweet Grapefruit Marmalade
{Two Ingredient Tuesday}
My birthday this year came during a very bittersweet week: My parents and brother are in the process of moving to Phoenix; I’m staying here. My birthday dinner was the last time we would ever sit down together for a meal in that house.
Helping to pack up and sell off the contents of my childhood house over the past few months has been full of sad pangs and heart-wrenches. We picked through all my childhood books, tore up the vegetable garden where my dad and I had spent happy summer hours, bid farewell to the woods where I played as a child. Nostalgia strikes in strange moments. We held a yard sale and I was nearly moved to tears over the little footstool from our bathroom, a permanent fixture in my daily routine now looking oddly out of place in the hands of a stranger who was bargaining over the one-dollar price tag.
Fava bean & avocado crostini
Today, we’re going to talk about these peculiar beauties.
Tomatoes are the rock-stars of late summer, with their jewel tones and juicy acidity. They eclipse some of their costars, like tomatillos, okra, and fava beans–which is a shame. Continue reading
Farmhouse Ricotta
{Two Ingredient Tuesday}
I grew up thinking that ricotta was nasty. Having only met it in soggy baked dishes, I thought ricotta could only ever taste like bland, wet, gritty rubber. Then I tasted homemade ricotta. Did you know that ricotta can actually taste like milk? That the texture can be rich and amazing? It has two ingredients and requires almost no effort. Continue reading
Tarte au Chocolat à la Parisienne
{Fancy French Desserts}
New series! I’m cooking my way through a laundry list of gorgeous French desserts. This was the final destination for the candied mandarins I made earlier in the week.
I showed my love for my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ this week by OBLITERATING the competition at the annual church bake-off. The centerpiece of this contest is the chili cook-off, but since the intensely competitive family spirit prevents me from competing against my mother’s chili, I opted for the dessert category instead. This never-fail tart won me first prize. Continue reading
Candied Mandarins
{Two Ingredient Tuesday}
Aren’t they just a gallon of sunshine in a one-pint jar?
The Lord in his kindness granted us citrus fruits during the grey and unloved month of February. Just when we can’t stomach one more casserole, one more out-of-season New Years’ Resolution salad, the markets blossom with blood oranges, grapefruit, lemons, Valencia oranges, and mandarins. It’s all the sunshine that we summer-starved New Yorkers have been craving. Continue reading
Avocado Halves & Soy Sauce
This recipe is my earliest food memory. I remember standing in my living room in New Zealand, four years old, and I could see out the window that it was already dark outside. My parents were trying to put me to bed, but I caught a glimpse of a late-night snack in the kitchen. I wanted one too.
“You won’t like this, Catherine,” my mother insisted. “It’s avocado. The flavour is too strong for you.”
Issue a challenge like that to a child, and you will get a declaration of war.
When she did give me some, a soft green avocado half with a little spoonful of soy sauce nestled in its hollow (“And don’t spill it on the carpet, Catherine.”), I sat carefully on the couch with it and finished the whole thing, bite after bite of salty umami richness.
