Summer
A seasonal fruit salad made with plump strawberries, sweet cherries, lemon zest, and coriander brown sugar. Plus a few photos from QUITOKEETO.
Cold soba noodles with a big dollop of ginger-scallion paste for the flight to Tokyo, plus pics from Japan, and a link to a few favorite spots in Tokyo.
A beauty of a carrot salad - tricked out with chickpeas, chunks of dried pluots, sliced almonds, and a toasted cumin dressing. Thank you Diane Morgan.
Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones - golden-crusted, tender, moist, barely sweet, and streaked with violet swaths and chunks of blackberry. They're beautiful.
Millet croquettes - crunchy crusted, basil and kale flecked for the flight to Delhi, along with a snapshot of how I packed.
A beautiful fattoush recipe and a preview of Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's new book, Jerusalem.
A fennel mushroom recipe inspired by one of my vintage cookbooks, The Seasonal Kitchen by Perla Meyers. It's a simple, brilliant twist on everyday sauteed mushrooms with dill, chives, fresh fennel, and a kiss of creme fraiche.
Tarragon oil - one of my little secret weapons. Use it as a finishing oil on soups, as a component of anything bread-centric, and as a vinaigrette base. It's vibrant green with grassy anise notes, and just the sort of thing to keep on hand.
The prettiest dip in my repertoire - my take on the Iranian preparation of Mast-o-Khiar (yogurt and cucumber). I use lots of fresh herbs, dried rose petals, toasted walnuts and a pop of added color and tartness from dried cranberries.
Butter a skillet add corn, fresh thyme, red onions, toasted almonds and coconut, and finish with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice...
A summer yellow bean salad with a green chile-spiked, cilantro-flecked, and coconut milk dressing, toasted pepitas, and (if you want to make a meal of it) pan-fried tofu.
A simple savory tomato tarte tatin made with ripe market tomatoes, plenty of caramelized onions, a wee splash of balsamic vinegar, and whatever pie dough you might have on hand (or in the freezer)...
A breezy summer-spirited lunch salad made with celery, beans, and Parmesan. And a glance at my attempt at organizing some of my pictures into albums.
A luscious fresh mint frozen yogurt recipe from the soon-to-be-released(!) Sprouted Kitchen cookbook.
My favorite tomato salad this year - made with roasted and ripe tomatoes, capers, mozzarella, almonds, and chives.
A beautiful fried rice made with brown rice, egg, sunchokes, cashews, and basil when Grace Young came over for lunch last week.
There's a pizza restaurant in my neighborhood that makes amazing salads. This one, for example, had farro, kale, avocado, carrots, fennel and a creamy green garlic dressing.
Nettles in a pasta with feta, sesame, almonds, and onion sprouts & a few pics from the Golden Gate bridge birthday fireworks.
A heads up about a recipe I've done for Nikole Herriott's new For the Love of Pie series. My contribution: Blueberry Lemon Verbena Pie.
One of the best salads I've made in a long time (mung bean sprouts, avocado, arugula, yogurt, almonds) & a look at the QUITOKEETO packaging.
Big bowl of green - broccolini tossed with big croutons, tons of scallion slices, mozzarella, toasted almonds, and a hit of serrano pepper.
A simple tomato soup recipe inspired by a Melissa Clark recipe - pureed, warmly spiced, and perfect topped with everything from toasted almonds and herbs, to coconut cream or a poached egg.
A hot, filling, wintertime DIY four-grain breakfast cereal that you can trick out with all sorts of different toppings.
A few London pics, a look at how I packed my lunch for the flight, and the baked quinoa patties I brought along with me - dill, feta, chives, cumin, and garlic.
A tortilla salad made from all sorts of good stuff - heirloom beans, avocado, watermelon radish, and cauliflower. Electric colors, punchy dressing, fresh and filling.
My go-to berry pie recipe - a rye flour crust and mixed berry filling seasoned with fresh thyme leaves.
Lillet-spiked buttermilk shakes. Just a quick grown-up twist on the classic vanilla milkshake.
A scrambled egg recipe taught to me by the lovely Lynn from Satsuma Press - herby cream cheese is the last-second finish that make these eggs simple but special.
An off-beat pasta salad made with stuffed pasta, seasonal vegetables, and a spice-forward, golden sesame yogurt sauce.
A crunchy, sweet no-cook summer corn salad & a few snapshots from the nearby dahlia garden in bloom right now. The salad is a breeze, has a ton of toasted pepitas & sunflower seeds, tossed with a brown sugar lemonade vinaigrette.
This lemon anise slush is one way I use up the fresh lemon juice I have leftover from all those lemons I zest. Adapted from a recipe in a 2004 issue of Gourmet magazine.
A simple corn soup topped with an electric harissa-yogurt swirl + photos from a walk around North Beach on the Fourth of July.
A twist on classic macaroni salad - I toss the pasta with a creamy sauce made from sauteed green onions, then add lots of black pepper, arugula, diced apple, and lemon juice to the bowl.
This could very well be my favorite salad recipe from Super Natural Every Day - shaved fennel, arugula, zucchini coins, feta, toasted almonds.
Made from a quirky combination of quinoa, dill, shredded zucchini, and currants - a quinoa salad from Maria Speck's new book, Ancient Grains for Modern Meals.
We picked two new cookbooks to focus on in the 101 Cookbooks Library, and this recipe is inspired by a recipe from one of them. A refreshing chopped cucumber salad loaded with peanuts, spices, coconut, and chiles.
The Black Sesame Otsu recipe from Super Natural Every Day - soba noodles and tofu slathered in a thinned-out, salty-sweet black sesame paste, then topped with lots of sliced green onions.
A rustic leek soup topped with an electric green drizzle of dill oil and crunchy toasted almonds.
I've been making these coin-shaped zucchini pickles all summer. They're quick to make, great to have on hand, and I don't bother canning them. Delicious on crusty, goat-cheese slathered grilled bread (or just about anything cheesy or crunchy) and simple salads.
I spent Saturday brewing beer with my brother-in-law. For dinner, later on, I brought a simple lasagna, using this golden tomato sauce as the base - garlic, red pepper flakes, and olive oil. That's it. It's good on pasta, pizza, and only takes a few minutes to pull together.
A buttermilk farro salad inspired by one I had at Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon - farro with shaved radishes, zucchini, and fennel tossed with a tangy herbed buttermilk vinaigrette.
In a Indian spiced departure from a favorite Suzanne Goin recipe - this is a rustic, deeply flavorful summer gratin made with sliced tomatoes, potatoes, caramelized onions, curry powder, and a kick of red chile flakes.
Coins of zucchini are browned in a pan, but the thing that makes it special is the toasted gold slivers of garlic combined with lots of fresh dill, plus a sprinkling of almonds for a bit of crunch.
A nice way to use up a good amount of summer squash. This soup is a soft, pastel shade of yellow, and aside from a hint of tang from the buttermilk, is quite mild in flavor. I finish it with a cumin brown butter drizzle that punches right through the creaminess, and plenty of chopped chives.
An old-fashioned blueberry cake sweetened with molasses adapted from a reader submitted recipe to the July 1974 issue of Gourmet Magazine - rustic, dark as chocolate, tender, and punctuated with lots of tiny pockets of oozy, magenta berry flesh.
The perfect summer salad inspired by a memorable meal at Contigo - green beans, cherry tomatoes, roasted hazelnuts, and a bit of frisee tossed with a creamy herb vinegreta.
I spent the weekend at my friend Lori's Northern California cabin and she made this tasty cherry tomato couscous for us - cherry tomatoes, cucumber, chopped basil, and chickpeas tossed with couscous, olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice. Finished with a bit of feta.
A decadent, crunchy-topped summer squash gratin made from thinly sliced summer squash, potatoes, oregano pesto, and brown-buttered breadcrumbs- all baked at high-temperature until the squash is tender and the top is crunchy.
And orzo salad packed with nutritious ingredients - asparagus, almonds, feta, sprouts, broccoli, cucumber, and a zesty lemon dressing.
A savory, summertime ricotta cheesecake recipe made with shredded zucchini, dill, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. Perfect picnic fare.
A favorite zucchini bread recipe - green-lined strands of shredded zucchini, lemon zest, poppy seeds, and fragrant notes of coriander, cumin, and clove make this a very special zucchini bread recipe.
This potato salad recipe is what happens when potato salad meets the grill. Grilled potato wedges are tossed with a vinaigrette finished with barely a hint of toasted sesame oil.
My go-to cherry tart recipe - unfussy, and quick to make with a moist, coconut macarooned top.
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