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Showing posts from 2017

Summer of Salads: Cucumber-Honeydew Salad with Feta

Honeydew is always hit and miss with me, usually because it is either too sweet (overripe) or not ripe enough. I came across this recipe from Rikki Snyder  (via Pinterest) however and was intrigued, because I was looking for something that would accommodate honeydew at almost any level of ripeness. It did not disappoint! I did find that I didn't have the patience to use the melon baller on the entire thing, so that's why you see chopped honeydew in my salad. I'm sure there is some home economics maven out there who is incredibly disappointed in me. I'm sorry. However, I did find the strength to make just enough for a wonderful cocktail of my own devising:   I made this with gin (Sapphire (TM))--I'd use Hendrick's (TM) next time---I muddled the honeydew and it is basically a G & T with muddled honeydew.  Very subtle. And the thyme garnish? Well, I've become a big fan of garnishing my cocktails with whatever herbs I have on hand. I had a nice marti

Other Cultures Cooking Project: Cannellini and Lamb Soup (Ottolenghi/Tamimi)

Cannellini and Lamb Soup from Jerusalem , p. 135, photo by RM This is probably one of the best soups I have ever made and was absolutely perfect for the snowy wintery weather we've been having. A few things. It calls for 20 cloves of garlic.   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KITCHEN GADGET ALERT: GARLIC EDITION! This is my favorite tool to peel garlic. It shouldn't cost more than 2 bucks. You don't need anything fancier. All you need is a clean, stable, and dry surface. The older the garlic, the easier it is to peel. This actually works, believe it or not, in removing garlic odors from your hands. Yes, I know, you can rub your hands all over your stainless steel kitchen faucet, but forgive me if I think this is more graceful. And a shout out here to Katie (over at Cook The Book Fridays ) who sent me my steel soap one year for Christmas! -----------------------------

Other Cultures Cooking Project: Monks' Salad with Garlicky Dressing (Malouf)

I will start this post with a pseudo-apology to the O hio C ollege of C linical P harmacy. Yes... in the unlikely event that my O ther C ultures C ooking P roject becomes more a more popular choice in Google algorithms, I apologize pre-emptively to anyone more interested in Zocor (TM) than za'atar. With that out of the way...welcome to the first official Other Cultures Cooking Project Post! I did spend ample time agonizing over the name--I hesitate to use "other" as I am "other" to other others, but setting aside academic navel-gazing, I think we understand that it is contextual: "other cultures foreign to me." And we can understand that I'm not even sure what constitutes my "culture" so there's that too. What started this is that I believe food is one of the most important (and enjoyable) ways to learn about people--culturally, socially, economically.  I like to learn. I like to cook. I like to eat. So, a no-brainer, in other wo