morsels & sauces

What I love the most about my CSA box is the surprise every Tuesday. While Full Belly Farm sends an email newsletter on Monday announcing what they will be sending, I like to resist that siren call and to open the box to find tomatoes and grapes and basil and potatoes.  It's like my own Tuesday-afternoon version of Chopped. Recently one of my mystery ingredients was cabbage. As in more cabbage . As in this is the third time I have gotten cabbage this summer. I never knew there wold be so much cabbage in July.  While certainly this is the tail end of the season for cabbage, it is the key ingredient in all of your slaw needs this summer.  And what better way to make a slaw than one that accompanies an ahi tuna poke bowl?  Have you noticed, by the way, the recent popularity in rice bowl cooking?  They're  everywhere .  As in   everywhere .  Everywhere .  This fascination with servi...

I am a big fan of Diana Henry (and have written about her here  and here ). She is cheeky yet thoughtful, sophisticated yet simple. This cookbook ( A Change of Appetite ),  one I turn to time and again to up my salad game, is her gander at healthy eating .   Her take is simple:  More veggies, less meat. Heavy on freshness, light on processed foods.  And Henry takes us on a whirlwind tour of healthy food from across the world. From Scandinavia to Cambodia, North Africa to Peru, this cookbook opens up a world of possibilities for the healthy palate.  I have been thinking about my diet more these days.  One of the most important people in my whole life is in the midst of a health crisis, and we have been talking a lot about food that is good for you. There's a lot of misinformation out there. A lot of advice that contradicts itself. I just want something that is simple and easy to follow. Enter Diana Henry. She ju...

I have been eyeballing the new cookbook,  The Broad Fork , from chef (and Top Chef judge) Hugh Acheson for some time. Southern cooking is booming these days, and Acheson certainly is the expert in presenting it with all the flourishes of his French training tempered by the comforts of okra, gumbo, black-eyed peas, and grits. However, don't expect to see tired (although tried and true) recipes. No, no. Acheson punches up his grits to become "Crisped Pork Belly with Kimchi Rice Grits and Radishes" and his black-eyed peas transform into "Crisp Flounder with Field Pea Ragout and Herb Salad." This is a foodie's cookbook with a lot of Southern zing. Acheson asserts that he wanted to write this cookbook because he is a strong proponent of CSA subscription and farmers' market attendance. However, often people don't know what to do with the inevitable mounds of  sunchokes or kohlrabi or salsify that show up in the CSA box. (In fact, he opens...

I am a fan of Sara Forte and Hugh Forte and their beautifully presented blog , The Sprouted Kitch en . Even more so, I am a fan of my friend who gifted me with the Forte's first cook book, simpl y entit led The Sprouted Kitchen . Thus, I was looking forward to this sophomore cookbook from Sara Forte. It meant good food, beautiful pictures, and a nostalgic return to her first. Th i s new cookbook combines  the pragmatism of the first book (healthy, whole  foods) with the charm of a single dish.  While the book reads almost like a vegetarian cookbook, Forte tucks in recipes for turkey meatballs, seared tuna, jerk-seasoned white fish, roasted salmon, and seared scallops. Forte is no simpleton when it comes to healthy food, for such a qualifying moniker doesn't always mean food without poultry or seafood. Further, Forte admits that one must not get too literal with the bowl and spoon , even encouraging you to branch out  to the fork and plate...