Improvising Summer Spaghetti

The spaghetti that I eat today is not the spaghetti I grew up with. Like many Americans whose families are not Italian in origin, I grew up primarily with spaghetti that had been overcooked into thick, mushy ropes of pasta, drowned in a fairly bland meat sauce that was almost completely devoid of the flavor […]

When Ingredients Really Matter: Simple Summer Pastas

I am always a believer in using the best, freshest, most flavorful ingredients I can afford, preferably locally grown. Locally grown foods are not only politically, economically and ecologically sound additions to our diets, they are also tastier and more nutritious as well. Vegetables, fruits and herbs which are picked just before you eat them […]

What To Do With Nuoc Cham: Lemongrass Beef Over Broken Rice

Simple does not equate with plain. You know, the phrase, “it’s plain and simple?” Well, in cookery, those two words do not have to go together. Food that comes together with a minimum of ingredients does not have to taste plain. Or bland. Or boring. This recipe is a classic example of what I am […]

Another Greek Casserole: Pastitsio

For those rare souls who do not love moussaka, (and this dislike usually comes about because of an aversion to eggplant–something which I cannot understand myself, but which does afflict a not insignificant number of people–like Zak) there is another Greek casserole, one that is luckily, even less trouble to make, and which tastes pretty […]

Blueberry Navajo Fry Bread

When I posted about the Navajo Fry Bread this spring, I promised to experiment this summer with a variant that included fresh blueberries in the dough. While the experiment was not a complete success, it was good enough to repeat, with some refinement. First of all, I changed the recipe for the dough somewhat to […]