Brussels Sprouts: A Much Maligned Vegetable Finally Comes Home

I admit it.
I used to be a hater.
I used to hate brussels sprouts, and could never understand why in the world anyone in possession of their senses would ever want to eat one, much less more than one of these mutant, alien miniature cabbage heads. They were mushy, watery, bitter, and smelled like–well, like […]

The Final Recipe of 2007: Beef and Vegetables With Sha Cha Sauce

My final recipe for 2007 had to be Chinese, and I wanted it to be something very special, festive and beautiful. And, as you can see above, I was lucky enough to capture an image of the Shao Hsing wine bursting into flame as I deglazed the wok. (Stir frying with one hand and taking […]

It’s All About The Chew: Sichuan Dry-Fried Beef

And you thought I had abandoned Chinese cookery, didn’t you?
Ha! Nothing of the sort. Just because I have started doing research on recipes from along the Silk Road for work, doesn’t mean I am going to permanently turn my back on my greatest culinary love. No–I just have to multi-task!
Morganna, who has been home from […]

Good Greens: Gai Lan With Hunan Salted Chilies and Ground Bean Sauce

The seasons shift; a veil of mist shrouds the hills surrounding Athens, and the multi-hued leaves whisper, wafting to the newly damp ground in fluttering waves of amber, gold, russet and brown. The winds have grown chill with autumn’s first frost, and most of the plants which grew summer’s tender fruits, vegetables and herbs have […]

Homestyle Tofu, Beef and Autumn Vegetable Stir Fry

I know that I haven’t posted much about Chinese food recently. Bad, wicked Barbara! Shame on me!
It is mostly because I had posted so many recipes for Chinese noodles (and yes, I will go back to those eventually, I promise, promise, promise), then got distracted by all of the canning and food preserving, that I […]