Homemade moussaka always seems to be a prolonged, multi-step process. But, oh so tasty. Especially since you can choose what goes in it! Some people love adding carrots and zucchini, but as much as I love those, I prefer to keep the texture simple with the eggplant and potatoes as the vegetable layers.
Category Archives: Food
TCHO: nutty, fruity & chocolatey
Monday, 8 September 2008
This year I’ve been watching the progress of TCHO, a new San Franciscan chocolate maker. We’re lucky there are four chocolate producers within the Bay Area: Ghiradelli, Scharffen Berger, Guittard, and now TCHO. Ghiradelli isn’t bad, but their flavored varieties are somewhat uninspired and feel waxy-plasticy in the mouth. Scharffen Berger’s chocolate I find too […]
Salmorejo, a creamy gazpacho without cream
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
While making room in the freezer for this year’s batch of tomato sauce, I came upon several containers of same from previous years. What to do? Make soup! It wasn’t until Simon made the homemade variety that I ever dared to touch tomato soup —after a childhood (and adulthood) of making wrinkled faces at the […]
Tomato sauce, or, food mill capitulation
Sunday, 17 August 2008
The tomatoes came later than usual this year(1), with the peak happening starting last week, and probably not lasting for much longer. Less heat this season, I think, especially since the beefsteak-type Big Rainbows(2) have yet to get beyond the green stage. Nonetheless, we still have plenty of tomatoes to keep us company. Making sauce […]
Salmon tartare
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Following the shrimp salad, this appears to be second in an inadvertent series of seafood concoctions to serve on bread. Not on purpose, not really. But faced with a large filet of fresh salmon, and a desire to try making something at home with raw fish… You get the picture. 🙂 Salmon tartare with chives, […]
Shrimp salad
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Sandwich fillings and creamy salads seem to suffer from ennui, becoming almost annoyingly boring with tired combinations of ingredients —at least in most cafés and grocery stores. One thing I enjoy about traveling is other countries’ (or regions’) takes on such commonly eaten items. In the UK, for instance, they often have interesting fillings such […]
Broiled eel (unagi) over rice, two ways
Monday, 23 June 2008
Unagi kamameshi, unagi donburi, una-don, una-jyu: It goes by many names, and remains one of my favorite Japanese dishes. Obachan’s articles on unagi donburi and unagi mabushi, became catalysts for figuring out how to make them on my own. So I came up with two recipes. One which emulates the claypot to obtain the crust, […]
dulce de leche + ice cream
Sunday, 8 June 2008
Appropriate uses for dulce de leche: Thinly spread on crêpes. Thickly spread to sandwich two butter cookies. A generous dollop in coffee. Over fruit (bananas, mangoes), sprinkled with chopped peanuts. On and in ice cream, of course. Inappropriate uses for dulce de leche: Spackling compound (too sticky). A treat for your cat (unhealthy). Ignored on […]
Food and loathing
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Mediocre restaurants are unavoidable. But some of the baddies, ah, how they stick in my mind. Some of these are favorites for some of my friends. Oh well! To each their own (1).
Dishes prepared quasi-regularly
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Sonya has wondered several times about creating a database of recipes that our friends use on a regular basis. For good reason, too: It’s a fine idea to see what constitutes day to day eating in other households! Although it’s more like dishes we prepare vaguely periodically, since some ingredients are seasonal, and our moods […]