Pluots are the sneaky summer hit. Stone fruit season sends us crazy, shoveling perfect tiny plums into our mouths by the handful. Fuzzy peaches are positively revered as they're chucked into everything from cobbler to ice cream. Nectarines are just as well known and beloved, and rightfully so. But pluots are the unsung hybrid wonder, part apricot, part plum — all part delicious. I may have been pronouncing pluot incorrectly and calling the little gems plouts instead, for just, like, ... continue reading...
Quick Pluot Jam with Pinot Grigio & Honey
Lobster Quiche with Sweet Corn & Tograshi
Every year, without fail, I get the most random intense quiche cravings. It comes on suddenly and without warning, like Trojans popping out of a wooden horse. And just like those ancient sweaty stampeding ruffians, the craving will not be stopped. "WE NEED QUICHE AND WE NEED IT NOW" My stomach chants over and over until the rest of me catches on...Food destiny cannot be ignored. The previous quiche title was held last year by a mushroom, thyme and parmesan number that was ... continue reading...
Moroccan Spiced Lamb Meatballs with Cinnamon & Cumin
Earlier this summer I went camping for the first time in years. There's a campground my family's been going to since I was a wee pony-tailed scruffy prepubescent. My memories are vivid -- the lake sitting like a jewel, mountains arching behind it, the sun bouncing off everything playfully as we spent hours in the shallows catching frogs and tiny crustaceans. Only when our little stomachs grumbled would we stop playing monopoly, shake the sand out of our books and set them aside, ... continue reading...
Potted Cheddar Curds with Dill & Garlic
There's a few things I won't bother to make at home. Things that demand a lot of work or time but that you can buy premade versions of and it's just as good. Homemade puff pastry definitely comes to mind. (WHY is that a thing.) Somehow poutine has also fallen into this category. Maybe because there's a lovely gastropub nearby that makes a poutine so perfect we order it every time we're there. The fries are fresh and fried in duck fat(!), there's a crazy-good gravy with duck confit ... continue reading...
Easy Fried Sweetbreads with Sticky Pomegranate Molasses
If you like fried oysters than you will like fried sweetbreads. I guarantee it. They are similar in their size and texture -- that ridiculously delicious marriage of crunchy fried floury shell and buttery soft insides. Their flavor is rich, their texture velvet, and they pair oh so well with big fun flavors like this sticky and sweet pomegranate sauce that is like a mega-tangy non-ketchupy version of general tsao's. What are sweetbreads? They're the thymus gland of a calf (or lamb), weigh ... continue reading...
Tequila & Salad Cocktail with Celery & Lime
We like to tell ourselves that we're "Juice People". You know -- the health-conscious, gym-going, dewy-eyed bunch who have so many saintly vegetables inside them at all times that their veins have taken on a glowing greenish tinge. These were the lofty dreams I envisioned when I bought the hulking contraption a year ago. Ha. If only. I'm lucky if I juice once a week...Okay every-other week. Okay like maybe even less than that. I've come to resent the beast. As a proclaimed kitchen minimalist ... continue reading...
Sweet & Spiced Tomato Jam
Tomato Jam is my jam! My desert island condiment of choice. What I reach for to add to sauces, dips, pastas, sandwiches. Cheese board goes without saying. It lives to be slathered on toasty grilled bread -- with mozzarella or creamy feta, bedecked with fresh basil, drizzled with peppery olive oil. Wherever tomatoes belong, tomato jam also fits. We are all truly obsessed -- rightfully so -- with tomatoes. They define summer in the most magical of ways with their plump fleshy bodies ... continue reading...
Pickled Grapes with Balsamic & Herbs
Pickled grapes say what now? I know -- sounds weird. Sounds strange. Sounds like they shouldn't exist, and definitely shouldn't be delicious. BUT. THEY. ARE. I've pickled a lot of things in my day. Hibiscus pickled eggs, cumin-pickled carrots, bourbon and peach pickle. I love them all. These grapes have now been added to the community of curious pickles. Not unlike adult-y healthy fruit gushers in terms of their sweet and sour flavor, they are THE perfect addition to a snazzy cheese ... continue reading...
Easy Sesame Flatbread with Tograshi Compound Butter
Sometimes we just need us some fried bread. Especially when it's sesame flatbread. Stuffed with toasty seeds and chives, housed in flaky layers, with an outer crust that shatters and melts in your mouth. Partnered in crime with a compound butter so jacked up on umami it would fail a steroid test or whatever you call it. (Tograshi btw is a fantastical fairy dust with chiles, seaweed and citrus and you will find yourself sprinkling it on your eggs and toast and everything else.) Flatbreads are ... continue reading...
Mango Kombucha Granita with Cardamom & Rum
For almost two years now I have been the proud mother of a SCOBY child. The acronym stands for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria & Yeast and it's the lil bobbing jellyfish that turns tea into kombucha with the powers of a squishy magic genie. If you're interested in growing your own SCOBY and making kombucha at home, this article from the Kitchn is quite useful. The best thing about homemade kombucha (besides how ridiculously cheap it is opposed to store-bought) is the endless combinations ... continue reading...
