When I was growing up, my mother had the splendid idea to teach my sister how to cook by letting her prepare lunch for all of us for a few summers in a row. It was a little stressful at times – both for my mom and for my sister – but the outcome is that my sister learned to master the skill of cooking. Today she takes on any kind of recipe, but is particularly good at picking the ones that are fast, easy and taste great. This is a selection of her favorite recipes, made specially for us this New Year’s Eve. They are better suited for the occasional dinner party than the every day evening meal, but worth having in any repertoire. She has shared them with her friends in the form of holiday letters over the last few years; I am excited to be able to share them today. I guess this is my long deserved reward for spending several summers eating my sister’s less than stellar training lunches. Come and cook with us (and my sister)! Continue reading “A New Year’s Eve Meal to Remember”
Author: Kathrin
Fragrant Dreams of the Bosphorus
My quest for adding different ethnic flavors to my traditional European fare is never ending, and one of my new favorite hobbies is cooking Middle Eastern food. I remember my first trip to a Lebanese restaurant in London over a decade ago; as I bit into my first meze, I realized that Italian food, while delicious in its own right, really couldn’t hold a candle to the spices of the Middle East. I literally could not put my pitas down. In the town where I live now Italian seems to be the local favorite so to keep my taste buds in the Middle East I’ve stocked up on some cook books, visited a spice store, and gotten busy in the kitchen. Today I would like to share a favorite recipe of mine from the Eastern Mediterranean cookbook, “Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume” by Silvena Rowe. The delicacy is called red lentil kofte, or meatballs of the Lebanese vegetarian variety. Come and cook with us! Continue reading “Fragrant Dreams of the Bosphorus”
Happy Hanukkah
When I grew up in Italy, we didn’t think twice about Christmas. Everybody celebrated it as 99% of the population was Catholic, which was our “state” religion. Without going into the merit of separation between state and religion – this is a blog about food after all – one of the things I appreciate the most about living in the USA, particularly New York and now the Bay Area, is its cultural diversity. We just spent the morning celebrating Hanukkah at my younger son’s school with kids hearing about the history of this holiday, making a menorah-inspired art project, listening to a story and, this is where I helped out, making and tasting the food that is traditionally eaten on this holiday. Come and make latkes with us! Continue reading “Happy Hanukkah”
Delicata-ly
Have I ever told you about my husband’s international food rule? It’s something his parents came up with when he was a young child to encourage him to eat everything except for one type of food of his choice (and he could change his one food once a year). Well, my husband’s consistent choice all through his childhood was squash and, while he has since found out that there isn’t really such a thing as an international food rule, to this day he and for some genetically probably easy-to-explain reason also his male offspring just don’t like that sweet winter produce that lightens up soups, salads, mashed side dishes and gorgeous pies at this time of year. In an attempt to woo my family over to the “other side”, I’m dedicating this week’s post to squash, and to be more specific, to one of the finest of them all, the delicata squash. Come and cook with us! Continue reading “Delicata-ly”
Long Live the Queen of Fall
We are creatures of habit. And this, more than anything, applies to what we cook and eat. In Northern California where the standard fruit and vegetable selection regularly includes ten different varieties of apples, three different types of kale, and citrus fruit to satisfy a city, habit can be a very healthy thing. Every so often, however, it pays to pair habit with adventure, and buy those special items that only come available once a season: pomegranates, chestnuts, and, my absolute favorite, persimmons. These little known fruits that make their debut in late October look beautiful, and if ripened to the right point, pack some of the most intense, delicious flavor that I know. And while I normally associate them with my hometown in Italy (where my father is currently harvesting them by the bushel), they are abundant in my new hometown, Marin, where my dear friend Kristine just dropped off her newly plucked crop. A toast to friendship and family! Come and cook with us! Continue reading “Long Live the Queen of Fall”
Come and Cook with Us 