An Irish potato pancake just in time for St. Patrick’s day. These are hearty buddies for any kind of meal and a great way to use your leftover mashed potatoes. The basic idea is to mix mashed potatoes with grated raw potatoes and an egg, but there are infinite possibilities of variables that could be introduced.  Herbs, garlic, curry, jalapeños, horseradish, siracha, yams, caraway, saffron…   The origin of the name is likely the Irish phrase arán bocht tí meaning “poor-house bread”.  

  A crust should be both a snack by itself as well as a vehicle to transport delicious toppings to your salivating mouth.  I’ve known of recipes using cauliflower for various crusts but had never tried it until recently.  This recipe has no grain but there is cheese which helps bind everything.  Why cauliflower?  It has a light texture and a mild flavor so it should blend well with whatever toppings you want to add.     Squeezing out the

  This was another hearty soup from the deli days.  The cinnamon and clove really help build the layers of flavor, not to mention they smell heavenly while simmering.  The ingredients and flavors are of a Mexican móle or adobo with the cocoa, oregano and clove.  We used to call it a Mexican Black Bean Soup but I’ll change it to Adobo to be a little more specific.  The cumin-coriander dynamic duo mixes well with cloves and cinnamon, it’s that blurring of sweet

  I was introduced to this dish by my friend Kristen years ago when she created it as a special for the deli.  She made it with peanut butter, served it room temperature and it was a favorite of the clientele. Dan Dan Mien, or ‘peddler’s noodles’, of course has many renditions and adaptations from its origins in the Sichuan region of China.  Sometimes it’s noodles in a hot spicy broth like a soup and sometimes it’s made with a tahini or peanut butter paste and

  It’s been grey and drizzly for days…a perfect time for comfort food.   We made Sauerbraten for the Edible Alien Theatre’s Faeries: Autumn Feast many years ago, it was ideal for a chilly fall eve.  This (artfully) fuzzy frame is captured from a video shot in dim lighting from the Faeries Feast.  Note the visitor in the front, investigating the dinner fare. Check out this LINK to a slideshow of the evening (all in artfully blurry video frames) with music by Joajoby from

  Picadillo is a traditional Spanish and Latin American dish that one could call a ‘hash’.  Ground meat, olives, dried fruit, and veggies sautéed together and served with rice or in tacos.  How handy is that?  A way to use your regional ingredients in a delicious one-dish wonder with rice, or as a filling for tacos or savory pastry empanadas.  The word Picadillo comes from the Spanish word ‘picar’ which can mean to grind, chop, sting or peck.   Though the hash is generally made with meat

    How do you learn about a culture?  Travel to the region and wander around indulging in street food. Street-vendor food in Mexico like the carne asada tacos in Hermosillo and churros in Tepic shaped some of my greatest food memories ever and have influenced my food choices my whole life.  Street food is always what people miss about their home countries, and after tasting these lemongrass wonders I would almost make the monumental effort to overcome my fear of flying over an ocean to experience real

  First a little blast of color from local edible flowers.     These are a pile of late summer flowers grown by my friends at Canoe Creek Produce that I used as garnish on salads and an appetizer for a wedding a couple of weeks ago.  I see runner bean flowers, calendula petals, bachelor buttons, snapdragons, and I’m not sure what else.  They were so stunning I had to share them with you.       And even more stunning color brought to

  Fresh herbs are amazing.  A-mazing.   I’ve been putting Thai Basil in my drinking water lately, just leaving it in the glass and refilling to let it mildly steep throughout the day.  It’s such a refreshing beverage that my curiosity was aroused of the medicinal properties of basil, so off to ask the Wizard of Google with this question I went .     Anti-inflammatory and anti-depressant—and these are just are just a few of its superpowers! I then looked up all

  How do you describe cardamom?  Such an curious flavor, ‘A hint of camphor, eucalyptus, and lemon’, it is one spice that does not hide—like dill, saffron and caraway you really must intend to add this flavor, it will not go quietly.  But that’s okay, because there’s no need to be quiet when you taste like cardamom.   Originating in southern India, it’s a key ingredient of garam masala and is used in many Indian dishes both sweet and savory, even in coffee.