AWEsome Cookery

Pancakes aren’t just for potatoes anymore.   I love potatoes, don’t get me wrong…but there is something endearing about the Underdog.  The humble rutabaga, or ‘Swede’ as the Brits call it, it has become a forgotten vegetable in our culture, looking huge and weird in the produce section like an ugly duckling. Rediscover those Roots, that’s what I say!  Taste the Tubers.. . . “…Prior to the introduction of the potato to the Old World, latkes were, and in some places

Chewy tasty tidbits on a stick….everyone loves them!  Perhaps it harkens back to our cave days, we do seem to love the food-delivery system that is a skewer.   Especially when it is accompanied by a flavor bomb of a dip.  For many people, Thanksgiving marked the beginning of The Indoor Party Season.  Whether you’re hosting or just bringing a dish, it’s handy to have something that is exciting to taste, yet can be done in advance and sit patiently.

Chutneys—pungent enough to raise your eyebrows, but sweet and savory enough that you close your eyes and let out an involuntary groan of pleasure.  Eaten alone it should be almost too much flavor, and eaten as a condiment to chicken or beans or rice…it should make you glad to be alive.   There are SO many versions of a small side dish of ground-up-somethings, eaten in small amounts, to either complement or contrast the main dishes.  Salsas, relishes, chutneys, sambals,

      That’s right, fruit. Here is one of my Rules of Thumb: If there is a technique that works for one thing, it might work on other things.  If you can roast wedges of potato you can probably roast beets, yams, celery, carrots, rutabagas, brussel sprouts, or onions.  If you can roast a mushroom you can also roast tomatoes, pears, apples, persimmons, a pineapple, blueberries, eggplant, or fennel bulb.   This rule of thumb doesn’t always work, but

…or “How the North Got Its Own Balsamic Flavor” . . This is about those ideas, the little tidbits that you hear in passing, those half-overheard conversations on a bus, that can change your way of thinking.  A small suggestion riding the radio waves when you’re barely listening, lightly washes ashore, letting you see that it can become one of your mainstays, one of your staples.   Gotta love those sneaky little ideas.   I was driving home from work