Category Archives: Recipes (Savory)

Middle Eastern Lentil Soup To Warm the Soul

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A delightfully earthy and fragrant lentil soup garnished with feta and cilantro.
A delightfully earthy and fragrant lentil soup garnished with feta and cilantro.

How satisfying is this vegetarian “Middle Eastern Lentil Soup”?

So much that I didn’t even catch my husband, aka Meat Boy, sneaking slices of salami afterward, as he is wont to do.

That tells you just how delicious this hearty bean and spinach soup — imbued with cumin, coriander, fennel and cayenne — really is.

The recipe is adapted by the Wall St. Journal from “The White Dog Cafe Cookbook” (Running Press, 1998). The cookbook was written by the owners of this Philadelphia restaurant, Judy Wicks and chef Kevin von Klause.

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New Potatoes with Mustard Oil Herb Salsa

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Get acquainted with mustard oil with this punchy potato salad.
Get acquainted with mustard oil with this punchy potato salad.

Some like it hot.

Not the scorching inferno down the throat type.

But a clear-the-sinuses, combustion-of-the-nose kind of way.

Like wasabi or horseradish.

Only, this happens to be golden, viscous mustard oil.

It offers a similar kick in the nostrils, but also has a sharpness and nuttiness. It also has a high smoke point, making it versatile enough to use either as a finishing or cooking oil.

I had a chance to play around with it after receiving a sample of Yandilla Mustard Seed Oil ($22.95 for a 500ml bottle), made in Australia.

The only FDA-approved mustard oil.
The only FDA-approved mustard oil.

It bills itself as the only food-grade mustard oil in the United States that is FDA approved, thanks to its very low level of erucic acid.

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Striped Bass and Kimchi Stew

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Striped bass fillets cooked in a punchy kimchi-laced broth.
Striped bass fillets cooked in a punchy kimchi-laced broth.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When it gives you jars of kimchi, make warming fish and kimchi stew.

I almost always have a jar of kimchi in my fridge. And you should, too. It comes in so handy for everything from fried rice to breakfast eggs to mac ‘n’ cheese.

“Striped Bass and Kimchi Stew” is a recipe by cook and food editor Rick A. Martinez, as published in the New York Times.

This recipe is based on the classic Korean dish, kimchi-jjigae, the stew of kimchi, seafood, pork or tofu that comes bubbling ferociously in an iron pot to your table at a Korean restaurant.

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Roasted Chicken Thighs with — Wait, What?

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Barbecue sauce-slathered chicken thighs with a surprising ingredient.
Barbecue sauce-slathered chicken thighs with a surprising ingredient.

These chicken thighs get roasted in the oven in no time flat, and slathered with a barbecue sauce that has an unlikely ingredient.

Peanut butter.

Make that creamy, too, not chunky.

It’s the taste of the American South meets Indonesia.

“Roasted Chicken Thighs with Peanut Butter Barbecue Sauce” is a fun and delightful recipe by Kay Chun, a recipe developer and editor, that was printed in the New York Times.

Not just for sandwiches with jelly.
Not just for sandwiches with jelly.

The peanut butter really thickens up this barbecue sauce, giving it a nutty, rich taste reminiscent of satay, but with added sweetness, spiciness and tang.

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Deep Purple

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A real looker of a Brussel sprout.
A real looker of a Brussel sprout.

I think Prince would have definitely approved of these Brussels sprouts, don’t you?

With vivid purple streaks, these beauties were grown by Covilli Organics, a family-owned, fair trade-certified farm in Mexico. I snagged them recently in my grocery deliver order from GoodEggs.

They’re slightly sweeter and a little less bitter-sulfur in taste. And yes, the purple will fade a bit once cooked.

Still, what a marvel these are. I typically halve Brussels sprouts, and place them cut-side down in a cast-iron pan on the stove-top to cook or on a sheet pan in an oven at high temperature. But a new sprout called out for a new technique to try.

No surprise, I found what I was looking for in the seminal “Vegetable Literacy” (Ten Speed Press, 2014) by Deborah Madison, the founding chef of San Francisco’s Greens, the pioneering plant-forward restaurant.

Her “Slivered Brussels Sprouts Roasted with Shallots” is a very simple recipe. The only part that takes any real effort is slicing the sprouts with a mandoline.

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