Category: Cook
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English Pea and Parsley Dip
I still remember the first time I ate fresh peas, right from the garden. I can’t tell you how old I was but I can tell you that I was young enough to run barefoot through the grass, climb trees, and play make believe; young enough that I had never stopped to consider where food…
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Rustic Ratatouille Galette
Weekends are for comfort food. The made-from-scratch kind, steeped with the flavors of fresh, green herbs and slow-roasted garlic. The kind that makes a sinkful of dirty dishes and leaves your kitchen powdered with a delicate dusting of all-purpose flour. Savory food that’s made perfect when tucked into folds of buttery, hand-rolled pie crust. Food…
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Simple Zucchini Ribbon Salad
Zoodles of zucchini, swoodles of sweet potato, toodles of turnip, and more: food-lovers everywhere are creating oodles and oodles of long, bouncy noodles — spiral-cut from colorful vegetables! And, it’s no wonder: whether you cook them gently and top them with pesto for a carb-free pasta dinner or crunch on them raw in a refreshing…
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Better Than Mashed Potatoes: Garlic-Thyme Hasselback Potatoes
Dear Mashed Potatoes, We’ve been together for a long time now. You’ve stayed with me through the good times as well as the bad — from Thanksgiving dinners to food fights — and you’ve comforted me in ways that only a big bowl of starchy carbs can. But, I’m older now — and more experienced.…
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How To Make Crispy Za’atar Kale Chips
We’ve created a new way to measure deliciousness in my house — I like to call it the ‘taste-test-then-face-test’ method (say that ten times fast)— and it works like this: I make something healthy to eat. I recruit an unsuspecting friend or family member. The unsuspecting friend or family member eats the healthy food. I observe…
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Game Day Grub: Simple Sriracha Deviled Eggs
Ah, football season — that magical time of year when we gather on Sunday afternoons for soft, chewy potato rolls piled high with barbecue pulled pork; spicy, deep-fried wings slathered in Buffalo sauce; and a smorgasbord of flavorful chips and dips. Oh, don’t try to pretend that Sunday afternoons are for watching the football game…
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Sweet and Spicy Mango Salsa
Here’s your quick fix for just about any summer cooking conundrum — make salsa. This sweet-and-spicy condiment has been known to bring many bland, lifeless, and/or overcooked foods back from the dead (it’s super juicy and super flavorful!) and it has bailed many of us out of that awkward “I-forgot-that-I-promised-to-bring-something-to-your-barbecue-and-now-I’m-showing-up-empty-handed” situation (salsa is so easy…
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How to Roast a Really Flavorful Chicken
I’ll admit it; for a long time I was really intimidated by the thought of cooking any whole animal. I didn’t want any fish eyes looking back at me, I didn’t want to hear the lobster “cry” as it was dropped into the pot of boiling water, and I sure didn’t want to reach my…
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How to Make Compound Butter
Gaining confidence in the kitchen is all about taking small steps. Making your own compound (flavored) butter, can be a great first step. You need little more than a few sticks of butter and the spark of an idea — and in just a few minutes you will have made something that’s almost too beautiful…
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Intuitive Cooking and Lentils Two Ways
Cooking isn’t as difficult as we make it out to be. Nor is it as complicated as some overly detailed recipes lead us to believe. (I’ve actually seen a recipe that says, “Be sure to use a pan with a ¾-inch side height”. Really?! What happens if my pan has a 1-inch side height? Will…
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Salvatore’s Sandwich
There are two things I remember clearly about Salvatore — his nose and his sandwiches. Let me explain. Every weekday at 11:30 a.m. Mrs. Lang (our second grade teacher) would walk two lines of children (boys on the left, girls on the right) away from the small pod of elementary school classrooms that surrounded an…
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How to Make Pasta From Scratch
I promise you, once you feel the velvety softness of fresh pasta dough beneath your fingers you’ll never eat dried pasta again. Forget fresh pasta’s superior deliciousness; there is something so rich and luxurious about the texture of the homemade dough. The way it pushes back as you knead it, the way it is transformed into a voluptuous golden ball —…
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