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Light Yet Hearty Springtime Spanish Tortilla

19 May Tortilla with spring vegetables

The pressure was on! We had an invite to a brunch that would bring together some of the contributors to the new Edible Long Island magazine (launching first edition digitally in July, and then print editions starting in September). And everyone was to bring something.

A brunch full of food writers focused on local, hand-crafted food is a brunch full of people who know their way around a kitchen and know good stuff when they taste it. So this called for a dish that features seasonal ingredients, preferably locally-sourced, and perhaps expressing something about who I am and where I come from.

Portable and tasty, tortillas are a terrific potluck solution

Portable and tasty, tortillas are a terrific potluck solution

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Five Delicious Asparagus Recipes – done in no time flat!

15 May Ready to roll - Hummus, roasted tomato and asparagus wraps (Click image for recipe)

Asparagus is in season in these parts and that means a drive out to the North Fork of Long Island for asparagus, as much of it as I can afford and think we can eat in a few days. Leandro and I love it and usually just break off the bottoms, smear in olive oil and put under the broiler for ten minutes. We sprinkle them with salt and eat them with our fingers.

But sometimes, sometimes, we get a bit more fancy. Just a bit. Not complicated, because we don’t do a lot of complicated stuff, but just dressed up enough to make it special. Here are five terrific recipes for this springtime delight!

Savory Asian Asparagus Steak Bites! (Click on image for the recipe)

Savory Asian Asparagus Steak Bites! (Click on image for the recipe)

Frittata with Asparagus (duck or hen eggs) Click image for recipe!

Frittata with Asparagus (duck or hen eggs) Click image for recipe!

Leek and Asparagus with eggs (Click image for recipe!)

Leek and Asparagus with eggs (Click image for recipe!)

Zippy roasted ped pepper dipping sauce and roasted asparagus (Click image for recipe)

Zippy roasted red pepper dipping sauce and roasted asparagus (Click image for recipe)

Ready to roll: Hummus, Roasted Asparagus and Tomato Wraps!

Ready to roll: Hummus, Roasted Asparagus and Tomato Wraps! Click image for recipe!

Five Tasty, Terrific, and Totally Easy Mushroom Recipes!

16 Apr Sauteed Mushrooms and Onions

According to Organic Gardening magazine, today is National Mushroom Day (although according to every other source it is not!). Dramatic and sustaining, mushrooms are a quick way to jazz up your basic burger, make a delicious appetizer or add some sexiness to a tapas night. So in honor of the day that may or may not be, here are my top five mushroom posts.

They can all be made with the basic white button mushroom, which tends to be the most economical. Look for unblemished crowns and on the underside, try to get mushrooms which are closed around the stem, not fanning out. Wipe them clean with a damp paper towel (the woman I worked for in France had me peel them one by one, but I don’t recommend that for every day cooking. Too much work!)

Click directly on each photo to connect to the recipe.

One of my all-time top posts: Sauteed mushrooms and onions is the Best Burger Topping. Ever.

One of my all-time top posts: Sauteed mushrooms and onions is the Best Burger Topping. Ever.

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Top Ten Easy Latin Bean Recipes (Fiesta de Frijoles y Habichuelas)

3 Apr Criollo/Creole Black Bean Soup (Sopa de Frijoles Negros)

Some of you have reported hunting down my bean recipes. Well here are some of my faves, all gathered in one place! Just click on the image to get to the recipe.

Make it yourself and enjoy whichever texture you prefer!

Home-made refried beans! (Vegan, but you’d never know)

Five Minute Black beans - I KID YOU NOT - FIVE MINUTE PREP

Five Minute Black beans – I KID YOU NOT – FIVE MINUTE PREP

Garbanzos con chorizo (chick peas and hot dry Spanish sausage)

Garbanzos con chorizo (chick peas and hot dry Spanish sausage)

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Celeriac Remoulade (The Speed Dial Version)

18 Mar Lovely side dish!

Give celeriac an inch and it will take over your kitchen. Well, not quite, but I grated a bit into a salad for the first time in ages a couple of days ago, was reminded of my first celeriac remoulade in an even more distant past, and next thing you know, I was making a remoulade.

Looks a bit like an ugly planet, dunnit?

Looks a bit like an ugly planet, dunnit?

Mind you, no one else in my house eats mayonnaise – my mom is watching her cholesterol, my dad is still nominally on his crazy-ass diet which is vegan (except when he is “tasting” everyone else’s food), and my five-year-old is valiantly resisting the charms of potato salad, tuna salad, and anything else that tastes so nice with some mayo and would be so much easier to send him to school with.

So rather than make a batch of real mayonnaise that I couldn’t possibly finish eating before it went off, I resorted to scraping the last two tablespoons of Hellman’s whose Never-Say-Die longevity in the fridge is a wonder of the modern age (this jar dates back to the summer).

Celeriac cleans up real nice....

Celeriac cleans up real nice….

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Taco Tuesdays: DIY Refried Beans. Banging Flavor without the Fat

11 Mar Make it yourself and enjoy whichever texture you prefer!

We’ve been doing Taco Tuesdays for the last month or so. Our neighbors across the street do it, so Leandro decided we should too. I actually like it, because it gives me a solid plan and lets me tinker. I don’t actually do the taco thing – by the time all the accoutrements get to the table I have eaten more than my share of shredded cheese and settle for rolling a veggie wrap for myself (ripe avocado slices are my solution when I crave creaminess and  am trying — quite unsuccessfully — to battle my cheese dependence).

Olive oil, onion and peppers add to my sorta Mexican veggie wraps on Taco Tuesdays

Olive oil, onion and peppers add to my sorta Mexican veggie wraps on Taco Tuesdays

One of the things I have been tweaking has been refried beans (which are not really refried at all). You can buy them out of a can, and I won’t deny that they taste good, but do I really need that much lard in my life? Actually, I do wish I had more lard in my life, but I would like to know where it came from before I serve it up. Continue reading 

Super Bowl Tapas and Snacks (Easy and More Elegant than the Average Tailgate)

30 Jan Mussels vinaigrette
Chorizo on toast

Chorizo on toast

If you are getting ready for a Super Bowl party, I’ve got some styling, kickin’ tapas ideas for you! Just click on the picture for the recipe…they are all pretty easy (with the exception of the tortillas, which require a bit of derring-do, but are well worth it). They are also portable! Have a great Game Day…I’ll be back with more ideas soon!

¡Ole! ¡Fantástico!

¡Ole! ¡Fantástico!

Mussels vinaigrette (make em the night before)

Mussels vinaigrette (make em the night before)

Tortilla Torcal

Tortilla Torcal

2011 October potluck, hatti, tomatoes, avocado, tortillas 034

Tortilla española

The Little Chef and his work

Red Grapes and Latin White Cheese

2012-12-02 04.08.30

Smoked Salmon and Capers on Endives

2012-08-10 06.11.07

Champinones al ajillo (Spanish Mushrooms in Garlic Sauce)

2012-09-14 21.29.36

Black Olive Paste (Tapenade)

The pictures are awful, but these oven-roasted mushrooms are amazing!

20 Jan Champinones al ajill...al horno

If I had known how good these mushrooms in garlic were going to turn out, I would have been more careful about the pictures!

Mushy focus!

Mushy focus!

This is a wonderful variation on the classic stove-top champiñones al ajillo or mushrooms in garlic sauce, that is a staple of Spanish tapas places and that I have posted before (with butter  or with olive oil)My friend, Marianne and I made them as sort of an afterthought as we were packing the oven with roasted vegetables for our New Year of Eating Right. Why not throw these in too, since we have some space?

Genius.

Get the crusty bread ready, because you are going to want to mop up every bit of sauce.

Blurry photo, clearly delicious

Blurry photo, clearly delicious

Oven-roasted mushrooms in garlic (Champiñones al ajillo, al horno)

10 oz. button or baby bella mushrooms

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbs chopped parsley, optional

Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400°F. Wipe mushrooms clean. Trim off woody stem bits and cut into ¼” slices. Mix mushrooms, garlic , and oil in an ovenproof dish and roast, turning once, for about 30 minutes or until mushrooms are shiny, opaque and dark brown. Sprinkle parsley over, salt to taste and serve with toothpicks as a tapas dish or mix with warm pasta for a light primo piatto (first dish/appetizer).

The Green Goddess Helps Those Who Help Themselves (A Salad Dressing)

17 Jan Green Goddess Dressing with Garden Salad and Feta

So Marianne and I continue preparing food that encourages healthy eating and healthy weight for the new year. I like to make one meal a day a salad; as crunchy and varied as possible. Unless my mom is home making the powdered Italian stuff in the cruet (which I freely admit I love), I generally make my own, simple vinaigrettes or tahini-based dressings, but clearly it is time to branch out.

Do pack the tablespoon with the herbs; it is very hard to get an accurate measure of this, isn't it?

Do pack the tablespoon with the herbs; it is very hard to get an accurate measure of this, isn’t it?

Marianne’s brother, Peter, is famous for his Green Goddess dressing (and his pecan pie, but that’s for another day when I get his recipe!) and although I’d never had it before (see dressing history, below) , I happened upon a Green Goddess recipe in Food to Live By: The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook  (a personal favorite that Marianne’s boys gave me a few years ago, as it happens) and well…game on! Continue reading 

Sauteed Onions and Mushrooms II (This time dairy-free)

14 Jan 2013-01-05 09.24.24

The last time I posted  Sauteed mushrooms and onions, it was a rich and unctuous burger-topper sauteed in butter that I learned from my friend Marianne – the wife of one male and mother of two more, and so an expert in crowd-pleasing, no-holds-barred burger toppers and other such make-happy-the-hungry-horde type stuff.

Into the frying pan

Into the frying pan

But now it’s January, the birth month of good intentions (and the trail head of the road to hell, but never mind)  and Marianne and I are looking at ourselves and deciding it is time to try slimmer versions of our favorite meals. We’ve been getting together on Sundays and making good, healthy,veggie, low-whatever refrigerator items for the week.

Thus, this new take on sauteed onions and mushrooms. No dairy (Susu, are you listening?) and yet still unctuous and savory (mushrooms tend to do that). Try it on black bean burgers with quinoa or without and feel truly virtuous!

Golden is good, but wait for it...darker is better

Golden is good, but wait for it…darker is better

Sauteed Onions and Mushrooms

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1.5 Cups sliced onion (slice against the stripes)

10 oz. sliced mushrooms (button or baby bella), woody stems trimmed or removed

2 shakes adobo seasoning (or one pinch each of: garlic powder, onion powder, salt. Oregano is optional, and you can add more of any of them to taste)

Heat the olive oil at medium high in a large skillet until loose and fragrant. Add onions and stir to coat. Add mushrooms and stir to coat. Sprinkle with adobo seasoning, lower heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes, until onions are quite wilted and mushrooms are darkened and soft.

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