There are many reasons to visit Cuba, but its food is not one of them. Cuba is a poor country whose current diet is limited to a few staple items, and food in today’s Cuba is markedly different from the varied Cuban cuisine available in US-based Cuban restaurants run by pre-Revolutionary refugees. The variety and …
I always loved noodles, perhaps because this was the first dish I learned to cook. Well, not really cook from scratch, but I helped my grandmother drop the fresh dough into boiling water. Watching the transformation of this lump of raw dough into a delicious noodle, I was hooked for life. During my childhood, I …
A few nights after the Little India on a Plate tour, we embarked on another Frying Pan Adventure, www.fryingpanadventures.com. Arva Ahmed, Farida Ahmed’s sister, took us on the five-hour Middle Eastern Pilgrimage Food Trail through the streets and alleys of the Al Riqqa section of old Dubai to savor assorted Arabic dishes brought to Dubai …
The modern Arabian desert oasis, Dubai, is a long way for North Americans to taste Middle Eastern and Indian cuisines, but it is a pleasing adventure worth pursuing. Most of Dubai’s 12 million annual tourists are probably attracted by this city’s architectural icons — the world’s largest dancing fountain; tallest building (Burj Khalifa); only 7-star hotel …
I usually plan and specifically buy ingredients for what I intend to cook, but several weeks ago, I impulsively bought beef short ribs without any specific recipe in mind, just because they looked good. So I scrambled for inspiration on how to use this wonderful meat best. Recognizing that short ribs are best cooked slowly …
Dark Ale Braised Beef Short Ribs — Carbonnade á la Flamande Read More »
As Thanksgiving approaches each year, my daughter asks “how can we retain the traditional elements of the holiday meal but introduce some innovation?” Over the years, my experiments with various turkey dry rubbing, brining and cooking methods and stuffing and dressing preparations and different potato and vegetable combinations were generally successful. I was less successful, …
When I check out at the grocery with a turban squash in my basket, the person behind me often leans over and asks what I do with it. Occasionally I am asked whether I will use it as a centerpiece or as a tureen for soup. I explain that I will stuff and bake it …
Several years ago during a September stopover in Oslo, the hotel sent a copy of Aftenposten to the room along with breakfast. Aftenposten, Norway’s leading newspaper, is published in Norwegian, of course, and since my Norwegian was limited to about 50 words, the best I could do was to decipher captions and look at pictures. …
Harvest time in the Midwest and the farmers’ markets are overflowing with locally grown vegetables – tomatoes, peppers and squash of all colors and sizes, eggplant – deep purple, lavender or white, long , oval or round, cucumbers, carrots, piles of chard, kale, mustard greens and herbs. But my eye is drawn to the mountains of sweet corn at 5 to a $1 or 12 for $2 — who can resist.
When the first corn shipments arrived in local markets in July, we rejoiced that finally the ten month long corn fast was over and we attacked fresh corn on the cob with a vengeance. We boiled and ate it slathered in butter or extra virgin olive oil and flavored with merely salt or chili powder; we soaked it unshucked in salted water and then grilled it; we roasted it. Each version of corn on the cob was delicious on its own.