Potluck pleasure is . . .
. . . finding nothing but crumbs when you return to the potluck food table to retrieve your platter/bowl/basket. When anything goes, share a platter of crab rangoon. Celebrate the benefits: this pot promises to be a sure thing, you don’t waste a mountain of ingredients, and you avoid spilling leftovers all over your favorite World Cup t-shirt. Bring home […]
Match this salad with summer
Garbanzo beans don’t get much credit in our avocado salad, but they pull it all together. This salad works any time, and it’s a great match with summer. Here’s one from The Cookery archives . . . Through the Garden Avocado Salad 1 large ripe avocado (or 3 small) 12 oz. (1 can) garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed) ¼ of […]
Get that party started with this caponata
Changing up the party menu this summer? Get that party started with this caponata, explosive with the flavors of green olives, eggplant, roasted red pepper, tomatoes, red onion, and garlic. The Cookery served this last week with crackers and fresh zucchini rounds. You may find a great selection of caponata recipes, but try Nathalie Dupree’s easy variation.
Lingering horseradish
The aroma of horseradish loves to linger, and it’s impossible to disregard its presence when in close range of the fields of this lovely root plant. It’s almost festival time, and the good people in the business of horseradish are planning to bring on the spice again. I’m especially curious to see what hot dishes surface in the 2010 horseradish cookbook. […]
Something sweet . . . and good to eat
Not in peak season but available almost everywhere, sweet potatoes are still shaking up taste buds around The Cookery this spring. I’ve had a run-in with sweet potatoes in recent weeks, starting with a superb soup at an Austin restaurant. Then a neighbor shared a load of unwanted sweet potatoes. These were beautiful and I couldn’t think of turning […]
Hungry? Make this a meal
Hungry? Round up four primary ingredients and make this a meal. Prepare rice and chicken to your liking, add fresh spinach and feta, and fold these flavors into a worthy meal. Skip the chicken or substitute rice with your preferred grains to recycle your recipe.
Sweet Loaf
You won’t want to skimp on the eggs with this bread recipe. It’s perfectly rich, courtesy of our Austin baker man. He modified the variation he learned from his grandmother to continue the sweet tradition. Portuguese sweet bread 4-5 loaves (half-batch) 2.5 lbs flour (That’s the starting point, though you’ll probably need another one or two […]
Baker in disguise
I’ve seen a few good men turn out perfect peach cobbler at the campsite, but that’s no wonder. They’ve been preparing the dutch oven dessert for years. What really marked surprise was discovering that our neighbor is a baker in disguise. He keeps busy working with the law, staying active with his family, and training to look like a […]
Cookbook receipt marks carrot soup recipes
Among the cookbooks I received that belonged to my late sister, I found a copy of Fields of Greens, New Vegetarian Recipes from the Celebrated Greens Restaurant by Annie Somerville. The inspiration of this recipe collection only gets better with the tiny scrap of history tucked into the pages. My sister purchased the cookbook way back in 1994, at […]
Recipes from heaven
I thought I had enough cookbooks, but this time, there’s room for more. Dozens line my shelves, yet I’ve found a place for several special additions to The Cookery collection. When one of my sisters passed away a few months ago, she left a little of her own heaven behind in her cookbooks and loosely filed recipes. I’m deeply saddened by her […]