I know, I know, that doesn’t look like risotto. But it – sort of – is.

One of the benefits of having your own food blog is that when you’re not at your computer, or at grocery store, or in this case, reading a magazine, your memory is jogged – hmmm – have I made this before? Reading a recipe for mushroom and cauliflower (rice) risotto made me go to the blog and sure enough, I posted this recipe about 9 years ago. I hadn’t made it in the interim. It was good then, and it’s still good! I bought a whole cauliflower and a bunch of mushrooms and decided I’d make this for myself.

What I remembered was the delicious umami flavors (in this case it’s the low-sodium soy sauce – and the mushrooms also – which give it that unctuous flavor). I made it just a bit differently this time – all of the flavor profiles are the same – it’s just that I chopped up the mushrooms (whole, fresh) and the cauliflower (whole, fresh) in the food processor. I did that separately because you cook the mushrooms longer than the cauliflower. The shallot and garlic enhanced the flavors as they’re added in with the mushrooms, plus a bunch of dried thyme. I love thyme. My favorite herb, I do believe.

There’s the pot-full of the mixture in the photo at right. Since it had been awhile since I made it, I couldn’t remember if I needed to stir it all the time (like you do with risotto). I didn’t, but I did stir it frequently as it gently simmered. I kept a spoon handy because I had to taste it frequently so I took it off the heat when it was JUST done, not over-done. You still want some texture. Of course, cauliflower doesn’t have the texture of rice, but it was close enough. Mushrooms have tons of flavor. As I added the soy sauce I thought – 4 tablespoons – wow, that might be too much. Looking at the recipe again, nope, it’s correct. Poured it in. Cream is added and some broth toward the end. When done, you need to be ready to serve it immediately. This takes about half the time as real rice risotto. Have all the ingredients ready and it goes together very quickly.

For myself, I ate it as my lunch. My complete lunch, and surprisingly, with looking at the low calorie count, it was quite satisfying. The recipe says it serves 6, but that’s as a side dish. As a main event, probably 3 servings. Nuts aren’t commonly on risotto, but you could easily add some pine nuts, perhaps. That would give the risotto some added texture.

What’s GOOD: the overall taste is really fabulous. Hard to believe the mushrooms – and the soy sauce – can make the dish so very tasty. Easy and quick to make. Leftovers need just a jot more liquid (broth, water or cream).

What’s NOT: a bit of prep with the mushrooms and cauliflower in the food processor, but once that’s done it’s easy. No other challenges.

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An unusual salad with those ingredients, but very tasty with the walnut gremolata dressing on it.

The original iteration of this salad was in a recent issue of Sunset magazine. It didn’t have edamame in it, nor did it include arugula. But, the day I made it, Trader Joe’s was out of sugar snap peas, except for one bag, and even after grabbing the edamame, I thought the salad would be skimpy for a family meal to feed six. So I bought the bag of arugula.

I made the walnut gremolata ahead of time. So what exactly IS a gremolata? Well, it is a dressing, but it’s also considered a garnish. This one is much more of a salad dressing, but the addition of walnuts gives it a lot of texture. Taste it to make sure you have enough lemon juice in it – you want it to have that piquant flavor, acid/oil balance. In the original recipe the sugar snaps were “blistered” on a barbecue. Well, I tried to do that, but they simply would not blister, so scratch that step. Beforehand, I tried to dry them, then I tossed them in a little oil, but still they wouldn’t blacken or blister. I did blanch them, though, then plunged them into ice water, so the peas stayed a beautiful bright green. I’m guessing the peas were just still too wet to blister.

The edamame were already cooked, and I merely emptied the package of them into the salad bowl. I chopped up the arugula a little bit (I don’t know about you, but watching someone else try to push a wad of long-stemmed arugula into their mouths isn’t exactly a pretty sight, hence I chop the arugula into more manageable pieces). At the last minute I tossed it, added most of the feta, then served with some more feta sprinkled on top.

What’s GOOD: the salad was really good. I liked the various textures – from the sugar snaps that still had a tiny bit of crunch to them, the walnuts, the creaminess of the feta, and the balance of arugula and the edamame. Altogether nice salad. And yes, I’d make it again.

What’s NOT: really nothing – a bit of prep work (blanching the sugar snaps and making the walnut gremolata), but much of it you can do ahead of time.

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Having always had an affinity for Mulligatawny Soup, this one intrigued me because of the addition of garam masala and the other various vegetables.

I’ve posted a couple of Mulligatawny Soups during the 18 years I’ve been posting recipes on my blog. The first one, back in 2008, was my go-to for several decades of my home cooking routine. Then I had one made at a cooking class, different, have never made it since, so I guess it didn’t hit any marks. How I came across this recipe, I don’t recall, but it’s an Emeril Legasse recipe, and it’s on the Food Network site, so perhaps Emeril prepared it back in the day when he had a show there.

• Mulligatawny is a type of Anglo-Indian soup. It is regarded as the national soup of India. A literal translation from Tamil “pepper water” (‘Millagu’ is pepper and ‘Thanni’ is water). Despite the name, pepper itself is not a vital ingredient. Rice and noodles are commonly served in the soup; the real dish the Anglo-Indians call “pepper water” is closer to Tamilian rasam than mulligatawny. Variations differ very much. Sometimes, the soup has a turmeric-like yellow color and is garnished with parsley and chicken meat, and is more soupy, which takes on its Anglo-Indian adaptation to be a thick, spicy meat soup.

I posted that blurb above, before, about the origin of Mulligatawny. Obviously, it’s an adaptable kind of soup – maybe rice or noodles, maybe turmeric, maybe curry (which is in my original recipe), usually chicken, almost always with some apple and rice, spicy somehow and with veggies. This one adds garam masala, that Indian mixed spice. Emeril tossed the chicken in it, then browned it in a big Dutch oven. Because I love garam masala, I added in more at the end, which is also very common in Indian cooking – it heightens the garam masala flavors to add more just before serving. I really liked how it tasted done that way.

This is a soup with many ingredients and a variety of flavors. The apple is very common, and it’s one of the things I love about Mulligatawny. I suppose it’s the “sweet note” it adds with almost every bite. Lentils are common also, but because I don’t eat many carbs, I reduced the amount in the version I made, although I included the half cup in the recipe below. I also didn’t include potatoes or the rice for the same reason. I did include the sweet potato (because it’s a resistant starch). Add more broth as needed, or less, just so the vegetables are covered with liquid. Adding spinach is a new ingredient, perhaps not at all common to this soup. But I liked it. Except for the peeling and chopping, the soup comes together in a jiffy. And it makes a goodly portion, so now I have a package of it in the freezer and lunch for some days to come. Love that!

What’s GOOD: this is a really delicious chicken and veggie soup/stew kind of thing. Love the Indian flavors with the garam masala, but the soup itself is very complex even with no other seasonings except salt and pepper. Hearty, filling. This may be my new go-to Mulligatawny.

What’s NOT: only that it takes a bit of time to peel and chop all the veggies that go into this. But that’s what makes it taste so good  – the variety of textures and flavors.

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Such an easy side dish  – for a brunch or dinner

Awhile back I’d downloaded a recipe from Ottolenghi for a salad much like this. But when I made it, I wanted to make a couple of changes. The “dressing” for this is nothing but plain yogurt and some horseradish. I had Greek yogurt on hand, but it’s not a very tart/sour type – it’s very smooth (Fage) which is why I like it so much for my breakfast. When I tasted the dressing – the yogurt, horseradish, salt and pepper – I knew it needed something. So I added some whole grain mustard and a tetch of red wine vinegar to it. That gave it the extra oomph of tart that I was looking for. Because when you mix potatoes you want/need some acid in it. If you’re using regular plain yogurt (not Greek) you may not need the vinegar. Taste it to determine. Certainly this ended up being different than Ottolenghi had in mind when he created this dish.

I’d also cooked up a couple of slices of bacon – because I thought I was going to  use it in the egg dish I made, but changed my mind. So, obviously, the bacon went into the potatoes. Easy.

What I had on hand were small Yukon gold, so I boiled them until they were just tender, and once drained I let them sit briefly to dry the outsides. Then I  used a potato masher and very gently mooshed each potato once – JUST ONCE – to smash it. So it left the potatoes in small chunks. Peel on. Then I mixed in the dressing and the bacon, then added some chopped green onions on top and it was ready to eat.

What’s GOOD: this was just delish. I’m not eating potatoes these days, but I did have one very small bite and my guests loved it. I loved that one bite I had and definitely wanted to dip in for more (but didn’t). It was so very easy to make and the dressing took not more than a minute to mix up.

What’s NOT: nothing, really. If you like a pristine look of a cubed-up potato salad, this rustic style might not meet your needs.

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Elevate a simple vegetable to “four star” status with this preparation.

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you might recall several years ago (March of 2020 to be exact, just when Covid began – it was announced while I was on that trip) I went on a driving vacation to California’s Central Coast. While there I had lunch at a restaurant in San Luis Obispo (with friends) and was blown away by a chilled soup I ordered – a cauliflower soup with a topping of pine nuts, raisins and capers. Once home I did an internet search and discovered a recipe at Serious Eats that was served as a vegetable – the florets roasted and with the vinaigrette poured over.

It was my guess at the time, that the chef at the restaurant had served the veggie the night before at their dinner service and repurposed it the following day as a soup with the vinaigrette as a garnish on the top.

Since then this recipe, or a variation of it, has appeared in dozens of places. Most of them without the caper vinaigrette. The Italians perfected using cauliflower with pine nuts and raisins. But the vinaigrette just adds a pizazz to it. I was pretty sure I’d like it just because I really have enjoyed the soup combo (have made it 3-4 times since 2020).

The preparation is quite simple. I made the vinaigrette ahead of time and kept it in the frig overnight. I was having a big birthday gathering. The cauliflower had to be chopped into florets, tossed with EVOO and roasted for about 15-17 minutes, turning them over once during the baking time. Onto a platter they went and the vinaigrette is poured over it. I didn’t use all of it, just most of it. I thought we were ready to sit down, but no, we weren’t, so the cauliflower had cooled to room temp by the time we ate, but it was delicious anyway. I had a little bit leftover and ate it cold, straight from the frig the next day and it was every bit as good!

What’s GOOD: everything about this dish is good. Loved the sweet (raisins) to acidic (capers) and the various textures (pine nuts, parsley). Altogether wonderful dish. This one’s a keeper.

What’s NOT: nothing really  – the vinaigrette is easy to make. I did a mis en place so once I started it was easy to finish.

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Such a quick meal but really delicious. 

Funny story. I was out running an errand and had a hankering for an In-N-Out burger. Glanced at my phone to see exactly where it was (I was out in the desert and knew I’d seen one in La Quinta). Thought I knew where . . . nope . . wasn’t where I thought it was. Should have stopped and done a search on my phone or the car GPS, but didn’t. Decided to just go back home and find something to make. I had cabbage. I had onion. I had one of those u-ring-shaped packages of smoked sausage. There it was. Lunch. But I added a bunch of other stuff too.

First I sauteed some onion and celery in a bit of olive oil, then added garlic powder, some herbs, then a few cups of chopped up cabbage. Poured in about 1/2 cup of white wine that was languishing in the refrigerator. Use vermouth if you don’t have any regular drinking wine. Dissolved some Dijon in the wine, stirred, added Italian seasoning, the smoked sausage cut up in diagonal coins, then at the last, added a bit of butter.

What I realized was how EASY this meal was to make. It couldn’t have taken me more than 20 minutes to throw it together. I could have added some carrots, which I had, or broccoli, but I wanted the typical German style with the sausage, cabbage and onions. The butter was the icing on the cake, so to speak. I could taste it, which gave the dish a lovely silkiness. You could probably use a bit less butter if you want to. This makes enough for two. I had the second portion the next day for lunch and enjoyed it every bit as much as I did the first time. If I’d wanted to be decadent I’d have served it with a side of creamy mashed potatoes. I had this dish in Germany a couple of times, and it was outstanding. That would add a lot of calories, but the flavors are really good.

What’s GOOD: loved the combo of flavors – the sausage, the slight crunch of the cabbage. The butter added a smooth finish. The herbs were super, and the wine added some nice flavor too. I’m absolutely buying another ring of sausage to have on hand for another one of these skillet dinners.

What’s NOT: only if you don’t have all the ingredients on hand.

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Lovely roasted veggies enhanced with lemon juice in a vinaigrette.

Having shopped that morning and with numerous vegetables to choose from, I decided a sheetpan of roasted veggies sounded good for dinner. My complete dinner. But adding some kind of dressing would be even better, so I kind of made up a dressing with EVOO, a tad of red wine vinegar and fresh lemon juice (my Meyer lemon tree is loaded, absolutely loaded with them), Dijon, a tiny bit of sugar, salt and pepper and some minced shallot.

After cutting up the veggies (one sweet potato, chunked large, 1 large sweet onion cut in wedges, about 12 Brussels sprouts, halved, one baby bok choy, cut into wedge thirds), I piled them onto a sheet pan lined with parchment. EVOO was drizzled over it and I used my hands to make sure every surface had been kissed by the oil. Then I added some salt and freshly ground black pepper, and it was ready. Into a 400°F oven it went for 35 minutes. If I’d wanted more caramelization I wouldn’t have used the parchment, but they were just done in that time frame (and the sheetpan was mostly clean). Meanwhile, I’d mixed up the vinaigrette, tasted it, and added a bit more oil. Once the veggies came out of the oven I put them onto my plate and drizzled (using a teaspoon) some of it over each piece of vegetable. That way, I hoped, I’d use less of the dressing (therefore fewer calories). So delicious. As I write this, I made the veggies last night, and at lunchtime today I couldn’t wait to have more of them. I reheated them in the microwave for a quick meal.

The recipe below makes more than you’ll need of the dressing – use what’s left on a green salad. Therefore, the calorie count in the actual recipe is way off. This is a mix-and-match kind of dish – don’t like sweet potatoes? Add white potatoes. Don’t like Brussels, add red, yellow and green bell peppers, cauliflower or eggplant. Don’t have sweet onion? No problem. Regular onions should work just fine. Add carrots to this – they’d be great – they become very sweet when roasted. I was trying to stick with low carb. Sweet potatoes are a resistant starch, so they don’t get absorbed by the body like most starches/carbohydrate. I have some portobello mushrooms and if I make this again in the next few days, I’ll add those, although they’d need the dark gills cleaned out  (otherwise the resulting dark fluid would spread over the other veggies – wouldn’t look pretty). I’m not a fan of cooked celery, but it probably would work here too. Regular cabbage would work too if cut into smaller wedges.

What’s GOOD: oh gosh, every veggie was wonderful. The vinaigrette just “made” it – it was the lemon juice that was the key to that. If you cut the veggies in somewhat even thickness they’ll all be done at the same time. Using parchment made for easy clean-up. The leftover vinaigrette I’ll use on a salad in the next few days. Absolutely wonderful dinner. If you wanted to serve it with a side of protein – a grilled chicken breast, or some rotisserie chicken, easy. A grilled pork chop maybe, or even a piece of fish. All good with the vegetables.

What’s NOT: only that you need to have the right combo of vegetables. Use what you have. No complaints here!

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Green beans – oh so delicious – can be a veg or a salad.

Over Christmas there was quite a bit of too-ing and fro-ing from one family location to another. Going south, we (my cousin Gary from NorCal was here) met on the 23rd for a big family dinner and gift exchange and one of the family’s homes in Corona del Mar. I think there were about 25 people there, with 22 of them being part of my daughter-in-law’s extended family. I took a gluten-free dessert and something else . . . at this moment I can’t recall what I made. I think it was a salad of some kind. Oh well, it will come to me . . . Then on the 24th my cousin Gary and I drove north to La Canada (where my son Powell and his family live). We had a lovely dinner that night, paella and all the extras from a local Spanish restaurant. We had desserts leftover from the 23rd, and we had lovely Sangria to enjoy too.

Because their house was full-up with guests, Gary and I were treated to an overnight at The California Club. My son and his wife have joined it and they have 30+ rooms available. It’s in downtown Los Angeles. It’s like a private country club but without a golf course. In the morning we enjoyed coffee (Gary had other things; me just the coffee) in the bar at the Club. We were sorry they had to provide food for guests on Christmas morning, but we weren’t the only people staying there, and the waiter was ever-so nice. Then we returned to the house for an official breakfast.

Karen made some GF eggs in pastry cups (recipe to come soon). They were just delicious and I was amazed at the flakiness of the pastry. I did a huge charcuterie board (I made Gary help me with the creating of it) which everyone munched on during the afternoon. For dinner Powell grill-rotisserie-d a double boneless leg of lamb stuffed with all kinds of herbs, and everyone else helped out with other dishes to round out the dinner. It was a fabulous meal – a formal dining room setting with the family china. I think the lamb was the most tender leg of lamb I’ve ever eaten – it was as tender as prime rib or a tenderloin.

So, this green bean dish . . . it comes from Milk Street, and you can tell, it’s Russian. First you make the Adjika (I’m assuming it means “sauce”). It’s comprised of a LOT of fresh mint (thank goodness I have it growing in abundance in my yard), Jalapeno chiles, garlic, salt, a bit of oil and some ground coriander. The green beans were cooked just past the crunchy stage, then they’re tossed with the sauce, some yogurt, lemon zest and juice and garnished with more fresh mint and some toasted walnuts. I made the mint sauce (the Adjika) at home so it was easy to mix in when composing the dish.

What’s GOOD: I thought these were stupendous. I’d have loved to have had leftovers the next day, but I left them for Karen and family to enjoy. Definitely a keeper and one I want to make again. Although I have mint growing, I’ll need to wait a few weeks for the patch to recover from harvesting so much of it for this dish! We’re having very cold temps at night, and mint doesn’t much like that – often it dies off in the winter. I was just lucky there was plenty when I needed it. We have several family members who can’t eat nuts, so the picture doesn’t show them – I had them nearby for people to sprinkle on top as they wanted. Make the sauce earlier in the day, and make the yogurt sauce ahead also. The green beans could be made ahead too, so all you’d have to do is toss everything. The dish is very low in calorie. I made a double batch to feed all of us.

What’s NOT: There are a few steps to making this – none is difficult, just a bit time consuming.

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Is this ever delicious! So worth making. Long simmered pork shoulder chunks in a brothy sauce, ladled over a fresh batch of oven-baked polenta, and topped off with gremolata (the green stuff in the center).

So there’s a cute story about this – – we had this on New Years’ Eve, for dinner. My son-in-law, John, (Sara’s husband) was in l-o-v-e with it. He had seconds. Then he ate what was left on their son’s plate. He said: “Oh, where has this been for the last 56 years?” Obviously, he’s 56 now. Does that give you a clue as to how good this is?

A couple of weeks ago my friend Cherrie and my daughter Sara and I met in La Jolla (a seaside village north of San Diego) to attend a cooking class. I don’t believe I’ve been to a cooking class since we attended this same kind of class last December. Phillis Carey and Diane Phillips (both long-time cooking instructors and cookbook authors) taught the class, aimed at Christmas feasts. Diane is either Italian herself, or her husband is (they own a home in Spoleto, Italy and divide their time between San Diego and Tuscany). Phillis doesn’t teach cooking classes anymore (she’s retired except for taking some group cruise ship tours in various parts of the world with cooking and food as the emphasis). I miss Phillis’s classes.

But anyway, Phillis and Diane teach the equivalent of a full cooking class each at this particular event – a full course meal, demonstration and then everyone gets to sample the food. Diane did 6 dishes, Phillis did 5, I believe. There were several stars in the mix, and this was one of them. Sara and I decided we’d like to prepare this over New Years’ weekend sometime. We’re going to be in the desert with family visiting that weekend and it’ll make a great company meal. The flavor was just over the top delicious. A pork shoulder is used, cut up into small chunks (see photo below) and it’s served over a very easy baked polenta. Diane explained that some while back she just didn’t want to buy veal shanks anymore (they’re so very expensive, and it’s so inhumane to slaughter a very young steer), so she tried pork shoulder. Here’s the photo of it simmering.

Here on my blog I already have a recipe for osso bucco using pork shanks. But this one is very different using the pork shoulder. What’s there not to like about all the flavor from the fat in that pork shoulder? You do get to skim some of that fat off during the cooking process. The pork is browned then all the aromatics are added (onion, carrot, celery, sage, wine, broth, tomatoes). The meat is simmered for about 2 hours, or until the pork is super-tender. Diane recommends making it the day before, refrigerating it (that’s when you can remove the fat that rises to the top), then it’s merely a matter of reheating it. Serve with Gremolata – to me it “makes” the dish. It’s a mixture of freshly chopped Italian parsley, orange and lemon zest and fresh garlic (finely minced). See photo below.

The polenta was super-easy – you combine water, polenta style cornmeal, salt and pepper in a baking dish. You leave it uncovered, transfer to a 375°F oven and bake for an hour. Then you stir in Parm and butter. You want to serve the meal immediately when the polenta comes out of the oven while it’s creamy and hot, though you can add more hot broth or water to it to loosen it if it has to sit a few minutes.

What’s GOOD: everything about this was yummy. So tender, the meat, delicious juices running all over the plate, and the creamy polenta that is a match made in heaven. Serve it with gremolata (garlic, lemon zest, orange zest and Italian parsley). So pretty and it truly adds a lot of extra flavor.

What’s NOT: only that you need to start this several hours ahead (or ideally the day before).

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Tummy-warming soup with a Mexican bent – made with poblano chiles, canned green chiles and a bunch of vegetables. Plus chicken, of course.

First, a little update about me. My jury duty is finally over with – it lasted four weeks. Thank goodness I’m done with it. I wasn’t ever called to be a deliberating juror (I was an alternate), but when the jurors did meet they convicted the defendant on all five counts, including an enhancement charge that she had intended to cause bodily harm. I wrote a letter to the prosecutor (thanking her), one to the police detective who was assigned to the case (thanking him for his 14 months of working on the case), another to the police chief (telling him how much I admired the detective for his work, but also for his compassion to the victim), and lastly I mailed a Halloween card to the victim herself telling her how brave she was to testify (age 11). The defendant will be put away for a long time.

Now let’s talk about soup. When the weather begins to turn cooler I’m all in for making soups. This one started out as a slow cooker soup, but since I no longer have a large slow cooker (only the instant pot one – and it would have been too small for this batch) I changed the recipe all around, added more vegetables into it and made it on the stovetop. If you have leftover chicken (or in my case it was some rotisserie chicken) this is a perfect soup to use it up.

This is a quick and easy soup if you have all the ingredients. The original recipe called for rice (you can add it if you’d like), but I added some sweet potato and a bit of butternut squash. Actually, for the record, I bought a box of fresh, chopped up veggies at Trader Joe’s, a kind of fall medley, so I’m estimating how much sweet potato and squash it added. Soups like this aren’t exact – add more of anything that suits you and your family.

There are bunches of recipes on the ‘net lately, all made in a crockpot, using a brick of cream cheese. That adds a lot of luscious creaminess to the soup as it melts slowly. I almost always have an 8-ounce brick of cream cheese in my refrigerator. You don’t have to decorate the servings with grated cheese or cilantro, but those two things add a nice touch to the soup. Finishes it off.

What’s GOOD: loved this soup. It makes a big batch, so I have ample to freeze in Ziploc quart bags. Loved the creaminess of it, and the various vegetables added, the sweet potato and butternut squash. The various chiles add a lovely umami flavor to the soup, I think. Altogether delicious.

What’s NOT: nothing really. I suppose you could adapt this to an instant pot (make half the recipe) and then add the cream cheese at the end and let it simmer (not pressure cook) to blend slowly into the soup itself. Made on the stovetop, with all the chopping, etc. it probably takes an hour to make the soup.

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