Category: food
-
Grating Tomatoes
In my last recipe, for cheese enchiladas, I said that the tomato for the chili gravy should be “grated”. (We also use a grated tomato in our saag paneer recipe as well as the forthcoming recipe for Mexican rice). This has caused some confusion and consternation amongst the legions of fans of the Beckyan Deli,…
-
Worst. Cookies. Ever.
Last week, Mark Bittman posted a new recipe for The Mother Of All Butter Cookies. His point was that this recipe was akin to a mother sauce and an easy and flexible base that could be turned into butterscotch cookies, chocolate chip cookies, citrus cookies… Sounds great, huh? Some of you might ask: the Tollhouse…
-
Mac & Cheese
At long last, here is my Mac & Cheese recipe. It’s not fancy, but it certainly gets the job done. Unless, of course, you are lactose intolerant. Sorry Becky! This can be made with any firm cheese. I usually use sharp cheddar, but I’ve found a mix of garden-variety cheddar and smoky English farmhouse cheddar…
-
Arugula for all!
While the Obama campaign has had lots of fun mocking McCain for not knowing how many houses he had, the McCain campaign came back with . . . an arugula reference. Because a year ago, Obama had the nerve to mention the price of arugula. I find it unbelievably frustrating that worrying about the price…
-
Saag Paneer
We’ve made saag paneer (or palaak paneer, as they call it in Southern India) many times, using a combination of two recipes. Both recipes are from Madhur Jaffrey: one in World Vegetarian and the other in World of the East Vegetarian Cooking. We don’t like either one by itself, so now that we’ve finally adjusted…
-
Birthday tradition!
Yesterday we went out for sushi for Eli’s birthday. In honor of the yummy sushi, here is the very funny “Japanese Tradition” video about how to eat sushi: I’m not sure if they’re aimed at Japanese people, or people learning Japanese, or what, but I really enjoy the “Japanese Tradition” videos. There’s also a very…
-
Is there a Top Geeky Chef?
On tonight’s Top Chef finale (no spoilers here, don’t worry), Richard bragged that he was using liquid nitrogen to make ice cream, and that “only a dozen top chefs in the country” do that sort of thing. Top chefs, pffft. Even I’ve made liquid nitrogen ice cream on multiple occasions. In fact, other than procuring…
-
Spicy Corn
As the summer grilling season begins (but in Santa Barbara it never ends!) corn on the cob starts to appear at the market. And there’s nothing we love more than Indian-style spicy grilled corn. I learned this recipe and technique from my neighbors on Tappan St. in Ann Arbor, some time in the last millennium.…
-
Tandoori or don’t we?
Tonight Becky and I made Mark Bittman’s Twice Cooked Mock Tandoori Chicken. We’ve previously tried Madhur Jaffrey’s Tandoori Chicken from An Invitation to Indian Cooking (a classic from 1973 with the world’s longest subtitle). What’s new and interesting about Bittman’s version is the cooking method: baking the chicken in the sauce first, and then grilling…
-
No, let me tip my 20-gallon hat to you!
The city of Santa Barbara is promoting a 20 Gallon Challenge, listing ways to reduce your water consumption by 20 gal/day. I find the list frustrating, however, because many of the suggestions are either bleedingly obvious, or only helpful for owners, not renters. So the things on the list that we already do to save…