Mediterranean
Have you discovered how different olives are one from another? Or coaxed dried salt cod into a creamy bacalao? How long does it take for Parma or Serrano ham to cure? (As much as four years for the best) and how many liters of genuine balsamic vinegar are released for sale each year? Grab a slice of Manchego cheese or dip your spoon into fresh ricotta (how do they make that stuff?) while you consider how easy it is to bring the Mediterranean into your kitchen without getting your feet wet.
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Eggplant - 1 Jan 2012
There are so many different varieties of this beautiful vegetable. Which kind to use in which recipe? read more...
Ribollita - wondersoup or wodge? - 1 Jan 2012
This is one of my favorite dishes - a wonderful peasant soup that uses up stale bread to turn a winter minestrone (that's the kale in it) into a full scale comfort meal. It's even better if you keep a day before you eat it. read more...
Tortilla Española - 7 Oct 2011
From the Taberna del Alabardero, this recipe for Tortilla Española makes a classic Spanish tapas dish, perfect for a festive fall lunch, that feeds 15 with very little trouble. read more...
Orange Almond Cake - 10 Sep 2011
Not only is this a really simple, elegant cake to make, but it is gluten free. It's a Sephardic recipe, from Claudia Roden's classic, 'A Book of Middle Eastern Food'. In the summer, serve it with a few berries. In the fall and winter with dried fruits plumped up and stewed in a little whisky-flavored tea. read more...
José Andrés cooks paella on a barbecue - 8 Aug 2011
José Andrés makes paella on his barbecue grill. Okay, so he's a multi-restaurant owner and chef. But he thinks you can do it too. Here is a front row seat at his home-based demonstration. read more...
A Spanish charcuterie primer - 5 Jun 2011
With charcuterie increasingly on offer on restaurant menus, and more and more often made by Washington DC chefs themselves, it's useful to have an understanding of what these dried sausages are.
Santi Zabaleta, owner of Bethesda's A & H Gourmet & Seafood Market has come up with a primer covering charcuterie traditional to Spain. read more...
Ricciarelli - your go-to cookie - 12 May 2011
Ricciarelli, the ground almond cookies special to Siena, a gooey-er macaroon, are good cookies to have on tap year round. But in fresh berry season, they turn a simple dish of hulled strawberries into a dinner special, served alongside the berries and a dish a whipped cream. read more...
Hearty Crab Bisque - 4 May 2011
This is the kind of dish that's perfect for al fresco parties. It's a soup/stew dish from Alcione Vinet, owner-chef of Park Cafe most of which can be prepared ahead of time. Mop up its juices with a crusty loaf of bread and serve a salad on the side. read more...
Cornucopia - one of my favorite markets - 4 May 2011
Sicilian Ibraim ("Ibo") Selmy trained as a geologist. Luckily for us, his interest was more in people and food than in rocks. So in 2003, after 15 years in Washington, the Palermo-born Italian opened Cornucopia in Bethesda, a food store and cafe to sell the specialties of his native land. "It's about people, sharing time with them." read more...
Bread flour unscrambled - 10 Feb 2011
Which flour bakes the best bread? First, know that a grain of wheat has three parts: the endosperm which is the central source of the starch, accounting for 85 percent of the grain. Next to it lies the germ, accounting for only 2 percent. But it's the most positive element. It's the 'seed' that grows new wheat plants and it contains most of the whole grain's protein, vitamins and oil. Plus, pretty much all the flavor lies in the germ. Both of these are covered by the protective outer layer of bran. read more...
Festive no hassle party food - 24 Nov 2010
A & H Gourmet & Seafood Market has to be one of my favorite European delicatessens. Not only does it sell some of the best fish in town - freshly flown in from Spain and Portugal I think more than once a week - but it's an Aladdin's cave of Iberian specialties that will make a fussy guest who frowns on anything but home cooking happy. It's a particular godsend at the festive season. read more...
Two women to watch - 26 Aug 2010
There are culinary people whose careers are worth keeping an eye on. On my list of foodies to follow is Janet Cam, one of the restaurant world's really good general managers - warm but professional, with a great wine palate to boot. And she's about to be back on the floor of a new Washington restaurant in whose kitchen you'll find Roberto Donna's once right-hand/left-hand executive chef, Amy Brandwein. read more...
Pizza - how many calories in your favorite pie? - 11 Aug 2010
When you order a pizza, it's hard to resist wolfing down the whole thing. But a 4-ounce slice may contain more calories than you realize. So know the score when you choose your pizza topping. From Margherita to Pepperoni, here's what they deliver. read more...
Gazpacho - 28 Jul 2010
Terri Cutrino, executive chef of Cafe Atlantico's' recipe for that refreshing and pretty soup perfect for summer soup which you can prepare well ahead of sitting down to eat it. read more...
Risotto - the grains of truth - 21 Jul 2010
You can't make risotto from any old rice. Certainly not from a Carolina short grain. That'll just make a rice pudding. If you buy the right rice, turning out a perfect risotto is not hard. read more...
Desserts: Sopa de Chocolato Blanco con Compota de Frutos Rojos - 24 Jun 2010
This is one of those recipes we all hunt for: a dish, in this case a dessert, that is impressive to taste and to look at, that can be whipped up with little effort and time. It came from Santi Zabaleta, when he was chef of Taberna del Alabardero. Now you'll find his cheerful face at A & H Seafood & Gourmet in Bethesda, which he owns. read more...
Pesto - 17 Jun 2010
One taste of pesto is an instant ticket to Italy. And it isn't hard to make, with no really precise amounts. It's worth making yourself because pre-packed pesto too often tastes like damp lawn clippings. read more...
Tuna ventresca - 17 Jun 2010
Tuna ventresca is the Ferrari of canned tuna to the jalopy of regular canned tuna. Good tuna is a useful summer stand by. Build a Salade Nicoise around it or team it with a can of drained cannellini beans, slices of red onion and a good glug of olive oil with a grind of black pepper for a summery meal. read more...
Wild Mushroom Risotto with Spring Asparagus - 2 Jun 2010
A good deal of fear surrounds the making of risotto. But as Geoffrey Tracy, owner-chef of Chef Geoff's and Lia's recipe makes clear, the prime technique to pull off this favorite dish is twelve to fourteen minutes of calm and patience. read more...
Robert Weland - Chef of Poste - 20 May 2010
Chef Robert Weland makes his own charcuterie — and more — at his Penn Quarter restaurant, Poste. He grows his herbs and tomatoes in the garden beside the restaurant and he hosts a weekly Market to Market dinner, taking small groups on a tour of the Penn Quarter Farmer's Market then cooks a 5-course meal with the produce. read more...
The lunch shift is over and chef Peter Smith, owner of PS 7’s restaurant is surrounded by gin. No, he’s not relaxing over a drink. The gin is in bowls in an pre-formed state. It’s the mash, a mix of herbs and berries and peels and roots that Smith has worked out how to use in his food as flavorings.
Chew On This: Your first 'Duh' of the year...
Eggplant
Baked beans - the musical fruit
Ribollita - wondersoup or wodge?
Yasaman Persian Bakery - one of my favorites
Breads - a good chew
Duck & goose
A festive 'Special': Foie Gras Creme Caramel
Festive presents weird and wacky at World Market
Walnut oil
The perfect Yorkshire pudding
Chew On This: The acai berry diet can only thin your wallet...
The Queen Mum's favorite cake
West Indian Black Cake
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