Warming Winter Squash Soup
The black bean-garlic sauce (a staple Chinese stir-fry ingredient) gives it a rich, fermented, salty element that tames the squash’s sweetness, while the puffed rice cereal a [...]
Leek Condiment
Weird name, I know. But I’ve kept it because it’s the closest translation to the original created by Ryoko Sekiguchi then popularized by François-Régis Baudry, host of the t [...]
Soizic’s Cheese Soufflé
I remember the first time Soizic, my apartment mate in Rennes said she was going to make a cheese soufflé. It was a dark winter evening and there was nothing much in the kitc [...]
Velvet Scallops
When I first read about velveting scallops in Grace Young’s fabulous cookbook, Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge, the promise of ‘luxuriously smooth and dense’ scallops made me t [...]
Zucchini Pickles
After polishing off the better part of a friend’s jar of zucchini pickles all by myself, I set about to make my own. Hers were a touch too sweet for my taste, so I halved the [...]
Mussels in Escabeche Sauce
What do you do with an extra bowlful of mussels after everyone’s eaten his/her fill? (When Mont-Saint-Michel Bay mussels are in season (July – January), leftover mussels are [...]
Cooking Quince, Made Easy
Quince can be a hard sell because…well, everything about quince is hard. The fruit itself isn’t just firm, like a pumpkin. It is dense and murder-weapon hard. (It could easil [...]
What to Do with Sour Milk
I have been dallying with the concept of cooking with sour milk since reading this line from food writer Laurie Colwin’s essay ‘About Biscuits’ many years ago: ‘I have made [ [...]
Prasopita (Spanakopita with Leeks)
Here’s a new Greek food term for you (well, for me): Prasopita. Leek (praso) pie (pita). I found it while googling ‘spanakopita with leeks’—which is what I’d just made using [...]