Butternut Squash Polenta Squares with Sage Walnut Pesto

I served these at my New Year’s Eve party.  They were one of those, rare “please please please let this idea in my head work” hail marys that actually turned out exactly as I had imagined.  A Festivus Miracle indeed. I don’t have a recipe, but I can tell you they were easier than they [...]

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Roasted Tomato Soup

It has been freezing here in Berkeley for the last week or two and a warm bowl of soup was just what I needed.  I found some lovely San Marzano tomatoes at the farmers’ market and this recipe from Epicurious got rave reviews, so I thought I’d give it a go. It’s a lovely soup.  [...]

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Roasted Elephant Garlic Pesto

I’ve been buying up elephant garlic from Happy Boy Farm at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market.  Elephant garlic is about the size of a normal head of garlic, except it’s just one giant clove.  Apparently, it’s not really garlic, but closer to a leek or onion.  It tastes like garlic, except a little more mild.  And [...]

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Corn Pancakes with Green Onion and Jalapeno

I bought some lovely, sweet corn at the farmers market last week.  The first night, we grilled all six ears, which is an obscene amount for 2 people.  I wanted the extra corn because I had seen a recipe for Corn and Basil Fritters from Eating Well in the blog montcarte and had been dreaming [...]

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Peaches Wrapped in Prosciutto with Basil

We had a small group of friends over for drinks recently.  A few old friends, a few new friends, lots of wine and Hangar One raspberry vodka.  And of course, food. Dates wrapped in bacon is sort of a party stand-by of mine, but I wanted something a little more seasonal.  I saw this idea on Epicurious [...]

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Potato Salad with Herb Vinaigrette

I recently came across some lovely blue potatoes.  But, unlike most blue potatoes, they had white flesh.  I thought they’d make a great potato salad.  I had a bunch of herbs in my fridge and just tossed everything together and hoped for the best.  It turned out delicious – much lighter and fresher than typical [...]

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Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Parsley, Pepper, and Pecorino

I have a girl crush on Ina Garten.  I want to move in with her, into her gorgeous house in the Hamptons, and cook and drink French wine with her and her friends every night.  We’ll pick fresh herbs from the garden, Michael will bring the flowers for our table setting, and Miguel will take the photos for [...]

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Ravioli Stuffed with Fava Beans, Ricotta, and Mint

I think I have made up for my food blog neglect with preparing one of the most labor intensive dishes I’ve ever made.  This dish was really good and it makes a ton, so it was worth the work.  Shelling that many favas takes a while, but my DVR was filled with Glee and the [...]

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Carmelized Onion Palmiers

Once, when I first started cooking, I made a spinach pie recipe that involved a phyllo sheet crust.  That damn crust was the hardest thing ever.  Of course, I didn’t have a pastry brush back then, so I was smearing the butter on with a spoon and made a giant mess.  But for years and years [...]

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Dark Days Week 15 – Citrus Marinated Pork, Roasted Potatoes, and Radicchio Walnut Salad

This week, I prepared another piece of meat from my meat CSA through Marin Sun Farms – a boneless leg of pork.  Not something I’ve ever eaten before, as apparently the vast majority of this cut goes to making hams.    There wasn’t even any useful instructions in the Joy of Cooking.  The series of tubes to the [...]

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