Carbonade Flamandes

Beef stew.  With Belgian beer.  Need I say more?  Probably not, but since I’m verbose, I will.  This is a really good beef stew recipe.  It’s a classic Belgian dish.  I’m sure it’s particularly delicious with frites, but I’m not quite that ambitious, so I served it with bread.  The person who recommended the recipe [...]

Read Full Post »

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.  [...]

Read Full Post »

Dark Days Week 12 – Pear and Autumn Vegetable Soup

A slightly more sophisticated looking dinner than last week, using very similar ingredients. And, this soup rocked.  Butternut squash, pear, and turnip?  Yes, please.  I already had one standard butternut squash soup recipe, but now it has competition in the rotation.  You can definitely taste the pear in it, though the spicy turnip balances everything [...]

Read Full Post »

Dark Days Week 9 – Celery Root Soup with Mandarin Relish Toasts

  These ugly looking things are celery root.  I’ve never cooked with celery root, and not even sure if I’ve ever eaten it.  Nevertheless, this recipe for celery root soup has intrigued me ever since I saw it in Food and Wine last year. I’m not  a huge fan of celery, mostly because it’s just [...]

Read Full Post »

Dark Days Challenge – Potato Leek Soup

  Happy new year!  I’ve been travelling around visiting family for the holidays and very behind on my blog posting.  Hopefully, you all were busy with your own holiday plans to miss me too much.  I made this soup right before Christmas, and since it used all local ingredients, it’s my submission for the Week 7 Dark Days [...]

Read Full Post »

Summer Dinner Party, Part III

To accompany my leek galette, I made two side dishes.  The first was a simple heirloom tomato salad.  This is why farmers’ markets rock.  To make this, I just diced up about 2 pounds of a bunch of varieties of heirloom tomatoes, and tossed them with some torn up basil leaves, olive oil, a splash [...]

Read Full Post »

When the cat’s away…

My husband hates lentils.  They were a staple in my kitchen for years, back in my fresh out of college, underpaid world saving vegetarian days.  I moved in with my husband almost six years ago, and I don’t think I’ve cooked them since.  I miss them and I frequently joke that one day, I’m just [...]

Read Full Post »

Warm Roasted Butternut Squash Salsa

I made this last week for my elections party, and named it “October Surprise.” While the official recipe name is a salsa, it really is more like a bean dip, and it was so delicious that I would probably just eat a bowl of it, like chili. The recipe comes from the Washington Post. (No, [...]

Read Full Post »

Chickpea and Spinach Stew

Nothing in this recipe comes from my farm box, but it just looked so delicious I had to try it. It is pretty simple to prepare, though it does involve a fair amount of spices, including saffron. I recommend the investment, as the dish really is delicious. Again, another recipe from Food and Wine. Ingredients [...]

Read Full Post »

In Honor of the First Week of Fall…Butternut Squash Soup!

Tis the season for yummy soups. This week’s box had apples in it, and Trader Joes had butternut squash on sale, so I took that as an omen that I needed to make a nice fall soup. This recipe from Food and Wine is amazing. Butternut Squash Soup with Apple and Smoked Cheddar Ingredients2 tablespoons [...]

Read Full Post »