As I read the headline, “French fry fire leaves up to 50 people homeless”, I shuddered. Having witnessed one or two French fry fires growing up, (no Mom, I have no idea why there is soot covering the front of the kitchen cabinets over the stove), I swore off making deep-fried potatoes long ago. Oven fries were a completely different matter. But finding a recipe that produced crisp potatoes with…
In line at the buffet table at our local kosher Chinese restaurant (OBM, sigh), my eyes fixated on the pan of glazed sweet potatoes. Blanketed in a glossy, dark, sweet, and umami-flavored teriyaki sauce, they beckoned invitingly. For many years I tried to duplicate this dish at home without success. With the publication of this recipe for three-cup vegetables by Ali Slagle in the New York Times, I was intrigued.…
I watched as my grandsons’ faces lit up when I brought a platter of hush puppy deli roll pinwheels to the table. Distinguished by the nutritional triumvirate of salt, fat and potatoes, dear to the heart of every teenage boy, this dish disappeared in seconds. It’s been a while since our grandsons have graced our table but it doesn’t mean that this recipe is sitting around gathering dust. Surprise, it…
My father was the latke chef in our family. Inhaling those crispy potato pancakes, with their meltingly soft interiors, was one of the highlights of any Chanukah gathering. For my father, grating the potatoes by hand was the only way to make them. A food processor couldn’t replicate the perfect texture he obtained with his little metal box grater. His skinned knuckles were a badge of honor, a sign of…
I’m a late joiner to the “I ❤ eggplant” club. Having grown up with a French mother, I was no stranger to vegetables of all types, including Brussels sprouts and cauliflower hearts, but eggplant was never on the menu. That all changed when I sampled a friend’s baba ghanoush dip. This smoky spread, creamy and light with a mild citrus tang, is the perfect accompaniment when eaten with fresh challah,…
Dining out in one of the late, lamented kosher Chinese food establishments in Toronto was a treat that my husband Stephen and I enjoyed with family and friends over the years. We craved the combination of sweet, salty and spicy flavors that characterize Oriental cuisine. The two of us always gravitated to the “all-you-can eat” buffet table, no matter that we usually couldn’t eat more than a single, small, helping…
Last week as Americans went to the polls, recipes for foods to relieve stress abounded on every news site and cooking blog that I visited. Featured favorites ranged from savory babka to lasagne with homemade pasta, chicken soup, macaroni and cheese and everyone’s favorite comfort food, tomato soup and grilled cheese. These are all very worthy suggestions but I didn’t notice anyone mention my favorite stress buster: potatoes. Making roasted…
When I think of heirlooms, it’s my grandmother’s china or her hand-embroidered tablecloths that come first to mind, not tomatoes. But it is the bright, jewel-toned, heirloom grape tomatoes, brushed with garlic-infused olive oil and embedded in a golden pizza crust, that captured my attention in this recipe. With a few purchased ready-to-use ingredients, this heirloom tomato “pizza” comes together in minutes and is an eye-catching and savory appetizer or…
I’m guessing that today is the perfect day to share a recipe with only four ingredients. Correct? Eating brisket, meatballs or any dish with rich gravy, over a fluffy bed of creamy, garlic mashed potatoes is a soul-satisfying experience. The secret to these luxurious potatoes is using the water in which they are cooked to create that velvety, smooth texture that we all crave. And if you are garlic-shy, you…
I gave my Nordicware rose cakelet pan one more wack and sent a prayer heavenward for the quick release of the mini squash kugels clinging tenaciously to this beautiful pan. They were stuck tight in the deep crevices and flourishes of the cake form and it appeared as if I was never going to be able to pry them out, when I heard a quiet little “thunk”. One kugelette had…