Butter chicken — without the butter or chicken
Many years ago, an Indian chef at a hotel in Seattle, chef Balbir Nayyar, taught me to make Butter Chicken. It is a venerable, complex and luxuriant recipe from the Moghul tradition, both rich and piquant — my ideal complex of flavors. Authentic butter chicken as chef...
What’s for dinner? I need to know
My whole day is settled if I know what's for dinner. The other morning, I was ruminating on what I needed at the grocery store, what was in the freezer, who would be home for dinner and an idea came to me — a dish I could make almost right out of the cupboard....
Just wrap me in bacon . . .
Hmmmmm. Everything old is new again. Went to the Kahala Hotel & Resort Thursday to a press preview of this weekend's Wine & Food Classic. Chef Carolynn Spence of Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, the famed celebrity hangout and now culinary destination, prepared...
Grandchildren as French fries…or possibly pizza
In the crazy quilt that is my life now, my step-daughter and I were comparing notes about her girl twins as we fed the girls in our laps. She thinks they smell like French fries. I think they smell like like pepperoni pizza. We are not crazy. It's some strange amalgam...
Life is just a bowl of croutons
The last few weeks have gone by in a blur of events: family business (Sad — a death and illness and accident to several family members; Happy — twin granddaughters visiting, my birthday and an anniversary, too). Now the last of Raymond Siu's lilikoi cheesecake (for my...
The kaona of cooking
Bloggie breakthrough: I finally figured out .. .no, I faced the reality...of what I can and cannot do. I can make a lasagne Bolognese that will change your world. I can't make gnocchi. I can make vinha d'ahlos that will remind you of your grandmother. I can't stir-fry...
Chinese rice cake and other matters
Yes, for $1,000 and a chance to tour my kitchen (just kidding) it's ..... Chinese rice cake! Is that stuff addictive or what? But on to today's agenda: So now my fridge talks to me. The fridge is new. I love it. But why does it have to talk? What it tells me is...
A trivial life moment
My husband found this trivia game app on his phone. He starts throwing out questions. I'm not paying much attention, intent on something else in the kitchen. But after I got like 29 of 30 answers right, he said, "You're GOOD at this," and my ears perked up. (Why do we...
Chex this out: It’s all about me…or you!
The other day I got a yen for Chex Mix. I bought a commercial version and spent the evening digging the Chex out of the tangle of oddly shaped cracker doodles, teeny toasts and other stuff. The only thing I like is the little basket-weave cereal squares that soak up...
Beef stew, part deux
Before I tell you how my beef stew experiment came out, a few words about my approach to the dish. As I noted yesterday, my stew is very plain: beef, potatoes, that's about it. Occasionally, I'll get fancy and use another starch besides potatoes: chayote (what we...