One of the vendors at my local farmers’ market got me hooked on this dish — Indonesian-style collard greens or gulai sayur. With nearly 2 pounds of collard greens it packs a punch nutritionally. That being said, taste is just as important in my book as a dish’s nutritional makeup. It has to taste good, … Continue Reading

April showers bring May (chive blossom) flowers. Or something like that. Come spring, I’m completely obsessed with chive blossoms. I love to sprinkle them over just about everything — salads, soups/stews, pasta, risotto, you name it. They have a mild onion-y flavor and add a vibrant pop of purple to a myriad of dishes. With … Continue Reading

I love spicy. Crave spicy. Every few weeks I whip up a batch of chile oil and drizzle it on just about everything and anything. Sometimes, I simply heat up some oil and then pour the hot, sizzling, bubbly oil over a bowl of chile flakes. The hot oil gives the chile flakes a pleasing … Continue Reading

When life gives you vine-ripened, juicy, summer tomatoes, make (fill in the blank). By the way, what are you making with your summer tomatoes? Today, I’ve incorporated those perfectly ripe tomatoes into a  Turkish Spicy Ezme salad. It’s reminiscent of a Mexican salsa, albeit with few additions, namely sumac and pomegranate molasses (both of which … Continue Reading

Tahini. Nothing more than sesame seeds that have been ground to form a smooth and velvety paste. Tahini seems to be everywhere these days, although there’s nothing remotely novel or new about sesame seeds. Rather, it’s an ancient food that has been cultivated in India since 5000 BC; references to sesame seeds have been found on cuneiforms … Continue Reading