Road trip souvenir: Linguine with Asparagus, Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

Based on a lively side dish we had on a recent trip, this quick vegetarian pasta dish makes the most of in-season-now asparagus and gets a bright flavor boost from balsamic vinegar. Recipe below.

asparagus-tomato-pasta

We were in St. Louis a few weeks ago, visiting our friends Rich and Laura. As usual, we ate lots of good food there. Scoops of Ozark black walnut ice cream at Crown Candy Kitchen. Heart healthy (and satisfying) egg white breakfast sandwiches at the bustling Nadoz Euro Bakery and Cafe. Local, seasonal-focused classic French cuisine at Franco, housed in the former Welsh Baby Carriage Factory across the street from Soulard Market.

But our favorite meal was prepared in our friends’ hardworking, beautiful open kitchen. Laura is a vegetarian whose diet skews mostly vegan, with detours into pescetarian. That doesn’t keep her from cooking meat for her omnivorous family and friends, though. Continue reading “Road trip souvenir: Linguine with Asparagus, Tomatoes and Goat Cheese”

Easy as, well, Mango Banana Bread

Ripe mango and bananas, chopped walnuts and vanilla create a flavorful, not-too-sweet dessert bread. Substituting canola oil for butter lightens it up. Recipe below.

mango-banana-bread-sliced

That’s right. The guy who never bakes has baked again. But a bread like this is so easy that it doesn’t feel like baking. There’s no sifting, no kneading, no waiting for dough to rise (and punching it down and waiting some more). You don’t even need to haul out the mixer for this bread—a wooden spoon will do just fine.

Of course despite the name, Mango Banana Bread is really more of a loaf cake than a bread. And therein lies some of the ease. You’re not producing a temperature-humidity-time-sensitive dough; you’re making a batter. At least for me, batters are much more forgiving. Continue reading “Easy as, well, Mango Banana Bread”

Stir frying for good: Black Pepper Beef with Kampot pepper from the Pepper Project

Black Pepper Beef is a weeknight-quick classic Chinese stir fry. Onion, fresh ginger, red bell pepper, celery, garlic and lots of black pepper offer plenty of flavor. And the Pepper Project helps Cambodian pepper farmers and communities. Recipe below.

black-pepper-steak

One simple ingredient can often make all the difference when you’re cooking. And now that’s more true than ever. The ingredient in this case is black pepper—freshly ground, of course,  instead of pre-ground and packed in a tin. Freshly ground peppercorns pop with flavor and fragrance, becoming a true flavor, not just background noise, and you can control the grind, from fine to coarsely cracked.

And in Cambodia, the Pepper Project is making a difference, with pepper. Run by the husband and wife team Tom Gordon and Cris Peterson, the Pepper Project is a not-for-profit enterprise devoted to introducing products of Cambodia to the United States. Through the sales of these products, primarily pepper, they support fair trade for farmers as well as organizations that protect street children, disabled children and victims of sex trafficking. Continue reading “Stir frying for good: Black Pepper Beef with Kampot pepper from the Pepper Project”

Spring forward, fall back: Creamy Green Pea and Potato Soup offers hope, comfort

Leeks, potatoes and frozen green peas quickly cook into a creamy, hearty soup that tastes like spring. See Kitchen Notes for a vegetarian version. Recipe below.

pea-potato-soup

Spring in Chicago is being its usual capricious self. Warm, sunny days mix it up with cold, blustery, rain-filled stretches. The range of our outerwear this time of year says it all. Leather jackets, sport coats, shirt sleeves, raincoats and, sadly, even our down parkas all see action.

It’s the same story in the kitchen. Longer days and soft breezes have us longing for fresh asparagus and other tastes of spring. Sudden blasts of cold send us running for comfort food. This soup delivers both. The sweet, green flavor of peas is filled with promise; the thick, hearty, potato-rich base soothes even on an unseasonably chilly night. Continue reading “Spring forward, fall back: Creamy Green Pea and Potato Soup offers hope, comfort”

French lace times two: Maple Tuiles with orange zest, rosemary

Crisp, lacy tuile cookies are pure, sweet simplicity—maple syrup (or sugar), butter, flour and salt. Here, they’re flavored with orange zest (or rosemary). Recipes below.

maple-orange-tuiles

MID-MARCH FOUND US IN UPSTATE NEW YORK, in the middle of maple syrup season. There, we met Dave and Cecilia Deuel. They have a small farm near Avon, New York, where they grow and sell “all-natural vegetables and berries” under the name of Moondance Gardens at their roadside market on Route 20. And between late February and early April, they make maple syrup.

As Dave and I walked out to their small woodlot overlooking the Genesee River Valley, he told me a little about making syrup. Each year, they tap about 250 trees, collecting 40 quarts of sap per tree on average. They boil the sap in a small barn by the house, cooking it down to about 1/40th of its original volume. So each tree produces about a quart of maple syrup. Continue reading “French lace times two: Maple Tuiles with orange zest, rosemary”