laurapants: Craft, Cooking, Creativity

vegetables Archives

Albacore Tuna with Citrus and Chiles

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Leave a comment

A few weeks ago, the guys over at The Bitten Word proposed a challenge: They requested volunteers from their readers to try to cook every recipe in six different food magazines, to be pulled together and featured on their blog mid-October. I always mean to cook recipes from my food magazines, and rarely actually do, so I decided to sign up for the challenge. They put me on Team Food Network, one of the few food magazines I don’t actually subscribe to or read. Thankfully, the recipe is online. I was assigned to make Banana Leaf Mahi Mahi with Citrus and Chiles.

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Suggested Servings: Fried Eggplant

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Leave a comment

Tonight, Sean is out of town. It’s warm in Oakland: We’re having our typical October summer. I decided to skip the gym after work, and ran a few errands instead. Good errands, the kind I love: crafting supplies and groceries. I stopped by A Verb for Keeping Warm to buy a zipper for a skirt I’m making, and then visited the big, overwhelming, farther away grocery store, the one that makes Sean anxious with its crowded aisles and huge, pushy carts. The one that makes me swoon with the possibilities of all that it contains. I browsed and binged on peaches and apples and pasta and avocados, and on my drive home, even the traffic on the 580 couldn’t irritate me.

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Corn and Tomato Spoonbread

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Leave a comment

Corn and tomatoes: Are there any two things that taste as much like summer? My family is from the midwest, where corn is sweet and abundant, and the taste of a just-picked ear straight from a South Dakota backyard is one of those taste memories that will never be beat. This spoonbread did a fine job of bringing me back, though.

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Eggplant Gratin with Saffron Custard

Posted on August 8, 2012 by 2 Comments

Slice of eggplant gratin on a white plate, with a green napkin

Oh my. Oh goodness. Excuse me while I swoon. This unassuming little vegetable gratin is definitely swoon worthy. If you’ve been facing down some eggplant, wondering what to do with it, don’t think for a minute more. This is what you want to do with it.

I made this glorious thing last week when Sean was out of town and was immediately sad that he wasn’t there to enjoy it with me. Of course, there were plenty of leftovers, since this easily serves about six people. And he did enjoy it when he got home. But the night I pulled it out of the oven, with the kitchen smelling of tomatoes and garlic and olive oil, it felt almost magical. It was that good.

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Lime and Honey Beet Salad

Posted on June 19, 2012 by 3 Comments

Lime and Honey Beet Salad

Beets can be challenging to cook with. They don’t play well with other foods, and will dominate an entire dish with their vibrant pinkness. Their flavor is distinct: deep and earthy and sweet. They have a wonderful texture, so silky smooth, but firm. When we get them in our CSA box, I think, crap. What am I going to do with these guys? Then I discovered Dorie’s recipe for Lime and Honey Beet Salad. Now I always know what I’m going to do with the beets.

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