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Apps and Sides

Homemade Sea Salt Caramels

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These are amazing caramels!

When Caitlin and I were in San Francisco last month, we stopped in the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero.  It was around 11:00 a.m. and, even though had lunch plans in an hour, we thought it would be fun to wander through the marketplace.  We shared a sorbet from the Ciao Bella stand and then went across the hall to a small food store to find (something else) to hold me over until lunch.

At the checkout stand, there was a tin bin, filled with several varieties of caramels.  I can’t remember the different kinds, but I do know that we grabbed two or three to have “later.”…

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Low-Fat Vanilla-Pistachio Caramels

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After making my cream caramels, I decided it would be fun to experiment.  In particular, I was curious to know if the recipe would work with low-fat milk instead of cream.  Unfortunately, my adherence to the scientific method was somewhat lackluster.  Instead of introducing a single variable, I introduced two:  pistachios and low-fat milk.

These caramels were not as soft as the plain ones, but they were not altogether hard.  I suspect, though, that it was the chopped pistachios and not the absence of cream that made these caramels a little harder.  On the topic of taste, I’m happy to report …

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Spicy Black Bean Burgers

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Veggie burgers have a come a long way.

I can remember going to a BBQ and watching the hamburgers and hot dogs come off the grill.  That moment where the football game ends and the conversations stop, and people line up to grab their meal, before shuffling over to the condiment bar.  And then, like some back-alley, black-market transaction, someone casts their eyes over the party, slips a furtive hand into their purse, and hands the chef a frozen pattie from plastic baggie.  The veggie burger.

But no more.  …

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Roasted Beet Salad

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It seems like most of the restaurants we’ve been to lately offer a beet salad.  And I really like them.  There’s just something about the vibrant red colors and that soft, sweet taste that I find mesmerizing.  So, as with any good dish I’ve seen on the menu, I asked myself if I could make it at home.  The answer, resoundingly, was…

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Chickpea Salad

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Chickpeas are a complicated bunch.  The first time Caitlin and I cooked with chickpeas, we opened a can, drained them, and prepared a mixture to make falafel.  It was a total disaster.  The canned chickpeas disintegrated the minute they hit the frying oil.  Fortunately, dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, worked like a charm.

With that lesson in mind, …

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Homemade Cinnamon Twists

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If you’ve seen my camera after I’ve been in the kitchen, you might think that it doubles as my sous chef.  The shutter button is a little greasy and there’s flour dusted along the hand grip and on the aperture dial.  There may even be a little sugar along the shoulder strap.  Even the tripod may bear some semblance of kitchen work.  Cinnamon or nutmeg may be sliding down its leg.

One of my favorite parts about creating my blog entries is assembling the collage, putting together the step-by-step tasks that create the final product.  But to do so requires shuffling my floured hands back and forth, from the cutting board to the shutter, and then, possibly, to the white balance meter and the focus arrows.

Once the shot looks good, it’s back to the board, …

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Whole Wheat Banana Oat Yeast Bread

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Over the last few days, I’ve watched my bananas go from a bright yellow, worthy of wearing the leader’s jersey in the Tour de France, to a soft brown, like a tattered and mud-splashed elementary school bus.

Banana bread and banana muffins are always easy options for an overripe bunch.  But banana bread is – let’s be honest – closer to cake than either bread or a trip to the bottom of the food pyramid.  For that reason, I took my overripe bananas and turned them into real banana bread – not the quick kind.  Indeed, if you know me, you know that I often enjoy taking the long and meandering route, passing through several culinary steps and preparation detours over what might have otherwise been a one-step, ten-minute trip, down the intercity highway (see curried couscous).

While this banana bread requires kneading and resting, rather than mixing and pouring, it is …

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Birds’ Nests

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Two years ago, Caitlin and I designed the Grim Peeper, our submission for the Washington Post’s annual Peep Contest.  Unfortunately, we haven’t had the time to collaborate on any recent peep project.

And yet, I still had a bag or two of those yellow marshmallows sitting around the kitchen, chirping to be used.  Around Easter, I noticed a few food blogs featuring bird’s nests, combining chow mein noodles with some of the ubiquitous bagged candy.

Though I liked the concept, the idea of chow mein noodles and chocolate did not sound appealing….

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