Category — Main Course Recipes

Ever since I made the incredible miso butter roast chicken from Use Real Butter, I have been trying to find as many other things as possible to slather with miso butter. In this recipe, I combined asparagus and Brussels sprouts and cooked them with a bit of wine, which gives the dish a tart note that offsets the butter and miso.

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My nephew is extremely picky – but one thing he absolutely loves is fettucine Alfredo. It turns out, you can make this fabulous dish in about 15 minutes from start to finish. And it’s extremely delicious, albeit incredibly rich and heavy.

I used the Pioneer Woman’s recipe and it worked great, although I added a couple small cloves of crushed garlic with the butter and cream. My nephew ate approximately his body weight in fettucine Alfredo that night! And everyone else loved it too.

Get the recipe from the Pioneer Woman. And if you want to learn more about the history of this iconic dish, you can get the lowdown here.

Today is officially the first day of spring, and I couldn’t be happier. Seeing all the green, sprouting stuff in the market makes my taste buds tingle. I am excited to shake off the last of those hearty winter squashes and tubers and move on to all things verdant, fresh, and crunchy. Sugar snap peas top the list of my favorite springtime treats!

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I live in San Francisco, so it shouldn’t surprise you that I have a fair number of vegan friends. I used to dread coming up with a vegan meal that everyone would enjoy, but now I try to view it as a fun challenge and an opportunity to experiment with constraints I’m not used to. That’s how this pistachio parsley pesto was born–and to be honest, I don’t even miss the cheese. Plus, it’s fun to say “pistachio parsley pesto.”

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My friend Christen has excellent taste in everything – decor, wine, food, clothes, and so forth. So when she tells me something is good, I tend to believe her. In this case, I was extremely skeptical. Hot Buffalo chicken dip? Seriously? It sounds like a Midwestern mayonnaise nightmare. But as I mentioned, the woman has great taste- and she was totally right. This stuff is really delicious.

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My mom often made this dish for company when I was growing up. In a big pretty bowl, over a bed of fragrant basmati rice, it looks beautiful and impressive despite being pretty easy to make. It sort of gives off the impression that you’ve been cooking all day, when in reality, you can cook the whole dinner from start to finish in less than an hour.

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Hanukkah is just around the corner, which means I have latkes on the brain. Now I am not Jewish, but I can appreciate a good latke. Fried potato anything? Yes please. But when my friend’s annual Hanukkah party rolls around, I don’t make latkes, I make this old family favorite instead: a Korean recipe that’s pretty similar to a latke, but with more variable vegetables and a delicious soy and vinegar dipping sauce.

In my (decidedly non-Korean family) we call them  jijims (pronounced, at least in our personal parlance, JEE-jims) but they are known by other names too, including jeon, jijimgae, buchimgae, and so forth. And it’s probably the most beloved recipe in the entire family.

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For a blog that has the word “meat” so prominently in the title, I am chagrined to report that I only have two lamb recipes (other than this one) so far. That is pathetic! But this lamb offering is pretty fantastic, so I’m hoping it makes up for the paucity of lamb recipes overall with its individual deliciousness.

Although this is actually pretty easy to make, and only involves seven ingredients total, it is something I would categorize a “fancy recipe.” That is to say, it is a recipe that seems fancy on the plate because it has specific garnishes. Also because you have to toast the cumin as a whole separate step, which only takes like 30 seconds but is definitely a special touch. And don’t even think about skipping the toasting, either. It makes a big difference.

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You know what’s awesome? TACOS. You know what’s even awesomer? ASIAN TACOS. I love America.

Basically you brown some meat, add some junk to the pot, cook the heck out of it in the oven, put it in a tortilla. Sweet, spicy, salty, porky. What could be easier or more delicious? Practically nothing.

If you are even lazier than me (hard to believe, but possible) I bet you could even skip the browning and just go straight to the junk-in-the-pot part. If you do, let me know if it’s good.

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Whenever I cook for vegetarians, I sometimes struggle to figure out what to make that will be a filling, satisfying meal. Lately, I’ve been making this frittata a whole bunch, and not even missing the meat. It’s a great way to highlight this summer’s fresh zucchini, and it looks pretty impressive considering how easy and quick it is to make. Plus, with just one pan in the mix, doing the dishes is a snap.

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