Category — Vegetarian Recipes

Harissa is a spicy North African sauce or paste made from dried chilis, toasted spices, garlic, and oil. In Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya, people use harissa like mustard or ketchup–it goes on many, many things. It’s hard to find a really excellent version to buy in the U.S., but luckily it’s pretty easy to make at home. I like to make a large batch and preserve it in cute jars so I can give them as hostess gifts.

[Read more →]

I like eating edamame as a snack or appetizer, but boiled is just so blah. Since nearly everything is better roasted, I decided to toss some of the whole frozen pods with a couple of flavorful ingredients and roast them in the oven. This yielded a terrific snack that went from freezer to table in about 20 minutes flat.

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

Another day, another snack. This time I took sweet potato slices to the oven, seasoned with salt, thyme, and a vinegar tang. Fantastic!

[Read more →]

I am a big-time snacker. I love a salty snack with wine or cocktails before dinner, during that afternoon lull around 3 PM when I get sleepy and unmotivated, and late at night watching a movie. I can’t just sit around eating bags of chips all day, so I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting snack ideas that aren’t totally terrible for me. These crispy edamame, seasoned with parmesan and garlic and baked in the oven, are the latest snack craze in my house.

[Read more →]

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!

[Read more →]

I have talked about why I like kale chips before, but now that I’ve started making them with an Asian twist, I like them even more.

[Read more →]

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.”

[Read more →]

Last year, in London, I ate a fabulous meal of North African tapas at Morito, a sultry wine bar with knee-to-knee barstools. One of the most memorable small plates that night was a simple plate of spiced fried chickpeas with little nuggets of  preserved lemon dotted throughout. Since then I’ve been meaning to try and recreate them in my kitchen, and finally got around to figuring out the perfect recipe. I think they’re great as a bar snack with a pre-dinner cocktail or glass of wine, but you can also serve them as a tapa or a side dish.

[Read more →]