Tag: Food & Dining

Melanie Brown’s Salmon Soup

Melanie Brown, a Bristol Bay fisherman of Yupik/Inupiaq ancestry, shared this recipe for salmon soup. It’s based on her great-grandmother’s fish-head stew. 1 bouillon cube, or 1 teaspoon bouillon paste 1/2 small onion, cut into rings or half-rings 1 celery heart, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick crescents Sea salt Onion powder 1/4 cup uncooked rice 2…


Remembering 2 California Wine Pioneers

Recently, the world lost two of the most important figures in California’s wine history when Jim Clendenen and Dr. David Bruce passed away. Clendenen was 68. Bruce was 89. These men were iconic figures in California’s world of fine wine, but not in the way many people think of domestic wine history: They were producers…


Sweet and Smoky Ribs to Kick Off Summer

There are so many reasons to celebrate right now. Summer is upon us, more of us are vaccinated, and we can all get outside and carefully socialize. Let this Memorial Day be the official kickoff of summer and the barbecue season. These ribs are finger-licking good with sweet and smoky flavor. A simple spice rub…


The Family Table: From the Lean Years of War, Cake, Creativity, and Love for My Country

Submitted by Sunny McComber, Omaha, Nebraska During World War II, all the troop trains in my area were greeted—lovingly—by the ladies of North Platte, Nebraska, at the North Platte Canteen train station with cakes, pies, cookies, doughnuts, coffee, and TLC, as this precious young cargo headed for embarkation points. Grocery shelves were often nearly empty,…


The Secret to My Great Grandma’s Cookies? Smash Them After Baking

When I stumbled upon the recipe for these pistachio smash cookies, I wasn’t sure what I had found. During one of my spontaneous urges to deep clean the house in the early months of the pandemic, I rediscovered a box of old family recipes tucked away in the laundry room. I hadn’t looked through the…


Pesto Turns a Simple Pasta Salad Into an Easy Dinner

Creamy pesto sauce turns a simple pasta salad with broccoli and tomatoes into a delightful dinner. Just before the pasta is done, add the broccoli to the pasta cooking water allowing it to slightly soften and turn a vivid shade of green. Pesto Pasta Salad Active Time: 20 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes Serves 5…


Agnolotti, Bucatini, and the Innovative New Cascatelli: A Brief History of Pasta Shapes

There are at least 350 shapes of pasta you can buy. Food blogger Dan Pashman apparently thought we could use one more. Enter cascatelli—which means “waterfall” in Italian—the world’s newest pasta shape. Pashman developed the shape to hold a lot of sauce and be easily stabbed with a fork. To me, a food historian and…


My Great Pizza Challenge

There are some who consider pizza the perfect food. It has complex carbohydrates, vegetables, dairy, and protein. OK, maybe “perfect” is stretching it a bit, but I remember when pizza was something you shouldn’t eat too much of because it might spoil your dinner. Now it is dinner. Millions of families rely on pizza because…


Once the Caramel Corn Pops, You Won’t Stop Snacking!

Did you know that popcorn comes in different shapes? There are two main kinds: butterfly (also called snowflake) and mushroom. Most of the popcorn you get at the movies or buy at the market is butterfly shape, which pops up light and fluffy with lots of “wings” sticking out. Caramel popcorn, however, is often made…


Satay Meets the Sheet Pan

In Cathy Erway’s book “Sheet Pan Chicken,” you’ll find myriad recipes for easy, unusual dishes. The author also advises on best sheet pans, nonstick versus non-nonstick, and how to choose a chicken, and features a chart on how to cook different chicken parts. In the world of Seriously Simple cooking, sheet pan cooking is definitely…