Tag: Food & Dining

This No-Wilt Italian Chopped Salad Is the Make-Ahead Lunch You Need

Chopped salads have been my lunch M.O. for well over a year now, seamlessly transitioning from packable office lunch to hearty work-from-home one. Their make-ahead quality means I’m not scrambling every day as soon as I get hangry, and they satisfy my desire for crunch and lots of veggies. My idea to make an Italian-inspired…


Paying Homage to a San Francisco Cafe’s Roast Chicken

For our own take on Zuni Cafe’s roast chicken with bread salad, we started by butterflying a whole chicken and salting it overnight so it would cook quickly and evenly and be juicy and well-seasoned. Before roasting the chicken in a 475-degree oven, we covered the bottom of a skillet with bread cubes that we…


Thai-Inspired Peanut Curry Is Marvelously Easy

Tara Bench has authored her first cookbook, “Live Life Deliciously,” with dazzling recipes that are simple to prepare and please to the eye. She was food editor at Martha Stewart Living and food director at Ladies’ Home Journal, so she knows a thing or two about food, cooking history, and techniques that go with her…


3 Ways to Get to the Heart of the Artichoke

The mighty artichoke! Varying in size from enormous to mini, artichokes are easily steamed, boiled, sautéed, broiled, stuffed, fried, and yes, even blended, to make delicate-tasting recipes to celebrate the arrival of spring. There’s a lot more to this seasonal star than that ubiquitous spinach artichoke dip. These prehistoric-looking green globes are actually the buds…


Steamed Artichokes With Garlic Butter or Lemon Mayo

Steamed artichokes are perhaps the easiest and simplest way to prepare this vegetable. I love serving them as a first course at informal gatherings, as they are a great ice breaker: They must be eaten with your fingers! To eat them, you pull away the leaves, dipping them in the accompanying sauce and nibbling on…


Wine-Braised Artichokes With Jamón Serrano

Artichokes braised in white wine with jamón serrano is quintessential spring fare, as suitable for a family-style meal as it is for a mid-week supper. I serve it with a toasted baguette, to mop up all the juices, and a chilled glass of wine. If you can’t find jamón serrano, prosciutto is a great alternative;…


Artichoke Heart Gratin

This gratin is an elegant first course that can be made in individual dishes or baked in a single large tray. Use either frozen or unflavored canned artichokes hearts to make this dish—a way to quickly get to the heart. The artichoke hearts are first lightly sautéed in olive oil and butter, to bring out…


A Recipe to Boost Brainpower, From a Mediterranean Island

I love promoting recipes and cooking concepts that inspire both pleasure and health. Culinary medicine marries nutritional science and the art of cooking to create dishes with health-boosting properties. As a chef, it is important to me that these dishes don’t just do our body good, but taste great as well. It is, after all,…


Sticky Toffee Pancakes

Sticky toffee pudding is a traditional English dessert, technically a cake, served hot and studded with dates. While our pancakes do not have any dates in them, a half cup of them, chopped, can easily be added to the rich molasses and spice batter. These pancakes should be served and eaten immediately because the toffee…


Shou Zhua Bing Chinese Pancakes

If this is your first time making Shou Zhua Bing, know that it is a recipe that requires a bit of technique. Not to worry; with practice, you’ll soon be a master so don’t be too hard on yourself if the first ones aren’t just right. Focus on one component at a time. The chewy,…