Now, This Is How You Treat Guests

You can be sure to receive comments like this one, lots of them, when you serve Crab Toasts at your next dinner party.  They’re a wonderful combination of textures and flavors that provide a bright, vibrant crunch, even in January.  Loads of avocados, tomatoes and lemons pair well a generous helping of crab to put…

Country Cooking

Simple yet delicious, when rural cuisine is done right, it’s wonderfully satisfying.  No matter where one finds it, particularly as with today’s entry, in Cambodia.  Among the many such culinary discoveries that await there is Bamboo Shoots Soup with Pork.  This is included in the seemingly endless variety of recipes My Linh Nakry offers on…

Unwrap for a Reward

Longtime readers may recall Ropa Vieja, Cuba’s signature dish, requires considerable prep work (i.e., time) to impart its succulence.  This is a common theme in Cuban cuisine, which rewards culinary effort with a trip straight to vibrant tropical shores.  Certainly, getting to the shrimp and the plantains which make up today’s entrees, Camarones Enchilados and…

Do Reindeer Bark?

No, but they do eat bark.  Surely not nearly as satisfying, though, as is peppermint bark, a holiday specialty combining chocolate and crushed mints.  Superb, and improved even more when incorporated in a cheesecake using crushed Oreos as a crust and topped with more peppermint bark and a dollop of crème de menthe-infused whipped cream.…

Great, Now They’ll Never Leave

A real danger when serving party guests arancini, rice rolled with crab, lemon juice and sour cream, then fried.  One bite brings addiction and an obsession with getting more.  Just like that. Arancini are something like hush puppies, except lighter and much more flavorful, thanks to the lemon juice and the wonderful crab distributed generously…

This Calls for a Celebration

Of course it does.  How could anything called Feel-Good Chicken Soup inspire anything besides joy?  The dish featured this time has much more than a positive name to recommend it.  It tastes great, which, in turn, makes tasters happy.  Sure enough, it all adds up in the end. Not only does the concoction produce contentment,…

Streets of East L.A.

Chances are, if you send someone out for tacos in L.A., you never will get your food.  Sure, the initial purchase will be made, but something will happen between then and when the meal is supposed to arrive.  Too much temptation.  Those aromas intoxicate, causing one to lose all other thoughts. It’s likely the buyer…

Bake It Twice

Actually, that’s what biscotto (plural, biscotti) means, it’s the Italian word for “twice-baked.”  The first run through the oven firms up the dough to a cookie-like consistency, then the cookie is cut into strips and is put back in the oven for another ten minutes, thus transforming it to the firm, fairly crunchy biscuit so…

Just East of Flagstaff

After the best night you’ve had in years, eased to sleep by the train’s gentle swaying, you and your traveling companion dress and make your way to the dining car.  After the steward seats you and hands you menus, you survey the options.  Everything tempts, reinforcing how hungry you are. French Toast is a renowned…

Where to Begin?

There’s so much happening in a soup like Cháo Bôi it’s difficult to decide how exactly to classify it.  Sure, broadly speaking, it’s Vietnamese, the recipe found among the pages of a great gift one of you sent a few years back, Andrea Nguyen’s Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. What kind of soup is it, though? …