Confession: I’ve always found potato-leek soup to be a little on the gluey side. So, when I make it at home, I try to add a green element, especially in spring months. Asparagus becomes quite subtle in this soup and pairs well with the anise-y fennel and peppery arugula in the background. Any manner of peas (sweet, sugar snap, snow) could be swapped for the asparagus. Because we are pulverizing much of the fiber in this recipe, I garnish the soup with a few raw asparagus spears as a carb companion.
Almond butter is pretty mild in flavor, but crisp almonds, chocolate, and punchy freeze- dried strawberries make these a special little snack. Feel free to substitute peanut butter or any other nut butter for the almond butter. If your almond butter is unsalted, add an additional pinch of salt to the dough. Toast the almonds in the oven while the bars are baking to save yourself some prep time.
I had this soup in a market in Zanzibar. It was one of those moments that catches you off guard. A seemingly simple potato soup, but it really is much more than the sum of its parts. So understated but it really delivers. This is my memory of the version I had. You can also add fried peanuts or a hard-boiled egg. I don’t remember the soup being spicy, but you could add a chilli or two to the pot to simmer along. The roasted peanuts without salt are worth seeking out as they work really well here but are also great in salads and for general snacking.
This is my take on the classic black and blue steak salad that I enjoyed back in my steak-eating days, but I use mushrooms as a substitute. Mushrooms have this “meaty” texture going on and once they absorb whatever marinade or sauce you cook them in, it really helps to bring out their umami flavors. They become so flavorful and juicy and are perfect on top of this familiar classic. Every time Alex eats this salad, he always says “Mmm!” Which as you know is one of the biggest compliments. Mushrooms are one of his faves and he loves it when I prepare them this way.
I started making this rye focaccia while leading the Pastry and Bread program at Rossoblu in Los Angeles. I wanted the bread program to reflect the whole--grain heritage of Italy, and I loved making seasonal variations with fruit. Focaccia is also known as a salt cake, and I love cake with fruit. Here, we are celebrating a classic autumn variation of apples and onions, with some lemons to brighten the whole affair. Feel free to change out the toppings as the seasons change! This dough is extremely forgiving and a great place to build shaping confidence. Focaccia is great served warm alongside dinner or enjoyed cold as the ultimate sandwich bread stuffed with your choice of fillings. I also love it sliced thick and grilled with olive oil. Keeps for a week at room temperature, wrapped in a tea towel. Replace the honey with molasses to make the recipe vegan.
This is the kind of food that I enjoy making with family and friends who love to cook. I set out small stations for filling and rolling the cabbage rolls and then cook them together in a large pot. And when I need to do this by myself, it is still one of the most relaxing ways to pull my attention away from the everyday hustle and bustle of life.
If you end up with extra filling for whatever reason (maybe you got tired of making the rolls; I’ve been there and done that), then make the cigar-shaped logs and bread them using the same technique and breading mix used for the Golden Za’atar Onion Rings and present them as vegetarian croquettes to your dinner guests.
I love cooking with coconut milk. It has the perfect consistency for making vegetable dishes filling and rich and can be either sweet or savory. It’s also good for our immune, cardiac, and digestive systems. This recipe uses coconut milk as a base for cooking collard greens, a popular leafy green in West Africa, the American South, and many other parts of the African diaspora. Add in the butternut squash and you have an elegant, unforgettable dish that just might change the way you think about vegan food forever.
My mom, Karen, tells me that this recipe was inspired by watching the ladies in her hometown cook at the Pierz Fun House, a social club used for weddings and other public functions. They would make these potatoes by the hundreds: halved russet potatoes, sandwiched with butter and onions and bay leaves, smashed back together, and baked in foil. When you unwrapped your potato, the onion would lie pallid in the middle, and the butter would pool in the foil.
Smartly, my mom pivoted to baking each potato half open-face, so that the onions crisped into dark toupees on top. She also scored the potato flesh deeply before baking, so that the butter knew where it was supposed to go: down the cracks to the bottom skin. After an hour or so in the oven, the skin bakes to a dark brown callus. When I was a kid, I’d capsize my potato boat so that the soft cubes of potato fell out and I could fold the shatteringly crisp bottom around a piece of meat, like a taco.
This is not your average garlic bread. Gochujang really makes this sing, providing a bit of spice, but also a deep, peppery flavor. And for those who don’t like a lot of spice, don’t worry—the cream cheese softens the impact to create something that is very balanced. This is perfect as a starter, or you could top it with some salad and a bit of thinly sliced ham to create a delicious lunch.
This is one of my all-time favorite savory breakfast items. I created this recipe for a client’s child—a picky eater who wouldn’t touch any vegetables. I took some popular kid foods—potatoes, eggs, cheese, and milk—mixed them with some colorful veggies, then baked the mixture on a sheet pan. Cut into palm-sized rectangles, the resulting savory “pancakes” were a hit. They taste as good as they look and are filled with gut-friendly nutrients, including fiber and prebiotics. I like to use a box grater, but if you prefer a food processor or mandoline, that’s fine. Make sure not to overblend with the food processor.