Search Results for: potato

A Vibrant Salad for Winter

I didn’t mean to make this beet salad for Thanksgiving. And when I was looking for a place on the buffet at my parents’ house, alongside the carved turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and other holiday dish royalty, it wasn’t entirely an accident that I sorta kinda placed it on a neighboring table where maybe nobody would see. (All the more… Read more »

Holiday Mission: Filling in Some Blanks

This Thanksgiving, after the turkey goes in the oven and before the potatoes get mashed, I’m going to interview my parents. I’ve been promising myself I’d do this ever since my friend Ingrid told me about Story Corps, the app that helps you record meaningful conversations (with anyone — parents, grandparents, friends, kids, anyone) then archives those conversations in the… Read more »

My Mini Food Processor: A Love Story

There was a time in my weeknight cooking life when, if I came across the phrase “In your food processor…” in a recipe, I would automatically turn the page. Who in his or her right mind would want to lug a small appliance out of the upper cabinets when they were on the clock for feeding hungry kids? And who… Read more »

Vacation Highlight Reel: Switzerland

You would be forgiven if you looked at this picture and didn’t believe it was real. Today, a little over a month after my family has returned from a vacation in Switzerland, I’m wondering if it was all a dream myself. Before we left, a lot of people asked us why we decided on Switzerland, specifically the Bernese Oberland, and… Read more »

Market Challenge: Eggplant

When the kids were little, in the interest of Palate Expansion, we used to give them ten bucks at the farmer’s market and tell them to spend it on something brand new. Something they’d never seen before or something they’d always wanted to try. This is how they ended up falling in love with “dinosaur egg” plums and pickles on sticks,… Read more »

Salmon Salad: The One and Only

This salmon salad might be the meal that has made the most appearances at our dinner table over the past two decades. We made it pre-kids when we first got married and lived in Brooklyn; in the new baby years because it was fast and healthy; and in the nightmare toddler years because we called the pink salmon “princess fish”… Read more »

Three No-Recipe Recipes

A few weeks ago I headed to Park City, Utah for a mini reunion with my college roommates, where the seven of us spent a long weekend hiking, eating, and hard-core hanging. One night, as my Seattle friend Jenn and I were putting together dinner for the crew (salmon salad, naturally, plus a version of Samin’s cauliflower) when my San Francisco friend, Cara… Read more »

Concessions of a Vegetarian Cook

I’ve been pretty good about sticking to the Weekday Vegetarian plan ever since issuing the official decree in our house back in October. What’s been surprising is that the girls have been great too, even though I have all sorts of plans in place (including a bag of drumsticks frozen individually in their marinade) to supplement their meals when I… Read more »

What’s Everyone Making this Summer?

We are nothing if not creatures of habit in my house, so when people come over for dinner in the summer, we generally fall back on the same rotation of old reliables — vongole, picnic chicken or steak or chops on the grill, surrounded by a ton of market salads and a cobbler for dessert — and save the more adventurous cooking… Read more »

Resolved: Cook More

I didn’t make any resolutions this year. I don’t know if this is because I’ve gotten lazier and grumpier as I’ve gotten older, or if it’s just that I’m more of a realist about these things working out. But it’s a slippery slope from realist to cynic, something I’m resolved (!) to never become in any part of my life,… Read more »

A Hard Thing About the Holidays

Here is a problem that a lot of people don’t have: When you are a food blogger who has written extensively about how meaningful holiday rituals are, it can be a struggle to come up with new content and recipes for the salivating masses, i.e. you guys. By definition, tradition dictates that my Christmas menu is exactly the same year after… Read more »

Vacation Highlight Reel: Rome

This past August, my family was lucky enough to travel to Rome and Sicily, a dream vacation that checked all the boxes: Culture, coastlines, family roots, and carbs. So very many carbs! Today’s highlight reel is an attempt to capture Part 1 of the trip, three-and-a-half days in Rome. Part 2 was Sicily. If you are going to Rome, there is… Read more »

Crowdpleaser Alert: Wedge Salad

It occurred to me the other day that I’ve never made this classic in my house even though it is literally impossible for the family NOT to order it when it’s on a restaurant menu. I got a lot of requests last night when I instagrammed it, so here is the official recipe. Happy Monday everybody! Wedge Salad Makes 8… Read more »

Mushroom Moussaka & New Traditions

It’s September, which means it’s time for another recipe from Leah Koenig, my go-to source for the Jewish holidays and beyond. (Remember her fattoush? I make that throughout tomato season.) I’m pleased to let you know that this year, Leah herself is making a cameo on DALS, talking about a favorite topic of mine (family traditions) along with what is soon… Read more »

Summer Salads: A Review Course

I know what you’re thinking. School’s out! No more reviews! No more refresher courses! No more finals! (Oh wait, those are my childrens’ cries.) But I figured I’d remind everyone of a few crucial salad-making rules and regulations now that it’s late June and we have at least three months of glorious farm-market freshness ahead of us… Number 1. Homemade… Read more »

The Best Tahini

One of the things I love about my “job” as a food writer is that people email me all the time with questions, mistaking me for some kind of expert. Where do you eat when you’re in Nashville? They ask. Or Can you recommend a good food mill? I see you have marble countertops, do you worry about stains? I… Read more »

Let’s Take it Outside

Happy Grilling Season Everybody! Quick Public Service Announcement to those book owners out there looking for some good Memorial Day menu ideas. We were lucky enough to be invited to a cookout on Monday, but if I was grilling, I’d feel good about any one of these line-ups. (Your key: DALS = Dinner: A Love Story; HTCE = How to Celebrate Everything; DPB =… Read more »

“Dumpling” Meatballs with Sesame Green Beans

When my first book, Dinner: A Love Story, came out, I will never forget my agent calling me to discuss publishing the book in England. “There’s an agent over there who wants to buy the rights for it,” she told me, “but he’s concerned about all the Trader Joe’s talk and ground turkey recipes.” The Trader Joe’s thing I understood,… Read more »