Fig Bars Inspired by a Sicilian Cookie

Fig bars with Sicilian Flavors

At the 2016 International Food Blogger Conference, a sample from the California Fig Advisory Board reminded me of an X File. Not the famous X-Files TV show, but something far less mysterious and far more delicious. The X file that I remembered is about an X-shaped cookie for which I have a file on my computer. […]

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Twice-Baked Potatoes with North African Spices

A few months back, I read a post from the Nerds with Knives blog about Yotam Ottolenghi’s Chermoula Roasted Eggplant. The recipe looked great — roasted eggplant drenched with a piquant spice paste (the chermoula) — and since it was eggplant season, I tried it a few times.  Finding the right eggplant proved challenging, but when I found […]

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Recipe: Simple Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese with broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes

Almost exactly one year ago, there was some commotion in my tiny corner of the Twitterverse about a New York Times recipe from Julia Moskin for macaroni and cheese. There are a zillion mac and cheese recipes, so what caused the commotion? Uncooked macaroni. The recipe calls for uncooked macaroni to be mixed with milk, […]

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Recipe: Baked Tofu

Baked tofu

One of my favorite things to cook is also one of the most unphotogenic dishes I know: the savory baked tofu from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant. Although it has a monotone and bland brown hue, its taste is much more exciting: tofu’s subtle flavor in the background,  and a foreground of soy sauce, ginger, garlic, […]

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Recipe: Seed and Oat Cakes

Seed and Oat cakes - a gluten free healthy snack

(Updated 10/15/16 with new photo, 10/23/16 with new archival art) Back in February, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Food+Home section had a feature article about using seeds in the kitchen. Written by Amanda Gold, the article recommends looking at seeds as a healthy and tasty addition to your diet, in savory and sweet applications. Always looking […]

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Oat Bread Revisited

I have been baking bread for a long time, but never with a great amount of intensity (though during one period in the 90s I was baking frequently and had a personal “bread museum” that chronicled my efforts). In the early years, general cookbooks like The New Laurel’s Kitchen were my teacher, but their basic […]

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