cooking

I�ve written about Global Grub before and their wonderful DIY cooking kits. I am particularly fond of the tamale kit, which while I hate to admit it, makes better tamales better than I do. I�ve followed plenty of recipes and even have a book on tamales, but this kit is tops. The excellent chiles in the kit are what makes it so great as well as the easy to follow instructions. The kit is generally offered only seasonally at Christmas time.  This year Global Grub has an excess of kits and with Cinco de Mayo rapidly approaching they offered me the opportunity to share some kits with you, my readers. I have 5 kits to give away! This kit is usually available from Williams Sonoma . Because they include high quality ingredients like corn husks, chiles and masa, they are best used by 7/24/17 so plan accordingly.  The cool thing about these kits, is that you can fill the tamales with anything you like. I�ve made them with chicken, pork and even a vegetable filling with corn ...

Easter is coming this weekend, but Passover which started on Monday night isn't over yet and it won't be over until this coming Tuesday night so I'm sharing my all time favorite recipes to get you through the next few days. As you probably know, you can't use traditional flour during Passover. While you can use matzo meal and cake meal, all of these recipes happen to be gluten-free and don't use any wheat whatsoever. As a pasta freak I'm happy to share not just one but two recipes for Italian style pasta--one for sweet potato gnocchi and another for spinach ricotta gnudi . I also have a crepe recipe and a chocolate cookie recipe .  I'm working on an adaptation to a muffin recipe and also an eggplant parmesan recipe for Passover. If there's a recipe on your Passover or gluten-free wish list, let me know in the comments.  Thanks and Happy Holidays! 

Black cod is probably my most favorite fish because it is so luscious. It�s also really easy to cook. It doesn�t need the kid glove treatment that halibut requires. It�s so moist it�s hard to overcook. I usually cook it with miso, but recently I was looking for another idea and came across a recipe from chef Laurent Tourondel  for Black Cod Marinated with Honey . Of course, I changed it up quite a bit. His recipe has grapeseed oil in it and I find black cod so rich I didn�t think it was necessary at all. I decreased the honey, increased the soy sauce, used rice wine vinegar instead of white vinegar and added one other flavorful ingredient, ginger juice.  I learned about ginger juice from Amy Kaneko , author of Let�s Cook Japanese Food! (more about that book soon). In it she describes finely grating ginger and then squeezing the pulp to get the juice out. It�s a brilliant technique because you get the flavor of fresh ginger without the pulp. For some preparations grated ginger...

This year I saw more DIY kits than I ever remember seeing before at the Winter Fancy Food Show . Here are some that particularly stood out. Copper Cow Coffee . This premium Vietnamese drip coffee kit is quite ingenious. It all hinges on a well-designed filter that hangs on the sides of your mug. You pour boiling water through the filter then add the condensed milk, to taste. Depending upon the size of your mug or glass, you could put the condensed milk in first. The company uses actual Vietnamese coffee and condensed sweetened milk from Callifornia. It's absolutely delicious.  If you want to drink Vietnamese coffee on a regular basis you might want to invest in a stainless steel press , but if you drink it infrequently or want to take it on a trip or to work, this kit couldn�t be more convenient! You can buy a pack of 5 for $14 .  Cultures for Health . This company offers an amazingly wide range of DIY kits allowing you to make your own sourdough (even a gluten free version),...

Two years ago I took a trip to Alaska that I will never forget. I met wonderful chefs and fishermen. I flew over glaciers and enjoyed the wilderness. And I went fishing. Our little boat caught a ridiculous number of halibut. Not long after my trip I received pounds of Alaskan halibut which I shared with friends and family and stored in the freezer. For the better part of the year I ate halibut every which way and posted a few recipes too, one for Moqueca  and another for Slow Roasted Halibut with Fennel and Tomatoes .  Halibut is mild in flavor but it�s firm texture lends itself to bolder sauces. Because it�s leaner than some fish, it retains a luscious and lovely texture when cooked gently or slowly. Recently I had a Bengali style shrimp curry korma at Dosa , (where they are featuring dishes from a different region of India each month). The shrimp were poached in a curry sauce made with yogurt and coconut milk. It was this dish that gave me the idea to try something similar w...