Tag: dairy-free

Pumpkin Puree

Posted on by Claire

pumpkin puree

We’re approaching the end of pumpkin season, so I’ll be posting my very best pumpkin recipes this week and next week. Luckily, pumpkins keep well for a couple months (and the pumpkin puree in today’s recipe will keep good for 6 months or more when frozen) which means after you buy up those last pumpkins, you’ll have ample time to cook these delicious recipes!

When I was growing up, we never carved jack-o-lanterns; instead my parents would buy sugar pie pumpkins, and we’d draw on them with glow in the dark fabric paint. That way, after Halloween, my mom could roast the pumpkins to make puree.

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Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad

Posted on by Claire

butternut squash and chickpea salad

Around this time of year, I find myself unable to resist the gorgeous butternut squashes piled high at grocery stores and farmers’ markets. I always buy a few, tempted by vague thoughts of meals with the squash’s sweet richness and autumnal orange hue. Then I find myself at home trying to come up with the best ways to actually use my newly acquired ingredient. This warm salad is a somewhat unusual combination of flavors, with chickpeas, allspice, and tahini as major players alongside the butternut squash. The result is fantastically addictive and a great alternative to the more common recipes using butternut squash.

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Lotus Root Curry

Posted on by Claire

lotus root curry

I love cooking with new ingredients and have been looking for a recipe using lotus root since I first noticed it at the grocery store. Lotus root has a very subtle, slightly sweet taste and a crunch similar to water chestnuts, even when cooked, and I found that this curry using Sri Lankan curry powder is a great complement for it. If you can’t find fresh lotus root, you may be able to find packaged sliced lotus root.

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Thai Red Curry Vegetables

Posted on by Claire

Now that you have some Thai red curry paste (if you didn’t make your own, feel free to use a store-bought version), it’s time to cook a Thai red curry. In this rendition, I used the vegetables I had on hand which happened to be mushrooms, cabbage, and zucchini, but this recipe is incredibly versatile and you can easily use your favorite veggies or chicken – just think about what you’ve liked in past Thai curries you’ve eaten! My curry here doesn’t look too visually appealing (that’s because I didn’t use enough red bell peppers in the curry paste), but the taste is still spot on.

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Chinese Scallion Pancakes

Posted on by Claire

Scallion Pancakes

I love dim sum, and scallion pancakes are one of my favorite dim sum dishes. I always feel like I can just endlessly keep eating the flaky, crisp pancakes packed with flavorful green onions and often accompanied by an equally delightful dipping sauce. Unfortunately, the dim sum restaurant I regularly frequent does not have these little delights among the small dishes piled on their carts. But these pancakes are really quite easy to make and also freeze well, meaning that the next time a craving sets in or a guest stops by unexpectedly, I’ll be ready.

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Summer Succotash

Posted on by Claire

Summer Succotash

I love the abundance of fresh high-quality produce that’s available in the summer.  The farmers’ market sets up shop one block from me every Sunday, and I like to spend my morning strolling through, sampling peaches here and heirloom tomatoes there, not to mention cheese from Keswick Creamery, bacon from Truck Patch Farms, and gelato from Dolcezza Gelato.  Yes, I’m very spoiled (from May to November, at least).

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Vietnamese Pickles

Posted on by Claire

Vietnamese Pickles

My refrigerator is absolutely packed with homemade condiments and sauces. I love having lots of building blocks to add to the flavor of even the most basic meals. These Vietnamese pickles are a great addition to my stockpile, allowing for a twist on basic sandwiches and salads, and enabling me to create more authentic Vietnamese dishes like vermicelli noodles and banh mi sandwiches (recipes forthcoming). The carrots and daikon radish hold their crunch and are complemented by the sweet and vinegary pickling liquid. Since I like my food with a kick, I’ve also added jalapeno peppers to this recipe for a faint spicy note.

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Homemade Vanilla Extract

Posted on by Claire

Homemade Vanilla Extract

This recipe is so simple it hardly seems worth posting.  But this little recipe has enormous value; imagine never having to buy vanilla extract again!  Once you’ve whipped up your first batch, you can simply add more bourbon as the extract dwindles, but remember to also occasionally toss in another bean.  Every time I use vanilla beans for another purpose, instead of discarding the used beans, I simply rinse them and add them to my vanilla extract.

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Vegetarian Moroccan Tagine

Posted on by Claire

Vegetarian Moroccan Tagine

Three years ago, in the summer of 2008, I spent two weeks traveling around Morocco with a friend. We had both been studying Arabic and thought this would be a good chance to practice; of course, once we arrived, we quickly realized that Moroccan Arabic is so different from Modern Standard Arabic that we were better off falling back on our knowledge of French! Luckily, my friend was practically fluent and I had five years of middle school and high school French classes under my belt – not that it did me all that much good, as this trip was probably the only time I’ve had people ask me why I’m so quiet and shy.

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Strawberry Vinegar Reduction

Posted on by Claire

Strawberry Vinegar Reduction

This is a jewel of a syrup, a deep ruby red reduction with the rich thick consistency of honey.  Take a taste and the intense strawberry flavor plays on your tongue, the sweetness balanced by the complex tartness of red wine vinegar. This syrup is incredibly versatile, allowing for a little bit of customization at each step along the way. You can make it with different berries or fruits (or combinations of fruits even), you can add in fresh herbs, you can reduce the syrup only slightly (a thinner consistency works best for mixing in drinks or vinaigrettes) or cook it down until it’s the consistency of honey, and once you’ve made it, there are an endless amount of possibilities for using it!

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