meatless monday

I never realized that my tendency to overbuy at the farmers’ market was a hereditary condition. If you open my mother’s refrigerator at any given time, you’ll probably find a bunch of chard, just waiting to be turned into a green soup. But just one bunch. Not three. It wasn’t until I visited my aunt and uncle in Los Angeles that I saw my own habits reflected in someone else’s refrigerator, and on their countertops.

Back in October, after Steph and Rodrigo’s Santa Barbara wedding, I decided to milk my West Coast trip…

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OTHER BOOZY FOODS: Oatmeal Stout Cake; Beer-Braised Short Ribs with Soy and Honey; Baked Tofu with White Wine, Mustard, and Dill

If my ex-boyfriend North had his way, he would have eaten Penne alla Vodka for every meal. No matter what the venue—New York diner, upscale Italian restaurant, or our college dining hall—he would try to order this pasta dish, and amazingly enough, most of the time he got his way.

I’ve never been one for depriving myself of rich, indulgent food. But somehow I drew the line at Penne…

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Gluten-free living is short on quick, portable lunches. It’s not like the corner deli can offer to put your sandwich filling inside an arepa. Luckily, in New York, for every corner deli, there is also a freakishly fragrant halal truck sitting right outside its door. As I mentioned in my guide to eating out gluten-free, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines are great go-to’s. It might not be quite as portable without the requisite pita pocket, but you can still easily pick up a plate of schwarma or halal with rice and condiments on…

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GREAT QUICK VEGETABLE SIDES: Caramelized Corn; Patty Pan Squash Sauté; Alta Brussels Sprouts with Apple, Pistachios, and Creme Fraiche; Garlic-Rosemary Mashed Potatoes; Roasted Fennel; Spinach with Bacon Bits

The thing about cabbage is that it’s just such an ideal, quarter-lifey vegetable. It’s inexpensive and serves a crowd. Best of all, it keeps almost forever in the fridge, making it what we call a “pantry” vegetable: there for you to eat when you need food the most and are feeling least enthusiastic about shopping for and preparing it.…

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GREAT BAKED PASTAS: Mushroom Lasagna; Updated Tuna Noodle Casserole; Baked Macaroni and Cheese; Noodle Kugel; Baked Spinach Gnocchi with Three Tomatoes; Baked Orzo Ratatouille

My mom makes a mean eggplant. Her signature are slices of grilled eggplant, charred on the outside and creamy–almost gooey–on the inside. Though she doesn’t pre-salt, rinse, and pat dry the eggplant, she does salt it pretty well, which is often part of something tasting great. Her technique is to put eggplant slices in a big plastic bag with olive oil, salt, and…

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OTHER QUICK PASTAS FOR ONE: Soba Noodles with Kale and Walnut Sauce; Spaghetti with Spicy Red Sauce; Pad See Ew; Garlicky Angel Hair with Shellfish; Linguine Aglio e Olio con Acciuga

When no one else is around for dinner and I get hungry, chances are I’ll whip up some pasta for myself. As anyone who cooks for one knows, it’s one of the best ways to make a single-serving portion, and as everyone in the world knows, pasta is just about the best foil for whatever ingredients and leftovers you have…

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Other BGSK Tofu Dishes: Sweet and Sour Tofu; Asian Baked Tofu; Tofu Pizza with Garlic and Rosemary

For the last two and a half years, since this blog’s inception, I’ve been name-dropping Peter Berley’s dill tofu. In fact, I wanted to talk about it so much, I spent most of this post about soup gushing about tofu.

With full wariness about repeating myself, here’s a little background on my dating life and dill tofu:

In high school, our best friend Carolyn (not to mention Jordana) was…

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My senior year in college, I took a week off from classes to go to Turkey with my family. Just weeks before, I’d come home from my actual spring break–that was the trip to Tamarindo, Costa Rica, when Phoebe and I first made fish tacos together for the masses. Turkey was a different kind of trip, more exotic, in many ways, than tropical Costa Rica, which admittedly did have its moments of feeling utterly foreign.

Where Tamarindo had sustained us on cheap, ripe avocados, fresh fish, and black beans, Turkey kept me busy eating baklava, pita, and…

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OTHER SUMMER GRILL FAVORITES: Grilled Eggplant Salad; Grilled Mushroom Cheddar Melts; Grilled Eggplant Salad; Merguez Grill Breads with Fennel-Arugula Salad; Grilled Salmon Sandwiches with Heirloom Tomatoes and Chive-Cashew Pesto;

My mom has always been a big believer in indoor grilling. Even though we have a perfectly capable Weber in the backyard on Martha’s Vineyard, she seems to break out her two-burner cast iron grill pan even more so during the summertime.

The reason, I guess, is the same as any cook’s who loves the grill but doesn’t…

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BEST GRAIN SALADS: Rice Noodle Salad with Vegetables and Cashews; Grandpa Caprese Panzanella; Lemon Couscous Salad With Cilantro, Raisins, & Almonds; Quinoa Tabouli with Mint, Parsley, and Preserved Lemons; Teriyaki Soba Salad.

One of the perks of having written a cookbook besides, well, pride and joy, is having an archive of perfectly tested recipes that cater precisely to your tastes. While it’s rare that I follow a recipe in the kitchen, choosing instead to follow my whims and the ingredients in my fridge, it is nice to have a base formula…

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