Featured Recipe Blogs

Stollen

Christmas marks the beginning of the summer holiday period in New Zealand. This confounds many a visitor to the Southern Hemisphere. Many New Zealanders celebrate that which makes our Christmas so different to our Northern Hemisphere friends on the planet - there are amusing images of ... more

Golden Onion Pie

Thanksgiving is a beautiful time of the year in the United States. Leaves on deciduous trees have truly turned and have all but given way to winter, biting winds require an extra layer or two, and candlelight beaming through foggy windows ... more

Chocolate: Cookies & Cake

Last month I shared with you my enjoyment for baking, which is often curbed by not having softened butter at the exact moment I want to bake. Twice this month, I was smart enough to leave unsalted butter out on the kitchen island over night, preparing me for baking in the morning. I'm not really a baker, though. ... more

Frozen Orange Syllabub Cake

As much as I love cakes, I sometimes avoid making them. This is principally because I cannot always be bothered combining butter and sugar until they bond into a pale yellow cream, which, first of all, requires that butter be soft. When one bakes, sometimes it's ... more

Roast Tail of Monkfish with Orange Sauce

The Auckland Fish Market is so close by that it would be wasteful not to take advantage of the freshest catch. My angelheart Eric has always been an avid lover of most seafood; I, on the other hand, require a bit of persuasion. I have ... more

Beetroot Tart

Although it is widely available throughout the year, as are most root vegetables, beetroot (beets) becomes most relied upon in my kitchen when it is winter. Its earthy sweetness and intense crimson flesh give warmth to frosty days. Beetroot bolsters the winter frame of mind and ... more

Afelia

This month's Gourmet magazine's focus is on world travel. Consequently, the Gourmet's Cookbook Club feature for May 2009 is similarly themed: Tessa Kiros' Falling Cloudberries, which takes the reader on a culinary journey to Finland, Greece, Cyprus, South Africa and Italy. The only ... more

Pan Pugliese

On a cool autumn's morning, there are few more comforts than hearing rain outside as you are bundled up in the warmth of your home. What amplifies this warmth and joy-making is baking bread. You will all know the delights of freshly-baked bread, so I hardly ... more

Rabbit in Mustard Sauce

Now that Easter is over, it is safe to present a bunny dish. And not of the chocolate variety. Rabbit is often overlooked as a game option, it seems, even though there seem to be more television chefs presenting it to viewers. Rabbit is lean, and ... more

Mjuk Toscakaka

I have an usual love affair for European baked goods. Unusual because I have never really experienced any freshly made...no German spice cookies, no Hungarian cakes, no Austrian or Croatian pastries, no Scandinavian baking at all...you get the point. Really, the ... more

It’s a Book!

Look what I have in my hot little hands—it’s here, it's a book! Two hundred and twenty pages, all my words (except one great joke supplied by my agent, thank you Danielle). All of it printed on lovely (read: expensive) paper, thanks ... more

Meyer Lemon Marmalade in a Can Jam

I have a friend who doesn’t think much of Meyer lemons. He doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. For this I’m going to forgive him. It doesn’t matter that he has a James Beard Award, we all have out blindspots. I personally don’t understand ... more

Stalking Wonder: Waves for Christmas

My mother recently moved from California to Seattle. All her kids and grandkids live here now, it only makes sense. What is the point of being so far away? What's the point of being in California—besides the great weather and the ... more

A Passion for Pickling

One day last summer I was wandering through the Vashon Island Farmers’ Market and I caught sight of the odd little green things above. To be honest, I thought they looked like miniature watermelons, ready to serve up at a dollhouse picnic. Lilliputian melons. ... more

The Surprising and Unexpected Redemption of Spaghetti Squash

It’s not the spaghetti squash’s fault that for years I’ve hated it—it was a case of mistaken identity. As a young child, when my mom said we were having spaghetti squash for dinner, I imagined a vegetable that, when cut open, ... more

Raclette for One

Here’s the confession: I’ve never had proper raclette. When I was in Switzerland I ate fondue, but I somehow missed raclette. And when I was invited to a raclette party in Sun Valley many Christmases ago, I stayed home to talk on the phone to ... more

Doing Things That Scare Me

It’s the second week of January—have you forgotten your resolutions already? In a normal year I might say yes, but not this year. I can’t forget my resolutions this year, because I wrote them on a long piece of paper and posted it to the ... more

What to Eat in January

The longer I keep this site, the bigger the archives grow, and some of my favorite recipes get lost and forgotten—even by me. So I’m starting a new feature where I talk about what I’m eating this month. These are all good seasonal recipes—from this site ... more

Favorite Things: Lynne Rossetto Kasper and The Splendid Table

I was late to the iPod craze, I admit it. I’m not one of those who need to listen to music at all times. I finally got an iPod when I started shuttling back and forth between San Francisco and ... more

The Joy of Yakisoba

I seem to be on a Japanese food kick this winter—curry rice, udon, sekihan for the New Year. This is my comfort food, and I've nearly exhausted the category, but I can’t move along until I tell you how much I love ... more