Recipes

It’s a rainy and cold Friday here in California. After a few months of sunny weather, winter has finally arrived. This is the perfect climate to invite friends over for a low-key Sunday lunch. Hearty food, wine, coffee and dessert around the fire, I can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday! Joel…

I’m not a morning person. I prefer breakfast recipes that can be prepared ahead and just grabbed with a cup of tea to take back to bed.  I adapted this recipe from Giada’s Apricot Oat Bars. I used both dried apricots and cherries for the jam filling and cut out 1/2 a stick of butter (it…

Do you share my inability to throw away the remains of a roast chicken? My sister and I have a near compulsion to turn leftover chicken and turkey bones into soup, a handy trait inherited from our Mom. Having chicken soup stockpiles in the freezer was so helpful when I’ve been terribly sick with this…

This recipe is adapted from a new favorite cookbook. I was given a copy of Serena, Food & Stories by a family friend and immediately fell in love with her writing and cooking style. Serena Bass was a high-profile caterer in New York and ran a bar in the basement of the Chelsea Hotel. Her book’s…

Looking for an hearty and healthy winter stew that brings the spice and can serve a crowd? A big pot of green chile made with pork shoulder is the answer. It takes a few hours to simmer, but the end result is so worth the effort. I used this recipe from Martha Stewart as an…

We made a huge sushi spread at home to celebrate our last night in Hawaii and to thank our hostess, Haley. The meal made the most of the delicious fresh ahi tuna and opah belly available at the local market. To start, I prepared a remake of the opah tataki with lime butter vinaigrette, plus an…

This three ingredient lunch is a snap to prepare on a busy afternoon in Maui, using more of our tropical farmer’s market produce from down the street. The baked purple taro is topped with braised kale and good quality parmesan cheese. Like a tiny sweet potato, the purple taro cooks very quickly. Just 2 or 3 minutes…

Continuing our theme of working through the local Hawaiian produce: I made mango scones for breakfast on Sunday morning. Given that I’m not much a baker, I started with this easy scone recipe using Bisquick. I used most of a mango to make half a cup of fruit, but next time I would double the…

I started chipping away at all that tropical fruit on Saturday morning with an impromptu yogurt parfait made with the flavors of Maui. The challenge: find a way to use the tart and intense yellow passion fruit. It was too much to eat on it’s own. And, to use up the rest of the yellow…

I cut up my toes on a rock while snorkeling at the beach today, so instead of our usual badminton match at sunset I made a fancy dinner.  The local market had freshly caught opah, or moonfish, belly for sale. That is one cheery looking fish! The opah steak was too good to broil, so…