Sichuan String Beans with Bacon

I’ve already posted two different version of Sichuan string beans–both of them dry fried. There’s the more traditional one with pork and a vegetarian variation. There’s a reason I’ve done two different versions of the recipe–it’s one of my favorite Chinese dishes ever. I’m in good company–it was also Zak’s Grandma Doris’ favorite Chinese dish. […]

Lamb Patties With Incendiary Green Chutney

Indian food has an unfortunate reputation of being both time consuming and difficult. This is not necessarily true. Yes, there are curries out there that should properly be cooked down for hours and hours on low heat, curries which involve multiple spice pastes ground to just the correct texture and added at just the right […]

Twisting Traditions: Eggplant and Pork with Garlic Sauce (and Green Beans….)

Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables of all time. Even though, when I was growing up, it only appeared on my Grandma or Mom’s tables fried with marinara sauce (and there’s nothing wrong with that, mind you), fairly early on in life I was introduced to moussaka and baba ganoush through Mom’s Greek friends, […]

Tamari, Miso and Honey Make Everything Sunny

Why the rhyme? I dunno. Except, that somehow, the combination of those three ingredients -does- taste like sunshine. Like warm summer sunshine in a garden filled with flowers and buzzing bees. Really. Put the three together and then cook it and slather it on anything, and suddenly, even if its midwinter, you’ll feel like you’re […]

Lamb With Cilantro and Curry Leaf Sauce

I like to play with cooking techniques when I come up with new dishes. For example–I like to take the French techniques I learned in culinary school and apply them to other cuisines. Usually what happens is I end up with a recipe that tastes both traditional and sublime–the flavors of the original cuisine are […]