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. […]

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, […]

Honeyed Chicken with Snap Peas and Carrots

Aren’t those snap peas just the prettiest things? Those sweet green goodies have been driving me mad for three days because they’ve been in my crisper drawer, waiting, waiting, WAITING for me to cook them, and I haven’t been able to, but I’ve wanted to for just days and days. See, I’ve had an ear […]

Meatless Monday: Hadar’s Stir Fried Tofu, Bok Choy Carrots and Radishes

This one is for my beloved Hadar, who asked last week for more meatless recipes. You know, I can be just as blinkered and blind as everyone else. Here I am priding myself on my culinary creativity and it turns out that until yesterday, I never really thought about cooking radishes. Why not? I dunno. […]

Honey-Ginger Pork and Baby Bok Choy

I’ve been enamored of developing simpler stir fry recipes that are based upon the principles of Cantonese cuisine: ingredients combined to create a flavor/color/texture contrast with minimal use of condiments so as to allow the natural flavors of the food to shine through. I never really loved Cantonese cuisine when I was younger, probably because […]