The basic ingredients are simply almond flour (finely ground blanched almonds), eggs, sugar, and lemon zest. No butter or wheat flour. The cake behaves a bit like a soufflé in that it gets most of its rise from the eggs in the batter, and then gently falls as it settles. I’ve included a bit of baking powder to help the cake maintain a bit more structure as it cools. The result is a light and tender crumb, softly sweet and lemony....
Years ago when I first started experimenting with gingerbread men recipes, I made one truly terrible batch from a recipe in my favorite 1974 edition of the Joy of Cooking. That recipe called for 1/4 cup of butter and 3 1/2 cups of flour, and the result, as you might expect, had more structure than taste. My guess is that the Joy cookie was originally developed to be a tree ornament, and while there is nothing wrong with cookie tree ornaments, I wanted gingerbread people I could EAT....
I tend to procrastinate this most important meal of the day, sipping my coffee and checking email before plunging into work. Before long, it’s ten o’clock and hunger pangs have set in. I love opening my fridge to see these oatmeal and chia cups waiting for me. But of course, if you are rushing out the door, these cups are very handy, too. In fact, I often bring them in the car when I’m traveling and don’t want to rely on fast food....
What Is Sabich? Sabich is a pita or laffa (flatbread) sandwich made with fried eggplant, boiled eggs, tahini sauce, hummus, and a tangy Israeli salad—a classic chopped salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, and lemon juice commonly served across Israel. This sandwich is a popular street food in Tel-Aviv thought to have been introduced to Israeli cuisine by immigrant Iraqi Jews. During Sabbath (also called Shabbat), Jewish people cannot participate in any cooking, so pre-boiled eggs and fried eggplant prepared ahead and kept in the fridge are the perfect ingredients to assemble in a sandwich—the pita isn’t heated—without breaking the no-work laws of Sabbath....
Scan any restaurant that specializes in authentic Mexican food and you’re sure to find a machine that has this white liquid bubbling away inside. Its creaminess and cooling powers make it the ideal counterpart for the spicy salsas and chilies common to this part of the world. Horchata de arroz (rice) morphed from the orxchata, which is Spanish in origin. Many Spanish speaking countries have their own versions of a grain-based drink, Puerto Rico has one made from sesame seeds, but this version made with rice seems to be the most popular and commonly known....
The tart nature of an apricot makes it an excellent pairing for many different types of foods. You can find apricots everywhere, from pastries to savory dishes such as Persian lamb stew. Qamar al-Din is a drink made from apricot juice (or paste) consumed across the Middle East and North Africa. Qubani ka meetha is an Indian dessert made from dried apricots. If you’re looking to learn more about apricots, take a look at our most frequently asked questions below....
How to Use Prickly Pear Prickly pear juice is often used to make jam or candy, but it also works wonders in cocktails and in vinaigrettes for salads. I’ve used the juice from prickly pear to flavor cream cheese frosting for a lime flavored cupcake and have seen others boil cactus pear down with a bit of orange and lemon juice to make a sauce for fruit salads and cheesecakes....
Dull knives aren’t just a mere inconvenience. Dull knives require more physical effort in cutting, giving you less control and increasing the risk of injury. Luckily, there are many different options for sharpening your knives quickly and efficiently. Of the various knife sharpening techniques, electric knife sharpeners are an important choice to consider. Electric knife sharpeners use a motor to shave the metal off the dull parts and expose a new sharp edge....
Khadija Hemmati, an Afghan chef based in Charlottesville, VA, stopped by on a Sunday evening with two lamb shanks and an Instant Pot cradled under her arm. She taught me how to make kabuli palao, a traditional Afghan dish of tender spiced lamb served alongside rice bejeweled with almonds, pistachios, carrots, and sultanas. Each component is prepared and cooked separately, and then beautifully layered right before serving. It’s a labor of love worthy of the most important time of the year....
Thankfully, according to Vietnamese cooking expert and Simply Recipes contributor Andrea Nguyen, you probably already have everything you need. “You don’t have to outfit your kitchen with unusual gadgets,” she writes in her cookbook, Vietnamese Food Any Day. So what do you need? Here’s what Andrea recommends—both basic and upgraded picks! Essential Kitchen Tools You’ll be set to start cooking Vietnamese food at home if you have most of the following items in your kitchen:...
She loved to bake and one of her favorite things to make for us was lemon meringue pie. I still remember the magic of that whipped meringue topping that went into the oven like soft cloudy pillows and came out firm and golden brown. Taking that first bite? Cutting into the light billowy meringue, scooping up that buttery lemon filling? Sigh. Now as much as I loved my grandmother’s lemon meringue pie, she left no record of the recipe that I have found....
Unless, of course, you are “a pancakes-for-supper” kind of gal like me. There’s nothing like pancakes to help make the stresses of just living in this world feel a little bit lighter. Ricotta adds richness without making the pancakes heavy or dense, and lemon adds a perky flavor that dances in your mouth when you take the first bite. While the step of separating the eggs and beating the whites by themselves does take a little extra time, this is about quality of life, people!...
But there is only so much denying one can do, before the shivering reality sets in, and then it’s time for stew. Lentil stew in this case. My friend Clara and I were inspired to make this hearty lentil stew today, in the midst of yet another downpour, based on Clara’s family recipe. It’s made with bacon and sausage, a mirepoix of onions, carrots, and celery, and topped with parsley....
As I get older though, I find that the slightly processed taste that I get when I make box white cake isn’t what my grown-up palette wants anymore. As I love to bake from scratch, I realized that fluffy, tender white cake is actually pretty easy to make at home, which means I can finally satisfy my childhood inner kid AND my adult self all at the same time....
Prep this skillet pasta in the morning before you leave – or even the night before – and pop it in the oven when you’re home from work, your kid’s soccer practice, the last beach run of the season, or whatever activities have filled your day. This is not exactly mac and cheese for grownups but it’s close. It has a little more substance in the form of yellow squash and cherry tomatoes, and it’s bound together with eggs and cream....
Although Mandu Guk is eaten throughout the year, for Lunar New Year Koreans add rice cakes called tteokguk tteok, which translates to “rice cakes for rice cake soup.” This makes me chuckle! The rice cakes make it a celebratory meal that symbolizes growing another year older. You can find them in the refrigerated or freezer section of most Asian markets. Where to Buy Mandu Make this soup with either homemade or store-bought Korean dumplings....
Now, well into middle-agedom, I blink and it’s a new month. One good yawn and we’ve moved from pea shoots to picnic salads. Speaking of which, picnic salads that is, everyone needs a good potato salad in their picnic repertoire, right? This one fits the bill. It’s sort of a potato salad a la Nicoise. No mayo, the dressing is a mustard vinaigrette; new potatoes are tossed with green beans, roasted red bell peppers, red onion, minced Kalamata olives, parsley and arugula....
They are a cross between a regular lemon and an orange. They’re not quite as sour as regular lemons, and their peels are smooth and not as bitter. They make wonderful marmalade. Homemade Marmalade: A Winter Ritual Every winter I make several batches of marmalade from the citrus growing in our yard. This Meyer lemon marmalade recipe is the “master” recipe from which I base all sorts of variations (adding grapefruit, blood oranges, etc....
For 50 years, my mother was in charge of the turkey. But now that the dinner gathering has shifted to my house, the task has fallen to me. Fortunately, my mother has taught me well! Her turkey cooking method produces a roast turkey that is always perfectly done. The breast is never dried out, but tender and full of flavor. There’s no need to brine or baste. Video: How to Roast a Turkey Breast Side Down How to Cook a Turkey: 3 Tips to Know How does my mother do it?...
