Fried Mac N Cheese Bites

When I home-make mac n cheese, it’s always a big pot that makes for lots of yummy leftovers. Inspired by my success with using leftover risotto to make arancini, I decided a similar thing could be done to make fried mac n cheese bites. I had made such a big pot of mac n cheese…

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Hot Honey Browned Butter

Cookbook Club – Dining In The book for our March Cookbook Club was Dining In by Alison Roman, which aims to provide simple yet compelling recipes that make you want to cook and eat in. To see everything we dined on, go to my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish! When I think…

Pasta with Burst Cherry Tomato Sauce and Fried Caper Crumbs

Cookbook Club – America’s Test Kitchen, Cook’s Illustrated For February’s Cookbook Club, people were able to choose recipes from the America’s Test Kitchen website and cookbook and the affiliated Cook’s Illustrated magazine and cookbook. To see what we selected from the thousands of recipe options, go to my cookbook club site. For now – my…

Whipped Ricotta Fettunta

I got another ricotta bounty from my cheese supplier (AKA friend who works for the best Italian cheese company ever). There is an Italian restaurant nearby that I used to go to specifically for their Whipped Ricotta Fettunta… until it occurred to me that with the incredible ricotta from my friend I could probably make…

Pizza Sauce

My boyfriend is obsessed with pizza. I got him a pizza stone for Christmas one year, and he has been steadily honing his pizza-making skills by throwing regular pizza parties. My role is to make the pizza sauce. This recipe was one from a friend which I have tweaked to give it a bit more…

Spicy Italian Sausage with Kale and Tomato

This dish uses just a handful of ingredients and a single pan, but the flavors of the sausage, kale, and tomato go so well together that you don’t need anything else. My boyfriend says it’s like a really delicious pasta, only without any pasta – that’s a glowing endorsement from someone who would live on…

Persimmon Crisp

Our Cookbook Club tradition is to do a Friendsgiving event in November, where instead of using a cookbook everyone makes a dish that’s either a Thanksgiving tradition for them or something new they want to try this year. It’s persimmon season, and my friend recently gave me a bag full from her tree. I make…

Salted Egg Yolk Pumpkin

I ate a fried pumpkin dish in a family-owned Chinese restaurant like 10 years ago and have been dreaming about it ever since. The pumpkin had a salted egg yolk coating that I couldn’t get enough of. So when I saw a package of salted egg yolks at the Asian market, I had to buy…

Chipotle-Garam Masala Olives

Cookbook Club – Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food September’s Cookbook Club book was Nik Sharma’s Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food. Sharma’s stunning photography showcases his take on Indian cooking in this gorgeous cookbook. To see all the beautiful food, go to my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish! I got as far as…

Roasted Garlic Ricotta Pasta

I was trying to come up with ways to use my bounty of ricotta and I hit on this idea that a creamy sauce of roasted garlic and ricotta with oyster mushrooms and corn over pasta sounded pretty freaking good. I am so glad that I figured out how to easily make roasted garlic in…

Taco Pasta

Cookbook Club – Guerrilla Tacos For August’s Cookbook Club we used Guerrilla Tacos, a compilation of the recipes LA local Wes Avila created for his very popular taco truck of the same name. To get a taste of all the tacos, go to my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish! I know, I…

Lentils with Curried Butternut Squash and Walnuts

Cookbook Club – Gourmet Today For our July Cookbook Club we used Gourmet Today, a collection of over 1,000 recipes which Ruth Reichl compiled during her time as editor in chief of Gourmet magazine. To see all the dishes we sampled from this massive selection, go to my Cookbook Club site. For now – my…