Several years ago, my job required that I occasionally fly here and there for conferences and, oh, they were not fun. I know that many conferences today are wonderful events where wonderful people meet and expand their professional horizons but those for me were all about windowless conference rooms, buzzing flourescent lights, and all hopes that I would be able to “get out!” and “see a new city!” dashed when I realized I would, in fact, need to file articles from my hotel room that night. On the lowest of these trips, I found myself gazing a painfully unappetizing room service menu and came across an item called a “fried cheese collage” and this, I am sad to say, was the last straw.

“What is WRONG with this world?” I grumpily, nay, hangrily told my husband over the phone. “Fried cheese? Why does cheese need to be breaded and fried? Isn’t cheese lovely without breading? Without frying?”

… Read the rest of warm, crisp and a little melty salad croutons on smittenkitchen.com

© smitten kitchen 2006-2012. |
permalink to warm, crisp and a little melty salad croutons | 86 comments to date | see more: Cheese, Photo, Salad, Vegetarian

Sugar snap peas are a garden staple in the spring. At least around here you plant them in November or December and see them poking out of the ground late February to early March, depending on how warm or cold a winter it has been. In my garden they snake their way up a loosely put together bamboo trellis and if I’m not paying attention, climb over the fence into my neighbor’s yard. As soon as it really starts to get hot, usually sometime in May, the pea vines dry up, telling me it’s time to plant green beans.

And just so we are clear, I don’t cook my garden peas. Why? Because I’m greedy. I snap the peas off their tendrils and eat them fresh and fresh right in the garden as soon as they get big enough. It’s my garden snack bar. One of these days I’ll compost and fertilize and mulch enough to have a harvest big enough to cook and/or share. Still, peas in the garden means local peas at the market, and this easy stir-fry with green onions, lemon zest, and mint, is a great way to prepare them.

Continue reading “Seared Sugar Snap Peas” »

Sugar snap peas are a garden staple in the spring. At least around here you plant them in November or December and see them poking out of the ground late February to early March, depending on how warm or cold a winter it has been. In my garden they snake their way up a loosely put together bamboo trellis and if I’m not paying attention, climb over the fence into my neighbor’s yard. As soon as it really starts to get hot, usually sometime in May, the pea vines dry up, telling me it’s time to plant green beans.

And just so we are clear, I don’t cook my garden peas. Why? Because I’m greedy. I snap the peas off their tendrils and eat them fresh and fresh right in the garden as soon as they get big enough. It’s my garden snack bar. One of these days I’ll compost and fertilize and mulch enough to have a harvest big enough to cook and/or share. Still, peas in the garden means local peas at the market, and this easy stir-fry with green onions, lemon zest, and mint, is a great way to prepare them.

Continue reading “Seared Sugar Snap Peas” »

by janwood on 08 May 2012

This dish is infinitely variable. You can make it with butter instead of oil, with stock instead of white wine, you can leave out the tomatoes and olives and you can use any mix of herbs you choose. Just remember that the total cooking time is 20 minutes so any vegetable that will take longer than that will need to be pre-cooked. by fiona_maclean on 08 May 2012

Seeing as I once argued that rice pudding should be breakfast food (what? grains, milk, a bit of sugar, sometimes berries — just like oatmeal!) it shouldn’t be any surprise that I’m now wondering if risotto could also be welcome in the earliest parts of the day. I mean, what if contained bacon and eggs? What if I warned you that if you start making risotto with leeks and bacon and finish it with a fried egg that you might not be able to go back to eating it another way? You can’t say I didn’t give you a heads-up.

I got the inspiration for breakfast risotto from an article I saw a few months back. Okay, it was many months. And every time I was about to make it, I found something better to do. Like, flossing. Or chasing my toddler around the apartment with a comb, trying to explain that he would one day thank me for not letting him leave the house looking like an unkempt Muppet. (Obviously, it didn’t work.) Eventually I had to admit that risotto, while lovely to eat when someone else makes it, is hardly my favorite way to dirty pots and pans. It’s the stirring, and also the starchiness; it’s the sleepiness of the usual inclusions (maybe mushrooms, asparagus and other delicately-minded green things), and that always requires that you make something else (a salad, or maybe some protein) that will make it seem more of a balanced meal. Risotto: It’s awfully demanding.

… Read the rest of bacon, egg and leek risotto on smittenkitchen.com

© smitten kitchen 2006-2012. |
permalink to bacon, egg and leek risotto | 182 comments to date | see more: Breakfast, Eggs, Grain/Rice, Photo

One of the days I enjoy the most is Sant Jordi, April 23rd. Here in Catalonia is a big Feast and if…



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