When I was a kid, Home Ec was a required course in junior high, and we all had to learn how to make English muffin pizzas in a toaster oven. Did you make English muffin pizzas? Or bagel pizzas? This is the same thing, but made with a flour tortilla, or "wrap" as they are called in some parts. Easy peasy. A cast iron skillet works best for the stove top, as it has a more even distribution of heat and holds the heat well. Once the tortilla is bubbly, sprinkle on the cheese first, and then spread with sauce. This way the thin tortilla bottom is more likely to stay crisp. In this recipe we are using the most basic of ingredients—shredded mozzarella, tomato sauce, basil. But you could easily use other favorite pizza toppings, such as caramelized onions or basil pesto. Just use a light touch. The tortilla is thin and can be easily weighted down.

Do you like making tortilla pizzas? If so, please tell us about your favorite version in the comments.

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Are you an oatmeal lover? Recently I started adding strawberries to my breakfast oatmeal and thought the combination would make a pretty good muffin too. Several experimental batches later I now have a strawberry oatmeal muffin that I'm proud to share with you. Here's the deal, you don't just want to toss some chopped strawberries into an oatmeal muffin batter. You can if you want, but they won't turn out as well as they could. Macerate the strawberries first in a little sugar with some balsamic vinegar, to concentrate and intensify the flavor of the strawberries. Macerating the berries first also releases some of the strawberries' moisture, which will go into the batter where you want it.

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My mother has always taken delight at the patches of mint that thrive along the edges of her house. "It keeps away the ants!" she insists. I have no idea if this actually works, but having her advice firmly imprinted into the core of my being, I too cultivate patches of mint here and there. Which means, that right about now, mid to late spring, we have lots of it. Good for tea, good for jelly, and awesome in a agua fresca with lime and cucumbers, mint also pairs perfectly with peas.

Continue reading "Spring Pea Hummus" »

Los Angeles, 1961

When I look at this picture of my mom and me, words fail me.

So let me just wish you all a very happy Mother's Day, for our mothers, our grandmothers, and for everyone who mothers.

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This little chicken salad went to the market. This little chicken salad stayed home. This little chicken salad took a tour through Louisiana and ran off with some cheeky spicy remoulade sauce and who knows where they'll end up?

Continue reading "Cajun Chicken Salad" »

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" »

With the warming weather, our lemons are practically falling of the trees. Here's a lovely way to use them, homemade limoncello from guest contributor Garrett McCord. Enjoy! ~Elise

Limoncello is a traditional digestif (a drink served after the meal to theoretically aid in digestion, but also an excuse for another nip) served throughout Southern Italy, particularly in the area surrounding the Gulf of Naples. It's produced by infusing a strong alcohol with the zest of plenty of lemons and then adding sugar, resulting in a sweet, floral, and citrusy spirit. It's a bright and memorable end to a genial meal with friends and family. While there are many producers who have been making it for years, many families make their own. And why not? It's so easy to do!

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Try this one for breakfast. A reader from Alaska recently mentioned to me that instead of fried with corned beef or ham, the way he likes his potatoes in the morning is as smoked salmon hash, potatoes cubed and fried with onions and mixed in with flakes of hot smoked salmon. Uh, yes, please! I love them with a runny egg and extra sour cream.

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Shimogamo Jinja, Kyoto, Japan

Forgive me please, for a brief diversion from our usual posting of recipes. I recently took two weeks off from cooking and blogging to travel to Japan, my first extended vacation in the nine years or so that I've been publishing this site. For those of you who might be interested in a peek at our adventure, I thought I might post a few photos of some of the highlights of the trip. (If you aren't interested, just ignore, there will be a new recipe soon enough.)

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Please welcome Hank Shaw as he shares his quick and easy version of the Greek classic avgolemono soup, a chicken soup with lemon and egg. ~Elise

The mixture of eggs, lemon and hot broth is a classic combination in Greek cooking. And if there is a classic dish that highlights this combination, it is the chickeny avgolemono soup. Avgo-wha? Ah-vo-LEMEN-o, or at least that's how I remember the Greeks at the local diner in New Jersey saying it. The "g" isn't always pronounced.

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About once a week, for my entire upbringing, my mother would prepare a very simple side of pasta with a sweet, buttery tomato sauce. Usually she used elbow macaroni pasta, because usually a small bowl of tomato pasta would be served alongside tuna macaroni salad, our standard Catholic fish-on-Fridays family meal. Mom would just make extra macaroni and stir in the tomato sauce for it. She did this because my dad requested it, and he wanted it because that's what his mother in Minnesota used to make for him. Oddly, the hot buttery tomato pasta was, and still is, a perfect taste complement to the cool, crunchy, acidic tuna salad.

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When my friend Kerissa Barron first told me about this buttery rice pilaf, I couldn't wait to try it. Then she told me it had saffron in it. Uh oh. For some reason, saffron is a spice that sort of tastes like soap to me. Not a big fan. But, I'll try just about anything once, and in this case, thank goodness. I couldn't stop eating this rice. Browned in clarified butter, with cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves, cooked in a saffron infusion, and tossed with nuts and raisins, this rice is the bomb.

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Here's another recipe from the archives while I'm on vacation. Enjoy! ~Elise

Spring here means strawberries and rhubarb, sweet peas and asparagus, and dreams of the summer bounty to come. Asparagus are everywhere, big, fat, and fresh. And yes, although we can get them all year round, I'm especially happy to eat them in Spring. Not only are they likely to have been grown in the same Hemisphere, and could even be local, their very abundance signals the renewal of the season and a good-bye to Winter. Here is a fresh and easy asparagus soup recipe, a perfect excuse to buy more than one bunch.

Continue reading "Creamy Asparagus Soup" »

I'm on vacation for a couple of weeks and away from our kitchen. So I will be posting a few recipes from the archives, like this lemon poppyseed muffin recipe, originally posted in 2007. Hope everyone is having a fabulous Easter! ~Elise

I love lemon poppy seed muffins. This recipe is based on the same Cook's Illustrated master muffin recipe on which I based our blueberry and lemon ginger muffins. The balance of flour, leavening, eggs and yogurt results in a light and fluffy muffin. The important things to remember with making these muffins is to make sure your baking powder is no older than 6 months (it may not work if older), and to not over-mix the batter.

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