Simply Recipes Food and Cooking Blog

There is nothing better than homemade applesauce with hand-picked apples, and it is so easy to do! If you want chunky applesauce, use a potato masher to mash the cooked apples. If you prefer smooth apple sauce, run the cooked...

Selland's market-cafe in Sacramento is an uncommonly good café and often a source of inspiration for foods to prepare. Recently I had some of their asparagus and loved the texture - slightly crunchy (definitely not mushy!) - and the hint...

In California winter can transition to spring in a flash. It seems like yesterday we were beset by chilly storms while the forecast for this week is all sunny and 70s. Daffodils are blooming, as are cherry trees, and the...

Sometimes the simplest things are the most enjoyable. My mother whipped up this quick and easy baby bok choy dish the other night. It was so good I made her make it again the next day so I could watch...

I admit, I am not the greatest fan of bok choy, perhaps as result of too many poorly done stir-fries during college. That said, my father made this recipe the other day and it was so good I made a...

One of our favorite side dishes is hot sauerkraut, delicious served with pork or bockwurst - a mild German sausage. You can also make a sandwich with toasted or grilled dark rye bread, melted Jack, havarti, or Muenster cheese, the...

All these years I've been loving beets but throwing the beet greens away. Yikes! No more. This is a delicious way to serve greens, whether collard, kale, or beet.

Braised onions are the side of choice with beef Bourguignon but they are also wonderful with roast beef and other stews. Trader Joe's sells a pack of multi-colored pearl onions that cook up beautifully as braised onions. The catch? You...

Some people get chocolate cravings. I get broccoli cravings. Sometimes I think it's my body's way of telling me I've been laying on the bacon a bit too thick (or maybe the chocolate!) But honestly I could eat broccoli every...

I never used to like brussels sprouts, until one day I had them when they weren't over-cooked. Still just a little bit crunchy, they had a wonderfully nutty flavor. Who knew brussels sprouts could taste so good? Now I love...

There are two approaches to holiday cooking - fancy and complicated, and simple and easy. (Guess which camp we're in?) Here is a colorful, simple harvest bake, with chopped butternut squash, tart apples, and cranberries. The hardest part is cutting...

Our next door neighbor Pat has a wonderfully productive garden where she grows much of her own food. We are the lucky beneficiaries of her overflow in times when, for example, she has harvested 15 large butternut squash and there...

If you have only one oven in your kitchen, any Thanksgiving side dishes you prepare generally need to be made on the stovetop, as the turkey is taking central stage in the oven. Here is a simple butternut squash side...

People either really love cauliflower or they really don't. Those of us in the first camp will enjoy it almost any way - raw, steamed with butter and lemon, or in this case puréed.

Also known as celeriac remoulade, this salad is a refreshing accompaniment to seafood dishes and very easy to make. Celery root looks like a giant turnip, but tastes more like a cross between celery and jicama. The result is a...

The weather has finally decided to cool down around here and the first acorn squash have appeared at our local farmers market. Acorn squash are wonderfully easy to prepare - just cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, add...

My brother Eddie was over for dinner a while ago one fortuitous night when we happened to be having collard greens. I say fortuitous because Ed introduced us to a wonderful new way to serve these healthful, somewhat bitter greens...

My father found this Louisiana recipe for collard greens in the Wall St. Journal earlier this year that we've now made several times. Each time I wonder why we don't make them more often, they're so good! The combination of...

This is a great cranberry relish for all turkey dishes and turkey sandwiches, and a tasty alternative to a more traditional cranberry sauce. The relish consists of raw cranberries, apples, and an orange, all put through a grinder with sugar...

My father loves cranberry sauce. I think he enjoys turkey during the holiday season just as an excuse to eat more cranberry sauce. He stocks up on fresh cranberries when they are in season in the fall, and freezes them...

Corn season has finally arrived. This morning my father picked up some yellow corn from the local farmer's market that was so fresh we could eat it raw. Must have been picked this morning. Did you know you could eat...

If you've been reading this site for a while you'll know that we are big spinach fans here. We get spinach fresh from the farmers market every Saturday morning, and it disappears quickly. Here is a creamed spinach dish that...

People either love turnips or they hate them. And if they love them, it was probably an acquired taste. I can still remember making a face when thinking I was biting into a yummy potato in one of my mother's...

The simplicity of this creamy polenta recipe belies its true wonderfulness. This polenta is so light, so fluffy, so creamy, it could almost be a dessert. Polenta is made from coarsely ground cornmeal and is a staple of Northern Italy...

Updated. From the recipe archive. The debate usually begins like this. ME: Dad, how do you make your hash browns turn out so crispy? DAD: Use a potato ricer. It's the only thing I've found that really gets the moisture...

We eat a lot of hot and spicy dishes around here; a great way to cool the palate is with the delicious combination of yogurt and cucumber. This easy-to-make cucumber salad, also called "tzatziki", is a refreshing accompaniment to spicy...

A month ago or so I made some potato salad. I love potato salad and was well pleased with this one. Then the next week my father made his version of potato salad. It was great! Better than mine. The...

Dad originally got this recipe from Dean & DeLuca, and over time it has become a family classic. Only he has the patience to make it. The recipe is little involved, but the results are fantastic. Luxuriously rich, smooth, and...

Black beans and rice is such a classic combination, especially in Caribbean or Southern cooking. There are probably dozens of ways to make it; this one is an easy recipe that cooks up quick and tastes great. Now, if you...

I made these fingerling potatoes a few days ago as part of a composed salad and we loved them so much I made them again tonight just on their own, to accompany steak. These potatoes can be served warm, room...

Spaghetti just seems lonely without garlic bread, and it's so easy to make. There are several methods and twists for making garlic bread, the most simple being just rubbing a cut clove of garlic over slices of Italian or French...

Have some plain leftover rice? This is a great rice side dish for shrimp, pork, or chicken that calls for starting with chilled, cooked rice. I grilled some shrimp with some fresh pineapple the other day and served it with...

A recipe for those of us who love both beets and brussels sprouts. (Isn't it pretty?) Note that thyme is the essential accent which brings all the ingredients together.

This green bean recipe comes from my friend Heidi who loves to prepare green beans this way for holiday and dinner parties. Can't go wrong with butter, garlic salt and toasted almonds!

My mother is the only person I know who prepares green beans with salsa. It is such an easy and delicious dish and perfect for the summer when fresh green beans are plentiful. The trick of course to great tasting...

It doesn't take much to dress up green beans for a holiday meal. In this recipe the beans first blanched and then sautéed with pancetta and shallots, with some salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning. You can use...

The first time I tried grilling corn-on-the-cob, by placing shucked corn directly on the grill, the results weren't all that stellar. Too dried out and chewy. I consulted "She-who-knows-everything-when-it-comes-to-home-cooking" (a.k.a. mom) who informed me the way to do it was...

Mid July is about the time of year when tomatoes start coming full steam into season. I have 5 tomato plants in my garden that are now producing more tomatoes than we can think up ways of using them. (Gazpacho...

A dear friend of mine from Alabama called me recently and demanded to know, "why aren't there any grits on your site?!" Uh, because I'm not Southern and I don't know what the heck I'm talking about when it comes...

These got a little browned, but they were still crunchy and delicious. When I announced that I wanted to make brussels sprouts, inspired by a recent recipe in the New York Times, my father let out a loud groan. Dad...

We almost always have puréed sweet potatoes or garnet yams with our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Usually we just bake them, scrape out the insides and mash them with a little butter and brown sugar. My father found a wonderful...

We had dueling home fries here the other day, a veritable home-fry cook-off between my mother and father. Mom makes her fried potatoes sliced, using raw potatoes, and usually serves them as a side when we have fish for dinner...

This basic hummus recipe calls for using canned garbanzo beans. I've made hummus using dried beans, soaking them, cooking them, etc. but the results just weren't as good. The canned beans actually mash up pretty well.

Living for a while in Japan does strange things to your food preferences. Instead of thinking, "eating seaweed? PHEW!" one gets a warm glow and a faraway look in one's eyes thinking, "Eating seaweed? Ahhh. Yummm. Which kind do I...

Half recipe pictured. The holiday season is around the corner and we are already trying out recipes in preparation. This one comes from an old issue (December 1998) of Bon Appétit magazine. Smothering yams this way, in brown sugar and...

Preparation time: 20 minutes. My mother is the only person I have ever known who can make summer squash taste this good. Often this time of year gardens are overflowing with zucchini and summer squash. This quick and easy recipe...

This is my grandmother's recipe, which my mother has been using to make our Thanksgiving turkey stuffing for more than 40 years. I've never tasted any turkey stuffing that has come close to as good as mom's. Although years ago...

Not for the dietetic, this mushroom risotto is one of our family's favorites. The recipe calls for Arborio rice. Pronounced "ar-boh-ree-oh," this Italian-grown rice is high in starch, with grains that are shorter and fatter than any other rice. The...

Have you ever tried mustard greens? Related to kale, cabbage, and collard greens, they are the peppery leafy greens of the mustard plant and are used frequently in Chinese, Japanese, and Indian cooking. I find them less bitter than kale...

The sauce for these potatoes is very easy to prepare and a wonderful way to cook up some fresh garden tomatoes. The cilantro, cumin, and tomatoes combine to a unique and delicious flavor.

Nopalitos are the edible young paddles of the prickly pear cactus, grown throughout their native Mexico, the southwestern United States, and the Mediterranean (brought back by the conquistadores). The paddles are widely available in Mexican markets in the US, either...

My father discovered this potato gratin recipe in Bon Appetit magazine and it has since become a family favorite. With cream, cheese, onions, and potatoes, how can one go wrong? Unless of course you are on a diet, in which...

When I was a kid growing up in Los Angeles, my grandmother used to take me to the farmers market in Miracle Mile. After the market, we would walk over to Bob's Big Boy and order a serving of fried...

Some dishes depend on one special ingredient, the absence of which gives you something rather ordinary, the inclusion of which creates something extraordinary. This is one of those dishes. This carrot salad comes from the Middle East, and depends on...

I gave my father a subscription to Gourmet as a Christmas present 20 years ago and have been reaping the rewards ever since. This simple oven-fried potatoes recipe came from a 1985 issue. It has been so much part of...

Guacamole, a dip made from avocados, is originally from Mexico. The name is derived from two Aztec Nahuatl words - ahuacatl (avocado) and molli (sauce). The trick to perfect guacamole is using good, ripe avocados. Check for ripeness by gently...

There has been much written on the best way to make mashed potatoes - how long you cook them, with peel or without, reserving some of the cooking liquid, etc. etc. I have discovered that the real trick to creamy...

Most pickled beets I find are much too vinegary, hiding rather than enhancing the naturally sweet flavor of the beets. I usually just boil beets and eat them unadorned, but my mother has a way of preparing pickled beets that...

My July/August issue of Everyday Food arrived yesterday and in it, a simple recipe for potato salad. Too simple in my opinion. The recipe also called for reduced-fat sour cream and light mayonnaise. I'm sorry folks but I don't do...

Summer is the season for cookouts and potato salad, isn't it? Our standard usually includes pickle juice and hard boiled eggs. Here's a completely different take on a summer potato salad, seasoned with mustard, bacon, and the taste that makes...

The easiest way to prepare parsnips is to slice them, steam them, and dress with butter and salt. However, to get the fullest, richest flavor from the parsnips, they should be roasted. The browning caramelizes the natural sugars in the...

Frijoles Refritos Pinto beans, prepared Mexican style, are such a staple in our house a week rarely goes by without my mother making up a batch. Although beans have a relatively long shelf life, the older they are the longer...

Trying to get a recipe out of my mother is like pulling teeth. Mom doesn't follow recipes. After 50 years of cooking for her family she doesn't need to. She cooks instinctively, pulling ingredients from what we have on hand...

Helpers Alden and Piper show off the rice We found a "three-flavor" rice recipe in a recent Parade magazine - long grain white rice accented with carrots, lemon, and mint. Excellent served with roast chicken. I can't quite figure out...

Have you ever had roasted asparagus turn out tough and stringy? Here's a tip from my friend Alanna: use the fat spears, not the skinny ones, for roasting. This is a quick and easy recipe for beautifully roasted, tender asparagus.

My friend Suzanne clued me into a great way to do up carrots. She uses the "Nantes" French carrots from Trader Joe's or the bunched baby carrots at Whole Foods. Note that the "baby" carrots are not those 1 inch...

Who knew that cauliflower could be such a perfect vehicle for olive oil, lemon, garlic, and Parmesan cheese? I'm used to eating cauliflower raw, steamed, or puréed. I love cauliflower and will eat it any way it is prepared. But...

Normally fennel tastes like a cross between celery, cabbage, and licorice. Roasting, however, brings out an entirely new flavor - as if pine nuts decided to join the party. Unfortunately, it is very hard to take an appetizing photo of...

Oven roasting new potatoes with a little olive oil, garlic, and rosemary is a simple and easy way to prepare a savory side dish.

Perfume makers should give up on chasing pheromones and start trying to mimic the scent of truffles instead, the aroma is so irresistible. Have you ever used truffle oil in your cooking? I think I have a new best friend...

Recently I had the pleasure of attending a fabulous class, taught by and in the home of local cooking maestra Evie Lieb. In the class we covered many dishes, but my favorite was the Roasted Parsnips with Horseradish-Herb Butter. I...

Often this time of year, our gardens are filled with more zucchini than we know what to do with. Here is one quick and easy way of preparing zucchini. I had a variation of this the other night at my...

All this talk of the sweet goodness you can make apples this season, and as someone rightly pointed out to me, there are many savory things you can make with apples as well. My dear Minnesota-raised father, who cannot resist...

We have a thing for greens in our family. Beet greens, collard greens, mustard greens, Swiss chard, kale. My mother even picks dandelion greens to add to soups, and mix in with other greens. The thing about most greens is...

After several years of observing the results of my feeble gardening attempts, my next door neighbor Pat (76 and still going strong) graciously responded to my pleas for help and has been guiding me this spring with soil amendments, starter...

There are many ways to make delicious scalloped potatoes. For this version, I consulted several books - Kitchen Sense, two James Beards, and the Joy of Cooking. Basically you layer thinly sliced potatoes with any number of extras - cheese...

Okay, so not everyone loves turnips as much as we do. But even if you aren't the biggest fan of that radishy root, this recipe might just turn you around. Not surprisingly, cream, butter and onions bring out the savory...

We recently had sherry potatoes (potato slices baked in sherry and butter) at Selland's, our favorite local cafe. They were so good that we spent many tries attempting to recreate them in our kitchen. I scoured the Internet looking for...

Please welcome guest author Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen who is doing a series of Chinese American food recipes for us here on Simply Recipes. ~Elise The first time I attempted to cook fried rice on my own, I was...

Spring has sprung here in Northern California. The sweet peas are blossoming, the snap peas are climbing, and I have peas on my brain! Today I had a hankering for snow peas and cooked up a bunch this afternoon just...

This corn bread is packed with cheese, onions, and whole corn, and flavored with bacon drippings. Need I say more? Recipe courtesy of my friend Lynn R. of Newton, Mass., who I think adapted it from one in The Southern...

Can be prepared in 40 minutes or less. One of my mother's signature dishes is her Spanish rice, a delicious accompaniment to steak, chicken, and Mexican entrees such as tacos or enchiladas. Spanish rice is prepared by browning the rice...

What would be your dream diet? You know, the diet in which you could really eat anything you wanted, and as much as you wanted. If you asked me at dinner tonight, I would have to say, spicy corn fritters...

Here is a delightful spin on a fall favorite - cranberry sauce. The cranberries are cooked in Pinot Noir and spiced with curry, ginger, fennel seeds, and other spices. Simply Recipes reader John Klem passed this Epicurious recipe on to...

Popeye was the best thing that ever hit the spinach industry. When I was a kid you couldn't pay me to eat lima beans or peas, but spinach? I begged for it; we all did. Especially if it came from...

We found a recipe for a Korean version of spinach in Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World, and had to give it a try. It was a little garlicky for my taste (yes, I know it is a...

Steamed broccoli is the best cure for over-indulgence I know. It's cleansing, healthful, high in vitamin C, protein (45% of the calories in broccoli are protein), and fiber. The easiest way to dress broccoli is to mix in a tablespoon...

Stewed tomatoes is one dish I've never had any place but at home, cooked by my mother. I've never seen them on a menu anywhere, have you? Too bad, too; as they are truly delicious, and so easy to make...

Why is it that baked beans are so popular around the Fourth of July, but making them usually requires several hours of baking in a hot oven? Where we live it gets pretty darn sizzling in the summer and the...

A reader emailed the other day asking if I was Austrian on account of the sauerkraut and cabbage recipes on Simply Recipes. My father's grandparents on both sides were from Austria and he grew up with many traditional German and...

I never liked Swiss chard, until several years ago I had some that had been freshly picked from a friend's garden. It was so sweet and yummy and buttery I couldn't believe it was actually Swiss chard. It was then...

Baked beans are just the thing for a blustery day. My father pulled this recipe out of Bon Appétit magazine years ago and we've been enjoying its tangy, rich flavor ever since. A great side dish to pork or steak.

Dad found this recipe for turnip and potato patties in an old (1985) issue of Gourmet magazine and made them the other night. They were terrific, not too turnipy. Sort of a cross between a pancake and a fritter.

Sometimes deciding what to make for dinner comes starts with the inspiration of just one ingredient. A friend of mine sent us some wonderful blue cheese this week and my father decided that he wanted to make twice baked potatoes...

Vermicelli (*pronounced verm-i-CHELL-ee) is one of my mother's signature dishes. In fact, all one has to do is say the word - vermicelli - around here and eyes light up and hearts warm to the very idea. Also known as...

Now this is a salad made for summer - fresh garden green beans, ripe tomatoes, Parmesan, and pancetta. You can substitute bacon for the pancetta, but if pancetta is available, we recommend using it. The flavor works marvelously well with...

Every weekend during the summer, if we are lucky, there will be a good supply of wax beans at the farmers market. These golden yellow (and sometimes purple) versions of green beans are harvested young, and are sweet and tender...

This rice salad is a perfect accompaniment to many fall and winter dishes - roast chicken, stews, pork chops. You can use brown rice, wild rice (not really a rice at all), or a combination of the two. Both wild...

Zucchini season is upon us, and already neighbors are coming by with bounty to share. Here is a favorite recipe for zucchini fritters, which look a lot like potato latkes, except without the potato. A tasty, easy option if you...

My father found a recipe for zucchini sautéed in butter and olive oil with onion, parsley, and thyme in one of his decade-old Food and Wine magazines. He made it a few days ago and it was perfect - tender...