Crab Paste

♬ These are a few of my favorite things ♬ View this post on Instagram This stuff. Use it to add a little low-key seafood flavor (and a ton of umami) to your fried rice and stir-fries, use it in your curries and stews, and …

Always Get a Doggy Bag

View this post on Instagram Had a really delicious meal at @akadipdx last night — the lentil samosa was delicate and savory and the poissin was smoky and crisp-skinned — but I think my favorite part was how genuinely happy our worker was when I …

Tuna Noodle Casserole, This Time With Extra “New”

And because I’m completely ridiculous, I turned those beautiful pepper-crusted tuna steaks into tuna casserole-flavored ramen noodles. Flaked tuna and Asian greens (chonggak radish raab from the garden, scallions, and gai lan), peas, and enoki bechamel with @umiorganic noodles. Garnished with chonggak flowers. Anything can …

Shrimp & Grits

Or, “corngee.” I haven’t posted about it yet, but I’ve been on a bit of a jook kick lately! This one is kind of silly but makes perfect sense: it’s a mash-up of Lowcountry shrimp and grits with greens and Vietnamese-style congee (cháo). I cooked …

Russian Tea Party

Made a lovely selection of zakuski for afternoon tea with @onstad and @lifeandmarmalade yesterday — from the top: roasted peppers in adjika and krestianskaya sausage (both store-bought from Roman Russian Market), white cheddar, mustard, turmeric pickled eggs, pickled beets, homegrown cornichons, dark rye, tomato-cucumber salad, …

California Roll Chirashisushi

HONKINESS. California roll-style chirashisushi sounded really good to me, because I love the honkiness of a California roll but was just feeling too lazy to roll maki. I topped stovetop Calrose rice (seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar, salt) with surimi, a brunoise of cucumber and …

Seafood Chowder

Seafood chowder made with clams, pacific cod, bay shrimp (all local); lots of celery, onions, potatoes, corn, and bacon; plus shrimp stock, dashi and cream. Colby cheese drop-biscuits for dunking.#dinnertonight #soupweather #chowder #saychowda ? ? ? ? ?#seafood #clams #shrimp #cod #soup #comfortfood #beach #food52 …

Old Bay Grilled Shrimp

Making one’s own Old Bay is a cinch: just mix together mustard seed, celery seed, a little coriander seed, and thyme (powder these up) with paprika, salt, and a pinch of pumpkin pie spice (mine is a combination of cinnamon, clove, star anise, fennel seed, …

Taco Time

Yes, this is a photo of taco fixings, but there’s one little bowl in the bottom-center that stole the show for me. I’ve been obsessed with sikil pak lately, though I first found out about it at Güero, a really excellent torta (not taco) joint …

A Brief History of Tuna Casserole

I wrote a spirited defense (and history) of tuna casserole for Taste. Check it out!