Kabocha no Fukumeni (Simmered Japanese Pumpkin)

This perfect cusp of the growing season and the harvest season is my favorite time of year: umami incarnate. Warm days are chased by chilly evenings, afternoons take on an amber effulgence through dappling leaf-flutter. This is cardigan-and-tights season; it’s the time of year I …

Pork Meatball and Rillette Bánh Mì

Some terrible things have positive outcomes. Take colonization, for example. You know what’s great about colonization? Bánh mì. It’s true. The French colonized Vietnam for the export of tobacco, indigo, tea and coffee, but when they taught the Vietnamese their baking secrets, a little magic …

Foodbuzz 24×24: Yes We Can – Food Preservation for the Modern Palate

Now that summer is winding toward its long-lit end, our minds shift toward the harvest. Anyone with a patch of dirt is likely up to their ears in a plenitude of homegrown produce, and this overabundance can daunt the timid. What do you do with …

Jarhead

Summer: that time of year when we industrious ant-types toil and moil while our carefree grasshopper-type counterparts chirp and sing. As our blasé friends go rafting and camping, we busily tend our crops, gather from the excesses of others and put it all up for …

Miso-glazed pork chop with corn-maitake Calrosotto

Yes, I’ve taken another two-week break. It’s summer – the busiest time of year for us do-it-ourselves, radical homemakin’, types! I’ll show you later what’s been keeping me so busy (hint: jars and jars), but for now I really need to get this off my …

Arugula-green garlic pesto

S’been awhile, no? Last weekend was the pig roast. I didn’t take pictures this year, had my hands full with Zephyr and other things, but I turned out a rather gorgeous som tam-inspired chayote slaw that, served with spicy shredded pork belly, lime and cilantro …

Cauliflower-chickpea fritters with fresh turmeric

  Wondering what to do with the shitton of cauliflower your CSA   box has so graciously bestowed upon you? It’s one of those things people always have kicking around their produce drawer at the end of spring, and although we would all rather be …

Sesame-crusted seared albacore with maitake, asparagus and soba

I made this during a warm spell we had a week ago. It was the kind of weather we ought to be having right now, but Mother Nature is being a bit of a premenstrual dysphoric bitch right now, dumping buckets of rain and unseasonally …

Bibimbap, revisited

Just a shorty today, to show off some delicious bibimbap I threw together from ingredients I didn’t make myself. I did cook the rice and arrange everything, but unless you ferment your own doraji and kimchi (I didn’t), all you’re really doing is arranging bits …

Browned onion and scallion champ

Yes, this is basically mashed potatoes, shot in a golden spring afternoon. But with the addition of a variety of alliums, it becomes champ – a classic Irish potato dish. I did mix it up ever so slightly for our dinner, but not much. I …