Winter dishes

February 24, 2011

Italian sausage and kale gratin

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. 2. In a large, heavy-bottom saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the sausage and cook until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 5 minutes. 3. Add the wine and cook, scraping the flavoring from the bottom of the pan. Continue to cook until the wine reduces and is mostly evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium. 1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. 2. In a large, heavy-bottom saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the sausage and cook until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 5 minutes. 3. Add the wine and cook, scraping the flavoring from the bottom of the pan. Continue to cook until the wine reduces and is mostly evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium.

May 12, 2011

Culinary S.O.S.

Massaman curries favor with her family

Dear SOS: An all-time favorite of my entire family is Massaman curry (with chicken) from Cholada Thai in Thousand Oaks. All of the dishes that we have tried are wonderful, but Massaman curry is a staple for us. I would love to have the recipe for this dish and hope that you can help. Thank you.

November 10, 2011

Culinary S.O.S.

A bowl of warmth for the fall table

Dear SOS: I have never been able to find a vegetable soup that comes close to Coral Tree Cafe's. I know they must have a secret ingredient in there that gives it that extra something special! With fall approaching (and hopefully cooler temperatures), I would love to make this soup at home.

February 10, 2011

Beet poetry

My paternal bloodline brims with soup: barley stews studded with black mushrooms and opaque as porridge; the thin tomato broth of our Polish Christmas Eve vigil, swimming with dumplings no bigger than a bird's eye; and the plain, milky, peasant concoction, assembled from Grandma Sophie's kitchen scraps, known affectionately within the clan as "dough-ball-soup."

February 17, 2011

Freestyling cioppino

I don't think I've ever written about cioppino without getting into an argument. That's probably as it should be.

March 3, 2011

A point of pride in Spain

There's an imaginary border that crosses through the South of France and northern Italy, angling through Greece and Turkey toward the Middle East. Call it the olive oil line -- to the north, the cuisines are flavored with butter and other oils; to the south, the warm Mediterranean flavors of olive oil predominate. Another culinary border follows it almost exactly: the Great Garbanzo Divide.