A cross between a pancake and a custard, there may not be an easier summer dessert than a clafoutis, the French dessert that’s perfect for cherries. The light, eggy custard is just sweet enough to offset cherries’ tartness, or if you have some sweet ones, it’s not going to make the dish overly sweet — or you can leave it off altogether.   It’s perfect for lazy cooks — you just whisk everything together, pour it into the skillet, add the cherries, and bake. The only problem comes into play later, when it’s out of the oven.   I mean, if eating too much clafoutis ALL AT ONCE is a probl ..read more

This is what dinner looks like when it’s 100 degrees outside, or nearly. This is the third time this month I’ve made gazpacho — really four times, if you count the gazpacho that I made for my class at Central Market in Plano recently.   This is my most basic gazpacho recipe, the one I make without looking at a recipe. Like most soups, it’s pretty adaptable. I’ve made this without garlic and onion and used shallots instead if that’s what I have on hand, and if I have none of the above, it’ll work out, too. Tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper — those you must have. Plus what makes this soup re ..read more

Do you ever look up at the end of the day on a Sunday and go, where the hell did the weekend go? The last week, the month?   That’s how it’s been for me lately, and please note that I AM NOT COMPLAINING I AM SO FILLED WITH GRATITUDE, but merely making an observation, and the point is sometimes you just don’t have time to do anything but make sure you’ve got enough coffee to keep you going. Between the phone calls and the going to the vet and the writing up this and that and trying to not to eat too many carbs (oh who am I kidding?), you look in the fridge and your fingernails are jammed ..read more

I’ve always loved the idea of Rice Krispie treats much more than the thing itself. The cloyingly sweet, sticky marshmallow binding always put me off. Other than the crunch, I didn’t understand the big love.   So when I saw a Ellie Krieger recipe in the Washington Post recently for a marshmallow-less version, I thought I’d give it a try…then immediately started tinkering around until I came up with something a little bit different.   There’s no downside to these, other than they’re best kept in the fridge (or freezer, which is my choice) because the chocolate will melt otherwise and ..read more

It may seem a little weird to be making eggplant anything in November, but it’s been almost 80 degrees in Dallas lately, and I’m going with the weather instead of what the calendar says, so t-shirts and eggplant dip it is. (Plus I noticed that Yotam Ottolenghi published an eggplant and lentils recipe in his column recently, so if he can tout eggplant when it’s past  season, I figure I can, too.)   I’ve been in the throes of coming up with all sorts of appetizer recipes in the last week or two, and just when I think I’m out of ideas, this one came floating back into my brain, which I ..read more

In the kitchen of his family’s house in the hills not far from Florence, my boyfriend’s mother showed me one evening how to make tiramisu, which I’d tasted for the first time the week before at a trattoria. I didn’t speak a word of Italian at the time, but perhaps through some sort of magic language that all food lovers share, I got it – eggs, coffee, mascarpone, chocolate.   I returned to Texas and made tiramisu for everyone. I made it for friend’s birthdays, in large Pyrex dishes. I made it for myself, just to remember that moment with his mother, who seemed so pleased that a Texan wou ..read more

Years ago, beans and rice was my go-to dinner —  before I moved to France, before I learned about so many other flavors and techniques, and back when being vegan meant little more than this. I’d make a big batch and stuff it into a warmed up tortilla and call it done. Easy enough for when I was short on time and totally fast food.   My vegan days long behind me, I haven’t made this in ages. But I’m definitely leaning more vegetarian than not most of the time, so I thought about beans and rice again, but I wanted to make it less boring. I wanted delicious. (Beans and rice? Are you ki ..read more

There are certain foods that always make me happy. Warm, homemade cookies. Ice cream with a bittersweet chocolate sauce poured on top. Flatbreads of any sort — pizza, pita, and naan.   All versions of childhood throwbacks, this is why they call it comfort food.   I don’t know why it took us all so long to get with the flatbread program. Unlike, say, the cronut, they’ve been around in one form or another forever. Everyone’s got some version of a flatbread, whether we’re talking about focaccia or pizza in Italy or naan in India, it’s out there, a bread of some sort, flat and open, wit ..read more

I’ve been on a big tomato kick this summer. I’ve eaten more bowls gazpacho and salmorejo than I can count, and I’ve made this tart only once, so I thought it was time to do it again before the tomatoes packed up and left for the season.   Tomato tarts are the tomato sandwich of France. Simply a crust with a few spoonfuls of mustard and tomatoes, they couldn’t be simpler — or more French.   Some people use the regular Dijon for this tart, but I prefer the grainy, which has a slightly more exotic taste and a tiny bit of heat. I added a few leaves of basil for serving, but if you ..read more

It’s not that I’m anti-dessert when it comes to strawberries — lord knows I’ve eaten my share of strawberry white chocolate ice cream and far too much strawberry compote with rhubarb on top of my yogurt — but I love experimenting with them in savory dishes, like this one.   For one thing, people are always a little surprised when they see strawberries at the beginning of a meal instead of at the end, but even more so when they taste how easily these sweet, slightly acidic berries work with savory dishes. But it’s not really that odd. Think of the tomato. Also a fruit. Also swee ..read more