I love vegetable recipes that are dead simple but take ordinary foods and make them taste more interesting and more flavorful than usual. We make these nearly once a week at home, often throwing them in the oven while we eat dinner and catch up on the day, remembering to pull them out when our house is perfumed with the smell.
Read MoreI've been cooking up lots of tomatoes lately in all kinds of ways. I found a recipe for colorful grape tomatoes sautéed in lots of anchovies and garlic then finished with a good dose of vinegar. I've been adding tomatoes to rice and broth for a rich pilaf, and roasting them with herbs to go alongside my weekly roasted chicken. But my go-to recipe lately has been a tomato and eggplant gratin that is simple and comes together really quickly.
Read MoreBut twice, just for fun, I elevated our grilled corn and made elotes locos and both times it added just the dedacence needed for an otherwise simple summer feast. Elotes locos, tomato salad, lettuce dressed with a simple tangy dressing and cornbread - summer in a nutshell. There is less of a recipe here, and more of a method and some tips and tricks I learned along the way.
Read MoreAt the risk of creating the most boring Maggie's Market Guide to date, I thought I'd share my approach to fridge organization. In the last couple of months, in an effort to reduce food waste, I have taken on a new approach to sorting my food and it's working! Leftovers are getting eaten, produce is not languishing and it's been easier to look and see what's for dinner.
Read MoreYou broil or grill split eggplant unless soft and blackened. Then you scoop out the flesh and mix with olive oil, garlic, salt and parsley. Done. That's it! We ate it with feta cheese and a piece of salmon, but it would be a great addition to an appetizer spread or mixed into orzo pasta or smeared on toasted bread.
Read MoreSometimes when thinking about March recipes I am fully in spring-mode, ready for peas and asparagus, light soups and crisp salads. But all this rain and cold weather have me fully planted in late winter and I am craving braised cabbage, beans and greens, and long-cooked broccoli. All of these things take a little time, but the end result is worth the wait.
Read MoreWhen looking up a curd recipe I knew I had to go straight to the queen herself - Mary Berry, British baking legend and judge of my beloved GBBS. She did not disappoint, and her method was easier than others I had made.
Read MoreI was reading one of my favorite food blogs, looking for a chicken meatball soup recipe and she mentioned making her chicken stock from a leftover roasted chicken in the oven. This sounded easy and brilliant and just the life hack I have my eye out for these days.
Read MoreLast week, I saw a stale loaf of bread on my counter and assessed what else I had in the kitchen to make dinner. Bread became croutons to top a winter squash and celery root soup. This soup is particularly easy since you roast all the vegetables in the oven first before simmering and blending. It was cozy, comforting, and belly warming - a perfect way to start the season.
Read MoreThis week, I made tomato cobbler which is basically exactly as delicious and seasonal and smile-inducing as it sounds. I even made it mid-week, after a full day in the garden, and it came together really quickly.
Read MoreI love to make slaw with whatever I have in the fridge, or whatever I'm influenced by. Much like my seasonal grain salads I have a rough recipe and adapt it around what'll be on the grill or what I'm in the mood for.
Read MoreThis recipe is easy. SO SO EASY. Do not be intimidated because it has yeast in it and it involves a rise. If you can make chocolate chip cookies you will excel at this. If you can mix flour and water with a spoon you will excel at this. This recipe manages to be super impressive, really really delicious and very little work. This last weekend I topped it with kalamata olives - it is also very adaptable!
Read MoreLast weekend I made a simple corn and tomato salad, with things I had picked up at my produce market that week. It was deeply satisfying and full of summer flavors.
Read MoreMost herbs thrive here in our summer dry climate, happy for the well draining soil and mild winters.
Read MoreFor the longest time, I didn't bother to cook my own beans (and still often end up reaching for a can at times) despite people telling me how far superior home cooked beans are. I'm not great at planning meals ahead, and was always bound to have last minute plans come up the day after setting beans to soak on my counter. The notion that I had to remember to soak beans and then be sure I was home to cook them was more than I could deal with. And yet, everyone really was right. Home cooked beans are outrageously good.
Read MoreA friend of the garden, Caroline, dared me to eat eggplant every day on my trip, a challenge I gladly accepted. The eggplant in both countries was staggeringly good and it tasted like something, like its own beautiful eggplant flavor, rather than the bland sponge it is often relegated to here. There, the eggplant is king, treated with respect, coaxed from its shiny skin into super stardom. We ate it rolled around chunks of feta and lightly braised in tomato sauce. In Tel Aviv they would split it down the middle, leaving the stem in tact to hold it together, and drizzled with a nutty tahini sauce.
Read MoreThis recipe highlights the creamy, mild flavor of fresh spring spuds and the addition of sharp lemon juice gives them additional depth and flavor. I served them with my favorite Kokkari feta dressing, but they are delicious and flavorful enough on their own.
Read MoreIt was one of those perfect moments - a crisp fall day when the light is just right. That day, Get Up! student Leia brought this delicious roasted veggie dish that is the perfect embodiment of fall food. This would be a great addition to your holiday table, work lunches, or weeknight dinners. Enjoy and feel grateful for the bounty our gardens provide.
Read MoreThis is the best kind of picnic food, hearty and easy to transport. It's what I made when I took Get Up! and needed a healthy and satisfying lunch for a group. It's great for dinner at home with leftovers for lunch. It could even be a great side at Thanksgiving, especially if for whatever reason you had to, gasp, forgo the stuffing.
Read MoreSandy, an educator and cook with a group of volunteers we host from Access SFUSD, couldn't believe we considered composting our zucchini stems as we cleaned up our vegetable beds. Sauteed in olive oil and garlic, she says these stems make a perfect stir fry to go along with rice.
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