starters & snacks

goat cheese-stuffed piquillo pepper appetizers

April 12, 2011

Sweet, smoky, briny with a kick: that’s what piquillo peppers, a preserved Spanish delicacy taste like. They’re great to have as a snack, in salads, as a side on a cheese board or to go with sandwiches, or you can make them even more exciting and gourmet by stuffing them. Here I use a mild [...]

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basic foccacia

March 18, 2011

I tried making foccacia long ago, right as we were starting weirdcombinations. I used a recipe from Saveur magazine, which looked gorgeous on their cover and at my home. Unfortunately, the taste wasn’t quite right. The dough was too heavy and doughy, if you know what I mean. At the time I had intended to [...]

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Dungeness crab casquinha de siri

March 15, 2011

Casquinha de siri is super popular in Brazil, mainly in coastal towns where you get fresh crab aplenty. Brazilian crabs are tiny compared to the gigantic Dungeness from the North American Pacific Rim. Really, they look more like blue crabs from the Northeastern U.S. Big or small, these sometimes scary but always amazing and tasty [...]

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savory sundried tomato, basil, provolone and mozzarella mini-cakes

March 3, 2011

This recipe suggestion comes from Faith at An Edible Mosaic. I’ve only recently stumbled across her blog but have become a huge fan already. She made savory muffins with caramelized onions, feta and rosemary the other day. These looked really good! She also suggested some variations, like savory muffins with sharp cheddar, dried cranberries and [...]

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tofu cutlet with broccoli rabe pesto and daikon sprouts

February 28, 2011

On my recent trip to the Nijiya Market I bought a one-pound tray of tofu cutlet. Tofu cutlet is just a block of silken tofu that is lightly fried, making the outer part a bit crispy but leaving the inside soft and smooth. It comes ready to use and is perfect to just eat fresh [...]

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pumpkin coconut compote

February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today it’s all about sweets for your sweet. My home State, Minas Gerais in Brazil, is famed for its jams and compotes. They make many sweets from lots of different fruits, including: guava, pineapple, passion fruit, bitter orange, jabuticaba, quice and pumpkin, to name just a few. As a kid, I fondly [...]

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PPO2: Pumpkin Pie Obsession, the Sequel, or Pumpkin Pie à la Skinny

January 31, 2011

It’s January and I am still in the throws of PPO: pumpkin pie obsession. I can’t get my mind off those round, wholesome, satisfying pies. There is something very comforting about pumpkins and pies. I decided that there was nothing for it but to make a few more. This time, I went totally vegan. Tofu [...]

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Texas cheese board

January 28, 2011

We’ve friends in Texas who sent us this incredible Texas-shaped cheese board a few months ago as a gift. Thank you so much, Sara and Tracy! We’d been saving it for a special, or Texas-worthy occasion. Last weekend we used it for the first time for a party in honor of my parents’ visit from [...]

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chickpea falafel

January 14, 2011

I was so proud of myself after successfully making this chickpea falafel. (Is that plural or singular? Do you say “falafels” or “falafel” if you’re referring to more than one of these savory balls of goodness or what? Maybe it is like the word “shrimp?”) Falafel is something that I’ve eaten often and really enjoyed. [...]

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burrata heirloom tomato sandwiches for a Napa Valley picnic

November 19, 2010

Since we live in San Francisco and adore wine, we often go on day-trips to Napa and Sonoma Counties for wine tasting. It takes about an hour and a half to get there so these wonderful visits turn into whole day affairs. When we first moved to Northern California we never really planned so we’d [...]

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