serrano

tamarind, mint and cilantro salsa

June 21, 2010

Tamarind bars are sold at Asian markets in 5x3x1½ inch thick bricks. They’re called Me chua Không Hôt in Vietnamese. Tamarind has a gorgeous sweet and sour flavor. Here’s something fun about tamarind: the fruit was brought to Persia and then the Arab world with the spice trade from the Far East. At that time [...]

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homemade artichoke dip

January 8, 2010

I like artichoke dips but don’t care for the premade kind. To me these always taste off. Perhaps it’s the preservatives used to keep the color? Anyway, I “invented” this recipe by looking at the list of ingredients on the packages of industrial type artichoke dips and improvised. Really this is similar to making American [...]

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Georgian pilaf with tart cherries

December 31, 2009

I made this rice dish over Heguiberto’s objection for Christmas dinner last week. He objected not because it was a non-traditional dish (which he doesn’t care about) or because it was a rice dish (he loves rice). Rather, he didn’t like the idea of the tart cherries. Though he’s from Brazil where there is abundant [...]

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braised carrots with raisins and pepitas

September 25, 2009

I like carrots, but Steven, not so much. For this reason, usually I skip them on my trips to the supermarkets. We’ve been sharing most of our meals together for quite a while now. Sometimes we need to compromise, particularly when our tastes diverge. Things changed when I ‘discovered’ heirloom carrots. There is one particular [...]

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shaved brussels sprouts

September 8, 2009

Don’t give up on brussels sprouts yet! They have a bad reputation, and I must say I have never been a big fun of the brussels sprout; that is until recently. Before I discovered this great recipe, I always thought these cruciferous flowers tasted bad: they’re always undercooked or overcooked; sometimes they’ve a funny, unpleasant [...]

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vegetarian spicy tofu and pepper surprise entrée

August 12, 2009

It’s another end of the week and the fridge is getting empty; just a few items left here and there. I opened the fridge and just found 2 green cayenne peppers, a red bell pepper, 1 onion, 2 Serrano chilies, 3 ultra ripe tomatoes, 4 cloves of garlic, and a container of tofu. Slim pickin’s! [...]

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tomatillo salsa

July 14, 2009

I first got excited about Mexican food when I lived in Dallas. There it’s really “Tex-Mex” though this local variation uses a lot of the same ingredients that you’d find south of the border. I would never make it at home, though. Somehow, the cuisine seemed too difficult. In San Francisco, burritos are very popular. [...]

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pickled serrano and jalapeño peppers

June 8, 2009

The week-end before the annual Paso Robles wine festival, I went shopping in the Mission District of San Francisco for stuff for the week. We always go to these hole-in-the-wall markets that have a lot of stuff for Mexican cooking. I ended up bringing home a whole bunch of fresh serrano and jalapeño peppers. Really [...]

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delicious South Indian Rasam soup

May 29, 2009

I first discovered Indian food back in the 1990’s when I lived in England. It was love at first bite! I used to joke that I had a virgin palate because food in Brazil, my country of origin, though fresh and delicious, is generally extraordinarily bland. At that time, at least, there were no Indian [...]

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almost vegetarian Sancocho

May 1, 2009

My significant other went out today with work mates for dinner at Epic Roasthouse. Epic is part of a ‘chain’  of restaurants owned by or partially owned by Pat Kuleto here is San Francisco. Pat Kuleto finances this type of enterprise throughout the Bay Area.  Some of them are especially fancy e.g., Jardinière. I have [...]

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