Fresh Tart

If you, like I, set strange challenges for yourself like to eat vegetables for three meals a day as often as possible, you will adore this recipe. It's a flavor- and color-packed way to start a day, but of course would make a terrific lunch or dinner. In my mind it exists in the realm of fried rice, but without the rice, so the focus stays on all of those lovely vegetables. (That said, feel free to add rice!)

Do you cook with coconut oil? It's so delicious, and so good for you, you'll find yourself reaching for it again and again when sauteeing vegetables or making breakfast treats like pancakes. I love that it adds a Thai-inspired fragrance for zero effort - build on that with Thai curry paste, fish sauce, fresh lime, and basil and you'll have a pan full of magic in just a few minutes. Assuming that CSA boxes and farmers markets will not be bereft of produce all season long, this is a terrific dish for plowing through a load of vegetables - mix and match with whatever is showing up.

If you don't eat eggs, you could easily make this dish vegan by substituting soft tofu for the eggs. Scramble away! If you aren't vegan and have leftover chicken or pork or steak from dinner the night before, add it! And certainly substitute whatever nuts you like best. Very adaptable.

Recipe for Thai-Style Fried Not-Rice at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Here's a thing: my husband and I are divorcing. It's exactly as sad and stressful as one might imagine, so I've been taking extra steps to take really good care of myself. I already know that eating corn and rice makes be feel pretty lousy - not as lousy as eating gluten - but lethargic and puffy nonetheless, so I've pretty much eliminated them from my diet. I've also made a point of including vegetables in all of my meals, either by juicing, or making smoothies, or eating big salads. Eating light, colorful, crunchy food makes me feel good, fits the season, and makes cooking more fun and interesting.

Although I generally steer away from grains and high carbohydrate food, I do occasionally indulge in quinoa. I just love the nutty taste, and that it makes a terrific breakfast "cereal" as well as a base for a flavor-packed salad. I've been eating a lot of hemp seeds lately because they taste a lot like quinoa, but are even higher in protein and fiber with very few carbohydrates. Now when I make quinoa, I make a 50-50 combination of quinoa and hemp seeds (1/2 cup red quinoa, 1/2 cup hemp seeds, 1 cup water, 1/2 tsp. salt; bring to a boil, cover, simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa is tender and water is absorbed; eat warm or cover and chill to use in salads or the recipe below).

I also absolutely adore beans and legumes. ADORE. I enjoy them in small servings - they're so lovely in soups or stir-fries or as a binder for savory cakes. The beauty of making crispy cakes (croquettes, really) with quinoa and beans is that you can season them so many different ways. If I'm in the mood for Indian food, I'll use lentils and garam masala and chiles and top them with raita. If I'm craving Mexican food I'll season them with cumin and chiles and top them with chicken, salsa, and cilantro. I'm sure you get the idea...

...so I'll just give you the basic ratios and let you riff on your favorite flavors. You can cook the beans yourself, or open a can of organic refried or whole beans (easily mashed), and in minutes be frying up a crispy cake. Top with a lemon-y salad, or a huge dollop of guacamole (huge!), or a gorgeous pile o' buttery sauteed mushrooms, or a grass-fed burger (like I did just a few minutes ago). Or:

Quinoa Cakes with Arugula & Poached Eggs (Gluten-free)
Serves 2

You can easily multiply this recipe and keep quinoa-bean mixture in the fridge, ready to fry into cakes for any meal of the day.

1 c. cooked quinoa (or quinoa + hemp seeds, see above)
1/2 c. cooked, mashed beans (pinto, navy, black, lentils, etc.)
sea salt
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. chile powder
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. tempeh, chopped (optional, adds protein and firmness)
2 Tbsp. crumbled feta cheese (optional)
2 Tbsp. coarsely chopped pepitas or other nuts (optional)
garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour as needed
olive oil
handful arugula leaves, chopped
squeeze of fresh lemon
2 large, organic eggs
freshly ground black pepper
optional: 4 ramps, halved lengthwise

Fill a medium saucepan 2 inches deep with water. Add enough salt to the water for it to be pleasantly salty. Set over medium-high heat.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the quinoa, beans, 1/2 tsp. salt, cumin, chile powder, garlic, tempeh (if using), feta (if using), and nuts (if using). Add garbanzo bean flour, a few teaspoons at a time, until mixture is firm. Form into two patties and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add the quinoa cakes. Fry until nicely browned and crispy (take a peek before flipping) and then carefully flip. Fry until crispy on the second side and transfer to plates. (If using ramps, add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and fry the ramps over medium heat until crispy on both sides. Divide between the two plates.)

When the water boils, turn heat down so that the water is barely simmering—small bubbles should barely break the surface. Crack one egg into a small dish or mug and slide it into the water. Quickly do the same with the second egg. Set the timer for 3 and 1/2 minutes. The eggs whites will look shredded, but that's OK. Make sure the water maintains no more or no less than barely breaking bubbles.

While the eggs cook, toss the arugula with a squeeze of lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Arrange the arugula atop the quinoa cakes.

When the timer goes off, use a slotted spoon to scoop one egg out of the water. Tilt the spoon so the liquid drains completely off, then place the egg on top of the arugula. Repeat with the second egg. Top eggs with a sprinkle of salt and a few grinds of black pepper each. Serve immediately.

You don't have to eat chocolate on Valentine's Day. It's true! In fact, these bittersweet Pavlova meringues might better represent your romantic status. And even if not, even if you're blissfully, nauseatingly in love, the contrast of chewy-crisp meringue with fluffy whipped cream and crunchy, salty almonds will delight you.

For such a simple dessert, these have a lot of love going on.

If you haven't yet given them a go, Pavlova meringues are a worthy addition to your dessert repertoire. They're cheap, impressive, easy, beautiful, light on calories, adaptable, and...delicious! Of course they must be delicious. Fill them with whipped cream, or ice cream and chocolate sauce, or citrus curd and berries. Bake the meringue as one big torte, or make individual-sized shells. The basic egg-white-and-sugar mixture can be enhanced with various extracts or in this case, instant coffee. Consider them the pot pie of desserts, ready to be filled with whatever you have on hand.

And if you really, really need to...drizzle them with warm chocolate sauce, it's OK. Happy Valentine's Day!

Recipe for Coffee Pavlovas with Almond Whipped Cream at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

You're home from work, starving, standing in front of the fridge with your coat still on. You spy a couple of eggs, a spot of bacon...breakfast for dinner is sounding fast and fine. And it IS fine, of course, given bacon and eggs is one of the best food combinations on the planet. But if you're wanting something a bit more dinner-y, with a hit of carb comfort to chase away the day, remember carbonara, aka bacon-and-egg pasta.

Carbonara purists will be annoyed with the suggestion of bacon over the classic pancetta, but my goal here is a fast, satisfying bowl of pasta with ingredients you're likely to have on hand. If you have pancetta - use it! But if bacon is what you keep on hand, it's perfectly fantastic in this dish.

Your evening will basically play out like this: Set a pot of water on to boil. Hang up your coat. Pour a glass of wine.

Brown some bacon and garlic. Cook the pasta. Grate some cheese. Beat an egg. Toss it all together. That's pretty much it. What emerges is creamy, chewy, decadent heaven, topped with plenty of freshly ground black pepper to balance the richness, ending a long, cold day with a warm, full belly.

Read a book. Go to bed.

Sleep well.

Recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara for One (or More) at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

When I was a little girl, I thought I'd really be a grown-up when I could eat soft-boiled eggs for breakfast, just like my dad. I was fascinated by the way he carefully tapped the top off with a knife, then sprinkled salt & pepper inside before scooping spoonfuls onto bites of seriously buttery toast (we are a buttery family). I only liked the whites of eggs at that stage of my life, so I was too apprehensive to tackle a whole egg for myself, but the elegance of it all definitely motivated me to learn to like the yolks, too.

And oh have I learned, ha! If you cut me open I'd bleed egg yolks at this point in my life. I kind of forgot about soft-boiled eggs for awhile, lured by the sexiness of poached (it feels very impressive when you first learn to poach an egg, even though it's the easiest thing in the world), but they are very much back in my rotation, especially during tomato season. It's hard to imagine a more humbly glorious breakfast than slices of perfectly ripe tomato, hot buttered toast, and a soft-boiled egg or two. The addition of smoked pork (ham or bacon) would be lovely but not necessary.

Recipe for Perfect Soft-Boiled Eggs at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Fresh mozzarella with tomatoes is everywhere, even in the dead of a Minnesota winter, when it shouldn't be. We've all seen slabs of rubbery cheese layered with slabs of grainy-pale tomato objects and wondered what on earth happened to this pretty salad.

Certainly in the summer, when tomatoes are ripe, the two can be lovely together, but I'm a bit of a fresh mozzarella purist. Addict even. Really good, fresh mozzarella has such a soft, milky taste, a little bit sweet, a little bit salty, at once both silky and toothsome (not rubbery!), that it hurts me a little to smother it with the acidic juiciness of tomatoes, even good ones.

Caprese blasphemy? Perhaps, but try it this way, simply warmed atop eggs and fresh basil, and you might agree.

Recipe for Fresh Mozzarella & Basil Frittata at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

It's a little bit ridiculous that I haven't posted about sopes before - I make and devour them several times a week. In fact, I'm a maniacal cornmeal cake fan in general. Chef Thomas Boemer had an insane version on Corner Table's menu a couple of weeks ago, with a bit of lard kneaded in, fried in butter, and topped with pork confit. Oh my word it was so good that I ordered another one to go to have for breakfast the next day.

You can do some pretty serious sope damage at Midtown Global Market as well. Taqueria Los Ocampo's version is a fabulously hot mess, loaded with tender chicken, melted cheese, lettuce, radishes, and sour cream. Add one of their fantastic salsas, alongside a large stack of napkins, and dig it like a day off.

The version I eat most often is the one I make at home. Nothing more than masa harina, a pinch of salt, and water kneaded together before being shaped and fried, they're the perfect delivery vehicle for pretty much whatever you have on hand: Guacamole, eggs any style, salad, cheese, beans, chorizo, tomatoes, pickled things, fried potatoes, on and deliciously on...

Recipe for Sopes at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

This sandwich is so delicious it makes even gluten-free bread seem divine. Inspired by the movie Spanglish – worth seeing for a couple of killer food scenes, thanks to consulting chef Thomas Keller – it’s basically just a glorified BLT.

But I love glorified, especially when the glory is via a fried egg, and melted cheese, and harissa, and if you’re feeling particularly holy, a smear of lightly salted, smashed avocado…la la laaah! Glory all over the place.

Despite my rave about gluten-free bread, the best sandwiches are of course comprised of the best individual ingredients. They’re also about perfect timing so that the play of hot and cold, crunchy and creamy, tangy and salty and sweet and rich all come together, in every single bite, and blow your mind a little bit.

(Wow. Can you tell that I’m writing this while on vacation? I’m relaxed and apparently full of adjectives…)

I’ve been making this sandwich for years but had strayed away from it since giving up gluten almost two years ago. Big thanks to my friend Molly Herrmann for making me a similar version, on gluten-free bread, and reminding me how very much I had missed it.

Recipe for Fried Egg BLT with Harissa & Avocado at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

I saw this recipe this week for Sri Lankan rice flour-coconut milk pancakes. With yeast! I couldn't wait to make them.

They are ridiculously delicious, no surprise. Is anything made with coconut milk not amazing? The stuff blows my mind and palate, over and over and over again. Love.

Make sure to try the onion sambol as well. It's a breeze to whip together and packs a seriously killer flavor punch. I fried my egg separately which worked nicely.

If you're in a rush, don't forget about a different twist on rice flour-coconut milk pancakes, Vietnamese banh xeo. I made them tonight for a quick roll in the pork, as it were, given the six pounds of pork shoulder I braised in coconut milk yesterday. Oh my gosh...good.

Recipe for Sri Lankan Hoppers at Saveur Magazine.

Bacon, caramelized onions, double cheese, and eggs. This works on so many levels.

Recipe for Bacon & Onion Tart at Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures/Food & Wine Magazine.