The first written mention of a waffle is from Le Ménagier de Paris, a late fourteenth-century French aide-memorie. There it is stated: Gauffres (waffles) are made in four ways. In the first, beat eggs in a bowl, then salt and wine, and add flour, and moisten the one with the other, and then put in […]
Fūl Mudammas – A Levantine Arab Meze Par Excellence
This is a famous Lebanese breakfast dish and meze dish, although it is made throughout the Levantine Arab world. This version is very different than the Egyptian one, also famous, and called the Egyptian national dish, which is more like a soupy stew. Although most common for breakfast, Arabs will eat it at any time […]
Lamb and Grapes Delights
Leave it to the Greeks to combine lamb and grapes. At first blush you might scratch your head, but then you realize it’s a great idea. This combination also looks very pretty. The recipe requires lamb shanks which is one of my favorite cuts of lamb but increasing difficult to find in a regular supermarket. […]
Quiche with Pine Nuts from the Moors of the Camargue
The cheese pie from France known as a quiche has its origins in Lorraine, but this recipe called quiche aux pignons, traces its roots to the garrigue (moors) of the Camargue of Provence. Although simple to make, its taste is luscious. To make this properly, you will need to focus on the bacon lardons. Make […]
Pastitsio, A Greek Baked Macaroni
The traditional method of baking in Greece was to use a beehive-shaped oven called an avli built on the side of a house. Those who couldn’t afford an oven would send their food to the local baker’s fourno (oven) for cooking. Pastitsio, baked macaroni with meat sauce and white sauce, with its Italian-derived name but […]
Christmastime in Venice with Cuttlefish in Its Ink
The cooking of cuttlefish in its own ink is a method that goes back at least to the fourteenth century, as we know from an early cookery manuscript fragment from about 1300 (Frammento, Biblioteca Universitaria della Università di Bologna, MS 158, ffº 86r – 91v) where it is cooked with leeks, garlic, and spices to […]
Wampanoag Indian Dish from First Thanksgiving
Between 1620 and 1621 Edward Winslow, who arrived on the Mayflower and was a leader of the English settlement at Plimouth in the Massachusetts colony, wrote with William Bradford Mourt’s Relation, the full title of which was A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plimoth in New […]
New England Style Stuffing for Thanksgiving Turkey
Two of my children were born in Boston where we lived for 14 formative years and one by-product of that time is that our Thanksgiving menu is very New Englandy. We always stuff our roast turkey, and the stuffing often becomes the favorite side dish of the entire Thanksgiving. Everything is homemade, including the bread, […]
Best Deviled Eggs Recipe for Thanksgiving Favorites
Our Thanksgivings usually begin a week before when family members begin the preparations for certain dishes, such as the turkey stock for the gravy or drying the bread cubes for the stuffing. On the morning of Thanksgiving we all chip in to begin making the appetizers. Our favorite appetizer are our deviled eggs. Originally, we […]
Peaches in Red Wine
When I eat ripe peaches or nectarines typically I’m leaning over the sink as the juices run off my chin. There are other ways to eat peaches and in this recipe inspired by a preparation from southern Italy the peaches are marinated in red wine. At first blush it doesn’t sound like it would work, […]
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