Entree – Page 2

Peanut and Greens Stew

September 28, 2015

When I was a little kid, we did not live very close to a public library.

The library was in another town, maybe about 45 minutes away from our house, and going there was a special treat that usually occurred only in conjunction with some far less appealing occasion, like a visit to the dentist.

But these days, E. and I go to the library about once a week. We go to story time, work a few puzzles in the children’s room and we each check out a few books. E. knows how to return books into the book slot (or “that big, big hole,” as he likes to say) and he stands on a stool to help me at the self-service checkout terminal. He even knows where to go to look for any books that we’ve reserved ahead of time.

We own a lot of books and I really do like seeing my favorites on the shelves in our family room and bedroom, but I’m also pretty happy to just borrow them from the library, especially since I don’t read most books more than once.

One exception is cookbooks. I really like owning cookbooks so that I can refer to them whenever I want.

Having said that, borrowing cookbooks from the library has exposed me to lots of books and recipes that I would otherwise have never come across, like this one for a hearty, vegan stew with an African vibe….

Tofu Banh Mi with Quick-Pickled Carrots and Onion

July 24, 2015

When we lived in San Antonio, my absolute favorite restaurant meal was a tofu banh mi ordered at the walk-up window of a small kitchen that had been fashioned from a repurposed shipping container and dubbed “The Luxury.”

Paired with near perfect French fries or a mouselike chocolate pudding (or sometimes both), this meal was a spectacular tangle of salty, crispy, spicy and sweet….

Pasta with peas and gorgonzola cream sauce

May 13, 2015

You might think, with a name like Please Pass the Peas, that this website would laud the lowly pea now and again. But I recently realized that I’ve so far posted just one recipe featuring green peas — and then only in a supporting role.

All the while we’ve been eating peas on the regular, mostly paired with pasta and doused in a luscious but oh-so-simple cream sauce….

Practically Instantaneous, No-Cook Pizza Sauce

April 27, 2015

When I was a teenager, I spent a summer working as a prep cook at a pizza restaurant. I showed up at 7 a.m. and spent hours portioning pizza dough, then got off in time to make it to one of my other two jobs (nanny, ice cream server) in the afternoon.

You would think that after months in the kitchen of a place that turned out pizza after pizza, and little else, I would have picked up a few tips of the trade. But if that summer taught me anything at all about pizza, I’ve long since forgotten it….