It rained all day yesterday, a cold, gray, ‘can’t go out to play’ rain. I finished reading a mystery set in Victorian England, began reading a book set in Singapore in the mid 1940’s, played games with Matthew and Charles, and tried to comprehend what was happening in Japan via  an extraordinarily slow internet connection. Charles picked up a pizza for dinner and I went to sleep hoping that Monday would bring lots of sunshine and good news.

Since I hadn’t been to the open-air market on Sunday and the small, nearby markets were closed, breakfast resources in the fridge and pantry were limited. Charles decided to stop for coffee and a pastry on his way to the library so it was just Matthew and me for breakfast. Although, there were no strawberries, bread, milk, cereal, eggs or yogurt in the kitchen, there was one banana, some fresh ricotta, two blood oranges, honey and a shaker of cinnamon that Matthew had brought with him from the UK. I carefully peeled and sliced the banana and oranges and arranged them on a plate, added a scoop of ricotta, topped the ricotta and oranges with honey and squeezed a bit of orange juice on to the banana before dusting it with cinnamon. There was enough sun to capture this colorful breakfast in a photograph before we ate it.

I went to the market looking for inspiration and ingredients. San Marzano plum tomatoes from Georgio were a start. I choose a few waxy new potatoes, a bunch of broccoli and spring onions from the vendor next to him. Unfortunately, he is so grumpy that I’ve never asked him his name. I think his canary’s name is Elvis because that’s what’s painted on the cage. My final stop was to get cheese. Andrea was serving samples to passers-by but stopped long enough to wrap a ball of fresh mozzarella for me. I hurried home with a clear plan and everything I needed for a wonderful veggie dinner – a potato and tomato torta and steamed broccoli seasoned with garlic and dried hot pepper flakes. I would create a new recipe for dinner. Unfortunately new does not always mean good. Here’s what I did: … read more

I buy both cinnamon sticks and ground cinnamon in small quantities. Cinnamon sticks can be ground in a small electric coffee mill reserved for spice grinding or pulverized in a mortar and pestle. It is a familiar flavor in breakfast breads, cookies and all things apple – sauce, pies and crumbles and it adds flavor to savory dishes as well. It is used in Middle Eastern recipes for chicken or lamb and is a component of Indian garam masala. Tomato slices sprinkled with cinnamon sugar are an Amish relish and in Sicily it is used to flavor octopus, gelato and pasta.

When my friend Veronica, the potter who made the pasta bowls we eat from, served me pasta with pine nuts and raisins she told me that a pinch of cinnamon was the crucial ingredient. It was the first meal we had in the pasta bowls she gave to us.  Here’s how I made it: … read more

Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, the day that many Americans have been anticipating since this time last year. For most Americans, Super Bowl Sunday is celebrated with an all day party and an unending spread of finger food.

Pre-game activities begin after lunch, the game, liberally dotted with commercials, starts at six, is interrupted by the half-time show, then more of the game, and finally the wrap-up. It’s no wonder that most hotels offering Super Bowl packages have a four-day minimum stay – it must take at least two days to recover.

I’m not a football fan. My mind wanders with the interminable delays. I worry about mortal injuries to the referees and camera operators when I see enormous bodies, protected by even more enormous plastic helmets and shoulder pads flying through the air and landing in heaps. I’ve been told that the creative commercials that debut on Super Bowl Sunday are enough reason to watch but I’d rather be putting finishing touches on Super Bowls, Super Platters and Super Sweets to sustain Super Friends who are eating and drinking, cheering and booing in front of the television.

One Super Bowl party website suggested, “serve everyone’s favorite high fat, finger-licking snack foods. After all, your television set is the focal point, not the food.” (Those are fighting words to a cook.) Another site suggested serving “salami, pepperoni, cheese whiz, chips and dips, beer and hot sauce, zingers like salami & cheese stuffed pepperochini.” (I wonder if beer and hot sauce is new mixed drink?) Tailgate classics like Buffalo wings, chili, and layered dips are all possibilities, but I want Super Food, healthy food that is not fussy to prepare and has enough flavor to be a bit of a distraction from the game.

Chickpeas and chickpea flour, also called besan and gram flour, are on the Super Food team I’m inviting to be part of my Super Bowl menu. They taste good and are an excellent source of protein, fiber, iron, potassium and B vitamins. It takes only a minute to make the batter for Besan flatbread that can be served either hot from the oven or at room temperature. It meets my requirements for a super finger food.

Hummus, a party regular at my house, is also a Super Snack. This blend of ancient ingredients – chickpeas, sesame seeds, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil is readily available at the market but when made at home it is absolutely fresh, with a minimum number of ingredients and is preservative free. When combined with warm pita bread, it is a complete protein that will build muscles so necessary for passing and blocking on the gridiron. (Not bad for a non-sports writer!) Best of all, homemade hummus costs half as much and is at least twice as good as store bought. I took a bowl of hummus, surrounded with carrot sticks to a potluck lunch last Sunday and it disappeared before the chocolate chip cookies.

Here’s how I made Besan Flat Bread and Hummus: … read more

Afternoons when I am hungry and wish that I had a personal chef, I make a Marjorie Morningstar lunch, named in honor of the protagonist in the Herman Wouk novel of the same name.

It all began when I was thirteen and an avid reader. I was home alone and hungry and didn’t want to stop reading to make lunch. I wanted it to appear with minimum effort and attention so I turned on the oven, scrubbed the biggest potato I could find, poked holes in it with a fork and put it in the oven. I enjoyed an uninterrupted hour of the melodrama of Marjorie’s quest for love and adventure and the details of her life on Central Park West in New York City while my potato baked in a kitchen, on a hilly street, in a suburb of Pittsburgh.

A weekly trip to the library and a baked potato lunch became my Saturday ritual. The first lunches were simply a baked potato topped with a lump of butter, a pinch of salt and lots of black pepper. It wasn’t long before I added an onion to the menu. I poked the root end of an unpeeled onion with a paring knife, nestled it into a cup made of aluminum foil to catch the juice, and roasted it along with the potato. Roasting made the onion soft and sweet and the onion made my lunch more interesting. The next improvement was influenced by the flavor combination of potato latkes and sour cream that I had enjoyed at a kosher deli. I imagined that Marjorie Morgenstern, aka Marjorie Morningstar, ate something similar in a New York deli.

Caviar came after sour cream. My mother worked in a large grocery store and when I had to wait for her, I wandered the aisles of the market looking for exotic new foods. I was amazed when I found a tiny jar of black lumpfish caviar that cost less than two dollars. It wasn’t sturgeon caviar from Russia but it was caviar that I could afford. Even Noel Airman, Marjorie’s grand passion, would be impressed by a baked potato topped with sour cream and a spoonful of caviar.

I haven’t thought about Marjorie Morningstar for years and discovered today that I can’t get a copy for my Kindle but I’ve have continued to create tasty and quick meals that begin by baking a potato. Here is my list of rule for making the perfect baked potato: … read more

Later in the week my friend Annie and I would share a mushroom soufflé for lunch, a holiday tradition we looked forward to. It may seem daunting, but a soufflé is just a white sauce enriched with egg yolks, flavored with sauteed mushrooms, lightened with egg whites, topped with cheese and baked.

It’s easier than putting tinsel on the Christmas tree! Here’s how I made it:

… read more