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A is for Apple and Squash Gratin, a Sweet One Dish Wonder
Indulge in the delightful combination of apples, squash, and cheese.
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A is for Apple and Turnip Salad
These contrasting flavors symbolize fall.
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B is for Bell Peppers: Simple Roasted Red Peppers
There are three ways to do this: on a grill, on a gas burner, or in your oven. The oven is the cleanest and easiest way to go, but I like the smoky flavor that comes via the grill and the gas-burner methods.
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B is for Stuffed Bell Peppers--Impossible to Screw Up
Even if you can't boil water, you can make this dish.
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C is for Pakistani Chicken
Roasted chicken with an unforgettable twist.
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D is for Indulgent, Thick, Creamy Date Shake
Master this technique and you can make any smoothie.
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E is for Eggplant Vegetable Napoleons
This is more of a technique than a recipe. It's all about grilling vegetables and improvising any way that you like. What's really important about making this dish is the execution and planning.
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F is for Fennel and Persimmon Salad
One of my inspirations for this dish was the persimmons I saw at my market. The persimmon is a great fruit, something I first tried when I lived in Japan and will always associate with cold, northern Asian autumns.
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F is for Fennel Two Ways: Grilled and Braised
Grilled fennel is a great beginning, but you can now take these grilled or seared slices and braise them for something even tastier.
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G is for Versatile Ginger Ponzu: Use as Marinade, Dipping Sauce, or Salad Dressing
Traditionally, a ponzu is simply a mix of soy sauce and acid (lemon, lime juice, and vinegar) and then additional things to flavor it, typically sake, mirin (sweet cooking sake), and a little fruit juice or ginger.
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G is for Jamaican Me Crazy: Homemade Ginger Beer
I was delighted when my brother's partner, Karen, published her first cookbook earlier this year and featured her recipe for Jamaican Ginger Beer. She and my brother found this while eating at Caribbean restaurants in South Florida. I think she begged the chef to give her his recipe and in turn, I begged her for it. Both Karen and I have altered the recipe quite a bit. I think mine's the best, but her book, Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it is a classic.
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H is for Herbs: Pasta with Italian Parsley and Smoked Sardines
Don't get squeamish, sardines are delicious and they don't make a dish taste fishy.
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H is for Growing Herbs at Home
Here are the steps I outlined in this episode. Growing your own herbs is a great way to start growing your own food. It's easy and herbs add depth and flavor to all your recipes.
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I is for Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches
These are downright wicked, so chocolaty and nutty. The addition of the almond meal is what makes them. Make sure to use brown sugar because it helps moisten the dough a little. I created this recipe specifically for use in ice cream sandwiches because they are hearty enough to stand up to melting ice cream goodness.
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J is for Jalape??o Agua Fresca: Refreshingly Sweet with a Kick
Aqua fresca is uplifting and energizing and the jalape?o gives this drink extra kick. Add as much or little jalape?o as you personally enjoy.
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J is for Jalape??o: Jicama Thai Salad
To facilitate more celebration of the letter J, I substituted the green papaya with grated jicama in this Thai specialty salad.
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J is for Jalapeno Sweet Salt: An Exotic Sweet Treat
Killer is the only word to describe this sweet treat and it works on any of the acidic tropical fruits: pineapple, papaya, mango, or citrus fruits. Salt brings out more sweetness and flavor from fruit. In the deep south people love to sprinkle salt on their watermelon, nectarines, and peaches. This is the same idea, just fiery.
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K is for Molly and Nabe's Super Kale with Seared Tofu
The first step is to prep the tofu. I show you what to do on the video, slice it up into 1/3-inch thick pieces and place it between some towels. Press the water out by putting a big heavy cutting board and some cookbooks on top and let it sit for 20 minutes. In this state the tofu can really absorb marinades well and it's also a prime time for grilling, frying, or searing.
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K is For Sneaking Kale into Smoothies
I know. This sounds horrible and insane but you'll be pleasantly surprised by this nutrient dense smoothies. A sweetness comes out of the kale and gives these smoothies a delicious, hard to pinpoint taste. This is a great way to sneak kale into someone's diet.
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L is for Shaker Lemon Pie with Blueberries
We're doing a little baking today using lemon. This recipe calls for the whole thing, peel and all. This is not really a kid-friendly dessert as the peel can be a bit bitter and freak them out. If you can, use a less acidic variety of lemon like Meyer or Pomona Sweet.
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M is for Meaty Mushrooms: Stuffed Portobellos
My recipe for the portobellos with gingered sweet potato puree is an easy one, and it's fabulous. I made this up for a Thanksgiving dinner years ago using criminis so they were more of a side dish.
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N is For Nuts: Walnut and Arugula Pesto
This recipe is just so California. This is actually more instinct than recipe. I usually eyeball it and add 1 part walnuts to 4 parts arugula. This is a nutty, chunky pesto.
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N is For Nuts: Make Your Own Almond Milk
Once you start making your own almond milk, you'll never buy it again. It's easy, fresh, healthy, and delicious.
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O is For Olives: Pissaladiere with Caramelized Onions
If I find myself suddenly invited to or hosting a dinner party this is a great recipe because these are ingredients that I usually have on hand. In addition to making a great appetizer it can be a full-on meal when served with a salad.
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O is For Odd But Awesome Olive Oil Sundae
This is so California man. Another wacky dish that's more of a technique than a recipe. Salt and chocolate always perform really well together because salt heightens chocolate's flavor. The olive oil is the icing on the cake. It freezes at first but then blends into the ice cream making a lovely, oily syrup that's incredibly addictive.
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P is For Potato: Classic Roasted Potatoes
This simple dish taught me to smell, to taste, and to use my intuition. Feel free to add extra herbs or crushed red pepper, whatever you like but do it this way once as well because the simplicity is beautiful. I highly recommend doubling or tripling this recipe because you will gobble it up.
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P is For Potatoes: Pommes Anna with Sweet Potatoes
This dish is simple to make but the key to this is getting razor thin slices of potatoes. Again, I recommend a mandolin, but a veggie peeler will do the trick, just be careful. Traditionally, this is to be done with white potatoes (like a russet) but I love the way the sweetness comes through and melds with the thyme and the butter. It's so fragrant.
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Q is For Quinoa: Quinoa Sweet Cakes
I wanted to create a really simple, healthy, and tasty way to use up leftover quinoa. This is a pretty forgiving recipe, so doctor it up any way you like.
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Q is for Quinoa: Savory Quinoa Cakes
I wanted to create a really simple, healthy, and tasty way to use up leftover quinoa. This is a pretty forgiving recipe, so doctor it up any way you like. I wanted to keep these cakes pretty minimal and plain so you get that whole quinoa goodness.
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R is For Rice: Deliciously Simple Raw Spring Rolls
OK, I'm giving away one of my greatest hits here. I make these and take them to parties, out on picnics, or just for good healthy snacking at home. They've become a bit of a fad food recently but they'll never go out of style.
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S is for Scrumptious Raw Strawberry Pie
Man, oh man. This is delicious. When I make this for people they go nuts and beg me for the recipe. And when I remind them it makes a great breakfast they do crazy things like name their kids after me.
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T is For Tomato: Tantalizing Chunky Gazpacho
Can you say summer? Hell yes. This is it, a cup of sunshine in a bowl. Gazpacho is a classic, Spanish tomato soup served cold. It's incredibly refreshing, raw, easy as pie, and amazingly delicious.
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T is For Tomatoes: Umami Roasted Tomatoes
Somewhere between the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and the charred flesh of the tomatoes an intense and deep umami flavor comes through.
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U is for Apple Upside Down Cake
Upside down cakes are simple and impressive at the same time. It's really cool to make this for a dinner party and bring the dish out to your waiting guests to do the big reveal live at the dinner table. You'll be a hero.
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V is For Vinegar: Mouth Watering Chicken Adobo
Adobo is a classic, traditional dish and there are thousands of different ways to make it. Here's mine. Ordinarily, I'd pump up the flavors with rice or coconut vinegar, but I wanted to use plain old, generic white vinegar just to show that it too has a culinary use. And there's no excuses because anyone can get white vinegar.
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V is for Versatile Balsamic Vinegar Reduction
Reducing balsamic vinegar is easy and delicious as well. I've seen it for sale at many gourmet shops and it makes me chuckle. Use a cheap bottle of balsamic for this, certainly not a high quality, aged variety.
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W is For Winter Squash: Japanese Braised Winter Squash
The first time I ate this dish I was a little confused. It was unlike anything I'd had before. It was kind of sweet, savory, earthy, hearty, and very warming. I was shocked.
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W is for Winter Squash: Baba Ganoush Made With Squash
It's baba ganoush with a roasted squash instead of an eggplant. This is a really tasty and fun twist on the Middle Eastern classic.
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X is for Eggs? Masala Frittata
My wife and I went backpacking in Rajasthan, India, for that whole Y2K thing. It was still 1999 when we landed in Sawai Madhopur to visit a nature preserve in the hopes of spotting tigers. Though we never saw any cats, we had an amazing breakfast at our guesthouse, it was called Masala Frittata.
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Y is for Yeast: Make Your Own Pizza
Sure occasionally I'll go out for pizza, it's fun and social and seems to be everyone's favorite food. But making your own, from scratch, is really fun and a great way to turn a casual dinner party into a killer shindig.
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Z is for Raw Zucchini Pasta
All you need to do is carefully cut slices out of each veggie using a vegetable peeler. You can use a mandolin too, but I really think a peeler works best for this.
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Z is for Beer Battered Fried Zucchini Spears
It seems so boring but damn it is so tasty. For extra flavor I used a dark brown beer and whole wheat flour too. You can use any oil you like but you know I'm an olive oil junky, love that flavor.
