New recipe, February 29, 2025

Tokyo Tea from A Couple Cooks. A variation on Long Island Iced Tea. Tasty, but a tad sweet. We would try it without simple syrup.

New recipe, February 18, 2025

Baked Cod from NYT Cooking. This is pleasant, with subtle flavors so as not to hide the fish. We give it a 3.

New recipe, February 17, 2025

French Lentil and Vegetable Soup from Food and Wine. This is brimming with good things, including the lentils, onion, leek, garlic, celery, carrot, tomato paste and thyme. It is pleasant, but seemed a little flat. It calls for a couple tbsp of red wine or red wine vinegar—we would use the vinegar next time to boost the acidity a bit. It might also benefit from from lemon juice, but we still felt it needed something else. We added a small amount of harissa, so as not to dominate the dish but give it a little spice, which worked well. We give the original recipe a 3. It moves up to a 4 with the harissa.

New recipe, February 16, 2025

Roasted Carrot Salad with Arugula and Pomegranate from NYT Cooking. I thought I had pomegranate molasses, but I was wrong, and the markets don't have pomegranates right now, so I used a Balsamic glaze instead of the pomegranate molasses. This is excellent with that, and we look forward to trying it as written. We give this a 4.

New recipe, February 15, 2025

Sheet Pan Coconut Curry with Squash and Tofu from NYT Cooking. The combination of Thai curry paste and coconut milk infuses the vegetables and tofu with delicious flavors. We liked this a lot—we give it a 4.

New recipes, Valentine’s Day, 2025

Our main course is Pollo a la Piña, and dessert is Chocolate Lava Cake for Two, both from NYT Cooking. The chicken makes great tacos, with mixed flavors of two kinds of chiles, orange juice, and the pineapple. Really tasty! And how can you go wrong with lava cake? It is rich chocolate, with just the right amount of sweetness. We give these both 5s!

New recipe, February 13, 2025

Zucchini Salad from NYT Cooking. We wanted something simple with leftovers, and this is quite good. The zucchini slices are just dressed in a simple vinaigrette, but the key is roasting the zucchini slices for 5-7 minutes in a 400 degree oven. The idea is to slightly soften them, which allows them to soak up the vinaigrette. That makes this recipe a 4!

New recipe, February 12, 2025

Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Harissa Tomatoes from NYT Cooking. There is no cream in here, the creaminess comes from pureeing the cauliflower and some olive oil. It takes awhile, but most of the time is roasting the ingredients, so it is still a pretty easy recipe. The soup is rich, and the tomatoes add a nice complementary zing. We give this a 4.

New recipe, February 11, 2025

Creamy Butternut Squash and Coconut Noodle Soup. This pulls together the squash with a number of southeast Asian ingredients and the result is really rewarding. This gets a 5.

New recipe, February 10, 2025

Roasted Broccoli and Whipped Tofu with Chile Crisp Crunch from NYT Cooking. The chile crisp crunch is made with panko, chile crisp and cashews (Yum!) and is delicious by itself, but don't skip the optional cashew cream! It ties the whole dish together beautifully. We give this a 5.

New recipe, February 9, 2025

Spicy Berbere Ratatouille with Coconut Sauce from Ottolenghi FLAVOR. Leave it to Ottolenghi to make something so recognizably ratatouille and yet so distinctive. We loved this. It gets an enthusiastic 5!

New recipe, February 8, 2025

Miznon's Whole Roasted Cauliflower from Food and Wine. This is very simple—the cauliflower is boiled in salted water til soft and then roasted until browned. It is very simple, and the flavor of caramelized cauliflower is also nice. We give this a 3.

New recipe, February 7, 2025

Dutch Baby with Oven Roasted Tomatoes from Ottolenghi COMFORT. There are a number of minor ingredients in the Dutch baby that give it a great flavor. The roasted tomatoes are delicious, but with balsamic vinegar, we thought that adding some brown sugar made it too sweet, and we'd leave the sugar out next time. We give this a 4.

New recipe, February 6, 2025

Chaaza Burmese Curry from Food and Wine. Yet another style of curry, and tasty! It uses toasted chickpea flour as a thickener, which also gives it a lovely nutty flavor. We give this a 4.

New recipe, February 5, 2025

Rasta Pasta from Food and Wine. The name reminded us of the now defunct but excellent restaurant called Rasta Pasta in Breckenridge. We don't recall a dish exactly like this, but this brings together roasted pepper and onion with jerk seasoning and coconut milk and shrimp to make a tasty, very quick dish. We give this a 4.

New recipe, February 4, 2025

Match Mango Chia Pudding from Bon Appétit. This looks fun, and I love a breakfast you can prepare ahead of time. We thought the matcha was a bit overpowering, and would have liked a little more sweetness to balance it. This gets a 3.

New recipe, February 3, 2025

Singaporean Chicken Curry from NYT Cooking. This is recognizably a curry and yet has some unique flavors, including pandan and a whole riot of spices. Yes, you can order pandan leaves (and plants) on Amazon. We found this to be delicious and unique in our experience. This gets a 5.

New recipe, February 2, 2025

Roasted Eggplant with Crispy Chickpeas and Cashew Sauce from NYT Cooking. This is delicious, with creamy eggplant, and a cashew tahini sauce jazzed up with garlic, red pepper, and orange juice and zest. We give this a 5.

New recipe, February 1, 2025

Niki Jyaga (Japanese Beef and Potato Stew) from NYT Cooking. This is a simple dish, but with a mild comforting sweetness. We give this a 4.

New recipe, January 31, 2025

Chicken Adobo with Coconut Milk from NYT Cooking. What this doesn't tell you is that there is a huge amount of rice vinegar in it, and it all comes together beautifully with a lovely caramel, peanutty flavor (and no, there are no peanuts). We enjoyed this a lot—it gets a 4.

New recipe, January 30, 2025

Warm Broccoli Salad with Bacon Dressing from Food and Wine. I never argue with bacon, and this dish has that with a bunch of other complementary flavors. We give this a 5!

New recipe, January 29, 2025

A nod to Lunar New Year, this is Tiger Prawns in Ginger Garlic Soy Sauce from aheadofthyme.com. This is fast, easy, and absolutely delicious. We give this a 5!

New recipe, January 28, 2025

Asparagus and Gochujang Pancakes from Ottolenghi FLAVOR. These came out a bit doughy. We give them a 3. But, there are a couple things I would do differently. The British version measures the flours in grams, and I think that precision would help more. Also, the recipe specifies how long to wait before flipping them, but i would go longer, looking for the setting bubbles as I do in other pancakes.

New recipe, January 27, 2025

Herby Polenta with Corn Eggs and Feta from Ottolenghi FLAVOR. Lots of character here—fresh corn and cornmeal, a blend of fresh herbs and scallions, milk, feta and parmesan. It is very tasty. We give this a 4.

New recipe, January 26, 2025

Kerala Style Vegetable Coconut Curry from Food and Wine. This is a delicious, nuanced vegetarian curry. So many flavors from the spices, that are both distinct and blend together beautifully. It gets a 5!

New recipe, January 25, 2025

I neglected to take a picture of the Hoisin Peanut Shrimp and Slaw from NYT Cooking. It is an easy dish with lots of great flavors. We give it a 4.

New recipe, January 24, 3025

Blood Orange Fizz from Chilled Magazine. It is a bit early to find blood oranges, so we had to settle for regular oranges, hence the not red color. But the flavor is very nice and this gets a 4.

New recipe,January 23, 2025

Pork and Tomatillo Udon from Bon Appetit. We found this pleasant, but it didn't wow us as we hoped. We give it a 3.

New recipe, January 22, 2025

Melon and Buffalo Mozzarella Salad Kasha and Curry Leaves from Ottolenghi FLAVOR. Just a stunning dish. We give this a 5.

New recipe, January 21, 2025

Rich and Creamy White Bolognese from Food and Wine. It is indeed rich and creamy, with lots of tasty flavors. This gets a 4.

New recipe, January 20, 2025

Green Smoothie Bowl from Food and Wine. I've never been much of a smoothie fan, but this bowl is really good. We give this a 5.

New recipe, January 20, 2025

Green Smoothie Bowl from Food and Wine. We have never had much interest in smoothies, but this looked intriguing, and it is in fact very tasty. We give this a 5.

New recipe, January 19, 2025

Roasted Carrots with Curry Leaf Dukkah from Ottolenghi's COMFORT. Where do you get curry leaves? Amazon made it easy. Ottolenghi and his colleagues are geniuses when they create these recipes, and this is no exception. The flavors are fabulous, and it really is a comforting dish. This gets a 5.

New recipe, January 18, 2025

The Turmeric Hot Toddy from Epicurious. A hot toddy is just the thing when the temps are in single digits. The ingredients come together to create a nice, unified whole worth great flavors. We give this a 4.

New recipe, January 17, 2025

Skillet Chicken and Farro with Caramelized Leeks from NYT Cooking. This is the rare recipe that uses the leeks greens along with the white part. It is a rich and warming dish, perfect for the forthcoming deep freeze in Denver! We give this a 4.

New recipe, January 16, 2025

The Green Fairy from Food and Wine. This is apparently an old cocktail, but still very tasty. The absinth, lemon juice and bitters combine in a lovely way, with nothing dominating. We give this a 5.

New recipe, January 15, 2025

Smacked Cucumber "Quick Kimchi" from NYT Cooking. It is served with a reprise of the Spinach and Gruyère Breakfast Casserole. The kimchi is easy, bright and very flavorful. And delicious! We give it a 5.

New recipe, January 14, 2025

Mushroom and Potato Paprikash from NYT Cooking. This is pleasant, and true to style. It doesn't really stand out for us—somewhat monochromatic in flavor. We give it a 3.

New recipe, January 13, 2025

Butter Soy Chicken and Asparagus Stir Fry from NYT Cooking. This uses an interesting technique (velveting) to keep the chicken moist, and it works quite well. The flavors are mild, as you expect from a Cantonese dish. We give this a 4.

New recipe, January 12, 2025

Spinach and Gruyère Breakfast Casserole from NYT Cooking. But we had it for dinner. This has great flavors, with the leeks and a hint of nutmeg, We give this a 4.

New recipe, January 11, 2025

Chermoula Potato and Fish from NYT Cooking. The chermoula brings such wonderful flavors to this dish. Don't skip using the harissa oil, which adds another layer of flavor—if you don't like spicy food, you can get a mild harissa. This gets a 5!

New recipe, January 10, 2025

Grain Frittata with Chile Lime and Fresh Herbs from NYT Cooking. This has nice flavors. It made a mockery of my "non stick" pan. We give it a 3.

New recipe, January 9, 2025

Fragrant Coconut Chicken and Sweet Potato from NYT Cooking. This is a really well balanced and delicious dish. The coconut milk and lime blend with the chicken and sweet potato, as well as the scallions, ginger and garlic in a way that nothing dominates but it all comes together into a delicious whole. We give this a 5.

New recipe, January 8, 2025

Chicken Breasts with Miso Garlic Sauce from NYT Cooking. Brining for 15 minutes is supposed to keep the breasts moist. It needs more time than that, these were still pretty dry. The flavors are nice, but we had the odd sensation that everything was on the outside—the chicken itself was dry and rather flavorless, with all the bold flavors kind of around the chicken. It didn't seem to come together very well into a coherent whole. We give this a 3.

New recipe, January 7, 2025

Lemony Caesar Dense Bean Salad from Food and Wine. This is indeed a dense salad. It really emphasizes the Caesar dressing—I think it may have been a bit overdressed, might do better with a little less dressing. We give this a 3.

New recipe, January 6, 2025

Sautéed Broccoli Rabe from NYT Cooking. Since broccoli rabe was not available, we used a combination of broccoli and arugula, a substitute suggested by naturallydaily.com. We enjoyed the dish, which went well with the repeat of Tenderloin with Horseradish Cream Cheese. Overall, we give it a 3.

New recipe, January 5, 2025

Black Eyed Peas with Coconut Milk and Ethiopian Spices from Food and Wine. This is a total winner! This has an entire habanero in it but is not overly picante. It plays beautifully with the coconut milk and other spices. This gets a 5!

New recipe, January 4, 2025

Miso Broiled Tofu from NYT Cooking, served with steamed brown rice and sliced sweet peppers. The marinade is good, but the tofu (which we broiled immediately didn't have much of the flavor. It might have been better after a 24 hour marinade. The peppers were a nice addition. This was pleasant, but not outstanding. We give it a 3.

New recipe, January 3, 2025

We celebrated Carl's retirement with a Rosé Spritzer from Bon Appetít. The bitters and St Germain play well with one another and are nice in a sparkling rosé. We give this a 4.