Raspberry (or Blackberry) Coulis

This berry sauce is an excellent topper to panna cotta, ice cream, or chocolate cake. Traditionally, it’s always been raspberry coulis, but I find blackberries to be even better. Since the fresh blackberries that are sold in the grocery stores are picked before they sweeten, they are often too bitter to eat by themselves. By [...]

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Strawberry Honey

Strawberry honey is a great topping for Panna Cotta, strawberry shortcake, and ice cream.
Ingredients

2 small baskets of strawberries
2-4 tablespoons of honey

Directions

Remove the green leaf top and quarter the strawberries.
Place in a large non-reactive bowl, add honey to taste, and mash the strawberries.
Refrigerate for one hour.

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Cashew Butter

This is a healthy and delicious alternative to peanut butter. Many commercial peanut butters contain chemicals and compounds other than the basic peanuts and oil. Plus, I find the combination of the cashews, walnut oil, and honey to be more flavorful than peanut butter.
Ingredients

2 cups of unsalted cashews
pinch of kosher salt
2 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup walnut [...]

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Porcini Mushroom Sauce

This porcini sauce is a great topper to lamb or roasted beef dishes. Although porcini’s are in season in the fall, it is made with dried porcinis which are generally available year round.
Ingredients

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
2 ounces pancetta, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 cup red wine
1 cup beef [...]

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Gravy for Roasted Turkey (With Gluten-Free Alternative)

The final step for making the perfect Thanksgiving Turkey is making gravy from the pan drippings (the first was to brine the turkey and the second was to roast the perfect turkey). To make a gluten and wheat free gravy, simply substitute Arrowroot flour in place of all-purpose flour.
Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup of all-purpose [...]

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Cilantro Pesto

Pesto is good, cilantro pesto is even better. This is a twist on the traditional pesto. It’s particularly good on top of the Vegetable Stew.
Ingredients

2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 bunch fresh parley, coarsely chopped
1 bunch of fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons of pine nuts
4 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
freshly ground [...]

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Yogurt-Tahini Sauce

This is a must have sauce on top of the Spicy Moroccon Chicken that I posted earlier today.
Ingredients

1/2 cup tahini
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup honey
1 garlic clove, minced
kosher salt
white pepper
pinch of cayenne (optional)

Directions

Mix the tahini, yogurt, lemon juice, cilantro, garlic, and honey together in a bowl. Season with salt, [...]

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Savory Croutons

These croutons work well with both the Caesar Salad and the Dandelion Greens with Garlic-Anchovy Dressing. Most croutons are made from day old (or older) bread. I prefer to use fresh bread slices. They soak up the olive oil better and create a toasty outside with a somewhat soft inside that is rich in olive [...]

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Tofu in Banana Curry

Here is the vegetarian variation on the Tilapia in banana curry. This portion of tofu that I've suggested here assumes that you are making this recipe for 4 people. You can adjust the amount of tofu, accordingly, to make the number of portions you need if, like me, you are usually making a mix of [...]

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Tilapia in Banana Curry

This is one of those few recipes where having a lot of ingredients really works. I'm usually a fan of simple, but the complexity (in terms of number of ingredients) of this one really pays off in the flavor.
The banana curry can be made separately and put over foods other than fish. This recipe also [...]

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