When roasted, the flesh of winter squashes such as butternut, acorn, and kabocha becomes creamy and dense and caramelizes on the cut surfaces.
This salad is a luscious and refreshing way to use blood oranges and navel oranges in their prime.
Fonio (Digitaria exilis) has been grown in West Africa for centuries. For a long time, it was of marginal importance as a cereal due to its small seeds, but is now the object of renewed interest as consumers begin to recognize its flavor and nutritional qualities.
Saag means greens; sarson da saag specified mustard greens, and palak da saag is spinach. This flavorful side dish often accompanies hearty whole-wheat griddle breads in Punjab, the wheat-growing capital of India.
The word "revolconas" means tumbled, or rolled over, and here it probably refers to the act of mashing up the potatoes. The dish is a specialty of Extremadura (as well as parts of Castile), where the potatoes are mixed with oil flavored with garlic and the local paprika, pimenton de la Vera. This gives the dish a rusty hue and an addictively dusky taste. Bacon or chorizo bits are sometimes mixed in as well. After being mashed, the potatoes are shaped into a cake and served as an appetizer (or a poor man's main dish), though they definitely make a welcome side dish. Smoked pimenton is essential here; it is available at better food shops and by mail order.
Caramelized and concentrated into slightly crisp nuggets, roasting gives cauliflower a new personality. Granted, it loses its pearly white complexion, but the payback is in the flavor.
This is one of my favorite veggie burgers. It has everything I want: hearty chickpeas, fortifying spinach, a hint of nutty toasted cumin seeds, and final finish of fresh lemon. It's also very easy! As with most burgers in this book, be sure to reserve a portion of the beans and mash them by hand, rather than blitzing all of them in the food processor, as this gives the burger texture. I like to serve them accompanied by traditional burger fixings: lettuce, tomato, and mustard.
Variations on this simple relish/salad turn up throughout Southeast Asia. The purpose is to give you a bite of cool, crisp, crunch to counterpoint spicy hot meat.
There is nothing weak-kneed about this vegetable broth. It's big flavors hold their own in any dish where poultry or meat stocks are usually used.
These fragrant apricots are so useful, I make big batches of them to give as gifts and to use for my own entertaining. They are delicious with drained whole milk yogurt, ice cream or creme fraiche make an excellent filling for tarts and turnovers, or accompaniment to plain cakes, with some whipped cream. They are also spectacular roasted and served with crème fraiche (see recipe). I like to use California apricots because they have more intense flavor and delicate texture than Turkish ones.