This is my Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon salad. The two main ingredients -- carrot and avocado -- might not seem compatible or connected, but your first bite will convince you otherwise. The carrots are roasted with cumin and paired with orange, both classic pairings for the vegetable. The citrus goes great with cilantro, and both are a fine match for avocado. Before you know it, you have this fresh, vibrant salad. I love the carrots roasted to the same creamy softness of avocado. The contrast comes not from the texture but from the fact that one's warm from the oven and the other's cool from the fridge.
We have several farmhouse goat-cheesemakers in Ireland. We use Ardsallagh goat cheese, St. Tola from Inagh in County Clare is also heaven, as is Gortnamona from Cooleeney farm in County Tipperary and Corleggy from County Cavan.
What's not to love when with an effortless twist a dish becomes something brand-new? Puree the Cantaloupe Thai Chile Basil Salad with an adjustment or two, and you will have a soup that is heaven in a bowl at the end of a steamy summer commute home.
Broccoli is like green beans; it takes on great character when cooked beyond crisp. I like it nearly melting and smothered in this sauté of raisins, rosemary and pepper with the unexpected crunch of pine nuts.
Garlic and pine nuts, currants and onion take the ubiquitous tomato-mozzarella salad into new territory.
Call them frittatas or oven omelets, baking eggs with a sauté or filling is much easier than fussing with a traditional omelet. Instead of the gymnastics involved in cooking and rolling a perfect folded omelet out of the pan, you put everything together, put it in the oven and set a timer.
Heat the oven to 450ºF.
Although you can enjoy this salad at any time of year, I find that its refreshing crunch is especially welcome in winter, when the foods we (or at least I) eat tend to be of the rich, stick-to-your-ribs sort, such as stews and braises, or oozy baked pasta dishes.
If you cook no other potato recipe in your lifetime, you must try this one. A small amount of turmeric brings out the earthiness and somehow the sweetness of potatoes. This is kind of an upside-down potato casserole with the caramely onions on the bottom rather than the top. A final handful of crisp almonds takes these potatoes over the top.
The yams are best at room temperature and improve with several days in the refrigerator.