Sometimes it is a good thing to change things up every once in awhile. Walking a different route to the way to subway brings me new windows to peer into. Tying my scarf a new way keeps my neck a bit warmer from the biting cold. And making a favorite dish with a hearty sauce could be revolutionary. Yes, I will give anything a shot once, maybe even twice if I’m feeling daring.
So was the case with this butternut squash lasagna. It had so many of my favorites contained in that shallow casserole pan– sheets of fresh pasta, satisfying butternut squash puree, bulbs of fresh mozzarella and salty ricotta cheese. Sounds great. Smelled even better as it was baking to a bubbly finish. I loved the layers of lasagna, the pasta hiding a new treat of disclosed, melted cheese. There is [...]

Tart from the lemon, sweet from the fresh figs, smooth from the cream, and spicy from the chiles. This pasta dish can be described using any one of these adjectives, but I guess I would just call it amazing.

I love fresh figs, the gentle crunch from the interior seeds, the sweet nectar of the juice, even the ever so slightly fuzzy nature of the skin. I love it all. So as I was thumbing through Italian Easy: Recipes from the London River Cafe (thank you New York City public library), I knew that this was a recipe to try immediately. And I’m glad that I did. The play between the sweetness of the figs, and the heat of the chiles was perfect.
As a matter of fact, the entire book looks delightful. Simple recipes, straightforward presentations, and unfussed with food seem to be the hallmark [...]

Yes, it’s true, as odd as it may seem, up until this year, tomatoes were not a friend of mine. I was very picky with my consumption. Cooked were fine, roasted even better, but sliced and put on a sandwich– never! Wedges in a salad– no way! And a caprese salad– well you can forget about that too. But this year, it all changed for me, and it wasn’t that I had finally tasted the perfect, heirloom variety tomato. It was just a test of wills.
In January, that blustery, no-good month, I made a resolution, and this from the girl who never makes New Year’s resolutions. 2006 would be, amongst other things, the year of no more food taboos. Never again would I pick apart a sandwich, push a vegetable endlessly around my dinner plate, or ask a waiter or waitress for a substitution. Now I was not a horribly [...]

I can’t really take credit for this idea. I’ll give credit where credit is due– Jamie Oliver did it again. While watching an old episode of Oliver’s Twist, Jamie made a fresh pasta dish: rolled manicotti resting in a dish of raw tomato sauce. Clean, light, and vegetarian, this dish looked delightfully simple to prepare, and was a delicious change from the standard, heavy manicotti.
It’s spring now, I am awoken each morning to the cheery cacophony of birds singing their dawn chorus. Monday, I even spotted the first California grown stone fruit at the market. So manicotti, you may be asking yourself, doesn’t that sound a bit heavy? A bubbly pasta dish can be a bit much to contend with, but this manicotti, is made with fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes. Baked in the oven, the tomatoes only intensify while the rest of the pasta is melting and getting gooshy.
The manicotti [...]