On any given day after a run to the farmer’s market, you’ll find a bowl full of red radishes, greens and roots lopped off, soaking in water in my parent’s refrigerator. My father loves radishes. Whereas some parents put out cookies and chips for their kids for snacks, my dad put out radishes for us, and still does. Crunchy and cool, they’re a great snack. Cut up and tossed with some lemon, oil, mint, and pistachios, they make a great little salad too, or a lovely side for steak, Mexican pulled pork, or tacos. We tossed the radishes with toasted pistachios; I’ve also made with with toasted sunflower seeds, equally good.

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Please welcome Hank Shaw as he shares a Southern favorite, collard greens! ~Elise

I grew up with a healthy affection for sauteed greens: Bright, vibrant, spiked with garlic and red pepper and maybe a little citrus at the end. This was how greens were supposed to be served — alive, vigorous and most of all, emerald green. So you can imagine my shock when I first encountered Southern-style collard greens.

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When I first started living on my own decades ago, and cooking for myself, I would buy some fresh fish at the market, put it in the fridge, cook it several days later, and wonder why it never tasted as good as my mother’s. The reason? It was no longer fresh! Now, having been duly trained by my notoriously picky seafood-loving father and my fisherman friends, I cook fresh fish the day I buy it. Not only that, but I buy the freshest looking fish at the counter, nothing tired, dull, or remotely fishy smelling. This often means a trip to the store looking for one type of fish, and returning home with another, because the halibut just didn’t look good that day but the petrale sole glistened. These salmon fillets were the most gorgeous fillets on ice at the market the other day, and the result of the quick broil with a hoisin glaze? Transcendent. 

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Ah the noble leek, often the bridesmaid, rarely the bride. Leeks vinaigrette is a classic French recipe that honors the leek for itself. In this recipe we first clean and prep the leeks, then boil them in water until just cooked, drain them, and marinate them for several hours (or days) in a vinaigrette with a touch of Dijon mustard. Served at room temperature, the leeks make a lovely salad or side. And given that they love a long marinating time, they’re perfect for making ahead. 

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Is there a more perfect combo than pork and cabbage? Usually the cabbage comes in the form of sauerkraut, but it is just as easily braised in a little stock with some sliced onions and seasonings. We used celery seeds and caraway seeds which work beautifully with the cabbage and pork. By the way, are you aware that the USDA has officially lowered the recommended internal temperature for cooked pork? It’s now 145°F, meaning US raised pork can now sport a little pink on the inside without causing worry.

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Belgian endive (correctly pronounced “on-DEEV”, though most people around here say, “N-dive” and good luck getting them to change) is a lettuce-like vegetable that is often used with the leaves acting as little boats, to hold appetizer tidbits. The leaves are delicate tasting, just slightly bitter, exquisite. Belgian endive is a chicory, like radicchio or curly endive, that commercially is grown completely indoors, away from light, in order to result in the delicate leaves we enjoy. Exposed to light, the leaves turn green and become much more bitter. They grow like a forced bulb on top of a large root the size of a fat carrot.

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Don’t you love petrale sole? Such a lovely light and delicate fish. I couldn’t resist picking up a few fillets today at the market. A classic piccata is a great way to prepare sole, or any small flat fish such as flounder or fluke. Just lightly dust the fillets in seasoned flour, fry them on both sides until nicely browned, and serve them with a sauce made with white wine, capers, butter, and parsley. Enjoy!

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Do you ever cook with spaghetti squash? My friend Amber recently gave me a big box of CSA vegetables from a local farm, and in it was a ginormous spaghetti squash. I think it was at least 8 pounds, twice the normal size. Spaghetti squash is called such because the cooked flesh shreds into strands like spaghetti. You can use it as a lower carb and gluten-free replacement for spaghetti noodles in many recipes. Also, it being a winter squash, uncooked and whole, a spaghetti squash will last for months. The squash is very happy baked, shredded, and then tossed in a sauté with garlic, olive oil, and Parmesan. Some chopped greens thrown into the mix make it a meal.

What types of dishes do you like to make with spaghetti squash? I’d love to hear about them. Please let us know in the comments.

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Hello my little lamb chops!

Cooking for two? A romantic dinner perhaps? Consider the lamb chop—delicate, tender, juicy, and easy. Rub with some chopped herbs, garlic, salt and pepper, and olive oil, let sit for a bit, sear all over on high heat, let rest a few minutes, and serve. A lamb chop is such a lovely tender cut of meat, you just don’t have to do much to it. In fact, the only thing you really have to take care with is to not overcook it. Lamb is best served rare, though if you have eaters who prefer their meat medium or well, you can always cook it longer. Serve with some mashed potatoes or celery root, and a salad of mixed greens.

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From the recipe archive. First posted 2006.

Football (American) championship season. Sports bars, beer, and spicy things that make you want to drink more beer. Darts, pool, loud conversation, an either ill-spent or well-spent youth, depending on your perspective. Once in my early twenties I happened to be in Buffalo, New York for a wedding of a dear friend. On our site-seeing day the gang of us revelers happened to drive right by the Anchor Bar, home of the “Original Buffalo Chicken Wings”. Did you know that Buffalo wings are so called because they were first invented in Buffalo, NY? I didn’t, and it had always been one of those oddities that gnawed at the back of my brain during these beer filled nights. In San Francisco we had Tommy’s Buffalo Burgers made with real buffalo meat. But buffalo wings? Hah! Mystery solved.

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