Big Eye Tuna, Watermelon, and Cucumber Tartare
Our hostess had a fabulous kitchen complete with Mesquite butcher block countertops and a Viking range with a wok burner that would make the entire county of China envious. All of this with maestro Michael Cerza on the Steinway belting out some incredible tunes. ...continue reading about Big Eye Tuna, Watermelon, and Cucumber Tartare...
Pan Roasted Salmon with Wilted Spinach
My fishmonger had some beautiful wild caught Coho Salmon fillets and I couldn’t resist this sweet fish. People seems to have some trepidation when cooking fish. The two most difficult things to master with fish, salmon in particular, is touch and doneness. Touch has to do with the actually feel of the fish when lightly pressed with the index finger. Doneness has not only to do with touch but also carry over cooking time and I will discuss that in a moment. ...continue reading about Pan Roasted Salmon with Wilted Spinach...
Butternut Squash Chips
It’s 9:30 p.m. and I want some junk food. Good, healthy, vegan junk food. I searched through every nook in the kitchen and other than tofu and some brussel sprouts that have started to compost in my crisper drawer, the only thing giving me the eye like that stupid stack of money with googly eyes in the Geico commercial is a butternut squash. Not what I was hoping for. ...continue reading about Butternut Squash Chips...
Poblano Pesto Macaroni and Cheese
This Saturday, Mr. Natural here in Austin will be hosting a holistic fair and vegetarian cookoff challenge. I thought it fair to enter when I found out the top three entries will recieve $300, $200, and $100 respectively. That, and I’m the sixth entry 
The odds are good. I’ll be entering my Mexican Tofu Casserole. Hopefully, I won’t be going head to head with five Mexican grandmothers that have been cooking vegetarian all their life. ...continue reading about Poblano Pesto Macaroni and Cheese...
Sweet Potato Whole Wheat Gnocchi with Poblano Pesto
Warning: This isn’t an Italian pesto. This is a Texas pesto. And the gnocchi is made with sweet potatoes, not white potatoes. Now, I don’t have anything against Italians or white potatoes. I love ‘em both. But I am trying to stay on the complex carbohydrate trail and they guy at Central Market talked to me like an idiot when I said I was looking for whole wheat gnocchi. ...continue reading about Sweet Potato Whole Wheat Gnocchi with Poblano Pesto...
Quick Summer Appetizers
Some dear friends had a 60′s themed birthday party this weekend and we had a blast. There was music, good wine, good friends, and good food. The only problem with a 60′s themed party is that most food in the 60′s consisted of devils on horseback (prunes wrapped in bacon and then broiled until crisp), rumaki (water chestnut and chicken liver wrapped in bacon, marinated in soy and then broiled until crisp), cocktail wieners, either plain or wrapped in puff pastry (pigs in blankets), pimento cheese spread with Ritz crackers, and your favorite and mine…jello salad. The sixties was a culinary expedition that ended up shipwrecked on a desert island. ...continue reading about Quick Summer Appetizers...
Italian Tofu Pesto Recipe
This is something like a four wheel drive armored car that banks use to transport cash that would make any boy from Texas want one for Christmas. Patrick was, of course, riding on top because sticking your noggin out of the top of one of these things is the coolest ever and I’m guessing he had a 50 caliber machine gun up there. (I was wrong, he was unloading gear. I’ve since talked to him and he is modifying his story to match the cooler way I’m writing it.) ...continue reading about Italian Tofu Pesto Recipe...
Tomato Sushi
I’ve been exploring vegan and vegetarian offerings in restaurants and I have to tell you that I’m disappointed. Now I understand what my vegetarian customers must have felt when they came into the restaurant and saw filet Mignon, duck, chicken, and only one vegetarian offering. Very few restaurants realize the market opportunity they are missing from this vast market. ...continue reading about Tomato Sushi...
New Veggie Lasagna
In interest of dinner, speed, and hunger, I put together a veggie lasagna with spinach and lots of fresh herbs from the garden. I also wanted to make it as close to vegan as possible. They reason why is that the more I read and learn about links from the links between animal based proteins and cancer and heart disease the more I want to try eating as close to vegan as possible. I also realize I’m weak and my willpower lasts about as long as the gas tank in my GMC Yukon. ...continue reading about New Veggie Lasagna...
Jicama “Fries”
Leslie and I disagree on this one and that’s OK. Peoples’ tastes differ and she has a right to her own opinion. (She’s wrong, but she has a right to her opinion . This is a dilemma I face every time I cook for a party or a group of people. What can I make that appeal to everyone? In reality, nothing. Not even ice water because some people will want bottled, others will want a lemon wedge, and someone else only drinks water from a 10,000 year old glacier. (By the way, the water that comes out of my refrigerator door once came from a glacier). ...continue reading about Jicama "Fries"...
Tomato and Corn Summer Soup
Summer vegetables are finally coming into the farmer’s markets and ripening in my garden. The spinach and lettuce are official gone because of the heat while tomatoes, corn, greens, and melons are all coming along nicely. One of my most favorite vegetables is the tomato. I have many memories of picking tomatoes with my Mom in the tomato farms of South Florida (sadly all gone now) and eating one or two really ripe and juicy tomatoes from the vine. While I probably consumed more pesticides and dirt that kids today are willing to do, there were apparently very good tasting pesticides. I don’t think my twitching is any indication of a problem, but the jury is still out on that one. Growing up with my grandmother on a chicken farm also availed Georgia sweet corn. ...continue reading about Tomato and Corn Summer Soup...
Tortellini with Caramelized Onions and Sundried Tomatoes
I hadn’t planned on posting this because the three cheese tortellini is store bought. Not that I sit around making tortellini like an Italian grandmother all the time, but it was just going to be pasta in a marinara sauce. Then I found I didn’t have any pasta sauce. It became afternoon at the improv. Believe it or not, this is the thing I love most about cooking and I think I would totally dominate on Chopped on Food Network. (shameless self plugging in case a FoodNetwork VP is checking out my blog). ...continue reading about Tortellini with Caramelized Onions and Sundried Tomatoes...
Daikon Radish, Sunflower Butter, and Broccoli Appetizer
I have to admit, this may look like an odd appetizer. At the least you might think, how in the heck do those flavors go together. I’m gonna take a shot at answering both and tell you how to make both a great vegan and raw appetizer. In case you’ve lived under a rock, or your are a post grad student, eating raw means exactly that; eating all your meals from raw ingredients. If you think that’s tough, try being a raw chef. I am not. The play now unfolds…You’ve carefully and thoughtfully cold smoked a brisket for 19 hours, the sausage was made right in your very kitchen, and the baked beans contain the best applewood smoked bacon money can buy and pigs can make. Your significant other announces, “oh, by the way, Mike’s new girlfriend is a vegan”. (Yep, one of those) But, you proclaim, that’s not possible. We don’t have interplanetary travel and you know for a fact life doesn’t exist on Venus. ...continue reading about Daikon Radish, Sunflower Butter, and Broccoli Appetizer...
Sprout Feta Quesadillas
I haven’t been in the mood to cook lately and my refrigerator looks more like a Sear’s display model than one in a home occupied by humans. It’s also starting to get warm in Texas so my lettuce and spinach are bolting (shooting up seed pods). Eating bolting lettuce is not for the faint of heart. You would be better off eating grass from your yard; trust me, I know. ...continue reading about Sprout Feta Quesadillas...
Something for Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is coming up (in case you haven’t heard the fifty million radio and TV ads) and this would be a nice recipe to leave out on the counter Saturday morning sometime. It is a pretty simple and beautiful dish your significant other can make without subjecting you to toaster waffles or something worse. It’s also nice to make enough for the kids as well so they don’t feel at all left out of the day. ...continue reading about Something for Mother's Day...
Roasted Vine Tomatoes
With summer approaching there is a variety of fresh vegetables coming from local gardens and markets. Like the Garlic and Rosemary Asparagus recipe, spring and summer cooking means simpler cooking techniques and a minimum amount of oven heat to fill already heated kitchens. This is a simple and very attractive preparation of vine tomatoes that only requires three ingredients. The better these three ingredients, the better the final dish. This would also pair nicely with the Spinach Feta Pasta dish I did early this week. ...continue reading about Roasted Vine Tomatoes...
Spinach Feta Pasta
I came back to Austin and my garden is exploding! I have a fennel plant with a bulb about half the size of a soccer ball, broccoli starting to show signs of, well, broccoli, five foot tall sunflowers, and an abundance of spinach. Organic spinach fresh from a garden is very different from what I’ve bought in the store. It almost has a slightly sweet flavor I’ve not noticed before. ...continue reading about Spinach Feta Pasta...
Buffalo Chili
This chili has beans. That was a disclaimer. Why? Because it’s against the law in Texas to make a chili containing beans. At least that’s what people in Texas want you to believe. Therefore, I’ve probably violated several local ordinances and likely will be pictured on several post office billboards throught the Lone Star state. Because I like beans, and I think you should too, I’ve put myself on the line and risked incarceration to show you the other side of chili. I’m also not going to argue about the spelling. Chile is a country. Chile is also the correct Spanish spelling for a pepper. Chilly means you are cold and need to eat chili or a chili pepper or get into a tub of hot water with a glass of red wine. Fight about it if you will, but I’m in enough trouble with law enforcement about the bean issue. ...continue reading about Buffalo Chili...
Spring Whole Wheat Pasta
The weather has been gorgeous and everyone seems to be out exploring all the places I want to go. The Wildflower center was packed and the Austin Botanical Garden didn’t have a parking place available. I opted instead to go to our local gardening shop. You see, I have a aphid problem. ...continue reading about Spring Whole Wheat Pasta...
Mini Roasted Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Pie
I’ve been busy pimping my food photography on Flickr in order to drive traffic to our site. There are also a ton of others with incredible skills in photographing food. I wanted to highlight one of those people today who not only is a foodie, but also someone that is an incredible photographer. Her name is Leslie (not my Leslie), but another Leslie that is a frequent contributor on Flickr. ...continue reading about Mini Roasted Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Pie...
Soppresata Tomato Panino
We’ve had a couple of warm days here in Texas and the lettuce crop is beginning to suffer a bit. Having said that, it’s 60 degrees today and perfect weather for my heirloom varieties so I’m at the mercy of Mother Nature. I decided to use some of the beautiful, organic leaves from my garden and make a panini. A panini, not to be confused with Paganini the violinist, is a pressed sandwich. Panini is actually the plural of these tiny sandwiches translated as “small bread rolls” or the singular, panino. Mario Batali would get Iron Chef design points by calling them a panino imbottito or a stuffed little bread roll. Panino imbottito sounds like it would be worth at least a couple more points. ...continue reading about Soppresata Tomato Panino...
Spaghetti Squash “Pasta” Dish
I wanted to create another Italian dish that was super-quick to make yet one that used a lot of fresh ingredients and was healthier than one with enriched white pasta. I decided to do a makeover of a pasta dish my mom made and substitute spaghetti squash for the pasta. This recipe is one the kids almost might eat and is worthy of letting them give it a try. ...continue reading about Spaghetti Squash "Pasta" Dish...
Salt and Pepper Shrimp
I had a craving for a “Salt and Pepper” something dish and the fish market had some beautiful wild Gulf shrimp. Can you see what’s coming here? I also wanted to spare you yet another tofu dish and give you something the entire family would fight over. Not a Extreme Fighting cage fight mind you, but a possibly stabbed-in-the-hand-if-you-touch-that-last-shrimp sort of fight. ...continue reading about Salt and Pepper Shrimp...
Tofu Parmigiana
This dish could possibly make you an Italian! If you have a meat eater (or you are a stinkin’ tofu holdout) that still thinks tofu can’t be prepared in a truly exceptional way then I challenge you to make this dish. This will slap some Sicilian in your family tree totally silly. ...continue reading about Tofu Parmigiana...
Mock Chicken Tortilla Soup with Tofu
This mock chicken tortilla soup with tofu is mock because it doesn’t contain chicken meat and doesn’t contain any tortilla chips. That’s kind of a stretch for a tortilla soup, I know. This is a very hearty dish with the potato and to make a more authentic soup, the potato can be omitted. Living in Texas, we have a strong Mexican influence and many restaurants that serve “the best” tortilla soup. ...continue reading about Mock Chicken Tortilla Soup with Tofu...
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