By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Columnist These green beans are perfect for a potluck; the beans themselves are blanched and shocked and then they will easily keep for a day in your refrigerator. The keys to successful blanching are to use a very large pot of well-salted water so theContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Columnist This simple, warming side dish goes well with mac and cheese or a rustic soup and salad. It might be just the ticket to converting a confirmed Brussels sprout hater into a true believer. I’ve also been known to fry up a plate justContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Correspondent When you want to serve bread with dinner, the two obvious options are to buy a nice artisan loaf, or make your own yeast bread — which is terrific, but not something we all make time for, or think about far enough in advance.Continue Reading
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Columnist An all-out hanukkah latke binge is something I look forward to every year, and I’m a purist. Please do not darken my doorstep with tales of pumpkin-chipotle latkes or Thai-spice latkes. For me, a latke should contain: Russet potato, onion, egg, salt, and beContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Columnist Spaghetti alla carbonara is one of those great Italian dishes that comes with multiple-choice apocryphal explanations for the name. Possibly it is in the style favored by a group of charcoal makers, or coal miners, or maybe it was named after the charcoal burnerContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Columnist From May through October, we have a farmer’s market just a couple of blocks from my house. Our regular ritual is to swing by in the afternoon, select what looks great, then walk home and figure out what to cook with our bounty. IfContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Columnist Rosh Hashanah is right around the corner, and what could be more appropriate for the New Year than a dessert featuring honey as well as egg-rich crepes? You can even substitute apples for the plums if you’d like to add another traditional element. IContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Columnist Every gardener loves to lament that they get overrun with zucchini and have to resort to baking too much zucchini bread or, worse, ringing the doorbell, dashing and leaving them on people’s doorsteps. Well, let me tell you: You’re doing it wrong. The wayContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Columnist Chimichurri is the quintessential sauce of Argentina, and deserves to be better known in the northerly climes. It is somewhat like an Italian pesto, but made from parsley, and without the cheese or nuts to thicken it. Like pesto, it comes together in aContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Columnist Green garlic is one of those wonderful farmer’s market ingredients. You don’t often see it at grocery stores, but it’s at every market in the early summer months, where it overlaps with last year’s storage potatoes. Green garlic is simply the shoot of anContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin, Jewish Sound Columnist This salad is great to have in your back pocket for those potlucks and picnics that are starting to pop up on your calendar. It is easy to make, light and healthy, and packed with flavor that adults will love, but manageable for kidsContinue Reading
A Spanish tortilla is nothing like a Mexican tortilla. In Spain, a tortilla is a thick potato and egg omelet. Tortilla is perfect for Passover because it is parve, and can be made well ahead and served cool or quickly rewarmed for an easy lunch or appetizer. The most commonContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin, JTNews Columnist This refreshing celery and fennel salad is a riff on one that I had at Bastille in Ballard. Their celery salad had tiny pumpernickel croutons and baby artichokes. The one I’ve got for you today has fennel instead of the artichokes, and shaved frozen blueContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin , JTNews Columnist Hopefully we are at a point now where it is no longer considered a faux pas to actually cook a vegetable. I know there was a time when all vegetables were indiscriminately boiled to death. Then came the rebellion, and all vegetables had toContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin , JTNews Columnist Meze is the Mediterranean tradition of a meal made of several small plates. To make a nice meze, you can make a couple of items from scratch and fill out the spread with warm pita bread, quick marinated feta, good olives, store-bought hummus orContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin , JTNews Columnist Things this soup will not do: Win any beauty contests. Things this soup will do: Warm you to your core on a cold day. Nourish you. Fill your belly. Leave you with an abiding sense of contentment. Possibly wash and fold your clothes. ThisContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin , JTNews Columnist Arancini. “Little oranges.” Only these guys aren’t quite so healthy as a piece of citrus. They are actually balls of risotto, stuffed with molten cheese, rolled in breadcrumbs and deep fried, which makes them a perfect change of pace for Hanukkah. Arancini are traditionallyContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin , JTNews Columnist Homemade minestrone has got to be one of the best rainy day foods in the world. Living in Seattle, we’ve got ample opportunity to test that theory. It is certainly miles beyond the canned version. Add a glass of wine and a couple ofContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin, JTNews Columnist Cooking pasta by the absorption method instead of boiling in a gallon of salted water may seem scary if you grew up with noodle orthodoxy, but it actually works great and can be a big time saver. You don’t have to wait for water toContinue Reading
By Michael Natkin , JTNews Columnist We all know we should eat more whole grains, but sometimes they don’t complement the rest of a meal. They work best when you don’t try to use them as a substitute for refined starches. Whole grains tend to have a nuttier, heartier andContinue Reading
