Stone fruit and corn on the cob are piled high at the market now, celebrating the last soft days of summer. I wanted to create a salad using these wonderful foods with a zippy vinaigrette to complement their sweet flavors. According to my family members, I succeeded, in spades.
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I am now in my 70th year and this is the first can of SPAM that I have purchased in my entire life. My Mom never fed it to me as a child growing up in Minnesota in the 1950s, even though I was born in 1945, the year World War 2 ended. It was during…
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Romesco, Romesco. Wherefore art thou, Romesco? Oops, I was getting a little silly there. I’m over it now. Continuing on -. Romesco sauce originated in Tarragona, Catalonia, in northeastern Spain. Fishermen made this sauce to eat with fish, but once made, it can be used in salads, with grilled veggies, meat, chicken, stirred into fish stews,…
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What is a tagine, anyway? Well, it’s a Moroccan cooking pot, the ones you’ve seen with the conical tops, and it’s also the dish that is cooked in said pot. However, you can also cook a tagine in a covered casserole, a Dutch oven or a crockpot. It’s a long braise over low heat, with the…
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I think this is one of the best picnic and BBQ party salads of all time. It is one of those dishes that once you start eating it, you can’t stop, because there is something about that sweet vinegary garlicy flavor that is just addicting. It has soft beans, crunchy beans, celery and onions, plus a…
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These Panuchos have been on my bucket list of recipes for over three years. They were on the cover of the March 2012 issue of Sunset Magazine, and the minute I saw those beautiful colors, I was hooked. The Yucatan-style tostadas are the specialty of Chef Gilberto Cetina at his L.A. restaurant Chichen Itza and when…
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Hi everyone! I have just been through a harrowing 2 weeks, which had nothing to do with food, cooking or my blog. But I thought you might be interested in knowing why I haven’t been posting for such a long time. My car was stolen! From right in front of my house!
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It was once again time to go through the pantry and check all the expiration dates, resulting in a number of Bob’s Red Mill grains that I need to use up pretty soon. White rice flour, spelt berries, semolina flour, wheat germ and corn grits. Don’t you just love Bob’s Red Mill products? I decided to…
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This recipe has been a total inspiration for me. It’s little Duchesse potato bites with the spicy smokey dipping sauce would make a yummy hors d’oeuvre, but the flavor notes of Pecorino Romano cheese and smoky paprika would suggest a French or Italian menu to follow. So then I started imagining the dinner party these would…
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If you had to guess how much liquid is in a spoonful of soup, what would you say? A teaspoon? Tablespoon? Well, when I eat this Thai Curry Beef Stew, I ask myself, how can so much flavor be contained in one little spoonful. How can there be such depth and complexity in that small amount…
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Do you ever go through your pantry and check all the expiration dates to see what you need to use up? Well, that’s how I happened to be making a red lentil salad. The weather was hot and I didn’t feel like soup, so salad it was. For me, there are three nice things about red…
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The first time I ate Picadillo was in 1972. I had some neighbors from Costa Rica who invited me over for dinner, and served a diced potato and minced steak picadillo, sort of like hash. I didn’t know much about cooking back in those days, so my memory of dinner isn’t crystal clear. It was over…
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Hello! My name is Lynne Hemer, and I am a woman obsessed with food and cooking, in search of new, unusual, exotic, and sublime ingredients and recipes. I love reading cookbooks, taking cooking classes, going to restaurants, photographing food, and blogging about it all! I hope you enjoy my website as much as I enjoyed creating it.
Feel free to contact me at lynne@cookandbemerry.com
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