Andalusian Gazpacho & Catalan Vegetable Paella

Tonight’s dinner brought me back to my trip with my daughters to Barcelona last November.  Or, should I say, MAKING tonight’s dinner brought me back to our cooking class in Barcelona. I even used the recipe for gazpacho that Emily made that night. But tonight we served it in glasses. As our main meal I…

Mirza Qasemi

After refining my kabob recipe, it was time to delve blindly into a Persian dish I have never had, little less even seen a picture for. But the ingredients are good as well as the prescribed cooking method, so I figured I would try… It all started with eggplant from my garden. Add in tomatoes from my…

Joojeh Kabob (Persian Chicken Kabob)…Revisited

I decided to revisit my recipe for joojeh kabob by making it more my own recipe, adding more flavors to the marinade to make it brighter (garlic and lemon). I also wanted to show how to make it in the broiler – which is as easy as making it on the grill.  The main difference…

Tomato, Cucumber & Feta Salad

Midsummer + garden = tomato cucumber salads = heaven! This one got the added benefit of baby red onions from the garden as well. The onions were added as part of a greek feta dressing. This salad makes a great side dish for a light summer dinner, such as with the zucchini kuku below. Tomato, Cucumber…

Zucchini Bread Waffles

“These are the best waffles ever!!” – was my 7 year old’s reaction after his first bite.  And that was after complaining that he did not want waffles for breakfast today. I have been busy making zucchini breads – our one “must have” each summer.  Slowly filling the freezer with them.  I usually also make zucchini bread…

Salmon and Feta Pie

I really did not think I would be sharing this with you.  I mean, really, a salmon pie? But I couldn’t resist trying it, it did have feta in it after all. How can something with feta be bad? Well, not only was it not bad, it was really good! Even my 7 year-old enjoyed it,…

Korean-style Cucumber Salad

While cucumbers are plentiful in my garden we enjoy refreshing cucumber salads  (my son just eats the cukes straight up). I was making Korean grilled chicken skewers for dinner, so of course we needed a Korean-style cucumber salad. By the way, the dakkochi (skewered chicken) was delicious.  Click here for the recipe from Closetcooking.  I…

Watermelon and Blue Cheese Salad

Refreshing decadence! Not much more to say than that.  Enjoy! Ok, there’s more to say.  But mostly about the watermelon.  Several years ago the Magee’s hired me to help them apply to use an historic farm property for a farm market and u-pick. We were successful and over the past few years they have built…

Kuku-ye Kadoo (Persian Zucchini Omelet)

Italians have their frittata, Spaniards have tortillas, and Persians have kukus. They are all similar, yet distinct from each other.  The kuku gets its flavor from saffron – which is ground with sugar and dissolved in hot water. My first introduction to the kuku was the second night during my first trip to Iran.  It…

Khoresh-e Holu (Persian Peach and Chicken Stew)

There was a freeze this spring that hurt central Delaware’s peach harvest.  But seemingly not so to the north and south of us.  I was able to pick up some great peaches from Milburn Orchards in Elkton, MD. Some went into a salad at lunch time, some will be eaten ripe and juicy, but these…