This salad has everything, and this everything goes well together. And I can eat it every day. Seriously. The recipe is from Google+’s very own master chef +Kevin Lynch, at Closet Cooking.

Sorry about the poor quality photo – low lighting at night. The salad did not survive until the next day, of course.

http://www.closetcooking.com/2016/06/grilled-chicken-and-asparagus-caprese.html

Feta & potatoes are THE flavor combo of my childhood, when my grandma regularly made the Bulgarian version of au gratin (with potatoes, feta and eggs), so this recipe is slightly nostalgic. The sumac gives an exotic Near/Far East element, and the basil is here for color, I presume. Didn’t add red peppers, cause that would have Balkanized the whole thing too much.

This is a BBC Good Foods creation:
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/jacket-potato-whipped-feta-sumac

Recently got The Jewlish Cookbook, a Kickstarter project that makes traditional Jewish recipes from all over the world seem easy. This is basically sheets of matzah covered in toffee, melted chocolate, pine nuts, walnuts and flakes of sea salt. It was a messy first attempt, but one that can be improved upon. The toffee makes it a bit too sweet, so next time there will be a correction. I couldn’t cut my pieces straight after freezing, but I like their “rustic” rough edges more!

Here is the recipe: https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/chocolate-toffee-matzo-crunch/

Or, “Fiori di Zucca”, and a second photo of where they come from. It’s actually pretty hard to convince your vegetable-growing family to spare some blossoms, so I am very thankful I was able to try this. You need blossoms that haven’t spread open yet and you stuff them – either with ricotta, or mozzarella (or I have even tried it with shrimp in a restaurant). Then you dip them in a mixture of eggs and flour, and you deep fry. Sprinkle some balsamic reduction (if you have any) and fresh herbs on top. A wonderful Italian thing, attempted in the Bulgarian countryside 🙂

I saw this dish at a diner in Fort Lauderdale, but recently I ran across a similar recipe where you make your corned beef from scratch, and you use cabbage rather than sauerkraut. The dipping sauce is a homemade Thousand Island here, but in the video it is dill-based. Either way the idea is simple – the toppings of a Reuben sandwich go into an egg roll skin which you then deep fry.

For the more elaborate treatment, go here: https://www.tastemade.com/videos/corned-beef-and-cabbage-egg-rolls

I always thought “red velvet” was supposed to have a particular flavor, but it turns out the red in red velvet was actually coming from the color of cacao back in the days (less processed, raw-er(?)). The cream cheese sauce I made by mixing cream cheese with condensed milk (I know, a cheat, but one that made sense), and the strawberry comes from some preserves. Used some natural red coloring (from vegetables, boy, is it expensive!), which only made the pancakes pink, but with some cocoa powder, the velvet hues finally came out.

Of course the pancakes do become brown at the edges, but there is still a lot of luscious red to go around elsewhere.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/red-velvet-pancakes-3361986

Publix Supermarkets will occasionally surprise me with a super cool (literally) recipe like this. They have a whole ‘peach soup’ series, as a matter of fact. I would put more peaches and less peppers, if I had to amend this particular recipe, by the way. And the chipotle spice? I think it brings the whole thing to life 🙂

https://www.publix.com/recipes-planning/aprons-recipes/grilled-peach-gazpacho

This used to be what I always ordered from lunch at my go-to joint in Downtown Miami – La Loggia. Orecchiette (little ears) pasta so the chunky sauce can be scooped up better, roasted eggplant, pancetta, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and pink sauce. Since I no longer work there, I had to resort to a nostalgic remake of sorts. No recipe involved, just improv.

My first try wasn’t spectacular in terms of form – the poor thing cracked in 2 places when I moved it to the plate. But I guess that’s why the Pavlova is usually covered with cream and fruit 😉 The recipe I originally wanted to follow was in Italian, but I wasn’t confident in the google translation so I went with Ina Garten’s recipe and just used the toppings suggested in the Italian version. The whole thing with adding cherry preserves to the merengue must be some dark magic, because when I added a fruit spread to mine it didn’t streak well (I mean just look at the Italian recipe’s photo!) and it produced an oozy layer of syrupy goo at the base of the Pavlova after baking. Oh well. Tastewise though, I have no complaints.

Here are both recipes:

http://oggipanesalamedomani.it/2017/06/16/pavlova-con-ciliegie/
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/mixed-berry-pavlova-recipe-1948158

This wasn’t supposed to end up as such a crazy combination – it started as fascination with the kimchi quesadilla menu item on Temple Street Eatery’s menu. When my friend Missiellaneous finished her first batch of insane homemade kimchi, I thought the time has come for me to try to replicate the quesadilla at home. Then, came the cauliflower tortillas concept, which are sooo tasty AND gluten free, and then finally, came the smoky chia cheese (brand Heidi Ho, which just begged to be experimented with!). The lemongrass chicken is just what I thought would complement the Asian fusion theme best – it is chopped rotisserie chicken with lemongrass and sweet chili sauce.

The tortillas can be tricky. You really have to squeeze out ALL of the moisture, and preferably bake them right after mixing in the eggs.
http://www.recipegirl.com/2014/05/05/cauliflower-tortillas/

The smoky cheese is more sauce than stretchy cheese, but it is vegan after all
http://vegancheesetasting.com/2015/07/21/heidi-ho/ and deeply smoky.

And the Kimchi…you can top the quesadillas with any kind of kimchi, but the gingery homemade one Missiellaneous made truly is the bestest.