Not Your Standard Rice Cakes
This recipe makes use of leftover risotto to fry up crispy-creamy risotto cakes, bursting with oozing mozzarella cheese and accompanied with a flavorful yogurt-based dip.
Category Archives: Nuts, Grains & Legumes
Paydirt
Tucking golden beets into a creamy porcini mushroom risotto with sage-buttered salmon was an excellent way to acclimate my palate to their earthy flavor.
Creamy Beany Goodness
Butter-baked wild salmon pairs up with buttery lima bean puree and glazed carrots.
Baghali Polo
A Persian crispy rice dish with creamy lima beans, aromatic dill, and meltingly tender chicken.
Great Gallopin’ Grapevines, Batman!
Dolmades two ways: an impromptu riff with collard greens and leftover bulgar pilaf, and a more traditional version with fresh grape leaves and a vegetarian filling.
Clucks and Tostones
A meal inspired by Puerto Rico: simply stewed chicken, yellow rice and beans, and the pièce de résistance, crisp salty tostones (fried plantains).
Three Uses for Yogurt
Several uses for that homemade yogurt, including creamy polenta, tender Greek-style chicken skewers, and cherry-berry fro-yo.
Leaving the House of Orange
A democratic, if not Protestant, quinoa pilaf incorporates purple carrots, turnip, leftover chicken, and fresh arugula, with a garnish of crispy kale chips.
Mess o’ Greens Revisited
A nutty quinoa-rosemary tart crust encloses a colorful, piquant filling of turnip greens. I paired this elegant vegetarian pastry with tangy-sweet barbecue pork, made with homemade sauce and redeemed from a disappointing grilled recipe.
Cuban Pork and Beans
Cuban-influenced braised pork combines with black beans in this flavorful, but not spicy, chili. I served it over rice, with super-simple baked corn chips for crunch.
Moghrabieh with Levantine Roast Chicken
I took inspiration from moghrabieh, a pea-sized Lebanese semolina couscous, serving it with a roast chicken rubbed with Levantine spices and basted with lemon juice.
Almond Maple Granola
An old favorite granola recipe: just sweet enough, with great crunch and infinitely adaptable. This version features almonds, coconut, and vanilla.
Feeding My Bread Fiends
Prosciutto-wrapped salmon was the main course, but hearty white bean ragout and home-baked bread stole the show. A drizzle of balsamic reduction ties all the Italian elements together.
The Full Montée
The May 2010 Daring Bakers challenge featured the croquembouche, a tower of cream puffs glued together with caramel or chocolate ganache. I filled my choux puffs with chocolate and vanilla praline pastry cream based on…
Thin Wheats
A homemade version of the popular Wheat Thin crackers, perfect for snacking.
B’stilla-dillo
I didn't expect to enjoy this unlikely mixture of ground beef, Moroccan spices, dates, capers, and almonds, but it was the perfect balance of salty, savory, sweet, and crunchy. I paired it with couscous and…
From Vienna to Dal
This smooth red lentil soup is seasoned with garam masala and other Indian spices, and garnished with dollops of garlicky yogurt and a rice timbale.
Chocolate Bellyflop
The October 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured that delicate and refined French confection, the macaron. My ganache-filled chocolate macarons in no way resembled the classic cookie, but they still tasted great.
Purple Pinto Eater
A delicious stewy Italian soup made from homemade pasta and the elusive fresh shelling beans, in this case purple-tinged rattlesnake beans.
Divide and Conquer
Two recipes for boneless leg of lamb: First, grilled butterflied lamb with a hoisin glaze, served with sauteed mushrooms; then, Moroccan kebabs grilled with zucchini chunks and served over pistachio-date couscous.