Roasted Squash-Onion Lasagna

No rambling today- just food, glorious food. This is all about a lasagna that is dreamy and cheesy. Lasagnas have many pros (crowd-pleasing, can be assembled ahead of time, one dish feeds a crowd, lend themselves to much creativity by way of vegetables, cheeses and sauces that can be used) and, in my mind, one glaring con (don't like boiling lasagna noodles). I got scalded some years ago while

Suralichi Wadi

While samosas and pakodas have become international sensations and are on everyone's lips (literally and figuratively), there are quite a few Indian snacks that would be unfamiliar to many people: this post is about one such snack. Let's see...how should I describe suralichi wadi to someone who may not have seen it before? Think of a Swiss roll; only the "cake" is a silky, thin sheet of cooked

Weekend Stuff

I was watching a documentary on TV where they were showing sled dogs racing along in Alaska. I pointed out to Dale that so many dogs have to work hard for a living, and maybe it is time for him to get off the couch and get a job and stop being such a freeloader. His response: *** *** ***Here's a little update of the recipes that I have been trying from fellow bloggers...1. Dahi Vada without the

Pillowy Goodness: Laadi Pav

A few weeks ago, as we were relaxing at home in the evening, the doorbell rang and I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was only some friends dropping in but the reason for my startled jumpy response was a simple one: no one *ever* comes to the door here. This is in stark contrast to homes in India, where my general experience is that there is not a moment's silence from dawn to dusk as a

Tea-Tinged Truffles

I'm still in the midst of "eating down the pantry", as Lydia put it, although I did go shopping for some perishables like eggs and milk last night. Meanwhile, let me tell you about these chocolate truffles that I made as a contribution to the New Years Eve feast that our neighbor had invited us to. Now that I have discovered how easy and fun it is to make confections at home, I can't seem to

Warming Garlic-Onion Soup

Blog-related cooking is a bit slow around here this week. This is because I am doing a little pantry clean-up cooking. Somehow, over the months, so much food has gathered in my refrigerator, freezer and pantry, and some more comes in every weekend as I go grocery shopping. For the last couple of weeks, I have been cooking entirely from the food I already have in the house. Just because dried

Melt-in-the-Mouth Morsels

*Thank you*, all you lovely people who humored my silliness and participated in the guessing game. I think people were expecting a vegetable hiding in there for sure, because so many of the guesses were sweet potato, potato, butternut squash, pumpkin, plantain, banana, eggplant, yam. Some of the more exotic guesses were tapioca, tofu, leek, peanut butter, tahini, coconut...and others thought it

Guess?

Care to guess what the main ingredient is?Jan 6th: The guessing game is over! See answer and recipe here. I'll leave you with some gratuitous pictures of Dale Doggy Dogg. Have a great weekend!

Recipe Writing: Part 2

This article was previously posted on the Dining Hall forum. Welcome to the second half of the Recipe-Writing column. In the first half of this article, we looked at (a) why recipe writing is worth thinking about in the first place, (b) crediting the source of the recipe, (c) the ingredient list, and (d) accessorizing a recipe. In this article, let's talk a little bit about (a) the method section

Recipe Writing: Part 1

This article was previously posted on the Dining Hall forum. Recipe writing is an important component of food blogging. We invest a great deal of time in typing out recipes and posting them, for ourselves and for others. For many of us, our food blog becomes our own easy-to-access recipe notebook. Noting down traditional family and regional recipes and seeing them in black-and-white print

A Leeky Pasta Bowl

The Allium Family- Gomez, Morticia, Pugsley, Wednesday, Uncle Fester and Lurch Onions, Garlic, Chives, Leeks, Shallots and Scallions. Each word evokes the promise of a savory and aromatic morsel. All this month, the alliums are going to be the "flavor of the month" on One Hot Stove. Three of the family members- onions, garlic and scallions- are near and dear to me; I have them stocked in my