Ripe-to-bursting tomatoes meet bread that’s seen better days, and you have a recipe for summer romance. Actually, you have a recipe for panzanella, Italy’s classic bread salad. Across the Middle East, they make a tomato-bread salad using old pita and call it fattoush. In Tunisia, they call it blankit. In fact, traditional cuisines of all…
Banana Bread
Everyone has a banana bread recipe. But they’re not my grandmother’s recipe. Hers was the first banana bread I ever tasted, and it spoiled me for any other. It was tender, moist, banana-intense, racy with vanilla, homey, and comforting. As a child, it did not occur to me banana bread could be otherwise. But as…
Keeping it Cool with Ajo Blanco
It’s July in Miami, and the temperatures are crazy-hot pretty much everywhere. Cool things down with Spain’s summer classic, Ajo Blanco. It translates literally as white garlic, but don’t panic, the garlic flavor is mild in this chilled soup, and the texture is lush and velvety, thanks to almonds and old bread. Ajo Blanco, aka…
Cornbread
This is my go-to cornbread recipe, whether I’m feeding 30 for Thanksgiving, or just my husband and me on a rainy Tuesday night. It’s quick and easy to make, crusty on the top, fluffy inside, buttery-tasting through and through, and vegan, of course. How are you celebrating Thanksgiving? Are you celebrating? Covid has stolen…
Life (and Granny Cake) During Wartime: What a Vintage Recipe Can Teach Us About Doing More With Less
Miami is the COVID epicenter now, and everyone’s on edge. It feels a little like wartime. Not all wars are fought on the battlefield. Some are fought — and won — on the home front. So maybe it’s no coincidence that when researching ideas for my conscious cookery series, I came across a vintage wartime…
Pappa Al Pomodoro: A New Life for Old Bread | Conscious Cookery Day 6
Pappa Al Pomodoro is a soup for everyone made with old bread and bursting with flavor. This soup is a great way to reduce waste and increase consciousness. Before Covid-19 changed our world, many Americans were avidly anti-bread, following Paleo, Keto and gluten-free diets. Sheltering in place has brought out everyone’s inner baker. It’s as…
