Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas and Preserved Lemon
25 Jan 2018

Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas and Preserved Lemon

by | posted in: Beans, gluten-free, Grains, Recipes, Sides & Salads, vegan, vegetarian | 18

There’s evil starches, then there’s good-for-you starches, from a modern-day health perspective. White potatoes are roundly shunned as one of those bad, rotten, festering ones of the bunch, bound to metastasize into a gummy tube of fat around your waistline. Refined white flours are bad, too, if you can even eat them without experiencing painful gluten intolerances! Now, I will never call either of these types of food “bad” entirely, but the bright side to these diet trends is discovering a … Read More

Curried Sweet Potato Dumplings
22 Nov 2016

Curried Sweet Potato Dumplings

by | posted in: Dumplings, Sides & Salads, vegan, vegetarian | 4

The All-American meal is upon us: Thanksgiving. Apple pie, turkey and cranberry sauce; mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing. I have always been intrigued by this holiday meal because even though I was born and raised in America, none of these things were really familiar to my palate except for once a year, on Thanksgiving. (A phenomenon also discussed by Andrew of the blog Beyond Chinatown, who compiled some great interviews on the Chinese American Thanksgiving here.) But as I’ve learned through the years, … Read More

Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Chili Flakes and Fresh Herbs (Not-Candied Not-Yams)
26 Nov 2013

Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Chili Flakes and Fresh Herbs (Not-Candied Not-Yams)

by | posted in: gluten-free, Recipes, Sides & Salads, vegan, vegetarian | 2

Maybe I’m just not understanding something. But when a vegetable is so naturally sweet as to have “sweet” in its name, why smother them with marshmallows and syrupy goo? It’s like sprinkling salt on your prosciutto or lox. I know it’s tradition, but “candied yams” can go with dessert then. For the main meal, why not roast some sunny-orange slices with savory herbs and a hint of spice?

Spelt Pilaf with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Ras el Hanout
18 Mar 2013

Spelt Pilaf with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Ras el Hanout

by | posted in: gluten-free, Grains, Recipes, Sides & Salads, vegan, vegetarian | 3

A touch of spice makes everything nice. That, and a lightly fried egg whose richness bathes everything in sticky bliss. The prongs of your fork will be cloying this substance, well after you’re done eating and trying to rinse it free. It doesn’t take much to make one simple brunch so memorable, and linger on in your tastebuds, if not also your silverware.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Arugula and Hazelnuts
6 Nov 2009

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Arugula and Hazelnuts

by | posted in: Pasta & Noodles, Recipes, vegetarian | 30

If there was one thing you could eat every day, for the rest of the days of your life, it probably wouldn’t be arugula. If asked to name a potato preference, sweet ones would rarely take the cake. I’m going to wager that one’s favorite pasta or starch substance isn’t typically gnocchi. And when you feel like a nut, hazelnut isn’t the first type that springs to mind. Yet in this dish of culinary underdogs, there’s another unsung aspect about the ingredients: these … Read More

Candied Sweet Potato Ricotta Tart
27 Dec 2008

Candied Sweet Potato Ricotta Tart

by | posted in: Desserts, Pies, Recipes | 5

Happy holidays, food lovers. I hope everyone’s had their fill of celebratory treats both sweet and savory. No? Well, there’s another holiday coming up in a few days, the eclipse of 2008, but that one’s less about food (or holiness) than drink. Perhaps you, like I, are still looking forward to serious snacking on New Year’s Eve, but sense that you’ve maxed out on your monthly caloric intake. Instead of leftover fruitcake, this healthy sweet potato tart might appeal to … Read More

Curried Sweet Potato Soup
30 Mar 2008

Curried Sweet Potato Soup

by | posted in: gluten-free, Recipes, Soups & Stews, vegan, vegetarian | 20

Seasonality is often a blessing in disguise. Just as much as anyone else, I’ve been chomping at the bit for summer produce to arrive, if not the whole shebang then at least some of the early spring greens. But we seem to be in limbo this weekend in late March: no peas in the pod yet, no sugar snaps or asparagus. No tender dandelion leaves to forage yet in no lush parks. When I arrived at the Grand Army Plaza … Read More

Sweet Potato Chips and Sour Green Dip
6 Feb 2007

Sweet Potato Chips and Sour Green Dip

by | posted in: gluten-free, Recipes, vegan, vegetarian | 4

This is probably two days past the point to bother saying, but I don’t really do football. I just don’t watch it. And I don’t feel left out of an annual popular culture event by not going to a Super Bowl party, sitting on a friend’s couch and routing for a team, catching the first glimpse of all the “great” commercials, and snacking on endless bowls and mountains of appetizers: tasty fried, stuffed, dipped, blanketed morsels. Okay, maybe I feel … Read More

Pasta with Roasted Sweet Potato and Beurre Blanc
21 Jan 2007

Pasta with Roasted Sweet Potato and Beurre Blanc

by | posted in: Pasta & Noodles, Recipes, vegetarian | 6

Of course, I have been discovering all the classic French sauces with the help of my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and am scandalized by the amounts of butter and fats they require. I just have never cooked (aside from baking) with that much butter before. My immediate thoughts: was I really eating that every time I went to a French restaurant? Was that why it tasted so good and…French? So when I felt like coating my … Read More