It’s time for Shepherd’s Pie again! This is an old recipe from a vegetarian cookbook we wrote together a few years ago (nope, we are not vegetarians, just don’t want to eat meat every day). It’s made with brown lentils instead of meat and mashed potatoes with mustard. Very comforting! It’s still one of our […] Read more…
We’ll celebrate this Thanksgiving with our dear American friends, just like we did last year. I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate this explicitly American holiday! This year my friend Maren and I decided to cook some of the dishes together, like the turkey and her mother’s delicious cranberry chutney. She will take […] Read more…
I think fall is my favorite season here in DC. The sunlight that filters through the colored leaves of the trees…I could just stare at it for hours. And it’s pumpkin time! I love the wide range of pumpkin varieties offered at my farmers’ markets and my grocery store. We don’t have such a large […] Read more…
Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), wish we had this tradition in my country! I think it’s fascinating and beautiful. Is there a better way to remember and honor your deceased loved ones than by celebrating, drinking, eating, and telling stories? And how special it is that families congregate in graveyards at night, Read more…
Let’s talk about a happy marriage: celery root and apple. They complement each other, balance each other out, and bring out the best in each other. What else can I say? This classic combination works especially well in soups and purees. Well, there was still a celery root sitting in my fridge when my youngest […] Read more…
Treasure hunting at the local food market: I came home with a bag of dark red onions. They were very fresh, small and not as tasteless as some of the larger ones you often find at the supermarket. Red onions, I love ’em, and the smaller the better. Here in Berlin we love to eat […] Read more…
Maris lives in France but is the successful Dutch author of a comprehesive book on vegetables: the Groentebijbel (The Vegetable Bible). Wish we had known her before! For apart from having a chambre d’hộte, she has, without our knowing about it, been serving wonderful French meals in her beautiful garden almost ‘around the corner’ from […] Read more…
Those chilly days! I really like fall, it’s a beautiful season not only because of all the pumpkins you can buy. Here in Berlin, the most common pumpkin is the orange hokkaido, which is a good one to cook with because it doesn’t need peeling if you buy an organic one. And fresh ginger root […] Read more…
Recently, we were invited over for dinner at a friends’ house. My friend asked me if I could bring something vegetarian as she had also invited some people who didn’t eat meat. I immediately thought of my Spanakopita, an old time family favorite. This Greek vegetable pie is Read more…
Local eggplants are still around and beautiful. At my farmers’ market they sell them in different sizes and shades of purple. When I think of eggplant, I immediately think of one of my favorite dishes: Melanzane alla Parmigiana, Eggplant Parmesan. Unfortunately, this traditional vegetarian oven dish isn’t ready in a flash, that’s why I often […] Read more…