Sauces + Dressings

Summer is all about easy, often healthy(er) recipes and limited prep time. In warmer months most of us naturally gravitate to lighter meals with more fresh vegetables and often less carbs. I aspire to cook like this as much as possible, year-round because I honestly feel better, health-wise, doing so. But truthfully, this is easier […]

Crab Louie salad, (pronounced LOO-ey), known also as, “the king of salads“, is a well-known dish, most food historians agree, first began appearing on menus of finer West Coast restaurants, sometime between the turn of the 20th century and World War I. Dig a little deeper and you find the first printed recipe for the […]

This cabbage and kale slaw is all about simple flavors I love, and can’t get enough of. Sadly, despite its run of fame, kale still gets a bit of a bad rap. But to be frank, I think that has to do with two things in particular: (1) cleaning it and (2) good flavor balance. […]

The Cobb salad is an American classic and one of the first salads I was introduced to as a kid. It was and remains, the perfect salad. A Cobb is a beautiful, bountiful salad representing a symphony of flavors and textures. Eating a Cobb salad is never a chore, but rather a culinary experience. To […]

This simple recipe has a story to it. This seared tuna salad is a dish I ate almost nightly when I managed a restaurant in NYC years ago. It was my go-to meal of choice, not only because I’m a big tuna fan, but because it is incredibly easy (and fast) to make. Most importantly, […]

Fresh tomato salsa is a favorite condiment of mine and one I’ve been making a ton lately. This often-overlooked side dip is easy, flavorful, and incredibly adaptable. Salsa is a simple combination of chilies, tomatoes, and other spices that have been around for centuries. Food historians can trace a form of salsa back to the […]

My husband loves harissa and I have to credit him for exposing me to it. Maybe you’ve had it and loved it, maybe you had it and had no idea you had it, or maybe you’ve never heard of it till now. Harissa is, in a nutshell, a spicy, flavorful condiment and can be a […]

Not all salads are created equal. Some are complex, with many competing flavors and others are simple and subtle. In the salad world, both are needed. This is a simple one; a lovely butter lettuce and watercress salad with a creamy walnut dressing. Now don’t misunderstand me, by “simple” I don’t mean boring, I mean […]

They say pesto sauce originated in Genoa, the capital city of Liguria, Italy.  But this simple sauce can actually be traced to the ancient Romans. Romans made a very similar dish called “moretum,” a spread made of garlic, cheese, herbs, olive oil, vinegar, and salt. Another influential sauce was “agliata“, a garlic sauce, common during the […]

This was a request from my husband. My husband is notorious for coming home from a business trip suggesting recipes for me to develop, based on something he’s had. This was a simple one, but not all are. I’m already a huge salad person, so a homemade dressing did not take too much convincing. I […]

Oh my, do I love apples and apple sauce!  Homemade apple sauce, I should add. Making your own apple sauce for the upcoming Hanukkah holiday is to me as important as making your own cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving–it’s critical. It also does not take much time or effort. Apples in season do the hard work […]

Chef and restaurateur Sondra Bernstein, founder of Sonoma’s wildly popular wine country farm-to-table eatery The girl & the fig, is my featured Changemaker for November. Bernstein, whose mantra is “doing one thing is boring,” is someone I have long admired. A one-woman show, Bernstein is credited with “putting Sonoma County on the big-league culinary map 20 years ago […]

I have not been shy about my love of salads. I am, however, an admitted salad snob. My husband agrees. I like my salads to taste good and to look good. Appearance matters. Making a salad look appetizing should not be that complicated: vegetables in their natural states are inherently pretty, given the variety of […]

Sweet, tangy, sticky goodness: that is what BBQ sauce is to me. BBQ sauce is synonymous with summertime, backyard barbecues, and easy cooking.  Seriously, who does not love this American favorite slathered-on ribs, chicken, or brisket?  My older son has never really been a BBQ sauce fan, but then I made him taste my sauce. […]

Who does not love ranch dressing? Ok, some out there don’t, I’m sure, but it can’t be many. Ranch is one of the most popular salad dressings out there. It is also a popular dip for vegetables, and even for mozzarella sticks if you are my thirteen years old son. Where did this popular dressing […]