Dinner with Kirsten

I love minestrone soup, and this version is quick, easy and healthy, making it a perfect weeknight meal. You can mix and match different seasonal vegetables and make it with or without meat, but don’t leave out the kale.
I didn’t even realize I liked kale until I tried this recipe. This member of the cabbage […]

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My family always used to have Sunday suppers at my grandparents’ house when I was young. I remember the smell of roast pork, sour kraut and dumplings washing over me as I stepped into their house. “Sunday is family day,” my Mom would say, whenever I wanted to plan weekend activities with friends. But I […]

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I eat zucchini as part of almost every meal, especially in the summer. Geoff is getting tired of it. But this stuffed version is a great change from my normal steamed or sautéed dishes. A meatloaf-like filling is piled into the hollowed-out squash and baked until the topping is crispy and the zucchini is tender. […]

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I’m so proud of this dish that I’ve rattled off instructions on how to make it to a handful of people, including the check-out guy at Trader Joe’s. It’s one of those golden main courses that can be made a million different ways, depending on the ingredients you have handy and what you feel like […]

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My idea of a “diet” is eating more apples than donuts on any given day. But it’s swimming suit season once again, that time of year when winter’s excesses are destined to be displayed for fellow beach-goers, making me wonder if I had to eat quite so many cookies and burgers this year. So anyway, […]

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I’m a sucker for a good time gimmick. I used to watch Rachael Ray’s Food Network show 30 Minute Meals, just waiting for the episode when she would be forced to turn to the camera and say, “Whoop-see! Guess we’re out of time!”
That’s why, unless it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas, I always flip to the “quick […]

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I’m a bit of a risotto snob. Reality television cooking shows have fostered this arrogant “I know what risotto should be like” attitude, but I can’t seem to help it. When a congealed scoop of risotto was served to me at the Pearl Room last weekend, I could imagine a red-faced Chef Ramsey (from FOX’s […]

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I’m always looking for a new way to jazz up a mostly-store-bought pasta meal. While shopping the Upper West Side gourmet markets this weekend (Fairway and Zabar’s), I picked up fresh spinach ravioli and a killer Lidia Bastianich brand marinara sauce. But is it really a meal without meat? On impulse, I bought some ground […]

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Working as a culinary intern at the Hotel Villa Real (in Madrid, Spain), one of my many tedious tasks was to clean mushrooms—boxes and boxes of beautiful exotic-looking mushrooms. I didn’t know what kind they were and I can’t tell you now. (My Spanish language skills are mediocre on a good day.) Four years […]

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