We’ve been battling off a persistent virus for weeks at our house.  Just as we start to feel better, it creeps back with scratchy throats and dull headaches.

What we need now is soup, hot and soothing with chicken broth, lots of vegetables and  a good dose of ginger.  When I spotted this take on won ton soup in Nina Simonds new cookbook, “Simple Asian Food” (Rodale, 2012), I knew I had to make it.

Simonds long has been one of my favorites.  She translates Asian flavors into lively dishes that don’t require a pilgrimage to a distant Asian market to pull off.  She’s also an advocate of healthy eating who sits on the Nutrition Roundtable at Harvard’s School of Public Health.

The new cookbook is filled with tempting dishes, but the soups are most appealing to me at the moment.  I also have my eye on the cinnamon beef noodles and Saigon-style chicken noodle soup, Simond’s simplified variation on pho.

This gingery faux-wonton soup was everything she promises.   Cloud-like pork meatballs, studded with chopped ginger, float in a light chicken broth. Bow-tie noodles stand in for wonton wrappers and a generous portion of chard delivers calcium, iron and vitamin C.  It all comes together much more quickly than you would imagine.  And there’s none of the fuss of filling wontons when you’re not feeling that great anyway.

The only changes I made to her recipe were to increase the amount of pasta a little and use only half of the meatballs.  I froze the rest for a future soup.  A pound of meatballs just felt like too much meat for only six cups of broth.  Alternatively you could increase the broth to 8 cups or more.

Next time, I’d probably make the meatballs a little smaller, too.  But that does take a little more time and effort.

If this soup doesn’t cure what ails you, at least it will ease the suffering.

Popcorn was the last thing on my mind when I bought a carbon steel wok last fall. My goal was to get a pan that could withstand high enough temperatures to actually sear meat and vegetables in a stir-fry.

But new woks need seasoning to get that wonderfully slick, virtually non-stick surface I coveted. My efforts in that direction were agonizingly slow until I found Grace Young’s account of seasoning a wok by making popcorn in “Stir-Frying from the Sky’s Edge” (Simon & Schuster, 2010). She points out that popping corn distributes a thin coat of oil all over the pan and the high heat helps it adhere.

What I wasn’t prepared for was how good the popcorn would be. Every kernel popped up big and fluffy with just enough oil to help the salt stick. Read full article »

Hazelnuts and chocolate were meant for each other.   The rich, browned butter flavor of the nuts fairly cries out for the embrace of dark, dusky chocolate.  Together, they’re unbeatable.

I find the combination as inspiring as it is addictive.   (No jar of Nutella, or the organic alternative, Nocciolata, is safe around me.)

So it’s no surprise that I would be obsessed by the idea of a hazelnut cookie dipped in bittersweet chocolate for Valentine’s Day.  The cookie of my dreams would have a great sandy texture with just enough crunch to contrast with a smooth, dense coat of very good chocolate.   It should be elegant enough to pair with a flute of champagne but substantial enough to satisfy a serious sweet tooth. Read full article »

The “caviar” on my mind these days involves black-eyed peas, not those extravagant little fish eggs.  Marinated with chiles, onions, bell pepper, corn and tomatoes, the humble legumes are transformed into the classic Texas caviar.

This chunky salsa is a staple in the Lone Star State—a little bit Southern, a little bit Mexican, and altogether irresistible.  Countless variations have made the round of backyard barbecues and tailgate parties since the 1950s, but the original was the creation of Texas culinary star Helen Corbitt, a cookbook author who served as food consultant for Neiman-Marcus in Dallas. Read full article »

There was a time when I cooked bulgur several times a month.  The par-boiled and ground wheat was cheap, filling, and a great base for one-pot meals with vegetables and chicken.

I loved the mild, nutty flavor and nicely chewy texture.  But bulgur slipped out of my repertoire when I began experimenting more in the kitchen and homey pilafs gave way to sophisticated risottos.

This winter, though, I’ve rediscovered the simple pleasures of the quick-cooking grain in my quest to put more whole grains on our plates.  Prepared in the style of a risotto with mushrooms, butternut squash and spinach, it makes a terrific entree for Meatless Monday or a side dish for grilled meat. Read full article »