I’m a tomato soup junkie. It’s been a comfort food of mine since I was young. The finest tomato soup I ever had was at Le Marais in New York. It was a Tomato Fennel Soup. I tried for years to recreate it, until I realized they had lied. So I make a Tomato Star Anise Soup that is on my list of restaurant recipes.

I was paging through Mollie Katzen’s Still Life with Menu when I came across her recipe for tomato soup with coconut. A quick search in the pantry revealed that I had all of the ingredients, so I made the recipe.

I want to like cumin. I really do. It has an earthy bass that balances brighter flavors. but so help me, I can’t get over the fact that it tastes like armpit. (more…)

I’ve spoken about this in my Herbs & Spices class: cilantro is a love/hate flavor profile. Unless you’re a reformed hater. Like I am. And you can be, too.

I don’t make it a habit of linking to the New York Times. Let’s say I have strong opinions on the quality of what passes for news. However, the food section doesn’t count. It consistently has quality writing and subjects.

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In honor of the return of iceberg lettuce, I came up with a salad dressing that would add a bite to counterbalance the cool crispness of the lettuce.

Then I added horseradish.

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I poached the sole (frozen, ugh) in water with allspice, mustard seed, peppercorns, salt, lemon juice, carrots and onions. The kohlrabi was cut small, with minced onions, boiled until soft and pureed with some dark celery leaves and salt. I used about a tablespoon of potato flakes to bind it together.

I made a puree from the poaching liquid carrots which gave everything it touched a lemony note. Not a bad thing.

Lunch took about 25 minutes to prepare. Zero fat. Minimal starch.

Poached Sole with Pureed Kohlrabi

Now that's a leek!

Winter leeks in Israel are in season in Israel in January, but generally available all year long. They are available as organic produce as well.

My wife found one of these monsters yesterday in Machane Yehuda, where I haven’t had a chance to go in nearly a month. Looking at the same old vegetables in my local grocery is a little depressing, but when these started showing up, I started thinking about how many different ways I could play with them. (more…)