• Lobster Roll Banh Mi

    Whether you are a lobster roll purist, or a banh mi purist I think we can all get on board with this amazing sandwich.

  • Raspberry Kombucha Mojito

    Well, I don’t know if anyone else did, but I sure had a lot of fun this week doing all these kombucha posts. Honestly if a single person tried kombucha for the first time because of me then it was all worth it! Thanks for baring with me if you hate kombucha. The thing is, when I get really excited about a food that is new to me, I just need to start exploring it as much as I can, and that’s why I did a whole week of these posts.

    If you drink kombucha strictly for the medicinal benefits, you might be confused by using it in recipes. Especially in a cocktail! I drink and love kombucha though for its super tasty and refreshing qualities, and I thought it would go great in some boozy mixtures. What’s interesting is that kombucha itself usually carries around 0.5% ABV. The line between kombucha and alcoholic beverages is already blurred as a couple breweries are even using kombucha in beer making!

  • Curried Cauliflower and Chickpea Fresh Rolls

    I had some co-workers over for a quick bite on the way out to a “Team Building Event” (bar crawl). Had to stick to veggies because one is vegetarian, but I wanted to make something light anyways. I needed it to be really delicious because these people cook my recipes at Cafe Burrito every day and I wanted to show them that I was good at cooking other types of food too. I decided on making a simple cauliflower and chickpea curry and rolling it into some fresh rolls. I made a quick yogurt raita as a dipping sauce and the rolls were a big success.

  • Rice Bun Burgers

    This burger uses two rice patties as the buns. For toppings, cucumber, mint, peanut, and sriracha.

  • Spicy Herb and Cabbage Calzone

    This was one of those times where you open your fridge and try and put together a meal with lots of ingredients leftover from other recipes. I had tons of different herbs, half a cabbage, some sharp cheese, olives, and pizza dough. Normally when I make a clean-out-the-fridge meal, I don’t take pictures, but this ‘zone came out fantastic, and much different than any calzone I have ever had, so I decided you guys might be interested. It was almost more of an intensely flavored empanada filling in a pizza crust.

  • Salmon Gnocchi in a Creamy Pea Sauce

    If I was running a diner a couple decades ago, I would probably call these “salmon croquettes”. If I was running a fancy modern american place I might call them “salmon-potato dice” cause they have the fun square shape. I think salmon gnocchi is a good name for them though. This recipe is inspired by the old school salmon and pea pasta, and also by the upcoming spring when fresh peas will soon be available.

  • Persian Chicken Burritos

    You guys know I love to make twists on the burrito from all over the world. There are even some good versions in Stuffed! The key to making this work is not just slapping a bunch of exotic ingredients into a tortilla, you really have to take the time to replace all of the burrito staples like rice, beans, meat, and salsa. This week Mandi and I made an incredibly tasty Persian take on the burrito. For the rice, we used a sour cherry rice complete with the crispy bits Persian rice is famous for. In place of beans, we used lentils. The meat was a classic marinaded chicken, salsa was a Persian tomato-cucumber salad, and for sour cream, we made a yogurt sauce.

  • Vietnamese Bun Vermicelli Burgers

    Last week I went to an awesome burger event in Boston called Battle of the Burger. It was lots of fun and sponsored by Amstel, so as you can imagine I had a few. I tried as hard as I could to taste all 20 burgers there, but alas, I only made it to about 15. I almost had to crawl out of the event I was so full! I even had to pass on the make your own sundae booth, and throw away a few bites of a shake shack burger which might have been a low point of my life. I was really impressed with many of the burgers, especially the lamb and tzatziki burger from Cafeteria, but overall, I wished some of the restaurants lightened things up a bit. Every burger was an overindulgent savory bomb which was awesome at first, but after trying 10 or so, they all started to meld together. If I was there, I would have served these Vietnamese vermicelli topped burgers as a bit of a reprieve from the bacon-truffle-mushroom-aioli-cheese madness.

  • Hummus Pizza

    Did you guys know that hummus makes an awesome alternative to pizza sauce? I used it on pizza at a recent pizza party, and a few people even called it the best pizza there! I decided not to get weird with the flavors like I did yesterday, instead I just topped the pizza with some of hummus’s best friends. Friends like feta, olives, kofta, and tzatziki.

  • Scallop Ceviche Tacos

    Last week I went to see Cayucas with some friends, and before we headed out to the show, I made this tasty ceviche as a light pre-concert meal. It was inspired by their song “Deep Sea Diver”, and it was summery, fresh, and reminiscent of the ocean, just like the band’s music!