Farmers’ Market Find: Iacopi’s Italian Butter Beans

These beans are my latest obsession.
I started buying them a few months ago at Tuesday’s farmers’ market at the Ferry Plaza, and I’ve been cooking them practically every week since then. If I’m not personally eating them, my clients are.
Sometimes beans can be a risky item to serve at dinner parties (not everybody’s digestive system [...]

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Creamy Oatmeal with Strawberries and Maple Butter

Late winter/early spring is the season for maple syrup production. Every year I find this perplexing, as fall is the season when my craving for maple kicks in. There is something about maple’s amber color, like turning leaves and the edges of roasted butternut squash, that hearkens fall. Its caramelized, earthy flavor brings to mind [...]

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Getting the Most “Zing” Out of Meyer Lemons

Photo credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times
Who says winter has to be dreary? It’s just not possible when Meyer lemons are in season.
We Californians are truly blessed with this citrus hybrid of a lemon and Mandarin orange. Its warm color reminds me of mango flesh; its flavor tastes of lemongrass, orange blossom and yellow [...]

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Seaweed for Dinner

I’ve cooked enough seaweed this week to line all the beaches in San Francisco. (No, I didn’t eat it all myself; I’m developing recipes for a magazine feature.)
The last time I cooked seaweed was 12 years ago, when I was developing recipes for a health-food cooking school. Hijiki was my ocean plant of choice, for [...]

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Dried Fenugreek Leaves

I love eating out, not only to save me the chore of cooking for myself after a long day at the stove, but because eating other people’s food opens my eyes to new flavors and, many times, reminds me of cuisines and dishes that I adore but haven’t cooked in some time. I had such [...]

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Fall at the Farmers Market

I’ve been reading around the Web, and it seems that many bloggers are lamenting the end of summer. I can’t say I share their sentiments, as I’ve been quietly rooting for the change in seasons. Bring on fall!
By far, fall is my favorite season of the year, for several different reasons. Mainly, I feel like [...]

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Tangelo’s Last Stand

I’m holding out for the last days of the tangelo.
Tangelos brought in the end of the citrus season this year - after the mandarins lost their zing, navel oranges turned mealy, and memories of clementines were packed away with the Christmas ornaments, tangelos entered in to take center stage. And now they’re giving their final [...]

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