Carrot Tartare with Microgreens, Fried Carrot Tops, and Edible Flowers

Carrot Tartare with Microgreens, Fried Carrot Tops, and Edible Flowers

Carrot Tartare with Microgreens, Fried Carrot Tops, and Edible Flowers

This carrot tartare plays with your senses, surprising and delighting you. On first glance, you might mistake this dish for beef tartare; the ground red carrots closely resemble raw ground beef. The presentation is visually striking; the colors draw you in, seducing you. It’s beauty on a plate and it’s so much fun to create.

Layering and textures play a critical role in this carrot tartare preparation, both in aesthetics and taste. The bottom layer of the carrot tartare consists of diced avocado with a squeeze of lemon juice, to prevent discoloration, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. The avocado provides a lovely creaminess to the tartare. read more

Pad Thai Spring Rolls with Tamarind Dipping Sauce

Pad Thai Spring Roll Ingredients Ready for Assembly

One of my favorite dishes is Pad Thai. I love the refreshing sweet and sour sauce, the bright herbs, and the juicy shrimp. I recently tried to create an appetizer that captured all the flavors of traditional Pad Thai, but presented in a totally new way. That’s how these Pad Thai spring rolls with tamarind dipping sauce came to exist.

Ingredients for Pad Thai Spring Rolls Tamarind Dipping Sauce

Ingredients for Tamarind Dipping Sauce

Tamarind Dipping Sauce

This sauce is at the heart of Pad Thai. It’s a perfect balance of sweet, sour, salt, spice, and acidity. To make it, you need rice vinegar, fish sauce, fresh tamarind concentrate (concentrated juice and pulp from the tamarind fruit), palm sugar (an unrefined sugar made from the sap of palm trees), Thai bird chiles, shallots, garlic, and kaffir lime leaves. read more

Classic French Dijon Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

Classic French Dijon Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

Classic French Dijon Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

This post continues my series re-creating Julia Child’s first meal in France. I previously featured her first course (oysters on the half shell) and second course (sole meunière). Her third course was salade verte (green salad) with a lightly acidic vinaigrette dressing, served alongside baguette slices. I re-created the delicious, tangy dressing by making a classic French Dijon vinaigrette and poured it over a fresh salad with kumquat slices. read more

Julia Child’s First Meal in France – Course #1

Oysters on the Half Shell Rye Bread Unsalted Butter

Oysters on the Half Shell with Rye Bread and Unsalted Butter

Inspired by reading Julia Child’s memoir, My Life in France, I decided to re-create the first meal she experienced with her husband in France. It was a meal that she fondly remembered: “Our first lunch together in France was absolute perfection. It was the most exciting meal of my life.”[i]

She dined at Restaurant La Couronne, France’s oldest restaurant, which dates back to 1345. The meal started with half a dozen oysters on the half shell served with pain de seigle (rye bread) and unsalted butter. This preparation of oysters was new and intriguing to me. Typically, my husband and I eat Apalachicola Bay oysters on the half shell drizzled with lemon juice and served atop a saltine cracker with cocktail sauce and horseradish. read more

Spicy Harissa Hummus

Spicy Harissa Hummus

Spicy Harissa Hummus with Olives and Homemade Pitas

I’ve been a fan of harissa ever since my honeymoon in France where we ate Moroccan olives flavored with the Tunisian chili paste. I love how it spices up a dish and gives it a nice, smoky flavor. Today I made a spicy harissa hummus drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with chili flakes. It was amazing!

Lately, I’ve been making more of an effort to incorporate beans into my diet and hummus is a great way to do this. It’s perfect for snacking and is a wonderful way to transform chickpeas into a delicious dip. You can serve it with celery, carrots, fresh pitas, pita chips, or any other tasty chip or vegetable. read more