Dip or Dressing or Marinade or Sauce…which is it?

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

I’m in love with the carrot sesame ginger salad dressing at my local Japanese restaurant. If you order sushi, they’ll give you the option of miso soup or a salad. I usually go for the salad, simply because of that delicious, pulpy orange dressing.

The main ingredient in this recipe is carrots. Baby carrots – the real deal, not the shaved down, bagged versions sold as “baby carrots” at the grocery store (some have the aroma of a damp basement that I can’t get past) – are available in spring and early summer.

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Down to Basics: Pasta with Tomato Sauce

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

One of the simplest dinners to make is pasta with tomato sauce. And in my opinion, it’s still one of the most elementally satisfying, too. The key to its greatness is in the quality of ingredients you use.

Keeping costs low for everyday meals is always something to keep in mind, but when you make a meal with only four or five ingredients, you have license to splurge a little.

In this recipe, I only use shallots, garlic, basil, canned tomatoes and dried pasta. But if you have a little extra cash, try spring onions instead of shallots, or even throw in some ramps if they’re still around. Purchase high-quality San Marzano tomatoes, the gold standard, instead of the cheaper varieties, for the best flavor. One of my splurges is using purple basil instead of regular basil; it has less of a bold anise flavor and is more floral and spicy, which I love in this sauce.

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Simple Entertaining: Wonton Cups

By Sandy Hu
A new video for Video Friday

When it comes to entertaining, I have two choices: I can knock myself out doing a menu to impress, or I can take the simple way out.

I look at it this way. I can have more people over more often with a casual menu. Or I can work myself into a frenzy to entertain a few very well.

I tend to do both, actually, but recently I’ve gone the simple route. A simple menu might start or end with versatile wonton cups that are a snap to make. They can be an appetizer or dessert, depending on whether the filling is savory or sweet . The recipe is easy to double or triple, depending on the size of your crowd.

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Smoky Grilled Short Ribs

By Andrew Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

When I fire up the grill, I put everything on it I can find in the fridge. Not because it’s lots of work to build a charcoal fire, but because it’s sacrilege to let that fire burn without infusing its smoky goodness into as much food as possible.

On this same kettle fire, I cooked chicken thighs that were pulled from the bone and used in sandwiches and on salads. I cooked burgers for the boys’ lunch, and I smoked tomatoes, onions, Poblano peppers and pineapple for some sauces and a fruity pico de gallo I was inspired to make.

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Mushroom Fever

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

This past Memorial Day weekend, I stopped at a roadside stand and saw two gorgeous ingredients that I just had to have… the most perfect looking shiitake mushrooms and some flowering scallions that I had never encountered before.

Interestingly, the buds of the flowering scallions are similar in flavor to chive blossoms and like them, are perfectly edible. The blossoms have a slighter milder, if not sweeter taste.

I already had grilled salmon and burgers on the menu so I thought, why not turn these two lovelies into a side dish for the meal? Normally I sauté sliced shiitake mushroom caps but since I was going to fire up the grill anyway, I decided to grill the mushroom caps whole.

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