All about Chives

By Lori Powell

Just when I feel that it’s safe to plant some things in the garden…a frost warning appears out of nowhere. So far everything is still thriving.

My chive plant returned this year with a flourish and started to flower extremely early this spring, due to the sunny days and high temperatures. Chives are a hardy perennial and a member of the onion family, along with leeks and garlic.

As you can see from my photo, they grow in clumps and can reach a height of about 12 inches. The flowering part of the chive plant is one of my favorites for garnishing salads and other dishes. Chives yield a gorgeous purple blossom that is edible and adds eye appeal to any dish.

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A Drain’s Not the Only Place for Bean Liquid

By Katie Barreira

I’d prefer dried beans to canned any day, but the reality is that canned beans have a place in my pantry and so does their liquid.

Poke around the Web and you’ll see that bean liquid has a bad rap. But the biggest beef is its high sodium content and there’s an easy answer for that: buy low-sodium or sodium-free beans (like Eden Organics). They’re better for you anyway.

Another common complaint is that the cloudy liquid has “gunk” in it. I get it; coagulated starch balls don’t do much for me either, but I’ve found that higher-quality canned beans tend to be less gunky and when in doubt, you can just pour the liquid through a sieve. It’s no harder than draining the beans.

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My Essential Pepin

Photo courtesy KQED from the Essential Pépin TV Series Photo credit: © 2010 – Cristiana CeppasToday, Sandy turns over her Monday spot to Mary Jane Reiter, Special Fork’s public relations manager, who blogs about her recent class with the legendary chef, Jacques Pépin.

By Mary Jane Reiter

Before there was Emeril, Bobby, Gordon or Martha, there was Jacques. Jacques Pépin has spent the last 60 years as a professional chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and host of many PBS cooking shows. His most recent TV show and companion book Essential Pepin contains more than 700 of his favorite recipes.

Jacques Pépin is MY celebrity chef. So when I had the opportunity recently to attend a techniques class for culinary students, taught by Pépin, I jumped at the chance. He spoke at the International Culinary Center in Campbell, California, where he is on the board.

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Kettle Corn Style Pistachios

By Andrew Hunter

I remember as a kid eating pistachios by the sacksful. In those good old days, my fingers, palms and face would be as red as the pistachios. It simply didn’t dawn on me that pistachios weren’t naturally red. Now I know that in fact red pistachios should be avoided like the plague. Why, because inferior and even moldy nuts are dyed to hide any number of impurities.

Recently, we were wandering around a farm in Northern California and got lost in the pistachio groves. The nuts hung in bunches with split creamy beige shells exposing the tender green and rosy hued kernels, waiting to be shaken from their branches, roasted and sold at farm stands and country markets along the roadways.

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Pancakes – Because Breakfast Should be more than Eggs

By Sandy Hu

Okay, I confess. Steve started making breakfast for the kids when they were growing up because he thought they should have more than eggs.

I love eggs and they’re my idea of breakfast –scrambled, sunny-side up, boiled, omelets or in the hole. Steve’s is pancakes, waffles, biscuits, popovers and muffins. Who do you think won out? The kids and I chose his, of course. And I blissfully relinquished breakfast-making duties to him.

Never one to let a recipe alone, Steve would improvise, experiment, research, try other versions of the recipe, until he created one to his satisfaction. And on weekday and weekend mornings, we would wake up to delicious smells from the kitchen of something freshly prepared, waiting for us at the breakfast table.

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