Carrot Salad - a New Way to Eat Veggies

By David Hu

I’m always trying to eat more veggies but most of the time they’re really an afterthought. There are only so many times you can steam or sauté vegetables before they get boring.

Today’s recipe is a carrot salad which can be enjoyed year-round because carrots are always available in the market. This dish has a great burst of flavor that comes from sweet-tart dried plums and Moroccan spices, and the salad will add some nice, vibrant colors to your meal.

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A Surprising Use For Cacao Nibs

By Katie Barreira

Jacques Torres is known for his prowess with chocolate confections, but it was an offhand reference to one of his favorite savory chocolate dishes that caught my attention during his recent visit to our test kitchen at Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine.

While waiting for some perfectly tempered chocolate to set in an elaborate dolphin mold (Torres has been infatuated with the aquatic mammals since he and his wife, fellow chocolatier Hasty Torres, had the opportunity to swim with them on a recent trip), Jacques mentioned that he likes to crust salmon with cacao nibs before pan-searing. Seeing our interest piqued, Torres gave a concise little description of how he would coat the flesh-side of a salmon fillet with nibs, cook it, nib-side down, then flip and cook the skin side. Parfait! I couldn’t wait to give it a try.

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Welcome the Morning with Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes

By Lori Powell

Finally snow! Yes, I welcome the white stuff but have to say part of the excitement is because I have a new snow blower. This storm only left us with about three inches, so it wasn’t exactly snow blower worthy. I got my exercise the old-fashioned way, with a snow shovel.

Having finished the deed leaves you invigorated and hungry. I felt I earned an all-American breakfast consisting of my own chickens’ eggs (scrambled) with a couple of slices of Applegate Farms Organic Sunday Bacon (my fave) and some fresh blueberry pancakes.

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The Family that Cooks Together…

By Sandy Hu

So much of our family life and social life center around food and cooking. In December we had a big holiday party for 75 guests and the whole family – all five of us – prepped and cooked for it. We cooked our Christmas Eve dinner, complete with a Bûche de Nöel for dessert, and we prepared our annual Christmas night Dungeness crab fest.

We had a traditional Japanese New Year with soba noodle soup on New Year’s Eve and mochi soup on New Year’s Day. We ate traditional New Year foods like sushi and other celebratory Japanese dishes and each family member, including our new daughter-in-law Lynn, prepared a dish for the feast.

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Katie offers Cooking Newbie Help every Tuesday

By Katie Barreira

Happy New Year! All this week, we will be re-introducing our bloggers by re-posting their very first post for Special Fork. Next week we’ll be back blogging with more cooking insights, helpful tips and delicious recipes that take no more than 30 minutes of prep time, all to solve your daily dinnertime dilemma: what to cook now!

Today we feature Katie Barreira’s introductory blog. Katie posts every Tuesday especially for cooking newbies.

Katie is a freelance food writer and chef living in Manhattan’s West Village. Currently, she is the Senior Test Kitchen Associate at Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine, where she develops recipes and writes the “Get Fresh” column, a monthly spotlight on seasonal produce.

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