Recipes

Refreshing and light, this salad exposes the most exquisite taste and texture of the octopus due to its freshness and the few accompanying ingredients. What makes this salad so natural is that all the fresh components are local to the octopus' origin, sometimes even sold at the fishmonger's. According to Italian folklore, to get the meat as tender as possible, add a wine bottle cork into the simmering water.

This recipe is inspired by something my Pakistani graduate school friend used to make. A hearty rice dish that was a one dish meal, enriched with her black cardamoms and complete with a generous dose of butter. It might be argued that you might add clarified butter to this, but back then in a graduate school setting that might be a novelty. She added chunks of fish (canned sardines) to this recipe, it is still my go to comfort food.

Adapted from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook (which can never be praised enough). Judy Rodgers created the recipe as a way of saving leftover tuna on Sunday. I assume you do not have that problem, but if you do, take the time to preserve the tuna yourself. It isn't hard and it is wonderful; you can find Rodgers's method in the Zuni cookbook. What's below is her adaptation for canned tuna -- good olive oil-packed tuna. As for the pasta: Rodgers recommends penne, ziti, or ditali, but I've made this with spaghetti and perciatelli and I was pleased. Also, while we're being heretical, have I substituted walnuts for the pine nuts before? I have.

This is the very first recipe my mother ever decided to write down for me, and frankly, I'm honored! This recipe could only have been written by a parent who doesn't measure when they make food! (I got quite the kick out of it. Take this recipe however you can, completely made with love.)

Having an understanding of what goes into the original Jucy Lucy and what makes it so special—that the cheese goes inside the meat—is the key to moving forward and progressing the sandwich in new and unique ways. My personal Juicy Lucy turns to fish as its primary protein. In this case, walleye, the official Minnesota state fish and quite possibly the truest of all Minnesota food items (though catfish makes a good, perhaps more accessible, substitute).

This is an old favorite of mine that I first created about 14 years ago after sampling something like it at a Chinese restaurant.

A baked casserole made with pasta, ground beef, tomato sauce, and cheese, creating a cozy, family-friendly dish with a slightly tangy tomato base.

This is a tried-and-true banana bread recipe that has a bit of added zing with crystallized ginger and an indulgent feel with plenty of chocolate. It's a perfect potluck recipe, since you have one loaf to take with you and one loaf to leave at home to be devoured later!

A world without lemons would be a very sad one. The world would be sad without blueberries, too, but this recipe is good with our without. Rather than a griddle cake you need to stack high then load up with butter and syrup, I wanted one that was both light and custardy, rich and reserved -- immediate gratification. This recipe uses cream cheese and egg whites to pull that off, I think. Honey or jam would be just as good as maple syrup. Or you could eat them plain.

Very lightly adapted from Clotilde Dusoulier's