Too Hot to Cook? Try Ratatouille!

Ratatouille with Brown Rice and Corn

Sometimes I forget that that I know how to make colorful vegetables dishes. It’s been awhile since I last prepared Ratatouille, an easy-to-eat French mixture of cooked eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers and tomatoes.

My friend Ilene found the recipe in our second book, “Help! My Apartment Has a Dining Room!” and cooked it for dinner the other night.  She wanted a vegetarian alternative to the hamburgers and fries she and her husband planned to eat the following night.

Using Up Wine

Boeuf Bourguignon 

Back in the Dark Ages when I was teaching myself to cook, I stumbled on a recipe that called for a cup of wine.  Innocent that I was, I went to my local Bohack, a now defunct New York grocery chain, and consulted with one of the checkout clerks.  She told me what aisle had cooking wine. 

How Big Is Julia Child’s Shadow in My Kitchen?

French Onion Soup

Every once in a while I think about Julie Child and wonder how much she influenced me.  She began her world domination before I started dabbling in the kitchen.  And when I did start, I was so intimidated by her reputation that I avoided her famous 1961 opus, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”

I Can Make That Too: Mussels in Mom’s Kitchen vs. the Restaurant Version

Mussels from Mom's Kitchen

I started loving mussels when I lived in London and could buy fresh ones at the fishmonger’s stall in the Tachbrook Street Market, near Victoria Station. This was before mussel farming began in earnest, so the mussels I got were wild ones, often with barnacles attached to their shells.

Cleaning the mussels took ages and sometimes required a hammer and flat-head screwdriver to knock off the barnacles.  They had to go because they were likely to be full of sand.  I also had to yank out the mussels’ beards—a bunch of threads that help the mussel attach to an underwater surface.  That took brute strength.