Do you remember Tex-Mex 7-layer dip, the outrageously popular appetizer party buffet table mainstay of the 1990s? I’ve certainly dunked more than my fair share of tortilla chips into that wonderful dip while attending other people’s parties. However, I’ve never actually served it at my own. This appetizer always struck me as too filling, too addictive, and thus too likely to ruin my guests’ appetites for whatever dinner I was serving that night. In fact, 7-layer dip seemed to me better placed as an ingredient for a main course, rather than a starter.
This recipe is an effort to follow through on that last thought above, and the result pleases me no end. Here a lighter variation on the ingredients list of 7-layer dip is used as a filling for baked bell peppers: seasoned black beans, reduced-fat sour cream (or yogurt) flavored with chipotles and cilantro, avocados, cheese, fresh tomatoes, green onions, and black olives. Please note that this is intended as a flexible recipe and can comfortably accommodate an eighth layer of chopped chicken, beef, or pork. As a test case, I added leftover smoked pulled pork to one of the peppers made for this recipe and thought the flavors melded together beautifully. [go to recipe...]
Do you have zucchinis (courgettes) growing in your garden now? Have you reached the panic stage yet about what to do with them all? Most home gardeners I know have a love-hate relationship with this vegetable. They love it because it’s both delicious and productive. And they hate it because, well, it’s so excessively productive that it’s difficult to keep pace with it. One zucchini plant can feed a large family and then some. Two plants might well feed a small army for all I know. For this reason, my gardener friends are always on the lookout for new recipe ideas to use this most exuberant of garden vegetables.
This recipe for raw zucchini pickle provides one answer that I hope will appeal. It is my zucchini riff on achara, a delicious staple pickle of the Philippines that I grew to love while living there for many years. Filipino achara is a slaw-like raw green papaya pickle flavored with fresh ginger, garlic, onions, carrots, and sweet peppers and is a ubiquitous feature of meals in that country. Here I have substituted, with tasty results, zucchinis for the green papayas included this classic, refreshing Filipino dish. [go to recipe...]
Everyone in my family has a different notion of the perfect cake. My husband adores dark chocolate cake with matching buttercream frosting. My adult son favors banana cake with thick penuche icing. And my own longstanding preference is for unfrosted, not too sweet, fruit flavored cakes, such as the Blueberry Cheese Danish and Tangerine Poppy Seed cakes found on this site. Since I was home alone this week I decided to satisfy my own tastes by experimenting with new approaches to the old-fashioned classic: upside down cake.
This recipe was inspired by the idea of pairing red wine cake, which I’ve seen everywhere in recent months, with mixed seasonal fruits in a light, brandy-flavored glaze. In other words, this upside down cake incorporates the ingredients of the refreshing drink of sangria. Please note that this recipe is quite flexible in terms of the seasonal fruits selected. While I have used oranges, plums, and kiwis here, other combinations of seasonal sweet and tart fruits would work equally well, including pineapple, peaches, apricots, berries, apples, and pears, among others. [go to recipe...]
