On Food & Culture
I think everyone loves and enjoys scallops. This recipe is from my favorite chef champion of French cuisine, (next to Jacque Pépin), Julia Child. The one tip is that the oil must be very hot when you add the scallops. This keeps them crispy on […]
Sometimes, when you want a break from wheat and gluten, you can enjoy a variety of delicious dishes that harken back to the days before wheat was grown in the Americas. This is one of them: Shrimp with Tatuma Squash Noodles, “Camarón y Calabacita.” The […]
Pescado Zarandeado is an outdoor barbecue is the perfect venue to savor this example of the cuisine found in the state of Nayarit on Mexico’s Pacific coast. It is nuanced and complex in flavor, tender inside and outside a crisp Guajillo glaze. Nayarit is from […]
This recipe uses ingredients that were being employed and enjoyed by our Texas Indian ancestors long before 1400. Archeologists have been able to determine that clams along the coastal bays were harvested most heavily from mid-April to late-July. They were sometimes steamed in earth ovens […]
When I bite into the succulent, sweet Texas Gulf crab meat I am taken back in time. It is 1528 when Karankawas find bedraggled Spaniards shipwrecked on their shores, now called Galveston Island. Lucky for the Spaniards that the Karankawa nurse them, feed them. Evidence […]
Paella is Spanish for friendship? I think so. Well, it should be. In Texas, the term “Spanish” was sometimes used (euphemistically) to mean Mexican, or Mexican American. Restaurants serving Mexican food sometimes called themselves “Spanish” as in Spanish Village or Spanish flowers. Not so much […]
A quick, country way to prepare scallops, and throw in vegetables that are lying around. In this classic recipe, the ingredients are not so strong as to overpower the delicate scallops. The trio of shallots, garlic and parsley shouts out, “I’m French!” The olive oil […]
I like to serve fettucine in a huge platter, mixed all together with clams, shrimp and colorful tomato sauce. It looks delicious and everyone can just dig in and enjoy. Fra Diavolo is the name of a 19th century Italian opera. The name, meaning brother […]
This Cognac Shrimp is a recipe for company dinner. It says to guests, “unwind, mellow-out, welcome.” In the Beurre Blanc Cream, you taste a brightness, a tang, from the acidic white wine, but the major sensation results from the flavorful creaminess. I think Harold McGee […]
These tacos are a variation of the famous Baja California fish taco. I omit the wheat flour batter, thereby focusing exclusively on the flavor and texture of the freshly-made corn tortilla. It also foregrounds the sweet fresh fish. I use tomatillo salsa to continue the […]