Many years ago, my sister Maria Oliver and her family spent one year in Potchefstroom, South Africa, where Jim, her husband, had a research project. Upon their return to Maryland, Maria entertained us with bobotie (pronounced ba-boo-tea), a spiced minced-meat pie topped with custard, recognized as South Africa’s national dish. Maria’s Bobotie was my first […]
This Meatball Chili is my make-ahead-keep-in-reserve dinner this month. Each December, I focus on baking cookies, breads, and cakes, pickling herring, making pâtés, and curing meats for our traditional Scandinavian and Ukrainian Christmas celebrations. Other meals throughout this month are often thrown together at the last minute from leftovers and pantry ingredients. This year, I
This Braised Beef with Prunes and Winter Vegetables comes from Odesa, Ukraine’s most cosmopolitan city (or Odessa, the Russian transliteration). The dish originated in Odesa’s Jewish community many centuries ago and became part of the city’s multiethnic culinary tradition. For millennia, Ukraine, a country geographically located on the crossroads between Europe and Asia along the
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I embarked on recreating the Cajun Tourtière after learning that this traditional dish vanished many decades ago. When our daughter Sophia settled in New Orleans, I became interested in learning about Christmas traditions brought to French-ruled Louisiana by Acadian emigres after their expulsion by the British from Nova Scotia in the 18th century. Those French-speaking
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Sou Fassum is a sublime stuffed cabbage, a creation of French peasant cuisine. I found it while researching alternative methods of stuffing cabbage. I knew I had to try it as soon as I saw it. Stuffed cabbage rolls, a classic comfort food, were a beloved dinner of my immigrant childhood. We had them at
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Curiosity often drives what I cook and this Italian Oxtail Stew post arose from my preoccupation with learning how to prepare unusual meats. Watching Andrew Zimmern eat off-cuts and internal organs, or “variety meats” as they are euphemistically called in America, for years touting them as delicious has repeatedly piqued my curiosity and presents me
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