Andy Broder

Cucumber and Grapefruit Salad

I grew up in a house where salad always meant iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, and cucumber. I assumed that salads everywhere were the same. When a friend in high school asked me what I'd just sliced into the salad, I thought he was kidding. How could he not know what a cucumber looked like? Despite their ubiquity in the produce aisle, I'm not sure that very many people buy cucumbers. The big question is not why; it's why not...

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AndyTalk: The Celery Conundrum
AndyTalk: Four Riffs on Caprese Salad

Cucumbers add a light, refreshing flavor to salads, and they're crisp. In a world where everyone's looking for crunch, they're often the perfect choice. Cucumbers are the celery of Middle Eastern cookery -- adding taste, color, and texture to tabouli, falafel-stuffed pita, and Greek salads. There are only a couple of rules I loosely follow when adding cucumbers to a recipe.

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Andy Broder

Tahini, Sunflower Seed Butter, Almond Butter, Pumpkinseed Butter

Forget peanut butter. There are all sorts of nut butters just waiting for your morning toast. More important, every jar of cashew or pumpkinseed butter is the secret ingredient to thicken your sauce, bring depth to your salad dressing, or turn tortilla chips into fancy hors d'oeuvre.

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AndyTalk: The Small Extravagance of White Asparagus
AndyTalk: A Trio of Easy-to-Make Summer Rolls

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Andy Broder

Guac, four ways.

Avocados are the tofu of the produce aisle, and I mean that in good way.

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- 10 Best Margaritas in Metro Phoenix
- 8 Great Guacamoles in Metro Phoenix

I tried to think of words to describe how an avocado tastes, and it wasn't easy. They're not sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and they definitely don't ooze umame. They're bland and fatty and we love them. Who doesn't like guacamole?

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Andy Broder

If you asked 20-year-old me to predict how many ways middle-aged me would make eggplant, the answer would have been a big fat zero. Even though I was a kid who ordered the most offbeat thing on a menu, I drew the line when it came to eggplant. Someplace along the way eggplant earned my grudging acceptance, and eventually my respect. If the eggplant in question is Japanese (long, light purple and thin) or Thai (round, Ping-Pong ball-size and green) it's now on my culinary A-list. Done right, even the more common dark purple eggplant is welcome at my table anytime.

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- AndyTalk: Lentil Basics and a No-Recipe Dinner
- AndyTalk: The Winning Combo of Cauliflower and Mayonnaise

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Andy Broder

Three Kinds of Summer Roll

A few days ago, I came across a package of rice paper in my pantry and was inspired to make a trio of summer rolls. Any combination of ingredients that make a good chopped salad also will make a good summer roll. Rice paper starts out rigid and it easily cracks and crumbles. Place a sheet into a dish of warm water for 10 seconds and the paper is suddenly flexible. Set it down, mound your filling across the bottom third, and by the time you're rolling it up the paper is very soft and a little sticky -- so it rolls with ease, and the finished roll holds together.

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AndyTalk: The Trouble with Balsamic Vinegar
AndyTalk: Seeing Red ... Relish the Radish

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Andy Broder

French Toast That's Crispy on the Outside and Creamy Inside

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AndyTalk: Four Riffs on Caprese Salad
AndyTalk: Not All Bananas Are Created Equal . . . Take the Plantain

French toast is not just bread, eggs, and milk. French toast is technically custard, at least when done right. When done wrong, it's soggy bread and scrambled eggs or, worse, egg clinging to dry toast. To make great French toast, you need two items not often listed among the ingredients: 1) dense, slightly dry bread (the denser the better) and 2) patience. Soft bread dissolves as it soaks up the egg and milk mixture and nets you a mess. If your bread is really soft and moist, leave it out and uncovered for a few hours or lightly toast it. Day-old bread, or even two-day-old bread, makes stellar French toast.

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Andy Broder

Bruschetta Party in Under an Hour

"Sure, come over. See you in 90 minutes." That's how it begins. Then you make the bed, and since it's nearly dinnertime, you look for something (anything) to serve the friends you just invited to stop by.

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AndyTalk: The Simple Pleasure of Chocolate Bruschetta
AndyTalkL 3 Springtime Pizza Recipes

When I looked in the refrigerator the last time this occurred, I found an odd assortment of vegetables, none of them in a quantity that would serve six, even as an appetizer. I did have a garlic and herb pizza crust from Fresh and Easy that I wanted to taste-test, four slices of pumpernickel bread, some bits of cheese, and a little lox.

One hour and a little adrenalin later, I had a party.

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Andy Broder

Shaved Beet Salad

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AndyTalk: Dates and Easy Hors d'Oeuvre
AndyTalk: Get a Load of These Melons

Springtime vegetables tend to be small, in part because the growing season is new and they're picked young. What that means for you the cook, in the practical sense, is that they're tender and don't necessarily need to be cooked. It also means that you can serve crisp, tasty side dishes with no pots, no pans, and no heat. All you need is a sharp knife and a cutting board, but if you want to up your game, a mandoline or other slicer and a grater will give your vegetables eye appeal and a variety of textures.

When it comes to dressing raw vegetables I like to use olive oil and little lemon juice. A
squeeze from an orange or grapefruit also does the trick. A sprinkle of salt and pepper finishes this simplest of dressings.

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Andy Broder

Spring Pizza with Lamb, Green Beans, and Feta

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AndyTalk: Why You Should Make Pizza From Scratch
AndyTalk: Anchovies, Especially White Anchovies, Rock ... Thanks To Salt and Umami

It's spring and that means pizza. Okay, maybe pizza isn't exactly what comes to mind when you think about Easter and Arbor Day, but pizza is my personal not-so-secret favorite comfort food. It's what I eat when nobody's looking or when I'm cooking just for myself. Since it's spring the things that end up on my pizza are lighter and fresher than the pepperoni, anchovies, and tomato sauces of winter.

My goal last Sunday was to make three seasonal pizzas; one for meat lovers, one that was vegetarian, and one to push boundaries.

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Andy Broder

Haroses -- decorated for a Passover seder

AndyTalk: Autumn Means Apples
AndyTalk: Baby Bok Choy, Your New Favorite

I like to think of haroses as Jewish cranberry sauce. If you've ever been to a seder (a traditional Passover meal) I know you've had haroses the same way I know that you had cranberry sauce if you've been to a Thanksgiving dinner. Haroses is actually required at a seder -- it's even got its own blessing.

If you like apples and nuts you'll probably like haroses, which is most often a blend of chopped apples, cinnamon, sugar, and sugary red wine from Mogen David or Manishewitz. This basic haroses has its roots in Eastern Europe and ranks as passably nondescript, much like cranberry sauce from a can.

For the past several years, I've found inspiration in the haroses of Sephardic Jews, who hail from Spain, Northern Africa, and the Mideast. Dried fruit and nuts figure into those recipes and give them depth, and a longer shelf life. My haroses is akin to a sticky chunky chutney or fruit compote.

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