Food Thoughts

Laurel & Carol’s Astonishing Salad

6 May 2010 by Jean Johnson
This is verbatim from Grow Your Own, the third in my measurefree kitchen companion trilogy that comes out this November. Laurel Robertson, who wrote Laurel’s Kitchen with Carol Flinders, is some kind of woman. This salad is adapted from their pages where they titled it “Astonishing.” I’ve made it many ...

Flash Cooking’s Where It’s At

14 April 2010 by Jean Johnson
Flash cooking is the heart of my kitchen scene. It nets me plenty of fresh seasonal vegetables in short order--warm salad style. I've talked about it many times here on the blog, but people resonate with the idea so, that we did a video. It's a 6 minute clip from ...

Homemade Beans

8 April 2010 by Jean Johnson
It's so easy to get on a roll when you've got some homemade beans waiting in the fridge. Talk about ultrafast. All you do is flash cook some seasonal vegs into a warm salad, dress with oil and vinegar, add the beans for protein, season with salt and red chile ...

Opening the Cages: The Humane Movement to Liberate Poultry

7 April 2010 by Jean Johnson
While I'm on a roll with the food politics articles I've written, here's one on hens published in E/The Environmental Magazine, January 2007. Also, tak to C. Bundy who took two of the photos used here. Over easy and whisked into omelets, eggs delight many. But the hens that laid ...

Strawberries Fields Forever?

3 April 2010 by Jean Johnson
Some things just don't change.  I wrote an article in 2005 on the nasties surrounding conventional strawberry production. Here are two excerpts. The papery star of leaves capping the red fruit might be green, but the California strawberry industry has a way to go. At issue is the ozone-depleting ...

Belly and Soul–Eating Locally and In Season

2 April 2010 by Jean Johnson
Here's a freelance piece I published in E Magazine back in 2006. Worth the read if you've time... Belly and Soul—Eating Locally and In Season Like someone scouting for a spouse in a bar, there was good reason I spent much of my life under the fluorescents trolling inner aisles of ...

Thai Slaw Rolls

30 March 2010 by Jean Johnson
When you put these on the table people think they're getting burritos. Then they take a bite and roll their eyes. That's right, soft rolled up pancakes filled with a Thai-inspired slaw is first rate--something I'd make in a heartbeat if Mark Bittman swooped in for a nib. If you ...

Froggie Wedding of the Year

28 March 2010 by Jean Johnson
Celeste, the measure free cover girl, has finally tied the knot with Mr. HH! It was a lovely Friday evening froggie wedding. We're expecting it to get scooped by all the society pages--and for book sales to be brisk. Just remember, you saw it here first!

Red Quinoa Tabbouleh

25 March 2010 by Jean Johnson
Grow Your Own, the third book in the measurefree kitchen companion trilogy is underway. Here's one from the Leafing Out in Spring chapter. One secret of this take on tabbouleh is making it the way they do in the Levant--where as my friend Rula Awaad-Rafferty observes, “it’s about the green, ...

On The Cook Counts Too

21 March 2010 by Jean Johnson
You heard it here first. Straight from Hippie Kitchen, p. 44. On the Cook Counts Too— Fussing with cooking vegetables by the singleton is something I do less often than not. That’s because when you’re going for a quick meal, it’s easier to get a bunch of veggies onto the heat ...