Years ago, friends of ours brought us back a cataplana from their trip to Portugal. A cataplana is both the name of the cooking vessel and the dish that is made in it. The vessel is a clam-shaped copper pot with a hinge. If you don’t have a cataplana, you can use a sturdy pot or Dutch oven with a lid. The dish is a shellfish and pork stew. There are many versions. Here’s mine. Since my cataplana isn’t very big, this recipe is for two, or maybe four with enough good crusty bread and a salad. Continue reading
One side of my wife’s family is Greek and we all enjoy Greek food. This recipe is always a hit. A rich lamb tomato sauce between eggplant layers and topped with a rich feta bechamel sauce makes a great main course. Add some stuffed grape leaves and a real Greek salad and you have yourself a meal. 
Here’s another easy hot weather summer dish. It’s a quick side dish or can even be a meal. Your good garden or July farmstand produce will make this dish sing. 
These last few July days have been too hot to cook. The good news is that the summer harvest of fresh produce is here, and it is a good time to make Gazpacho. I make this every summer when the tomatoes are ripe. My neighbor gifted us a cucumber, and my own parsley is in. I grew the jalapeño pepper in a pot. 
We’ve been cooking variations on this recipe on hot summer days for decades. The original “Silver Palate Cookbook“ had a version that called for Brie, but we felt that was too rich for a hot summer dinner.
When I Survey . . . 