Cafe Liz

This is a simple tomato-based pasta sauce with wine, spinach and pine nuts. We tend to have open bottles of wine around, since we never finish them. One word of caution regarding the tomatoes: Since the sauce is based on them, they need to be ripe and sweet; otherwise the sauce will be lacking. Fortunately, tomatoes are just starting to come into season.

In honor of St. Patrick’s day, apparently there’s been a debate raging about soda bread. The conclusion is that once you start adding things beyond flour, buttermilk and baking soda, it’s not traditionally Irish. Well, that’s fine with me. I added zaatar and sun-dried tomatoes to mine, and I make no claims of Irish authenticity. This is the Levant, after all. Soda bread has a major advantage — it’s quick and easy. I wanted bread for breakfast, and this took [...]

This oil-based pasta sauce is sweet and salty from the raisins and olive tapenade, and contains everything from onions and garlic to nuts and a big handful of parsley. I think I once had something similar at a fancy restaurant. Plus, it’s an easy dish to make for potluck dinners.

Since I think my coconut pumpkin soup recipe inspired at least one person to go out and buy pumpkin seed oil (hi mom!), I figured I’d offer a few more suggestions for how to use it.