Cafe Liz

I fondly remember my time in Madrid, which was marked by many a visit to various tapas bars, frequently for the ubiquitous patatas bravas — gently crispy potatoes in a hot tomato sauce. In fact, I liked the dish so much that I still have a bottle of salsa brava that I brought back from a trip more years ago than I’d like to admit. The brand is “Uncle William,” a subsidiary of Heinz. Authentic? I think not. Lo and [...]

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.

On the advice of friends, we are now the proud owners of eight massive heads of garlic, stems still attached. Apparently this is garlic season, so now is the time to stock up for the year. There are several reasons to do so, our friends told us — the garlic that we usually buy, which comes neatly packed in little plastic nets, is grown in China and processed with chemicals. Now, I couldn’t confirm that, but it turns out that [...]

I envisioned this as a sort of hot salad. In fact, many of the ingredients are the same — tomatoes, arugula, onions, balsamic vinegar. They just happen to be in a warm cream sauce.

It’s yet another purple dish! As purple food week continues, today we had pasta for lunch, topped with a cream sauce of purple cauliflower and walnuts. Beyond being colorful on its own, the cauliflower lent the sauce a light purple tint.

Another simple, easy dinner. The title pretty much speaks for the dish.