I got a lot of requests for this recipe, but I rarely use recipes when I cook.  There's a bit of a formula and if you know it, you can swap out different ingredients and make a bunch of different dishes.  I'll give you the formula, then talk about the specifics.

​1. season your meat with salt, dredge in flour
2. heat your pan, add your fat and brown the meat well in fat
3. remove meat to a bowl
4. if there's more than a few tablespoons of fat, remove and discard some of the excess
5. brown aromatic vegetables in the same pan
6. add flavorful liquids
7. return meat to pan
8. bring to a simmer
9. cover and cook until meat is tender

It's really important to season your meat and your food, in general, with kosher or sea salt-even if your recipe doesn't say so.  It brings out the flavor.  You want to make sure your pan is hot enough that you hear a sizzle when you put the meat in but you don't want the fat to burn and smoke. Speaking of fat, I use olive oil or coconut oil almost exclusively.  Add the meat to your pan piece by piece, leaving some room in between pieces.  If you crowd the pan, it will not brown well.  

Aromatic vegetables almost always includes something from the onion family.  It could also refer to leeks or even shallots.  This is a good opportunity to work on your knife skills.  You want the onion pieces to be about the same size.  I prefer them to be about 1/2 inch dice, not bigger because few people like to eat big chunks of onion.  Use the onion, even if you don't like them.  They help build flavor in your stew.  Get them a little brown, then turn down the heat a little and let them continue to cook until they're somewhat soft and golden.  

Deglaze your pan with your flavorful liquids.  If using alcohol, add that first and scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan while the alcohol burns off.  Liquids could be wine, beer, fruit juice, stock (broth).  I usually use a combination of wine or beer and chicken stock.  

At this point, you can add the meat back to the pan, or you can dump the whole thing into your slow cooker.  It's done when the meat can be cut with a fork.  When it's done, if your sauce is too liquidy, you can strain it into a pot and boil it down until it reduces a bit and thickens.  Honestly, this works best if you are using a really good homemade stock.  Your other option is to heat about 2 tablespoons of butter or oil in a pan with 2 -3 tablespoons flour and whisk to form a little paste.  Slowly add your cooking liquid, whisking all the while to make sure there aren't any lumps and the flour mix is all incorporated.  Then, stop whisking, bring to a boil.  Once it's reached the boil, turn the heat down about until the liquid thickens then add it back to the stew.  

Here's the ingredients for the stew pictured.  Follow the steps above. 

olive oil
2 pounds beef stew meat (chuck)
1 large onion, diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 large potato, peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bottle ale
1-2 cups chicken stock

Makes about 6-8 smallish pancakes or about 3 large ones. 

3 eggs
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp cinnamon*
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger*
1/4 teaspoon cloves*
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg*
1/3 cup almond meal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil

* we like our pumpkin to have a lot of spice.  You can replace these with 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice.

Whisk the eggs in a bowl.  Add in the pumpkin, spices, almond meal and baking soda.  Throw in a pinch of salt.  Whisk until it's all combined. 

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the butter or coconut oil to the pan, once melted, pour in about 1/4 cup of batter.  Turn down heat a bit.  Cook the pancake about  2-3 minutes per side, or until you see little bubbles starting to form on top, then flip.  Continue to cook about 2 more minutes.  Serve with maple syrup. 

1 can garbanzo beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
sea salt to taste
1 bunch of lacinto kale
1 persian cucumber, sliced thin
2 radishes, peeled and sliced thin
1/4 cup parmesan or nutritional yeast
dressing:
1/2 cup greek yogurt, veganaise or good quality mayo
1 teaspoon dijon
1 anchovy (optional) or 1/2 tsp vegan worcestershire sauce
juice and zest from 1 lemon
1 small garlic clove

Preheat the oven to 350.  Rinse and strain the garbanzos.  Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and put in the oven for about 10 minutes, until they are well dried.  Remove from the oven, transfer to a bowl, toss with the olive oil, salt and paprika.  Place back on the baking sheet and back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until beginning  to get crunchy.  Set aside to cool.

In a small blender, combine the dressing ingredients, yogurt through garlic.   Set aside.

Remove the stems from the kale and tear leaves apart, or cut into ribbons.  Place the kale in a large bowl, add 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and massage the kale leaves until wilted.  Add the cucumber, radishes and a handful of garbanzos to the bowl, toss with half of the dressing .  Add more dressing and garbanzos to taste.  Top with the parmesan or nutritional yeast. 

Cauliflower is the new kale.  It's everywhere.  I draw the line at pizza crust. 
You can make cauliflower couscous by cutting a cauliflower into florets and then pulsing in a food processor, or simply chopping the florets pretty fine.   I cheated and bought a bag of pre-cut  cauliflower couscous from Trader Joe's

3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 cups cauliflower couscous
zest of 1 lemon
1 peach, sliced
1 apricot, sliced
1 Persian cucumber, diced
2 green onions, chopped
small handful of either mint, cilantro or basil, chopped
handful of shelled pistachios
handful of feta (optional)
handful of broccoli or kale sprouts (optional)

Heat a large pan over medium heat.  Add the olive oil, then spices, then cauliflower.  Stir to combine.  Cook for a couple of minutes until cauliflower begins to soften a little.  Remove from the heat and transfer to a large bowl to cool. 

Once the cauliflower has cooled, add the remaining ingredients, stir to combine.  Garnish with feta and sprouts, if desired.

I have a few high profile clients who are trying to eat healthier.  They get a lot of salads.  So, I need to be pretty creative with salads.   Feel free to get creative with this recipe and riff off  the ingredients.  Use a regular old navel orange, grapefruit or blood orange (looks really cool in this) instead of the cara cara.  You can omit or use a different color beet and arugula or spinach is a great sub for the watercress.  

1 small fennel bulb or about 1/3 of a cup, or more if you love it
1 cara cara orange, if you can find it
1 chiggoia beet
a bunch of watercress
juice of a lemon
olive oil
salt + pepper

Thinly slice the fennel and put it in a large bowl.  Cut the top and bottom of the orange off.  Use your knife to cut the remainder of the peel an white pith off, curving the knife down around the orange, like this:

Slice the orange into rounds and add to the bowl with the fennel.  Using a mandoline, carefully, or a vegetable peeler, thinly slice the beet and add it to the other vegetables.  Trim the very bottom of the watercress stem and add to the bowl.

In a separate small bowl, combine the lemon juice with a bit of salt and pepper, then whisk in the olive oil.  Drizzle the dressing over the salad, making sure not to overdress, which will make it soggy and gross. 

We were going to a dinner party this weekend and I was tasked with bringing a starter.  I jotted down ideas for platters heaping with cheese and vegetables, exciting, complicated salads full of seasonal ingredients.  The possibilities were endless and also overwhelming. 

What I opted to do, instead of trudging to another store was to use what I had.  Using only the items from my fridge, I made a dinner party worthy salad.  Feel free to swap out the lettuces for whatever  greens you have on hand.

1/2 half radicchio
1 endive
a couple of handfuls of arugula
2 smallish zucchini
about 1/2 cup or so of feta
1 few large sprigs of basil
white wine vinegar
olive oil
 salt and pepper
about a handful of almonds

Preheat the oven to 350.  Place the almonds in a frying pan or on a baking sheet and toast until golden brown, about 5-10 minutes.  Set aside to cool, then chop.

Slice the radicchio and endive.  Toss them into a large bowl with the arugula and feta.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Slice the zucchini longways using a mandoline or vegetable peeler (carefully) then roll each slice up and put in a bowl close together so they hold their shape.

Add a bit of vinegar to a high powered blender, about 2 tablespoons or so, the basil leaves and then some olive oil to taste, about 4-6 tablespoons and blend on high.  Season with salt and pepper, then pour over the zucchini.  Put the zucchini/dressing bowl in the fridge until ready to serve. 

For serving, place the zucchini rolls in the large bowl with the lettuces.  Try to make it look random, but not too messy or too symmetrical.  Drizzle the dressing from the zucchini bowl over the lettuces and serve with the nuts sprinkled on top.