Curried Sweet Potato and Chickpea Soup

Hearty, healthy, tasty – perfect for a quick weeknight dinner

Autumn is soup weather! Yeah, we always say that, don’t we? Doesn’t make it any less true though.

For this soup, we combine peak-season sweet potatoes with chickpeas and warming curry spices. Then we add red bell pepper and sweet green peas for an extra pop of flavor and color.

Looks good, tastes better. Our kind of food.

Asian-Style Shrimp and Grits

Spicy chili crisp adds flavor and depth to this starter or main

Shrimp-and-grits is a classic dish from the southern US – and one we love. We also love Asian-style shrimp stir fried with chili sauce. So why not combine them?

This Asian-Style Shrimp and Grits would make a great starter, with piquant flavor that can wake up any taste bud. Or you could serve this dish as the main event. Because it’s so tasty that a starter portion might not be enough to satisfy you.

And it’s good to be satisfied.

Mexican Street Corn (Esquites) Salad

This sheet pan version features jalapeño and red bell pepper for extra flavor

Did someone say “fresh sweet corn”? It’s in season around here, so let’s enjoy it to the max!

No need to wrestle with a slippery cob, though. For this dish, we cut off the kernels and roast them, then add a lively mayo- and cheese-based dressing.

In Mexico, the dish is known as esquites, and it’s very popular. Once you taste it, you’ll know why.

Cabbage and Ham Stir-Fry

Ginger, garlic, and jalapeño perk up this quick and tasty dish

Need a quick weeknight dinner that you can assemble from what’s in your pantry and fridge? Here you go!

This dish combines green cabbage with cooked ham. Because we always seem to have extra cabbage around St. Patrick’s Day, and often have ham in the freezer.

Mix in some spicy Asian flavors, and it’s stir-fry for the win!

Smothered Cabbage with Bacon and Sweet Potatoes

This flavorful, quick-cooking dish will turn cabbage haters into lovers

Cabbage doesn’t get much respect, we know. But that’s because so many people abuse it with overcooking.

Fortunately, this dish cooks quickly. So its flavors are allowed to dance (and there’s no cabbagey smell in the kitchen). Plus, we add extra zest with bacon and sweet potatoes. Enough flavor, in fact, to entice the most determined cabbage hater in your household.

So the cabbage might be smothered. But your appetite won’t be.

Southwest-Style Chicken (or Turkey) Chowder

A quick and delicious way to use leftover cooked poultry

Have leftover cooked chicken or turkey? Need a warming, comforting dish to chase away the chill? Try this chowder. It’s a spicy mix of ingredients that you may already have on hand. Perfect pantry cooking!

Best thing about this dish is it’s ready in under an hour, start to finish. And you can freeze leftovers, so you’ll have another meal ready to go in minutes.

Winter never tasted so good.

Lentil and Cabbage Curry

  

This quick, tasty vegan dish is great for meatless Monday

Need meatless savor in a hurry? Something nutritious and comforting?

Say hello to lentil and cabbage curry. The hearty umami of lentils will tickle the taste buds of even the most confirmed carnivore.

Chew on that.

Romesco Sauce (or Dip)

A gluten-free version of the famous Catalan tomato-and-red-pepper sauce

Romesco sauce originated in the Catalan region of northeastern Spain. No two recipes seem to be quite the same, but virtually all of them include red chile pepper (both fresh and dried), tomato, garlic, and nuts.

Traditionally, this sauce is served with seafood. It’s also terrific with grilled meat and poultry, or when used as a dip with chips or crudités. Or as a sauce on vegetables.

Versatile and delicious. Two of our faves.

Moroccan-Spiced Cucumber and Chickpea Salad

Healthy Mediterranean flavors power this summertime main or side

When the heat is on, we like to eat cool. Enter the main-course salad.

This Mediterranean dish has a base of crunchy cucumbers and toothsome chickpeas. Then we spice it up with Moroccan-themed flavors.

We had planned to visit Morocco in person later this year. Looks like that won’t be happening, so we’ll have to travel virtually – with the assistance of our recipe collection.

Our imaginations will visit the sights. But our taste buds will get the real deal.

Spicy Roast Winter Squash Soup

Healthy flavor for hearty winter appetites

Our local markets are laden with colorful winter squash. So here at Kitchen Riffs central, that means it’s time for soup.

You can dish up this soup as the starter for an elegant cold-weather dinner. Or for a main course, just serve a large bowl of soup with crusty bread or salad. It’s a whole meal.

Soup’s on!

Summer Green-Bean Salad

Garlic vinaigrette turns green (string) beans into a perky starter or side

Time to green up, guys! Because green beans are finally in season in our part of the US.

Sure, we can buy “fresh” green beans other times of the year. But why bother? Too often they are woody, and their dull out-of-season flavor borders on soulless.

But as spring rolls into summer, we can find locally grown green beans in abundance. They’re plump and tender— and their flavor is so robust, they don’t require complicated recipes. All they need is a quick vinaigrette dressing. Simple.

We can handle simple.

Chickpea, Rice, and Spinach Salad

This Italian-style vegan salad makes a healthy starter or main course

Spring has arrived here in St Louis. Well, sort of. Daffodils are popping up, but we’re still having some raw days.

Which makes this the perfect time for hearty salads—the kind that use beans or other legumes. They’re protein-rich, so a generous serving makes a meatless main course. But they’re not so heavy that you couldn’t use a smaller serving as a starter, or even as a side dish.

Today’s hearty salad features chickpeas. But it’s also loaded with healthy produce: Fresh spinach, red bell pepper, and red onions. So it tastes like spring.

Simple and Quick Vegetable Stir-Fry

Fear of Chinese

Many American cooks (even experienced ones) are intimidated by Chinese cuisine.  Some are scared away even before they start — by that long list of unfamiliar ingredients.

Then there’s all the preparation required.  Mise en place is a French term, but surely the Chinese must have invented the concept.  You can’t cook Chinese unless you first do your mise en place, and a lot of it.

And, of course, there are some unfamiliar cooking techniques.  (A stir-fry is like a sauté — but not quite.)  So that can be a bit scary, too.

Stir-Fry for Dummies

Well, good news!  The stir-fry method I use here is easier than the “classic” technique.  It’s more of a braise (the pork is stir-fried but the vegetables are braised in liquid).  And the flavor is excellent.

As for the rest?  Let’s just jump into the recipe, and you’ll see.  Everything will become clear as we go along.

Red Pepper and Onion Frittata

Most of us don’t have time for the traditional American breakfast of bacon and eggs these days. We’re busy, so we often grab something quick and easy before rushing out the door. Besides, eggs have taken a bum rap the last couple of decades. They’re nothing but little cholesterol bombs, we’ve been told — to be avoided at all costs! For some, they’ve become a forgotten food.

Fortunately for food lovers everywhere, medical research now shows that eggs eaten in moderation have no negative health effects (see here and here). (Of course, I’m no medical expert. So if your cholesterol runs hot, you will want to discuss your diet with your doctor.)

Eggs are full of healthy protein and carry a modest caloric cost (a large egg has only 70 calories). But where to fit them into our diet? Breakfast seems the logical choice, but we still have that time issue.

Enter the frittata — a quick, delicious dish that is perfect for dinner. Add a salad or a hunk of French bread (and perhaps a glass of white vino) and you have a complete meal.