When you move to a foreign country, or even another city, one of the first things you need to do is find a doctor. It’s especially intimidating if you don’t speak the language and don’t understand the health care system, and don’t know how everything works. Twenty-five years later, I’ve learned that nobody in France fully understands how the French health care system works.

I was talking to a French insurance broker about that recently, and he said, surprisingly, that foreigners often understand the system better than native French people since they have to figure out how it works, whereas French people don’t really have to (or want to) understand it as it’s just part of their lives.

I was lucky to find a French doctor who spoke English, who also happened to be what I call a “legacy” doctor. Because she’d been working so long, she knew all the top doctors and specialists, and they knew (and liked) her. So I was always well taken care of when I went to a doctor who she referred me to. Most doctors in France have a different bedside manner than some of us might be used to.

A visiting friend from the States was hospitalized in Paris and he kept referring to doctors and nurses by their first names. No one said anything, but I could see them tighten up a bit when they were called “Pierre” or “Christine,” rather than “Monsieur” or “Madame.” I was thinking I should try that sometime, just to see what happens, or to see if it breaks the ice…but I’m not sure I’d get the same “pass” as he did, as a foreigner.

My doctor retired last month and I learned an important lesson: Find a doctor who is younger than you.

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It’s hard to find a généraliste, a primary care physician, in Paris, and I was fortunate to have one that was very engaged with me and my care. She did call me by my first name, unlike every other doctor I’ve been to in France, which I gave her a pass on since she knew me pretty well. Often she seemed more interested in talking about chocolate than she did about the rash on my thigh.

I managed to get some good material out of her, albeit a few stories that I wasn’t sure I could repeat. Once when I was removing my pants in her office, I sprained my finger. “Oh, you gay men and your skinny jeans…” were her words of consolation for my crooked digit. The one on my hand, that is. Another time she poked my tummy, which bounced back like Poppin’ Fresh, the Pillsbury doughboy, and told me I should lose some weight. If she knew so much about gay men, she would know that you should never, ever touch our stomachs if we’re over fifty. And my job is to eat. If I’m not eating, I’m not working. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

We had our final appointment last month, which she booked specifically for me because she wanted to say goodbye. She’s going to be taking a big trip that includes Tahiti, Brazil, and Australia, and I told her that I was going to Scandinavia, which had been on my “bucket list.” She looked puzzled, so I had to explain in French why a travel list could also be a bucket. (Which I don’t understand either.) And although people in France don’t hug their doctors, I couldn’t resist doing so on my way out the door. And yes, I’m now wearing looser jeans, thanks to both of her observations.

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So now I need to find a new doctor, hopefully one that knows better than to touch my stomach. Hopefully, she or he will like chocolate as much as I do. Almost every woman I’ve met in France is happy to talk about chocolate, so maybe I’ll stick with women.

Right after the second weekend of June, we sailed off to Scandinavia. Being my life, of course, there was a one-day baggage handler strike planned at the Paris airports on the day of our flight. I was on turbo-hold with Norwegian Airlines for a little over an hour seeing if we could move our flight to the day before (discount airlines are great…er, until you need help), until I gave up. Then I had the brilliant idea to send our luggage ahead using Sendmybag.com.

Their website clearly explained the process and the price, which wasn’t super expensive - around $75-100 per bag - but then there were some additional dripping charges such as a tracking fee and a postage fee if you want luggage label holders mailed to you. And I was hit with $47 for a “fuel surcharge” due to the escalating price of fuel, which jacked up the price. But still, it was worth it. The only glitch was that the guy picked up the luggage a few hours before the designated pickup time. Thankfully I was home, and when any kind of delivery in France arrives (or in this case, departs), you breathe a sigh of relief.

I was a little nervous since deliveries are notoriously chancy here, but it worked, and our luggage was waiting for us when we arrived at our hotel in Copenhagen. Whew!

Now that summer is in full swing, I’m doing my best to use all the beautiful fruits and berries I’ve waited all year for. One of my favorite recipes is this versatile fruit crisp, which you can adapt to any other fruits that are in season:

I also make a lot of jams in the summer, and one of my favorites is Strawberry jam, which we enjoy this time of year, but is especially welcome in the middle of winter. Everyone I know who is married to a Frenchman says that they are jam-eating machines. (Who knew that someone could plow through that much jam at one sitting?) So I hide a few jars, just to make sure they’ll be some in January.

As a jam-maker, I plow through plenty of jam jars and am always on the prowl for more.

Jam and Jelly Recipes

When we moved into our apartment, there was a very kindly older man who I’d see shuffling around in the hallway and mailbox area of our building. He moved slowly and would sometimes acknowledge me, and other times, not. Romain and I were often concerned that he might get preyed upon by people who roam around and when they see an elderly person looking dazed, go up to them and say they’re owed some money, and offer to take them to an ATM and help them withdraw some cash to repay them. 😡

So we kept an eye on him, until we stopped seeing him. Then, a few weeks ago, we met a man in our building who told us that was his father, who had passed away, and he’d come to clean out his apartment. Of course, like everyone in Paris, we’re interested in real estate (as well as being nosy neighbors) and asked to see it, before it hit the market. It wasn’t a large place and had a very modest Parisian kitchen. In spite of the balcony, and the view, my eyes were fixed on the empty jam jars in the kitchen. I guess the older you get in Paris, the more empty jam jars you amass — especially if you’re not a jam-maker and giving them away.

Even though we felt okay asking to see the apartment, the jam jars were a different story and I didn’t want to ask if I could have them. A few hours later, however, when I saw the fellow hauling bags of stuff out of the apartment and walking toward the garbage room, I heard the clanging of glass in the bags and asked if they happened to be jam jars and if so, could I have them?

So I’m now ready for summer.

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As most of you have heard, last month there was a vicious heatwave in France, with temperatures close to 44ºC/111ºF in one part of the country. While some say, “It’s hot in________ [fill in their city], too,” the heat is different here, and people aren’t prepared for it, nor is Paris adapted for it. We’ve had heatwaves since I moved here in 2003, but the problem with heatwaves is that once they’re over, people forget about them.

Anyone who’s been entangled in any sort of French bureaucracy call tell you that the French tend to be process-oriented, focusing on the process, rather than being solution-oriented. And anyone who’s been in France during the summer knows that air-conditioning is rare to nonexistent. But because things like to get discussed…and discussed and discussed…air-conditioning was talked about a lot more this year, and more people were buying them, even those who were convinced they’d get sick from them. (In spite of that, 2025 people didn’t survive this last heatwave due to heat-related illnesses. In 2003, that figure was nearly 15,000.)

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It’s a subject that comes up a lot and two good analyses from locals take a deeper dive into it: Paris is Boiling by and France has seen the future, and it’s an inferno by , which concludes that there’s a lack of a centralized plan of action,* which is unfortunate in a country that excels in coming together to provide for its citizens.

Somehow, I had the foresight back in March to plan our trip to Scandinavia, which coincided with the heatwave in France, so we missed it. (Non, je ne regrette rien.) In Norway and Denmark, it felt like summer in San Francisco: cool, overcast, and often foggy. But beautiful. We ate well and saw some magnificent scenery—those fjords! I was going to share more in this newsletter but I had to catch up on everything I set aside while on vacation, as well as finish Widow’s Bay. During one episode, there was a scene that actually made me jump off the couch. So I’ll write about our trip in a separate post, coming soon…

-David

When “Chocolate” Isn’t Really Chocolate

When I was revisiting The Great Book of Chocolate, one thing that fascinated me in the world of chocolate was chocolate alternatives, which don’t contain a trace of cacao, or cocoa, so they aren’t really chocolate.

Many of us remember our old nemesis, carob, which traumatized a generation (possible paywall.) As part of that generation, I was curious to see it re-emerge, as well as to find chocolate alternatives made with sunflower seeds, fava beans, upcycled grape seeds, and malted barley. I ordered half a dozen of them to try and wrote more about them in the book.

I was initially put off by the smell of the one I got from Win-Win, which smelled like beans, but not cocoa beans. Still, I like to keep an open mind when writing books, and I baked the Individual Warm Chocolate Cakes from the book with the Win-Win Dark Chocolate Alternative and was surprised at the results, which I shared with my friend Margot, owner of Combat cocktail bar in Paris, who has great taste:

What you don’t see in the video is the aftermath of the three uneaten cakes, which Romain and I snacked on afterward, and I found myself lopping off bites of cake the rest of the day. So while I’m not ready to give up on real chocolate, it’s nice to know there are alternatives out there.

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Closing out here with a few of my favorite summer recipes that I wanted to share…

I can’t resist pasta any time of the year, and Pasta alla Norma uses summer eggplant and basil, which will transport you to Sicily. At least it has that effect on me:

A live video chat I did with prompted me to make his Lemon blueberry cake, which is punctuated with lots of juicy blueberries, blanketed under a brightly flavored, crunchy glaze:

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In my continued effort to promote white chocolate, which is the subject of some derision (lighten up, folks!), cocoa butter-rich white chocolate pairs perfectly with zippy fresh ginger, and this ice cream is a great accompaniment to a summer fruit crisp or cobbler:

It’s said that Pan bagnat is a salade Niçoise in a roll, which is pretty much the case. Filled with lots of raw vegetables, hard-cooked eggs, flakes of tinned tuna, and punctuated with salty olives, stuffed in a roll bathed (bagnat) with good olive oil, these summer sandwiches are perfect for picnics or backyard lunches. Do-aheaders will appreciate that they’re best made in advance:

If you like my Basil vinaigrette, give this Tarragon vinaigrette a try, especially if you have any overload of tarragon in your garden, as we do. It’s great drizzled over summer tomatoes or with grilled fish, chicken, or vegetables:

In fact, I served it for lunch today, with a composed salad of radishes, bonito, avocado, hard-cooked eggs with anchovies, green beans, and torn basil from our garden, which is thriving in this heat…

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*There is a plan to harness the water of the Seine and use that to partially cool down the city. Spoiler: The plan is scheduled to be completed in 2042 and the cost is estimated to be €2,6 billion/$2.9 billion; by 2050, temperatures in Paris could reach 50ºC/122ºF.

The geothermic cooling system didn’t quite work very well in the athletes village during the Paris Olympics and athletes were offered the opportunity to buy AC units for their lodgings. But hopefully the systems will improve over time.

Today we have a recipe for a delicious shiso drink—a uniquely Asian pink lemonade to quench your thirst all summer long. It’s made with purple shiso (also known as perilla), an Asian herb that when combined with acidic lemon juice makes an all natural, herbal pink lemonade.  Shiso Pink Lemonade, with Antioxidants!  This shiso drink […]

Americans seem to be obsessed with ultimates. Magazines, websites, and social media have made people think that the goal of everything is hyper-crispiness. Don’t get me wrong. I like crispy, too, especially when it comes to fried chicken, French fries, potato chips, baguettes, and fruit crisp toppings. I even spent a few months working on a proposal for a cookbook of recipes of only crispy foods, which I think was ahead of its time. I’m sure by now someone else has done it.

But one thing everyone wants to know is how to keep the bottom of pie dough crispy. News Flash: If you cover something relatively fragile with four-to-six times its weight of fruit (which is 90% water), and bake it for 30 to 45 minutes, you shouldn’t expect that layer of dough underneath to remain as dry as a Wasa bread.

I’ve never heard anyone in France asking (or complaining about) dough that’s not crispy on the bottom of a tart. And that’s in a country where complaining is the national sport. In defense of that, complaining in France isn’t considered a negative thing. It means that you’re exigeant, or discerning. So perhaps that’s why I fit right in.

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Hello there!

We’re heading into a long weekend so I’m heading things off by sending this early. You won’t hear from me on Sunday but I’ll be back next week. A zillion thanks to all the folks who’ve registered for the virtual “Banh Xeo Fry Off” cooking class on July 19! Seats are still available. 😁 Join me!

The United States has its problems and we are divided on many issues. However, I’m happy to be an American citizen, especially when I reflect upon the clever, delicious ways that flavors and traditions have naturally come together at our tables. You can enjoy purist beef pho noodle soup but there are Viet cooks making smoked brisket pho in Texas and New York. In California, I’ve spotted menus offering birria pho.

For past July 4 menus, I’ve patriotically prepared red white and blue potato salad and enjoyed hot dogs and burgers. This year, I’m leaning toward the Hanoi-style bún chả grilled pork with rice noodles (aka the “Obama Special”).

Vietnamese people have been in America for over half a century and have contributed plenty. Why not include some Vietness to celebrate the nation’s commitment to democracy and self determination?

Many other Asian people have been in the United States far longer than Viet people. Filipinos were the first Asian people documented to have arrived, landing in Morro Bay , California, in 1587. They were part of the Spanish galleon trade which transported people, many of whom were enslaved, between Manila in the Philippines and North America. The ship the Filipinos were on soon departed from California bound for Acapulco, its final destination.

Numbering about 4.6 million, Filipinos comprise the third largest group of Asian Americans (nearly 20 percent of the total Asian American population), according to Pew Research. The Filipino population is most concentrated in California and Hawaii. There are Filipino restaurants and many capable Filipino chefs creating incredible culture-bending foods.

I thought of all this while paging through a new cookbook by Maui-based chef and restaurateur, Sheldon Simeon. He’s got extra cred and popularity from being a favorite Top Chef contestant. Simeon is Filipino American and like many Fil-Am chefs I’ve met, has a knack for cleverly tweaking and combining classics.

His new book is called Ohana Style (“Ohana” means blood family as well as your community, your people). The book is filled with cheffy homey fare.

This week, I test drove two recipes. One is a fabulous Vietnamese Coffee Swirl Brownie that marries fudgy American brownies with Viet coffee and condensed milk. The cream cheese swirl makes the brownie seem cheesecake like too. It’s a high-class, handsome sweet that’s easy to make. Cut the brownie into big or small pieces, depending on who’s coming over. They freeze well too so you can enjoy some now and later.

Get the Vietnamese Coffee Swirl Brownie recipe on my website; it’s 🆓 for all to make.

Aside from the brownie, I test drove the “Ginger Chimichurri” from Ohana Style. It’s cheffy in how all the flavors are layered into one gingery herb sauce. Simeon’s recipe isn’t like a classic, loose chimichurri, but rather more like a creamy sauce — so I’ve renamed it as Ginger Herb Sauce here. Whatever you call it, it’s light and you really experience the ginger, herb mixture plus lingering allium notes. As a bonus, the sauce is packed with good-for-you phytochemicals.

Simeon’s flavors combination was excellent though there were no weight measurements to serve as guardrails for the ingredients. I went two rounds with the sauce recipe and added weight measurements so you can follow it easily and make tweaks of your own. Also, I simplified the process so you can quickly blitz your way to Ginger Herb Sauce happiness.

The notion of combining all these flavors is boldly American. Better yet, the sauce can be quickly manipulated to make many flavorful dishes.

What to do with all the Ginger Herb Sauce that you’re about to make? 😉 In Ohana Style, Simeon shows it photographed with prime rib. He suggests serving it with grilled or roasted meats or using it as a dressing for vegetable dishes, dip for bread, or “any other way you can think up.”

With that cue, I thought up four simple ways to use the sauce aside from just swiping bread through it.

Served with crispy tofu, the sauce lends a rich bright flavor. Quickly manipulated into a dressing, the sauce turns potato salad emerald green. Brushed on grilled chicken, the sauce veils it with gingery, herbaceousness. In thirty seconds, I turned it into a salad dressing for mixed greens too. I bet you can smear it on a roast beef sandwich in lieu of horseradish or mustard! It’s a rare recipe that can magically transform so many ingredients from land and sea into something new and exciting.

Below you’ll find a package of five (5) recipes in text and as a downloadable PDF. There are bonus pointers, too!

• Ginger Herb Sauce recipe

• Crispy Tofu with Ginger Herb Sauce

• Ginger Herb Grilled Chicken

• Emerald Potato Salad

• 30-Second Green Salad

The sauce is vegan adaptable and keeps for 1 week. I’m sure you’ll come up with more ideas than what I’ve offered you here.

People from all over the world have come to America over the centuries, melding traditions to create new ones. I doubt that these culinary ideas could have been born and executed so well in another country. Happy Independence Day! 💥

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This blueberry cobbler is a summertime delight! It features jammy ripe blueberries beneath an almond flour-based biscuit topping that’s tender on the inside and perfectly crisp and craggy along the edges. I hope this recipe will become one of your go-to summertime treats. It’s certainly a winner in my repertoire.

This recipe is the cobbler version of my popular blueberry crisp. It’s based on my peach cobbler recipe, which was arguably the most delicious dessert made in my kitchen last summer. I’ve always loved making fruity crisps, and now I’ve moved on to cobblers. Don’t make me choose a favorite!

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The post Blueberry Cobbler with Almond Topping appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

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In something I never expected to have to clarify, this is a hot dog recipe but it is not a recipe for hot dogs. I know that I have a history of making foods from scratch that most sane people do not feel the need to — cream cheese, fig newtons, bagels, vanilla extract, and [coming soon] almond extract too — but I do still leave “grinding meat with spices, salt, and curing agents into a smooth, fine emulsion” before being “stuffed into casings and smoked” to the experts, usually at Hebrew National.

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I’m away until the end of the month, traveling, and (fortunately) escaping the heat in Paris. Here’s a summer recipe I thought I’d reshare that’s easy to make, and captures the essence of the season. It’s definitely going on rotation when I get home! - David

Tarts, or galettes as they’re sometimes called, are a great way to use summer. I know some people are timid about making dough, but this dough couldn’t be simpler, and it’s very hard to screw up.

And if it’s warm where you are, it comes together in a flash. Just be sure to chill the butter and I know sometimes people chill the flour as well, but I’ve never done that. (I actually learned to make puff pastry in a hot restaurant kitchen, in the summer. So making this kind of dough seems to me like a walk in the park…)

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Regarding the mustard, to be honest, I’m more of a fan of Dijon mustard than Romain, who prefers the grainy type. But during the mustard shortage last year, we could only get grainy mustard, so I had a lot of that on hand. But I remain on team Dijon.

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I sometimes top the tart with slices of fresh ricotta before baking, and if you’ve got fresh corn, you can add that as well.

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Summer Tomato Tart

Serves 8 (Although everyone always wants a second slice so realistically, it serves 4)

Polenta will make the dough a little less smooth to roll out, but I do like the taste and texture of the coarse bits of ground corn, so it’s worth it for the flavor. You can use fine polenta or cornmeal or additional all-purpose flour (or a whole-grain flour, such as teff or buckwheat) in place of the polenta if you want to leave it out.

I love fresh ricotta with this tart, but you could try it with another cheese that’s relatively moist but won’t melt into a puddle, such as feta or provolone.

I’ve added corn kernels to this tart before baking when I had a hankering for corn. (Fresh or frozen will work.) You can finish the tart with fresh herbs, such as basil, tarragon, savory, or parsley.

For the dough

1 1/4 (175g) cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (35g) polenta or cornmeal

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 ounces (85g) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

5 tablespoons (70ml) ice water, plus more if necessary

For the tart

1/4 cup (60g) Dijon or whole-grain mustard

3 medium tomatoes (~1 1/2 pounds)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

6 ounces (170g) whole-milk ricotta

1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

Parmesan cheese

To make the dough, mix together the flour, polenta, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or make it by hand by putting the dry ingredients in a medium bowl (and use a pastry blender or your fingers to mix the dough). Add the cubed, cold butter and mix until the pieces of butter are the size of large corn kernels. Add the water and continue to mix until the dough starts to come together. Use your hands to gather the dough and shape it into a disk. If the dough feels too dry to do that, add more water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, until it comes together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or your favorite eco-friendly alternative and chill for at least an hour. (The dough can be made up to 3 days in advance.)

To make the tart, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Unwrap it and, holding the disk of dough perpendicular to the counter, rap the sides of the dough on the counter, turning it as you go, to soften the edges, which helps them stay together and not get too ragged when you’re rolling out the dough.

On a lightly floured countertop, roll the dough out to a 14-inch (36cm) circle, turning the dough and sprinkling more flour on the counter and the dough to keep it from sticking as you’re rolling.

Place the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC) while you assemble the tart.

Spread a layer of mustard on the dough, leaving a few inches/centimeters empty around the perimeter, which you’ll fold over the filling later.

Slice the tomatoes about 1/3-inch (1cm) thick and layer them in concentric circles, overlapping them a little, over the mustard. Sprinkle the tomatoes with a little salt and freshly ground pepper. Fold the edges of the dough over the tomatoes to make an outer crust.

Place chunks of ricotta cheese over and, in some places, partially tucked under the tomatoes. Brush the edges of the dough with melted butter and grate Parmesan cheese over the entire tart, including the crust.

Bake until the tomatoes are soft and cooked through and the crust is dark golden brown, about 35-40 minutes. Slide the tart off the pan onto a wire rack and let cool for about ten minutes before serving.

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Hello there!

Wowza — I’m thrilled that so many of you are interested in the July cooking class. I worried that it was summer and you’d not be available. But I was wrong!

Coincidentally, and I have been chatting about the challenges of making bánh xèo well. He has used my recipe in Vietnamese Food Any Day but hasn’t gotten satisfaction so he signed up for the class! Sometimes you need to watch someone to get all the moves and pointers so you can finesse your own cooking. Also, the VFAD recipe is good but the new one that I’ll be teaching is excellent.

That’s the beauty of taking a cooking class. I’ll be your banh xeo coach.

For details on the upcoming cooking class and promo codes, check this dispatch. (You can get the Early Bird deal till 6/30!)

Now for something spicy.

When I researched and developed the versatile only kung pao chicken you need, it dawned upon me that Sichuan cooking has a knack for using peanuts to yield heady dishes. Kung pao is one of them but there’s another popular dish called “second sister rabbit cubes” (èr jiě tù dīng 二姐兔丁 ) that includes peanuts, poached rabbit, fermented chile sauce, and green onions.

I make a vegan riff with tofu because it’s easier, healthy, and just as rich, spicy and umami laden. Also, the rabbit version is cool weather fare but the tofu version is lighter and great year round. Without a nickname, my take on the Sichuan favorite is simply called “spicy tofu and peanuts” (huā rén dòufu gān 花生豆腐干).

Like kung pao chicken and mapo tofu 🆓, dishes like this one are wickedly addictive. They possess a broad range of flavors — from rich and salty to spicy and pungent. The spectrum of textures span from soft to crunchy to chewy. Stand over the bowl, inhale the tofu’s aromas, and you’ll want to dive right in.

Your nose will tingle just a bit from the chile heat — which you can partly control with homemade chile oil. This condiment is a constant in my kitchen like it is in many Asian kitchens. It’s more useful than chili crisp because it plays with other flavors well without taking over.

Make the 2-ingredient recipe from my 🆓 free chile oil recipe at the website. Dial in the heat and play with the flavors! Aside from using chile oil here and in the Taiwan sesame cold noodles, you can drizzle it onto noodle soup, mix it into dipping sauces, and so much more.

Below you’ll find:

• Spicy Tofu and Peanuts recipe in text and as a downloadable PDF

• Pointers on sourcing and using two umami powerhouses — fermented chile bean sauce and fermented black beans

• Tips for how to choose the “right” tofu and prep it for big flavor

• Ingredient substitutions (because we all like them!)

• Serving suggestions so you can make the most of this recipe

And, this tofu dish happens to be vegan. I hope you befriend and make it often.

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This Eggplant Stir-fry with Chicken is in the Cantonese style—the flavor of the eggplant shines through with aromatic garlic, scallions, ginger, and juicy chicken. It’s a delicious one-pan meal and my new favorite way to enjoy Chinese eggplant.  Do I Need to Use Chinese Eggplant?  Chinese eggplants have fewer seeds than the average globe variety […]

Today, I’m sharing how we wash our vegetables. Getting the most out of produce and making sure they’re as clean as possible is very important to me, as I’m sure it is for many of you! We break down how to wash everything from leafy greens to herbs, peppers, and more.  If you’d rather watch […]

One of my 2026 goals was to teach more online cooking classes! It’s taken so long to open a class because I’ve been fine tuning a recipe for bánh xèo — Vietnamese sizzling rice crepes. They are a classic Saigon treat that many people swoon over. To make bánh xèo thin, crispy, and light is a feat normally left to professional street food chefs or tenacious home cooks.

But, you can rival them. I’ve come up with batter options and techniques for you to make them just as good as the pros! After months of tinkering, this recipe is the best I’ve ever made. I’m very happy with the results, which wowed even my mother.

My new bánh xèo recipe is:

• Doable with supermarket or with Asian market ingredients

• Consistently crispy with just the right amount of chew

• Easy to fry up and won’t make a mess of your stove

• Gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan friendly!

Despite using everyday ingredients, the crepes involve a certain level of finesse. Given that, I built a new online class called “Mastering Bánh Xèo” so you can make the Vietnamese sizzling rice crepes yourself.

The crepe recipes yields a satisfying one-dish meal but to round things out, I developed a fruity 3-color dessert parfait (chè ba màu hoa quả) to go with the crepes!

Take the class and I’ll walk you through making a fabulous menu to celebrate Vietnamese street food at its best. You can entertain and make a party from this menu too!

Bánh Xèo class details

• Topic: Mastering Bánh Xèo: Make Vietnamese Sizzling Rice Crepes at Home

• Day and time: Sunday, July 19, 2 to 4pm PST

• Cost: $42.50 per person (includes all recipes and video playback)

• How to register: Use this link to buy a ticket at Eventbrite

• Can’t attend the livestream? Sign up for the class to receive the recipe packet and video playback. You can also email me questions!

Registration discounts

🐦‍⬛ 🌅 Early bird discount: Between now and June 30, save 15% off the ticket price with this special code: sizzle15

✨ 🎁 Paid PTFS subscribers always receive a 25% off discount between now and when ticket sales close. That promo code is in this dispatch for paid subscribers.

Cooking class general information

The low-down on how the classes run:

• Day and time: Sundays, 2-4pm PST, so you can make something for dinner or for the week ahead. It’s also (hopefully) an unhurried time for you.

• Class length: 2 hours, including Q&A

• Online platform: Zoom, with a playback recording for all registrants

• Ingredients: Most ingredients are available at supermarkets. Asian market shopping is sometimes required. You will get pointers, such as brand suggestions, in class materials.

• Equipment: Basic home kitchen equipment. Nothing fancy or exotic is required. If there’s something special, it will be flagged in the class materials.

• Class materials: After registering, you’ll get a confirmation email with a link to a downloadable PDF of class materials which contain all recipes, Zoom link, plus lists and pointers (groceries, equipment, and prep).

• Zoom class link: The day of class, you will get an email reminder with the link again.

• Cost: Each ticket is $42.50

• Refund-ability: Unfortunately, class registrations are not refundable. Student attendees receive the detailed class materials, livestream class, plus access to the recorded playback.

• Want the class but can’t attend? Just sign up to get the class materials and recording to watch. Whether or not you attend the livestream, you can email me follow-up questions.

I’m so excited about teaching you how to make this new recipe. Join me on July 19.

P.S. Coming this Sunday — a spicy, nutty tofu to keep on hand, take on a picnic or bring to a potluck. It’s deliciously indestructible!

You’re going to fall in love with this creamy basil sauce! It’s like a super fresh, summertime aioli that brings sandwiches and snacks to life. You can whip this sauce together in just a few minutes with a few ingredients. I make it all the time, and keep finding more uses for it, so I’m highlighting it here today.

It’s not too late to plant some basil this summer. If you have a surplus and you’ve already made all the pesto you can eat, try this creamy basil sauce next. You’ll find lots of ideas to use it up below. Let’s make it a basil sauce summer!

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If you’ve spent any time cooking from this blog, you’ve probably noticed that in some of our recipes, we call for a couple different types of soy sauce. Most often, it’s light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. But if you’re standing in the Asian grocery store aisle, staring at a wall of bottles, you’ll […]

Close your eyes, take a bite of this tropical granola, and it’s like you’re halfway to a beach somewhere. Made with toasted oats, golden cashews and/or macadamia nuts, coconut flakes, and sweet chunks of dried papaya and pineapple, this tropical granola recipe makes sunshine in a jar.  Sprinkle it over some plain yogurt with honey, […]

By now, you know Vietnamese nuoc cham dipping sauce, well yes? I shared all my tips and recipes for how to make the versatile sauce in a March PTFS dispatch. I hope you’ve made good use of the recipes👇!

Let’s boost your Viet cooking game with dipping sauces that are sort of an insider’s secret. They’re popular in Vietnam, where people buy them and make them at home too. They require few ingredients and in 2 minutes, you can conjure up a spicy, sweet, tangy, creamy condiment that goes with practically anything!

Originally from Nha Trang, a coastal city in the southern part of central Vietnam with lots of fresh seafood, these sauces involve an unusual combination of ingredients that includes sweetened condensed milk. You can make either a green or reddish-orange sauce depending on your chile preference. The more popular one is green and called Muối Ớt Xanh — literally green chile salt, but in English, it’s often called “Green Seafood Sauce”.

Indeed, there’s truth in advertising — Green Seafood Sauce goes well with seafood. However, it also goes with other animal proteins and veggies too. Ditto for the red version.

I experimented with the sauces by trying both with a mixed grill this week that included shrimp, squid, veggies, and Viet restaurant-style lemongrass pork (thịt heo nướng sả), a free 🆓 recipe on my website.

The well-seasoned pork has layered flavors and this sauce amplified them, rather than overwhelm. Remarkably, the sauces punched up the flavors of everything. The shrimp was briny sweet, the squid was delicate, and the veggies each had their personal flavor characteristics. (All those items cook up fast so along with cooked rice that was heated up in the microwave, we had dinner in little time.)

So, you should have my versatile formulas for these sauces in your back pocket for grilling season and beyond (they go well with steamed seafood, and roast chicken and steamed chicken, I’ve heard!). While you’re at it, try brushing these sauces on food while they’re grilling. Why not?

Translation note: The green sauce is often translated into English as “Green Seafood Sauce” but the red one is awkwardly called “Red Chile Salt Sauce”. They both go well with seafood so I’m just calling them Green and Red Seafood Sauce. If you want to be 100 percent correct, call them by their Vietnamese names:

❇️ Muối Ớt Xanh (“moo-ee uht sann”)

🅾️ Muối Ớt Đỏ (“moo-ee uht daw”)

Below you’ll find this suite of information for you to enjoy what I prepared and to riff on it!

• 5 recipes: Green Seafood Sauce + Red Seafood Sauce recipes + guidance on how to make simple Grilled Shrimp + Grilled Squid + Grilled Veggies

• Recipes are in text and as a downloadable PDF

• A techniques video on how to trim shell-on, head-on shrimp like a pro

• Ingredient explainers and strategies for dialing in a heat level to match your taste buds

I’m keeping jars of these sauces in my fridge this summer and so should you!

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Dakgomtang is a comforting Korean chicken soup with tender chicken and a light, slightly milky broth. Served with rice, soy sauce relish, and spicy seasoning paste, it makes a delicious and satisfying meal.

I met Carlos Moreno when he was delivering taco kits during the pandemic, when we all wanted to eat “out,” but were stuck eating in. Prior to that period Mexican food wasn’t well represented in Paris. (A lesser-known fact is that France tried to colonize Mexico twice in the mid-1800s.) I loved Carlos’ food and we had a few nice conversations on the sidewalk when he made his deliveries.

Since then he’s gone on to open his own restaurant in Paris, Comer. As I mention in the video, you might not think you want to go to a Mexican restaurant in Paris, but I can assure you that yes, you do. It’s really, really good.

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His cooking is based in traditional Mexican fare with lively moles and amazing salsas, as well as a menu that changes based on the season and what’s available, which includes tostadas with raw tuna crudo, peas and citrus, tacos with pork al pastor, a mille-feuille of fresh tomatoes with housemade salsa macha, and a truly melt-in-your-mouth horneado of beef. One item on the dessert menu that’s a particular favorite are his mole brownies, which are slightly spicy, and served with a vanilla atole sauce and mezcal.

I was happy that when I asked Carlos to stop by and make his famous brownies with me, he said yes. We didn’t make the vanilla atole sauce (you can find my recipe here), which he spikes with mezcal at Comer, but the brownies were delicious all on their own. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did making them!

Comer Paris website

And if you’re in Paris, Comer is some of the best Mexican food you’ll ever have, anywhere.

Comer
96 rue d’Hauteville (10th)
Paris

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This summertime stunner tastes as good as it looks! I had a feeling my Burrata with Tomatoes and Basil would be good with peaches instead of tomatoes, and wow, it’s great. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

The recipe features sliced peaches, fresh arugula and basil, creamy burrata, and toasted pistachios, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It’s a vibrant sweet-and-savory combination that you can serve as a salad or an appetizer.

I love fresh, simple summer recipes like these because they look and taste gourmet but require no cooking at all. This beautiful recipe is ready in 15 minutes!

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I can’t remember if we had El Nino or La Nina last year but the weather yielded a bumper crop of apricots in Santa Cruz. One of my neighbors is out of the country and I’ve been gleaning the fruit that’s fallen off his trees. Successive windy days knocked lots of the delicate Royal Blenheims off his trees. So far, my windfall ‘harvest” has yielded about 30 pounds of apricots. If I didn’t gather the fruit, the ants would have feasted and I would have cried.😆

At home with the fruit, I sorted them into piles of soft (eat or cook soon) and firm (hold). Blenheims are known for their intense aroma and sweet flavor. They bruise easily so I keep them refrigerated in recycled shoe boxes.

Add to that, another neighbor texted that he was leaving town and I was welcomed to glean what remained on his apricot tree. He even left his picker out for us to grab the fruit at the top of the tree.

We’re eating lots of apricots now to savor their summertime splendor; they’re a delicious, fiber-filled fruit. Plus, I’ve been cooking with them in various recipes. For instance, I’m experimenting with making umeboshi apricots, which will take till July or so to finish. Instead of red shiso, I’m using Vietnamese shiso (tia to), which is garnet and green. This Japanese recipe and this other recipe are serving as my guides.

Here are three other recent apricot projects of mine from this past week that you may be interested in!

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💎 Apricot Ginger Jam

The first time I shared a jar of apricot ginger jam with my dad, he ate it right off the spoon. His eyes widened and a big grin spread across his face. The jam was and is that good. It’s not too sweet and has enough lemony tang and gingery bite to balance the flavors and make it taste super special. It’s one of my favorite ways to preserve apricots for winter when I’m needing some sweet sunny summer cheer.

Use apricots from your tree (or someone else’s!), the farmer’s market (ask for jam-quality fruit to save money), or the supermarket. Make a half batch with just 2 1/2 pounds (1.1kg) of fruit, if you like! The jam makes a great gift too so bank your efforts for the holiday gift giving season. The stellar recipe is 🆓 on my website for you to use!

💎 Spicy fresh apricot sauce

Thank for this saucy idea that she suggested on Substack Notes — make a fresh apricot sauce with chile and fish sauce for grilled seafood. I did just that and it was great — even on rice, which reminded me of when my mom used to serve us kids sliced ripe mango with rice and a smidgen of fish sauce. It was Mom’s clever way to get us it to “get the rice to go down.” I’ve adored the fruity-funky combo ever since I was 5 years old! Rory is new to the idea and loved the sauce on rice too.

Enjoy the apricot sauce at room temperature as a dipping sauce or chutney-ish relish. Keep scrolling for the recipe . . .

Spicy Fresh Apricot Sauce Recipe

In a small food processor blend together:

• 8 ounces (225g) pitted ripe apricots (soft ones are welcomed!)

• 1 Thai chile, coarsely chopped

• 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice, plus more to taste

• 1 Tbsp fish sauce, plus more to taste

• 1 very small clove garlic, finely chopped

Taste and adjust the flavor with extra lime juice by the to tame sweetness or fish sauce to add savory umami-ness. Incrementally add each by the 1/2 Tbsp (1 1/2 tsp). Use immediately or store in a jar for up to 1 week.

💎 Almond Apricot Cake (gluten free)

Apricots are from Central Asia and China and almonds may have hailed from those regions too. They are destined to be together in a sweet treat. I wanted an easy cake to combine and celebrate the two ingredients and created this delight. I riffed on ’s almond butter cake recipe from her brilliant Gluten-Free Flavor Flours cookbook, but baked fresh apricots right into the cake, an idea poached from the French moelleux of summer fruits, a cake recipe that wrote about a number of years ago.

The fruit sank into the bottom and didn’t turn totally mushy; it added a tangy contrast to the cake that was wonderful to eat. The top baked to a delicate crispness that finished the cake with a truly special crust. (Yes, I think you can make this vegan too!)

I shared some with neighbors, two of whom enjoyed it to celebrate their baby’s 6 month birthday (their baby is also named Rory).

Like the popular PTFS easy lime pound cake recipe, this one is also made in the processor. (I’m a somewhat lazy cake baker.) I’ve just written the 🆓 recipe up at the website for you to bake it up yourself. You can easily play with it too. Make this almond apricot cake recipe your summer go-to!

Coming up for this Sunday Special are ideas for the grilling season that is now upon us!