It’s asparagus season, and I can’t get enough of it. Roasting asparagus brings out its best. The tips get a little crispy in the oven, which I love, and the flavor is more concentrated than it would be if you steamed or sautéed it.

Roasted asparagus is the perfect springtime side dish, whether for brunch or dinner. As a bonus, it’s simple to throw together while your main dish cooks on the stove.

For these photos, I decked out my asparagus with lemon, mint, red pepper flakes and the lightest shaving of Parmesan.

You can keep your roasted asparagus as simple as you’d like. I included the basic recipe below, plus ideas for changing up the seasonings!

Continue to the recipe...

The post Perfect Roasted Asparagus appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

I set out to create a more interesting take on greasy take-out vegetable fried rice. Here it is in full glory, and it’s as flavorful as it is colorful. Hooray!

I used brown rice, naturally, and even threw in a handful of greens, which offer even more health bonus points. (The greens are optional.)

I also played around with a variety of vegetables, and all of them worked well as long as they were cut into very small pieces.

This is exactly what you should make when you have leftover rice and some random raw vegetables in your fridge. You’re going to love it!

Continue to the recipe...

The post Extra Vegetable Fried Rice appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Hello, it’s Kate of two weeks’ past. I wrote this post in advance of my vacation in Morocco. I day-dreamed of this trip while I was perpetually arms-deep in dishes last year. It’s official: My cookbook’s at the printer, and I’m finally getting a real vacation!

I should be practicing yoga and exploring Marrakech right now (you might be able to catch a glimpse on Instagram stories). I’m particularly excited about our trip into the markets.

I’m hoping to come back with an awesome Moroccan rug, which might be a challenge to get home since I’m already squeezing ten days’ worth of clothing into a carry-on. I can ship rugs over, right?

I’ll tell you all about my adventures when I get back. For now, I can offer you a vibrant springtime stir-fry that is both warming and fresh. Asian stir-fries were always a bit of a mystery to me, but it turns out they’re easy to make at home with the help of a little bit of arrowroot or cornstarch to thicken the sauce.

Continue to the recipe...

The post Spring Veggie Stir-Fry appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Good morning! I’m feeling a little blinky after the three-day weekend, how about you? Like, today feels like Monday but it’s really Tuesday. Blink. Why is my to-do list so long? Blink. Blink. Need more coffee.

Blink. This risotto has been on my list since I figured out how to make baked brown rice risotto last fall. Risotto made with brown rice takes almost twice as long to cook (fact), but my method of baking it in a Dutch oven and stirring it for just a few minutes at the end seriously cuts down on effort.

For this springtime take on risotto, I kept it simple and steamed the peas in the pot during the last ten minutes of baking. I opted to roast the asparagus while the pot is in the oven, since roasted asparagus tastes best.

It all comes together painlessly and leaves plenty of time to clean up and sip some leftover white wine while the risotto bakes in the oven. Let me know how you like it!

Continue to the recipe...

The post Spring Pea and Asparagus Risotto appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

I’ve been on a vegetable-packed coconut curry kick lately—they’re just the perfect transition food for this time of year. This vegetarian Thai green curry recipe features fresh asparagus, carrots and spinach in a delicious green coconut sauce. It’s full of flavor and simple enough for weeknight dinners.

I used store-bought Thai curry paste instead of raw ingredients, because some (like galangal) are difficult to find and time-consuming to prepare. I’ve watched a chef prepare curry paste in Thailand, and he really worked up a sweat! So while this recipe is not perfectly authentic, it’s a lot easier to make.

This curry is based on my old Thai green curry recipe. I loved the base recipe for that dish (I learned how to make it at a fun cooking class), but I was never quite satisfied by my choice of mix-ins.

So here we are, three years later, with an improved and extra-green version. This time, I opted for asparagus (snow peas would also work), carrots and wilted spinach. I love it, and I think you will, too!

Continue to the recipe...

The post Thai Green Curry with Spring Vegetables appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

My search for clarity has left me empty-handed this week, which isn’t to say that I haven’t tried. There have been long walks and talks with friends, vinyasas at yoga class and lots of sleep, maybe too much. Though my preoccupied mind and tiny kitchen haven’t produced any original recipes worth sharing this week, I am glad to share this one. I was flipping through a cookbook during a phone call when this recipe spoke to me. It’s seasonally appropriate, bursting with flavor and gorgeous green hues, and from one of my most trusted resources, Aida Mollenkamp’s Keys to the Kitchen.

Beware that this recipe requires some serious chopping work, but the end result is worth the effort. The recipe yields quite a bit of food, enough for six to eight servings, so it may be best created with helpers and shared with a small crowd. I’ve realized lately that good food tastes much better when shared.

Continue to the recipe...

The post Spring Pea and Asparagus Pasta appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

When the temperature hit a muggy ninety on Saturday, I declared that it is officially salad season in Oklahoma. Sure, it’s still spring, but soup weather ended last month and swimsuit weather is fast approaching (eeks!). Adrienne picked a delicious-sounding asparagus and white bean soup for this week’s Food Matters Project recipe, so I took it as an opportunity to perfect the asparagus salad concept I’ve had in mind.

Over the weekend, I tried asparagus salad every which way—with and without Parmesan, goat cheese, pine nuts, sunflower seeds and quinoa. I tried to incorporate white beans, both pan-fried and regular, but I ultimately decided that they are too earthy for this bright and nutty salad. Today, after eating asparagus for days and getting smacked on the chin by countless ribbons of asparagus, I present to you my favorite iteration.

Continue to the recipe...

The post Ribboned Asparagus and Quinoa Salad appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

I’ve been thinking about the concept of time lately. I suspect that it falls outside of my comprehension, like the infinite nature of the universe, and how the dishes manage to pile up in my sink when I’m not looking. Time comes and it goes, sure, but it never seems to run at a constant rate.

I seem to live in denial that everything takes time. Obviously work takes up a good chunk of time, though the hours devoted to work don’t seem to correlate very well with the amount of work done. Mundane but necessary routines like emptying the dishwasher take up many more minutes than I give them credit. Everything that I hold essential to being—like stretching and walking and reading—takes time as well. Not to mention the fun stuff for which I make time, like laughing with friends. Those are the best times. If I could just accept that everything takes time and plan accordingly, maybe I wouldn’t feel like I’m losing in a never-ending wrestling match with Father Time. I don’t like losing.

I’m in the midst of designing the largest publication I’ve ever produced and I wish I could devote more time to writing about this green curry dish (on second thought, I think I’ll just live in denial a bit longer so I can tell you about it). This is another recipe from the Asian seafood cooking class I attended with my friend Mark a couple of months ago, which also inspired this watercress and forbidden rice salad. If I had gone to a Thai restaurant and received something this delicious from behind the kitchen door, I’d probably assume that it required exotic ingredients or cooking skills picked up in the Far East. However, after watching a large white guy who cooks at a German restaurant make this and replicating it at home, I can say that fortunately, this dish does not require any of those things. All you need are some ingredients that are generally easy to find in the Asian cooking section, like green curry paste, coconut milk and soy sauce.

We were a couple of glasses of wine into the class by the time Chef Forster made this curry, so my recipe is based off of my scribbled notes on the chef’s vague, four-sentence recipe print-out. Regardless, the results were fantastic and I think you should make it. I’ve elaborated on the steps and details in the recipe below so you shouldn’t have any trouble. This time, I chose to add tofu, but you could skip the tofu and serve it with grilled fish, or go without it altogether.

Continue to the recipe...

The post Thai Green Curry appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

My first experience with crêpes was in high school. I took French back then, and joined the French Club for something to add to my college application. I even became the secretary of the French Club, meaning that I did, basically, rien. Nothing. It was the perfect role for my nerdy, lazy, 17-year-old self. Anyway, we had an annual French Club party, and Madame Gordy would bring in her crêpe maker so we could all enjoy sweet crêpes together.

A few years later, I spent a semester in Bordeaux, France. We visited Paris often, and we liked to stop at street vendors and order crêpes for a treat. I always admired the elegant swoop, swoop movement of the vendor’s hand as she spread the batter around the surface of the crêpe maker. She (or he) would hand us our crêpes, filled with Nutella and folded into quarters so they were easy to hold. I distinctly remember this day, when I was meandering through the Latin Quarter by myself. I sat on the edge of that fountain with a crêpe and watched families and tourists go by, and admired the old streets, the bookstores and the bridges across the Seine.

Continue to the recipe...

The post Buckwheat and Spelt Crepes appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Can we get real for a minute? I have some confessions to make. Before we get started, though, I’d like to point out the absurdity of the above photo. It’s a bowl stacked on top of another bowl. Who uses two bowls when one clearly does the job?! Laura’s latest post really drove home how silly food photography can be. I want my food to look real, like you could dig right in without a poster board propped against a Patrón bottle falling onto your head (that happened).

This Saveur thing has got me reflecting on all the absurdities inherent to this blog, and an enlightening correspondence with Kelsey helped me verbalize them. For starters, the name Cookie and Kate. My name is not Kate, it’s Kathryne! My dad calls me Kate but I would never introduce myself in real life as Kate. I thought Kate would be easier to spell and I felt a little safer going by a pseudonym on the internet. However, I am and always will be Kathryne, named after my grandmother Mildred Kathryne. I’m sorry for the confusion.

Continue to the recipe...

The post Springtime Stir-Fried Millet appeared first on Cookie and Kate.