Chinese food this good probably should be illegal

By Marialisa Calta | May 15, 2012 - 6:46pm

“Chinese Food Craving Lands Burglar in Jail,” read the headline in The Gazette newspaper in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

More than poet sing parsley's praises

By Marialisa Calta | May 8, 2012 - 5:11pm

Some people think of parsley as a necessary evil, the touch of green on a bad cafeteria meal or in a 1950s-era cookbook photograph, garnishing some mystery meat or a slab of ham.

Curry lends spice to Sri Lankan cooking

By Marialisa Calta | May 1, 2012 - 5:56pm

I asked two friends who had traveled to Sri Lanka about the food, and I got the same answer: “It’s mostly rice and curry.

You have to love recipes that work

By Marialisa Calta | April 24, 2012 - 4:00pm

Fans of reliable, understandable, well-tested recipes have been following Marie Simmons for several decades.

Tart, fresh rhubarb tastes like spring

By Marialisa Calta | April 17, 2012 - 5:00pm

Think of a long, bleak, 19th-century New England winter, when food was running low and a typical meal might be salt pork, milk gravy and, if you had “put by” enough in the fall, some pickles.

Make time to cook – your family is worth it

By Marialisa Calta | April 10, 2012 - 8:33pm

It’s easy to dislike Kelsey Banfield, aka the Naptime Chef.

Spring is seasonal crunch time for meals

By Marialisa Calta | April 3, 2012 - 11:21am

We are heading into the time of year when push comes to shove for family dinners.

Omelets offer options for Easter brunch

By Marialisa Calta | March 27, 2012 - 6:49pm

Each holiday has its prime time.

Scicolone seasons cacciatore just right

By Marialisa Calta | March 20, 2012 - 5:04pm

In many families, heat is the great divide – as in “spicy hot,” not “hot hot.

Pimento cheese: It’s a Southern thing

By Marialisa Calta | March 13, 2012 - 6:45pm

If you are a Northerner, you know exactly what a “pimiento” is. It’s that sweet red pepper stuffed into a green olive.

Getting over 'Easter Bunny syndrome'

By Marialisa Calta | March 6, 2012 - 8:21pm

Many folks who will happily sit down to a chicken dinner, dig into a beef stew or attack a steamed lobster with gusto draw the line at rabbit.

Biscuits transcend regional division

By Marialisa Calta | February 28, 2012 - 6:01pm

Many of us raised north of the Mason-Dixon Line have been wandering in a culinary landscape dotted with biscuits from hell. (Too dramatic?

Fire, time test cast-iron cookware

By Marialisa Calta | February 21, 2012 - 6:49pm

Is there any more evocative piece of American cookware than the cast-iron pan?

We cannot tell a lie: This cake looks like pie

By Marialisa Calta | February 14, 2012 - 7:26pm

Presidents Day is hardly a gastronomic festival. Aside from a nod to George Washington – cherry pie, anyone?

Make amends for missed opportunities

By Marialisa Calta | February 7, 2012 - 9:02pm

Jan. 23 marked National Pie Day. Missed it. Jan. 27 was National Chocolate Cake Day. Missed that, too. Oh, the shame.

Villas roots cookbook in 'the Ground'

By Marialisa Calta | January 31, 2012 - 6:36pm

James Villas is kind of a classy guy.

Asian fare beats winter blahs

By Marialisa Calta | January 24, 2012 - 5:50pm

It’s that time of year when you might find yourself adrift in the culinary doldrums. It’s easy to feel that way.

High-tech cooking misses low-tech cookbooks

By Marialisa Calta | January 17, 2012 - 5:32pm

In a world of ever-changing, lightning-fast technology and 24/7 communication, it can be hard to keep up.

Being in a pickle isn’t so bad

By Marialisa Calta | January 10, 2012 - 6:25pm

Pickling foods – once the province of old-fashioned grandmothers but now a trendy avocation – is a great way to preserve seasonal produce.

Goodbye holidays, hello normal food

By Marialisa Calta | January 3, 2012 - 8:07pm

Call it the “Grinch phenomenon”: One’s waistline (not one’s heart) grows three sizes over Christmas.

New recipes spice up old tradition

By Marialisa Calta | December 27, 2011 - 7:51pm

If you live in the South, you probably know what you’ll be eating on New Year’s Day: black-eyed peas. For luck, of course.

For holiday brunch, serve 'strata gone wild'

By Marialisa Calta | December 20, 2011 - 9:02pm

Years ago, about the time quiche was making its boffo American debut, strata quietly was entering the scene.

Holiday gifts are good enough to eat

By Marialisa Calta | December 13, 2011 - 9:17pm

Note to self: Start enjoying the holidays.

Casseroles fit well into busy time

By Marialisa Calta | December 6, 2011 - 6:54pm

Theoretically speaking, the smallest unit of time is one “Planck time,” the time required for light to travel one “Planck length” through a vacuum.

Wrap up a book for your favorite cook

By Marialisa Calta | November 29, 2011 - 5:08pm

The holidays speak to our yearning for the past, for candle-lit homes and the alluring aromas of home cooking.