Persian-Style Pasta

I took this recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi’s new cookbook Plenty More.
If you don't know who am I talking about, Yotam Ottolenghi is one of those chefs. 

The ones whose names sell millions of cookbooks around the world, and influence the food community like no other — and not just on a culinary level.
If you’ve recently eaten a shakshuka, or yogurt and sumac with your turkey burger, it’s probably because of chef Ottolenghi.
In only a few years, the Israeli-raised, London-based chef has become a prominent figure in the culinary community.
His first cookbook, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, was a bestseller. The following one, Plenty, almost instantly became a blockbuster when it was published in 2010. Jerusalem, published in 2012, is a richly evocative celebration of the culinary DNA of his homeland and one of my favorite cookbooks of all time.
With Plenty More - published last month - Ottolenghi focuses on vegetarian cooking, combining recipes from all over the world: exotic, innovative, irresistible, dazzling, and easy-to-make dishes. Vegetarian recipes ‘that even meat eaters want to eat’.

Eggplant Gratin with Tomato, Herbs and Creme Fraiche

You guys know that on average 20 lbs (roughly 9 kg) of eggplant contain about the same amount of nicotine as a cigarette?
In fact eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes, and tobacco are all nightshades. They all share some similar properties to different degrees.
Still eggplant is specifically notable because it has the most concentration of nicotine of any edible plant. So, sure, tomatoes have some nicotine as well, but not to this extent.

Beer-Flavored Chicken Teriyaki

First and foremost: Beer is not paleo. Sorry [Insert sad trombone noise here].
Secondly, I don’t care. Actually, I don’t give a rat ass if it’s not paleo.
There, BOOM, in your face!
Beer - let me rephrase that - a good beer, is like nectar from gods. It’s one of the best tasting, most complexly flavored beverages in the world.
And man...getting home from work (or from training), plopping on the couch, and opening up a nice craft beer is the greatest feeling ever.
There’s nothing quite like it.

Vanilla Maple Almond Cashew Butter

It’s Halloween week people. Time to raise the dead.
Nah, more like put your kids in a cool costume: it's time for some Treats 'n Tricks!
I’ve just heard on the news that the most popular kids' costume this year is going to be Elsa from Disney’s Frozen.
Apparently, thousands of girls have been waiting since December 2013 for their moment to 'Let it go’ this Halloween.
So expect a lot ice princesses knocking on your door.
It's such a phenomenon, someone has even suggested a new drinking game: “Drink every time a Elsa visits your house.”
Which might not be a very good idea after all - especially if a lot of Elsas will show up asking for candies. You don’t want to be “the drunk guy” that terrorises kids. Or do you?

Pizzadilla (aka Quesadilla Pizza)

Let’s get this out of the way. My name is Mike, and I’m addicted to reddit.
There, I said it.
I spend a lot of time on reddit, probably more than I should, but it’s definitely one of the first things that I check in the morning.
It feeds my need for novelty as it’s always filled with new information and pictures. Perfect.Addiction.Material.
If you don’t know much about it or have been puzzled by the site if you’ve ever tried to check it out, let me explain you briefly what it’s about.
Reddit is an entertainment/social/news site where users can submit content, from text post, to direct links, photos, gifs, music or just anything else.
Unlike Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, reddit is an open network — in that you don’t have to be friends  or have followers to see content or for others to see what you're doing.
Reddit is an unflinching democracy, where you can post/do/say (almost) anything you want. Making it a happy abode for all who enter.
Users can upvote or downvote content. The most frequently upvoted content gets to the top of the page, while content that’s ignored or downvoted isn’t likely to be seen by anyone.

Roast Pork Loin with Vinegar and Sage

This recipe is for my friend Tony.
Because he L-O-V-E-S vinegar.
Not as in drinking vinegar neat from the bottle, but as in brewing his own vinegar, using more vinegar than oil in salad dressing (or, as I like to call it, the “reversed ratio” dressing), and dousing fries in vinegar like it’s going out of style.
So when I told him about my mom’s recipe for a mean roast pork loin with vinegar he was like “Duuuude, I need that recipe! Please dude please dude really dude dude dude dude dude dude duuuude!”
So I was like “Dude, chillax. I’ll give you the d*!n recipe”
And he was like “Dude for realz. I need it!”
And I was like “Dude, give me a break!”
And he was like “Yeah dude”

Almond-Poppy Crackers

On a lazy Sunday afternoon, I found myself flipping through my mom’s Martha Stewart Living magazines looking for recipes.
Which is odd for me.
Not the “looking for recipes” part, I do that all the time. But the Martha Stewart Living mag part.
First off, I'm admittedly a Food & Wine Magazine guy.
I love Food & Wine magazine; I would not trade it for any other food magazine out there. It provides me with recipes and tons of inspiration.
Together with Triathlete, Kinfolk, Time and The New Yorker, Food & Wine is the only printed magazine I think it’s still worth buying.

15-Minute Caramelized Black Pepper Chicken

Who doesn’t love burpees?
Raise your hands up where I can see them.
Oh, wow, that many of you? Really?
Burpees are C-O-O-L! I don’t know why they get such a bad rep.

Thai Pork and Zoodle Salad

I was reading an article the other day about how to be successful in life. In particular, it talked about how the questions you ask yourself every day determine the kind of life you lead.
Because those questions trigger answers that lead to actions.
So if you ask yourself limiting questions, you’ll get limited results. If, instead you ask yourself forwarding questions, you set no boundaries to what you can achieve in life.
I thought about it for a moment: what questions do I most often ask myself every day?

Creamy Coconut Eggplant Curry

I love having people over for lunch, dinner, coffee, whatever, but the reality is that it’s getting increasingly challenging to invite people and have any idea what to offer them.
It seems like everyone has some sort of dietary restrictions and/or preferences these days, and finding something that everyone can eat is often fairly difficult.
It’s a serious matter too: an allergy (such as peanut or shellfish allergy) can be life threatening.
A food intolerance is usually a less serious condition - in that it doesn’t involve the immune system - but still, it should never be taken lightly.
A food preference is different though.
Some people don’t like fish. Others eat no meat, egg or dairy. I, for one, am not a big fan of gluten or refined sugars — but I don’t get sick if I eat a slice of pizza or a bagel.
These are personal choices, but they should be respected nonetheless.
I consider myself a tolerant person and what a person does in their own living-quarters has always been entirely their own business.