If you haven’t had fattoush yet, here’s a good gateway recipe. This variation on the Middle Eastern classic is made with sumac, cilantro, crisped pita chips, tomatoes, pomegranate seeds, and feta. It’s a wonderful combination of Mediterranean flavors, and a substantial salad that has become a fixture on our weekly summer menus. I love it because it’s a different way to enjoy the gorgeous heirloom tomatoes of the season; the sumac and pomegranate dressing give them unique flavor, and the […]
It’s Tex-Mex Thursday! Doesn’t a sweet-hot-cool-light summer soup sound like the ideal antidote to a steamy summer day? This recipe from Matthew Wendel, former chef to President and Mrs. George W. Bush, manages to be both cooling and spicy at the same time. And so pretty! Here’s what Matt says about it: For a hot summer day at the Crawford ranch, this soup was the perfect way to spice up the day and cool down at the same time. Chilled […]
I love a salad that feels like a meal, but isn’t so full of heavy ingredients that it defeats the point of eating a salad. Salads served in fast food chains often have this problem; it takes extreme editing of the empty calories before digging in. My older daughter refers to this as ‘food surgery,’ and she meticulously picks out anything she considers unhealthy (or that she simply doesn’t like). There’s nothing to edit from this salad. The recipe for […]
Thursdays at the White House are known as Tex-Mex Thursdays, and there were (and still are) several good Tex-Mex specials on the menu on those days. I thought it would be fun to have a little #TBT to the Tex-Mex Thursdays, and my friend Matthew Wendel has graciously agreed to supply a monthly recipe for these scrumptious occasions. Today, his recipe for Mexican pasta salad is simple and so delicious! Here’s what he said: This pasta salad was a favorite […]
I saw a version of this recipe in a British magazine and was so taken with how beautiful it looked that I had to try it. We don’t have the same kinds of melons available here, so it’s a bit different from the original – but it’s also more interesting than the standard watermelon/feta/cucumber combination. And the pistachios give it such a nice pop of crunchy flavor! This salad was a huge hit (I could tell because the moment it […]
