Peter Barrett
Editor
I like to help people connect with their food in a deeper, more joyous, and more delicious way.
New York
United States
- Cooking
- Gardening
- Fermentation
- Teaching
- Ceramics
- Foraging
Featured Works
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Morkovcha
Believed to have originated among ethnic Koreans in Eastern Russia, morkovcha is a popular accompaniment in the region
Italian-Style Grilled Vegetables
By grilling vegetables dry and then marinating in herby, garlicky olive oil, this recipe gives you all flavor with none of the flare-ups.
Roasted Peppers
Try this antioxidant-rich recipe of roasted peppers flavored with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and capers.
Sweet Potato Lettuce Cups
Scoops of sweet potato and peanut butter served in lettuce cups work as a hearty salad or a kid-friendly meal.
Braised Artichokes
Try this antioxidant-rich recipe of braised artichokes in white wine sauce and dressed in olive oil
Scurdijata
Pair regional greens and legumes to make scurdijata, a southern Italian recipe with a ton of flavor and textures
Spicy Whole Okra
Fuss-free one-pot recipe for whole okra simmered in a tangy tomato gravy
Pommes Ecrasées
A perfect go-to recipe for creamy, vegan mashed potatoes
Hindbeh
A Lebanese side dish that combines dandelion greens with the sweetness of caramelized onions
Belizean Pickled Onions
This tangy, crunchy, and fiery red onion condiment from Belize brightens up sandwiches or salads
Rouille
Gorgeously charred red bell pepper dip or sandwich spread that is full of vitamin C
Garlic-Mustard Vinaigrette
This tangy and pungent dressing of mustard and garlic provides a hit of nutrition and a kick of flavor
Braised Fennel
Fennel’s sturdy, fibrous texture makes it ideal for a low, slow braise in wine.
Grilled Mushrooms in Herb Oil
This recipe works with any sort of mushroom
Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Chestnuts
This dish practically screams winter comfort. Crispy-tender sprouts on creamy, sweet chestnuts with miso and roasted garlic to tie them together — it might be your new favorite holiday side dish.
Sweet Potatoes & Fennel Gravy
This side of sweet potatoes and fennel make for a sublime accompaniment to all manner of autumn dishes.
Smoked Salsa
This versatile sauce is delicious, nutritious, and it works as well as the base for chili or curry as it does as a salsa.
Smoke & Food
A smoker can broaden
your culinary repertoire.
Sweet Potato “Som Tam”
The popular Northern Thai dish som tam is bright, crunchy, and sweet-sour-spicy. This salad takes advantage of raw sweet potatoes’ texture, similar to green papaya.
Tapenade
Tapenade combines some of Provence’s most intense flavors in one gorgeous spread: fruity olives, tangy capers, and sharp garlic.
Herb-Roasted Carrots with Zhug
Carrot tops tend to get cut off and discarded, which is a shame; these frilly fronds, especially when they are young, are wonderful in this zhug.
Grilled Marinated Tofu
Grilling tofu for this recipe adds a lot of smoky depth to its flavor, but you can also cook it in a pan, in a toaster oven, or under a broiler.
The Mindfulness of Mortars
Mortars bring you closer
to your food and to good health.
Fennel & Orange Salad
This salad of fennel highlighted by a juicy orange dressing uses a technique, popular in Japan, of kneading thinly sliced vegetables in a little salt to soften and season them.
Spicy Almonds
These spicy almonds make a great addition to a cheese board or salad. Increase the paprika in the recipe if you want them spicier.
Garlic Confit
Make this recipe for deeply flavorful, meltingly tender garlic.
Q&A with Pierre Thiam
Pierre Thiam shares his love for okra,
food as medicine, and a tidy kitchen.
Q&A with Jenny Rosenstrach
The blogger on how eating less meat
helps both people and the planet.
Kalamata-Feta Spread
This spread — made with kalamata olives, feta, capers, and yogurt — is wonderful in wraps and sandwiches, as a dip, or even diluted with a little vinegar, whey, or water to make a creamy salad dressing.
Thai Borscht
Beets’ earthy sweetness pair with the flavors of a Thai curry. The soup's bright fuchsia color is sure to delight even the most beet-skeptical.
Pasta From Scratch
Experience an alternative mode of meditation by making pasta from scratch.
Braised Endive with Leeks
The sweet-savory magic of leeks helps to temper endive’s slight bitterness, and miso adds body and depth to this rich and satisfying cool-weather braise.
Thai Peanut Butter Sandwich
This Thai riff on a tea sandwich takes humble peanut butter to a splendidly savory and aromatic place. You may have found your new favorite (and very portable) lunch.
Erbazzone
Erbazzone, also known as scarpazzone, is a vegetable pie from the Apennine regions of Emilia-Romagna and Liguria commonly made with chard leaves and stalks. This recipe makes a delicious Italian vegetable pie with a flaky crust.
Gnocchi with Fall Pesto
Homemade potato gnocchi starts, not surprisingly, with the potato. But not just any potato.
Use a russet or similarly starchy potato. Waxy potatoes won’t work. This fall pesto doesn’t have any strict rules about what herbs to use. Get herbs from your garden, the farmers market, or the grocery store. Pesto gives you the freedom to use more than just basil.
Pappardelle with Wild Mushroom
Using some whole-grain flour for this pasta adds a lot of flavor, texture, and nutrition to homemade pasta. “White whole wheat” or “half-white” flour is ground with the germ intact, so it tastes like whole wheat but performs like white. The nutty flavor and bouncy texture are a perfect match for the earthiness of wild mushrooms.
Spinach Fettuccine
Adding spinach purée to pasta dough gives it a vivid green color that complements the rusty red of this roasted sauce.
Ricotta Ravioli with Roasted Garlic
In this recipe we’re taking our standard 1 egg per 100g of flour ratio and swapping in a little buckwheat flour for added flavor, nutrition, and a nice, speckled appearance. The sauce is barely a sauce, but the whole is more than the sum of its parts; the combination of sweet garlic, earthy sage, bright orange peel, and rich, crunchy nuts adds up to a powerful result.
Orecchiette with Roasted Radicchio
Orecchiette are a shape most often seen in Apulia, the heel of Italy’s boot. The high percentage of gluten in semolina flour — made from durum wheat — makes it ideal for eggless pasta. Most of the dried pasta you find at the store is made this way, with just semolina and water. Once you’ve gotten the hang of this 50/50 semolina and all-purpose flour mixture, try doing it with all semolina.
Tuscan White Bean Purée
This creamy white bean spread is a culinary multitool: a bed for braised or roasted things, a spread on toast, and a hearty soup if you thin with more stock.
Raisin Chutney
Have a surplus of golden raisins? This chutney recipe combines them with coriander and Hungarian wax peppers for an irresistible condiment.
Pickling 101
Want to do something that’s great for both your microbiome and your soul? Make pickles.
Saffron & Vanilla Pickled Radishes
Vanilla and saffron both boost other flavors, even in small amounts. A case in point is this recipe for pickled radishes.
Simple Sauerkraut
This two-ingredient method is the perfect introduction to lactic acid fermentation. Once you master it, the world is your pickle.
Roasted Sweet Potato with Peanuts
This combination of sweet potatoes, peanuts, and garlic (and some spice) is inspired by soups and stews from West Africa.
Fennel Tsukemono
This Japanese quick-pickling method leverages the power of salt to quickly change the flavor and texture of vegetables like fennel.
Brine-Pickled Carrots
A hot vinegar brine is a powerful tool for transforming raw vegetables like carrots into bright, sharp, tangy pickles in a matter of minutes.
Lacto Leeks
This simple pickle was the happy result of a bumper crop of leeks in the garden a few years ago. Their natural sharpness and umami are enhanced by fermentation.
Kimchi
Kimchi, one of Korea's greatest gifts to the world, gets my vote for the world’s greatest pickle.
Date-Olive Tapenade
This tapenade variant takes black olives’ fruitiness and runs with it, making a paste that’s salty, sour, sweet, and addictive.
Tahini-Miso Sauce
Tahini-Miso Sauce, a health food restaurant mainstay, has a remarkable ability to transform the simplest plate of steamed vegetables into a nutritious feast.
The Food Sabbath
Gather loved ones around
for mindful eating traditions.
Beet Salad
This simple salad is almost a quick pickle, using a bright vinaigrette to balance the beets’ earthy sweetness. A bowl of these enhances just about any meal.
Peach Salsa
This salsa/chutney recipe makes quick work of a glut of fresh peaches, turning them into a bright delight that complements all kinds of dishes.
Cicoria Ripassata
This Roman classic transforms bitter field greens into a sublime tangle of verdant bliss.
Miso “Bagna Càuda”
Bagna càuda means “hot bath” in the Piedmontese dialect, and this garlicky potion is the perfect showcase for whatever vegetables are in season.
Cauliflower with Penne
The cauliflower comes first in this recipe for a reason: It’s the star of the show, acting as both sauce and featured ingredient.
Fermented Italian Peppers
Pickled hot peppers are a must-have accessory. This recipe scales easily depending on your pepper supply, and the method will work with any hot peppers.
Preserved Lemons
A mainstay of North African and Asian cooking, preserved lemons add a sublime depth of flavor to stews, roasts, and even salads.
Penne all’Arrabbiata
This is the dish that taught me to cook. I had it in Rome, and immediately set to reverse-engineer it in my home kitchen. I haven’t looked back since.
Leeks in Vinaigrette
Of all the alliums, leeks might be best suited to eating straight like a vegetable. This dish makes great use of their wonderful savory flavor.
Pasta alla "Puttanesca Bianca"
This dish arose when I was craving penne alla puttanesca but had no tomatoes. I took the remaining ingredients and made a simple pasta salad, served hot.
Roasted Cauliflower
This whole roasted cauliflower recipe is a crowd-pleaser and an elegant alternative to pouring melted cheese all over a steamed head.
Tomates Provençales
This Southern French side dish is perfect for late summer, when you’re swimming in fresh, sun-warmed tomatoes, but the nights have a cool edge.
Training
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Freelance
Writer/Photographer Feb 2009 - Present (16 years) -
Self-Employed
Cooking Teacher Feb 2006 - Present (19 years)
Education
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School of the Art Institute of Chicago
MFA 1994 - 1996 -
Rhode Island School of Design
BFA 1986 - 1990