Cooking has never been an interest of mine; I tend to eat pretty simply on my own, opting for Whole Foods salad bars or a quick and easy rice meal at home. Although I enjoy baking and tend to do that fairly often, the thrill of cooking has always eluded me.

However, there’s only so much dining out and rice meals a girl can take and so last year I started looking into simple cookbooks. Cookbooks that would appeal to my (simple) taste buds, my laziness, my desire to not own kitchen appliances and the fact I like to eat local, organic and seasonally. Not to mention that the recipes couldn’t be expensive since I was just cooking for one and didn’t want to spend $20 a meal.

I ended up with a nice collection of cook books but I confess that out of all those books, I tend to go back to just one and one recipe: Slow Cooking Chicken Legs from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters.

It is my go to fall/winter dish for a myriad of reasons such as:

1. it’s very inexpensive. By using chicken legs, canned tomatoes and just a handful of other basic ingredients, I can get 4 meals out of it all for under $10.
2. it’s ridiculous easy to make and I can do it all in one pot (I use a Staub Elite Enameled Cast Iron 5qt. French Oven which I love).
3. it’s really not time consuming even though the entire cooking time is about an hour. While the legs are cooking, I chop the onions. While the onions are cooking, I chop the garlic. While the garlic is cooking, I open the can of tomatoes and chicken broth. Easy.
4. it’s incredibly tasty, even as left overs.

The whole process, I find, is relaxing. It’s a good Sunday night dish to cook and a better Monday lunch. When it’s cold outside, this nicely steams up your kitchen windows and makes your flat smell heavenly – like you’re a bona fide cook. Even if it’s the simplest meal ever.

Click for the recipe:

Chicken Legs Braised with Tomatoes, Onions and Garlic
4 Servings

Season, the day before if possible:
4 chicken legs
with:
Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Heat a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add:
2 tablespoons olive oil

Place the chicken legs into the pan skin side down and cook until crisp and brown, about 12 minutes. Turn and cook for another 4 minutes. Remove the chicken and add:
2 onions, slicked thick (or diced large)

Cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add and cook for 2 minutes:
4 garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 bay leaf
1 small rosemary sprig

Add and cook for 5 minutes, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan:
4 tomatoes, diced coarse, or 1 small (12-ounce) can organic whole tomatoes, diced (including juice)

Arrange the chicken in the pain, skin side up, and pour in any juices that have collected. Pour in:
1 cup chicken broth

The liquid should reach halfway up the chicken; add more if needed. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Cover and cook at a bare simmer or in a 325F oven for 45 minutes.

Now, the end of the recipe is: When done, pour the braising liquid into a small bowl, skim the fat. Discard the bay leaf and rosemary. Taste for salt and adjust as needed. Return to the pan and serve. but that’s not what I do.

I put a little more chicken stock in so it ends up being like a soup. I take the chicken out, remove the meat from the bones, put into a bowl and then scoop the liquid into the bowl, add some salt and pepper and voila, perfect chicken winter soup.

I hate to admit it but in all my trips to Paris I have never had a macaron. I didn’t even think to have one. There was never a craving or desire to look at all the pretty little cookies lined up by colour or to buy the packages from Pierre Hermé as gifts. While the world swooned for these little things, I somehow went unfazed. I know, I don’t understand it either!

But Oh Happy Day’s recent blog post about making macarons created a sudden obsession to buy, bake, consume and give all things macaron. In fact, I was working as a stylist on a home photoshoot and was pretty adamant that somehow a pretty plate them get included in a shot (this was an easy sell, actually).

Luckily I have access to two incredible local places that, like is Paris, make macarons an art form: Paulette Macarons in Beverly Hills (she’s Parisian) and Jin Patissiere in Venice (who makes unusual bite sided macarons). My first stop was to Paulette’s which was a wise choice because the colours, flavours and presentation were beyond incredible. My favourites were the coffee, vanilla and the Jasmine green. I can honestly say I have never tasted a treat so perfect. So good were they that the box I bought for the shoot didn’t make it home. I had to run back and pick up a second box!

Not being able to get to Paulette’s on a regular basis, I thought I’d try out Jin’s but wasn’t able to make it there this weekend. I thought after reading Jordon’s recipe that they should be easy enough to make and started a web search for tasty yet easy recipes. Since the macaron dates back to the 18th century, it has basic ingredients and instructions. They basically consist of egg whites, almost powder, and sugar. The buttercreams can be made using different recipes and ideas and there are endless possibilities with this little sweet pastry.

For a great introduction on the macaron, read this article. For an easy, tasty recipe that I used along with more great macaron recipes, click through to read more.

Macarons from Thomas Keller’s cookbook Bouchon.

• 5 1/4 cups of almond flour (I use Blanched Almond Meal Flour)
• 5 cups of confectioner’s sugar
• 1 1/4 cups of large egg whites (7-9 eggs)
• 2 vanilla beans, scraped of the seeds
• Pinch of Cream of Tartar

1. Combine the almond flour and sugar and set aside.
2. Whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks then add a pinch of cream of tartar and continue to whip until they hold stiff peaks. Fold in the vanilla bean seeds and 1/4 of the flour and sugar until it comes together. Fold in the rest of the flour and sugar.
3. With a 1/2″ plain pastry tip, pipe the batter into 2″ circles, at least 1″ apart. Let rest for 1-2 hours until the macaroons form a skin. (Very important!)
4. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, then rotate the baking sheet and continue to bake for 10 more minutes.
5. Fill with simple vanilla buttercream.

More wonderful recipes can be found on:

• Hazelnut Macarons on Cannelle et Vanille
• Chocolate Macarons on the FoodNetwork
• Martha Stewart’s Macaron and Filling recipe.

I think the only (spring) food that Danes like more than their new potatoes are perhaps Asparges. After a long, cold, winter the spring is welcomed with everything asparagus; soup, salad, open-faced sandwiches, and as alone as a simple side dish. If there is a way to incorporate asparagus into a meal, the Danes will find a way to do so.

However, it’s only recently I’ve come to really appreciate, love and cook Asparagus. With access to the famous Santa Monica Market, I’ve been meeting local asparagus farmers who are so passionate about this vegetable that they could give any Dane a run for their money. When I bought a couple of stocks a few weeks ago, one of the growers asked me how I was going to cook them. I gave him my tried and true recipe: put on pan, drizzle with olive oil, add salt and pepper and broil.

He looked at me with great disappointment and said that his asparagus were so amazing, so tender and sweet (it’s the season) that they deserved to be the full meal and not a sad side dish. He gave me a simple recipe which I have to confess to having for either lunch or dinner every day since. It’s the perfect light but satisfying meal that I intend to keep having until the season is over. Besides, there’s an old-wives tale in Denmark that says it’s bad luck to eat asparagus after June 23rd (Saint John’s Eve).

Click through for the recipe:

Asparagus with Poached Eggs and Parmesan

• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 bunch asparagus spears, trimmed (I just snap off the bottoms where they naturally break)
• 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter (I omit this and just use a little more olive oil)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (I use half a lemon)
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley
• Black Pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons coarsely grated Parmesan cheese.

1. Break eggs into one small prep bowl or cup. Fill a large, low sided pan with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Take a spoon or spatula and make a circular pattern in the pan so that the water is moving in a big circle. Then slowly drop 4 eggs into the middle of the pan. The swirling action will create wonderful poached eggs. If you don’t like this method, use your preferred methos for poaching. Poeach eggs 2-3 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring a separate pot of water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add asparagus spears, cook 3-4 minutes or until crisp-tender. Remove asparagus with tongs, set aside.
3. Dry the medium saucepan. Add olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute about 1 minute. Turn off heat; add butter (or a little more olive oil), and swirl pan. Add lemon juice, parsley and salt and pepper. Add asparagus and two tablespoons Parmesan then toss with lemon-butter sauce to coat.
4. Divide apsaragus among 2 plates. REmove eggs from water with a slotted spoon, 1 at a time, blottong bottom of spoon on towl to absorb excess moisture. Place 2 eggs on each mound of asparagus. Pour any remaining sauce of each and sprinkle with remaining Paresan.
5. Serve immediately.

For another great recipe, check out Willi’s Roasted Asparagus with Pomegranate Syrup on Diggin’ Foods.

Scandinavians tend to drink the most coffee per capita although specialty, sweet, and flavoured coffees still aren’t as popular as in North America. The coffee here is usually bold, rich, dark and always had for breakfast and after meals (even at 10PM as seen with my mum above in Copenhagen).

However, I was a tea drinker and didn’t have my first coffee until I was 18. Living in England amongst dedicated tea drinkers I had comfortably avoided coffee until I visited with a sophisticated, polished couple that I wanted to be be like. So when they had coffee, I had my first cup and tried to be ever so polite about the horrible taste in my mouth as I sipped it bit by bit.

When I moved to Seattle, WA in 1999, birthplace of Starbucks and coffee snobs, I kept resisting coffee. It wasn’t until a frightfully cold morning commute did I pull into a cafe for a coffee – just to hold. The barista had loaded it up with Vanilla syrup and I found myself finally liking coffee (or perhaps really, just syrup!).

Tea remained my favourite beverage for taste and ritual but when I moved to Los Angeles a few years ago and discovered Urth Caffe’s Spanish Latte, I have to say that coffee began to be a favourite treat and I actually found myself craving a cup on cold mornings or when I was feeling a little sick. The rich, caramel, chocolate flavour of the coffee itself combined with the fact it’s organic and has one of the lowest acidic rates of any coffee won me over. It doesn’t need a lot to be good, which is how most coffee – and food – really should be.

With my mum coming tomorrow and my Danish cousins arriving next week, coffee had to be in the house. So I biked to Urth the other day, picked up a bag of the Italian Roast Coffee for home and I have been enjoying a cup every day since (especially since fall totally hit here and the weather has cooled).

My coffee routine is different than my tea one as is the gear. I love my gear. Here’s what I use to make a great cup:

Bodum Chambord 8-Cup Coffee Press: Looks elegant on a table, cleans up wonderfully, and makes a great cup of coffee for about 4 adults. If you tend to serve more people or want a “kit” the Bodum Chambord 12-Cup/48-Ounce Coffee Press looks great, too, although I haven’t used this size (or those tools). I also have the Bodum Brazil Glass 3-Cup Coffee Press, Black for times when it’s just me and I don’t need to make so much coffee.

Bodum 5-Ounce Milk Frother: When my mum and I were last in Copenhagen, we hit the Bodum Flagship Store in earnest and each bought one of these. I don’t have a microwave so literally put mine on the stove (gas or electric – I’ve done both), warm it up and then pump. Perfect frothed milk every time without batteries or hard to clean gadgets.

Chef’s Choice Cordless Electric 1-3/4-Quart Teakettle: I was always a stove-top kettle kind of girl. I’m not sure why but I just didn’t like electric kettles whatsoever. But I kept hearing rave after rave about this one and I finally converted. And boy am I glad I did. The water heats fast, you can see how much is inside, there is an automatic turn off. The base doesn’t get hot nor does the outside and did I mention it’s fast? When I fill this, it fills the 8-cup Bodum Press

Krups Fast Touch Coffee Grinders: Buying whole beans is better I’ve been told so this little grinder is perfect for grinding at home. You can decide how fine you want your beans, clean up is easy, and it’s small enough to easily be kept in your cupboard.

Williams Sonoma Coffee Scoop: Nothing special, but I like it.

Beets have always played a huge part in Denmark; it’s one of two major crops (the other is potatoes) and it’s also harvested for sugar (there’s even a museum dedicated to it). There’s a 99% chance that if you are invited to lunch, nedlagte rødbeder or pickled beets, will be on the table for your smørrebrød (open faced sandwich).

This has always terrified me. Actually, most Danish food has terrified me (Liver Paste/Leverpostej?) ! And so despite having sat at countless tables with beets upon them, I just couldn’t ever bring myself to eat them. No matter how much “oohing” and “ahhing” my mum made over their taste.

However, recently my doctor suggested to me that I should juice some carrots, celery and yes, beets together to help with some health concerns. I’d heard of this tonic before (it’s been suggested as a great hangover drink) and how it helps the liver function. I’ve been an avid juicer but only with things green. I wasn’t sure I could add beets.

But I did.

Into my juicer went one large beet, three carrots, one lemon, half a stack of celery, a bit of ginger and a cucumber for good measure. I wasn’t sure I could drink it but in the name of health I did. And then I did some more. And some more. I couldn’t believe how sweet it was – I had fallen in love with… beets!

I don’t know if I’m into pickling or roasting yet (one step at a time) but juicing them has been tasty and easy. I’m not sure about all the health benefits yet but thankfully I’m now loving beets for their taste instead of doing it out of healing obligation.

My mum will be so proud.

Other beet ideas:

• If you don’t have a juicer, Columbia Gorge makes a great Carrot, Beet & Celery juice.
• Chowhound has some great ideas for cooking beets.
• Gluten Free Girl talks about how she went from not liking beets to also falling in-love with them.
• Simple picked beet recipe.