Joanie from Joanie's Kitchen
Trained chef, lifelong gardener, and volunteer firefighter. Former bond trader turned culinary professional. Known for transforming "nothing in the fridge" into extraordinary meals. Specializes in seasonal cooking from her terraced garden overlooking the Hudson River.
Recipes by Joanie from Joanie's Kitchen
(4 recipes)Found 4 recipes
Garden Green Salad with Dill Mustard Dressing
This salad is "tail ends" - the beet tops from a single garden beet, the last of the savoy cabbage, the arugula that needs using. The dill mustard dressing brings it all together. Joanie's Notes on Dressing: "Two to one, oil to vinegar. But you can do two to one oil to vinegar. And depending on the vinegar that you're using, it could be perfect or it could be too sour. Sometimes if it's too sour, you could try to add more oil but then it's too oily. So then I recommend you can start off 2 to 1, oil to vinegar, and adjust with lemon juice or even water, believe it or not, because water will mellow out, thin out the vinegar so you don't have to add more oil to balance it. The mustard is the thing that will make it emulsify when you're not paying attention." What this teaches: The 2:1 ratio is a starting point, not a rule. Water is a tool for balance (not just oil). Mustard does the work of emulsification. Taste and adjust is the real skill.
Asian-Inspired Chicken & Cauliflower Rice Bowl
Three distinct Asian-inspired components (Chinese black bean chicken, Indian curried cauliflower, Japanese miso tofu) served over rice. Mixed ethnic profiles, unified by bold flavors and simple techniques. Joanie's Notes: "So you're mixing ethnic profiles." "Oh, yeah. That was Indian, Chinese and Japanese." What this teaches: Fusion isn't fusion if each component respects its tradition. All three dishes use 425°F, so they can roast simultaneously. The rice cooker handles one component passively while you prep others. Simple sauces (jarred black bean sauce, miso glaze) deliver restaurant-quality results.
Resourceful Chickpea & Vegetable Soup
Made from leftover crudité vegetables that were about to expire, this soup embodies Joanie's philosophy: "What do I have that might go bad?" The result is somewhere between vegetable soup and pasta sauce - thick, satisfying, and completely flexible. Joanie's Notes: "I could have watered it down more if I didn't want it to taste so much like pasta sauce. I wouldn't serve this to guests necessarily... but I would serve it on pasta. It would be a perfectly good pasta sauce. But now it had chickpeas in it. So it is what it is."
Joanie's Monday Night Crab Salad with Cheesy Tomato Melts
A resourceful dinner born from what's on hand: fresh crab meat dressed with Kewpie mayo and garden vegetables, served over massaged week-old kale, alongside broiled sourdough with melted aged cheddar. This recipe exemplifies Joanie's Kitchen philosophy: use what you have, waste nothing, and turn simple ingredients into something special. **Joanie's Story**: "Monday night after grocery delivery. Had some beautiful crab meat, peppers and spring onions from the garden, week-old kale that needed rescuing, and leftover sourdough. The kale was looking sad but I knew massaging it with lime and salt would bring it back to life. Ran out of lime halfway through dressing the salad (oops!) so I subbed sweet rice wine vinegar - honestly, it was brilliant. The acidity cut through the rich Kewpie mayo perfectly."