So today is Food Revolution Day! It’s the day where you take back your food from giant faceless corporations and cook it yourself. Yep, cook it yourself. Learn something new today. Learn about a new ingredient or a new method of cooking. If you’re an expert, go teach somebody something. Share your knowledge and information. Or go out and support the small mom and pop shop where they’re doing things the good and right way.

In honor of Food Revolution Day 2013, here’s a list of recipes that we like and hopefully you’ll like also!

Guess what?! Perfect timing, it’s soft shell crab season. Go get some and cook this recipe.

Thanks to Jamie Oliver, I’m in love with harissa.

Also thanks to Jamie Oliver, I can now make flatbreads with my eyes closed.

The lobster roll is like the perfect summer food, so here’s Howard’s vegan version.

Here’s an easy tomato gratin.

Speaking of tomato, here’s my quick and easy recipe for tomato and egg over rice.

My mom’s chicken wings and potatoes with coconut milk is my MOST FAVORITE dish ever.

Check out our video on making a 30 Second Vinaigrette.

Cauliflower and apple make a great combination in this bread pudding recipe.

Ah….here’s my Pad Thai sauce recipe plus few different ways to use it.

If you find fiddlehead ferns at the greenmarket, buy some and try this recipe.

A lot of people tell me that they don’t like mushrooms, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they just haven’t had them cooked properly. Its true, sometimes mushrooms can turn out slimy (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), but cooking them so that they are deliciously crunchy and chewy is actually really easy. All it takes is some patience. I picked up some beautiful mushrooms while in Brighton Beach the other day, and I’ll show you just how easy it is.

Find out after the jump…

I brought home a couple of beautiful eggplants from the Greenmarket the other day, and although I usually fry them, this time I immediately decided to cook them in the oven. I discovered how easy it was to make a no-fry, eggplant parmigiana in one pot, in less than 45 minutes. You just need five ingredients, so they’d better be high quality. I used my cast iron pan, but you can use any oven-safe pot.

Find the full recipe after the jump…

When I get bad news — really bad news, not just annoyances — my first inclination is to make a big dish of baked pasta. It’s what I did when I heard my grandfather had died, and it’s what I did when I learned that a co-worker had been admitted to the ICU. It’s not the same as comfort food, really. There’s something about the process, the ritual of it, that helps me deal with the situations I’m in. What follows is my standard recipe, though it’s simple enough that can certainly be tweaked to your liking, and it feeds two-to-four people (or one person in a truly foul mood). Let me know what your bad news food is in the comments below.

Click to continue…

Lentils are great. You can do crazy, fancy and elaborate things to them or just plain simple like adding them to miso soup. They are great at absorbing flavors and at the same time hold on to their own distinctive flavor. They are cheap, healthy and delicious.

Here’s a quick way to eat lentils. Saute diced garlic and onion with lentils in some olive oil. Add enough liquid (water or stock) so that there’s about half an inch between the lentils and the top of the liquid. Bring to a boil and simmer till lentils are done. Add tomato paste, ketchup, salt and pepper to taste. Serve an egg (fried, poached, hard boiled) with the lentils.

Here are few more ways you can cook lentils.
Lentils, Beans and Pork Cracklings over Toast

Pork Belly Stew with Lentils and Kale

Lentils with Pasta

And then there’s always the reliable lentil soup or if you some have some spices laying around, try making daal.

I usually cook rice or pasta, but I have a bunch of quinoa sitting in my pantry so I decided to cook some up the other day. Quinoa is super easy to make and it’s high in protein, making it a good choice for vegetarians like myself. In addition to that, it has the distinction of being one of the “ancient grains” (despite the fact that it isn’t actually a grain, it’s a grass). The simplest way to make quinoa is like rice; in a pot combine water with quinoa in a ratio of just over 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa. I like to add a pinch of salt and a little butter as well. Then cover the pot and cook until the quinoa is done. When the water is boiling remove the cover to let the water evaporate. You may need to add a little extra water to get the quinoa to the desired fluffiness. But you don’t have to stop there.

Click to continue…

It’s a sad truth that fresh seasonal products can be expensive, and doubly so when those products are foraged. Take, for example, morel mushrooms and fiddlehead ferns. Both representative of Spring, both foraged, both expensive. But you don’t have to buy very many of them to make a big impact, and all you have to do is to treat them simply and bring out the best of their flavor.

Click to continue…