Two-Meal Garden Risotto

On July 30, 2026July 30, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grainsLeave a comment

I love risotto not just for its texture but also for the variety of garden goodies that taste so delicious in it. Every time I teach a risotto workshop, the vegetables I bring vary: peas, asparagus, and rhubarb in a spring workshop; peppers, beans, and zucchini in a summer one; and winter squash, mushrooms, or frozen vegetables at the changing of the year. Summer provides so many homegrown options that it’s hard to choose. But as temperatures climb, it’s also hard to stand by the hot stovetop as the rice slowly absorbs stock.

I was thrilled to learn that restaurant chefs who need to get orders to tables faster than Arborio rice cooks have a technique that, when applied at home, reduces the heat in my kitchen: parcook the rice. One night of food prep that produces two dinners and minimizes my cooking time on night 2 is one of my favorite ways to beat summer’s heat. I explain how it works in this week’s Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.
Learn to make Two-Meal Garden Risotto

Grilled or Baked Fish Cakes

On July 23, 2026July 23, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

I have mixed feelings about fish cakes and burgers. The first versions I remember tasting were British patties heavy on potato with little fish flavor. Then I discovered small Thai-style cakes that tasted of the sea but whose spiciness sometimes overpowered the mild fish. My favorite fish cakes fall somewhere between: just enough filler to keep the fish-loaded patties from falling apart, and plenty of flavor without overpowering the fish.

The fish cake recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon hits both marks. I originally created it as an oven recipe, because baking on trays let me leave some larger chunks of fish in the patties. It works well—if you don’t mind the heat and lingering aroma in the house. When I want to avoid those, I fire up the grill, both for the initial roasting of the vegetables, which adds flavor and removes moisture so that the cakes hold together without breadcrumbs or potatoes, and for the final cooking, which happens quickly on a hot grill mat.
Learn to make Grilled or Baked Fish Cakes

Smoked Cherry Clafouti (Pudding Cake)

On July 17, 2026July 17, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn cakes, ColumnLeave a comment

I harvested another 7 pounds of sour cherries from my lone tree yesterday. I’ve plucked 18 pounds so far, and it looks like I’ve barely started. This seems likely to be another bumper crop year for cherries.

I’m down to my last small jar of Bourbon-Infused Smoked Cherries from last year, so I smoked my first cherry harvest and now have a new half-gallon jar infusing in my unheated mudroom. When I plan to use freshly smoked cherries without infusing them in alcohol, I let them chill in the refrigerator for a couple of days first so that their flavor becomes more even. I also have a few bags of unsmoked sour cherries left from 2025 in the freezer. All of these cherries, whether raw and fresh or frozen, recently smoked, or in bourbon, taste delicious in clafouti, the easy French pudding cake I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.
Learn to make Smoked Cherry Clafouti

Smoked Cherries

On July 2, 2026July 2, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

The summer grilling season typically conjures up images of burgers and brats, but I get fewer raised eyebrows these days when I suggest in my Grilled and Smoked workshop, and share recipes for, grilling asparagus, corn, and pineapple. Smoking vegetables and fruit is just as effective at adding flavor, as I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

With smoking, you have the option of adding heat or not, which creates a different effect from a searing-hot grill. Cold-smoked vegetables retain more of their raw crispness, and cold-smoked fruits, like cherries, stay plumper and juicier. Hot smoking or preroasting works better for dense root vegetables that you want to make soft and tender, like beets.

Because produce absorbs smoke far more quickly than, say, brisket, you don’t need an expensive smoker—and some might actually get too hot for cold smoking. I smoke all of my vegetables, fruits, cheese, and fish in an old Weber kettle grill. I started with woodchips and a few briquettes and now use a smoke tube loaded with pellets to ensure the lowest smoking temperature.
Learn to make Smoked Cherries

Basil Buttercream Frosting

On June 25, 2026June 25, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, refrigeratedLeave a comment

My favorite childhood birthday cake was angel food, partly because it was always so light and airy and partly because it didn’t call for frosting. I was never a fan of the frostings that topped typical children’s cakes, which tasted supersweet and set up almost as stiff as pavlova. It wasn’t until I learned to make buttercream that I truly embraced frosted desserts.

As I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, a good buttercream frosting is both rich and airy. It practically melts on your tongue, without leaving it feeling coated in sugar crystals. It accepts almost any flavor, from classic chocolate or vanilla bean to the unexpected in both color and taste, like the leafy green hue and hints of spiciness and anise imparted by basil.
Learn to make Basil Buttercream Frosting

Herb-Infused Sugar

On June 20, 2026June 20, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, dry storedLeave a comment

I preserve more herbs and other foods in salt than in sugar, but if you have a sweet tooth, you might do the reverse. As I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, sugar, like salt, absorbs moisture and oils and inhibits spoilage. In high concentrations, such as in jams made without pectin, sugar traps enough water that microorganisms can’t grow. Once unsealed and refrigerated, such jams last longer than low-sugar jams, and mold usually forms only on the surface and only after weeks of air exposure.

As sugar absorbs natural oils from herbs and spices, it also picks up their flavor. Vanilla sugar is a simple example—and a fantastic way to repurpose a vanilla bean pod once you’ve scraped out the seeds for jam, buttercream, or a sweet sauce. You get the same effect when you infuse sugar with herbs, edible flowers, and other botanicals. You can use these in any recipe that calls for sugar, but they have the most impact when used to sweeten whipped cream or frosting, sprinkled on baked goods, baked into simple ones like shortbread, or stirred into a beverage.
Learn to make Herb-Infused Sugar

Buttery Jam-Filled Cupcakes

On June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn cakes, ColumnLeave a comment

I generally prefer pies, galettes, and other fruity desserts to cake, partly because of the fruit but mostly because I attended too many childhood parties with dry cake and overly sweet frosting. The handful of cake and cupcake recipes that I do bake, including the one in my most recent Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, emphasize custardy or buttery batter that bakes up moist and light.

With a full-size, single-layer cake, you don’t have to worry about evenly dividing the batter: simply pour the entire bowlful into a loaf, sheet, or bundt pan and bake. For layered cakes, I find it’s worth weighing the batter to ensure an even portion in each pan. You can be less particular about cupcakes and just eyeball their equal fullness. Their second advantage, for the baker, lies in your ability to vary the flavors as you fill and decorate a single batch of batter.
Learn to make Buttery Jam-Filled Cupcakes

A Decade of Eating Well Year-Round

On June 4, 2026June 4, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, fresh eating, WorkshopsLeave a comment

The Twice as Tasty blog turns 10 years old this month, and it seems both that the decade has just flown by and that I’ve been sharing my love of eating well year-round for far, far longer. I collected my favorite recipes from the decade for you this month in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. In this blog post, I’ve also gathered blog readers’ favorite recipes into an easily bookmarked collection. Finally, I share some exciting news about upcoming private and public local workshops and my food writing for other publications.

This milestone wouldn’t have been possible without you! Thanks for reading, following, encouraging me, and making your own world twice as tasty.
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Balsamic-Roasted Radishes

On May 29, 2026May 29, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, fresh eating2 Comments

This time of year, I balance daily green salads with hot dishes, both featuring spring vegetables but providing different flavors and textures. Arugula changes from crisp to silky in Cheesy Wilted Arugula Penne. Asparagus transforms from grassy and bright to smoky and charred when grilled. And as I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, radishes shift from peppery to sweet when roasted.

I emphasize salad radishes in this week’s recipe—a group that includes classic red-skinned Cherry Belle, multicolor Easter Egg, oblong French Breakfast, and green-and-pink Watermelon varieties—since they’re in their spring flush and we typically think of eating them raw. A giant daikon radish, which is typically sown in late summer to fall for a fall or mild winter harvest, can also be roasted but needs slightly different treatment. Peel this long, dense radish and then cut it into half-moons or cubes before roasting. When cooked, daikon radish holds more of its spicy flavor than round salad radishes.
Learn to make Balsamic-Roasted Radishes

Spring Pearl Barley Salad

On May 21, 2026May 21, 2026 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn ColumnLeave a comment

It’s easy to think of spring salads as light and delicate, because many of the first vegetables available to mix into them are tender greens and herbs, rather than the meaty tomatoes and sweet peppers that ripen in the summer garden. By mixing spring crops into a hearty, filling base, a salad like the one I share this week my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon can carry a meal.

Grains like pearl barley and farro, beans and other legumes, starchy vegetables like potatoes and sweet potatoes, and breads like a sourdough loaf for panzanella and Twice-Baked Sourdough Pita Chips for fattoush all turn a couple of handfuls of raw vegetables into a full meal. On the weekends, I often cook a double batch of Bulgur Taco “Meat” or beans to turn into Vegetarian Red Beans and Rice and then fold the rest of the batch into fresh lunch salads throughout the week.
Learn to make Spring Pearl Barley Salad