About Savorra  Jamie DeCaria, Founder of Savorra, is on a quest to eat more real food Join me on my quest to eat more "real food"! I passionately believe in the health benefits of eating food made from fresh, "real" ingredients and I want to share this with others. I am not a gourmet chef, but I have learned a lot about cooking along the way. And the big secret is ... it's not that hard!
On this site you will find SIMPLE recipes for turning fresh ingredients into tasty meals, in less time than you might think.
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I put together this simple cabbage recipe to use as a side for some rather blah leftovers and it was a big hit. My nearly three-year-old, Elena, who has fallen off the veggie bandwagon lately, even asked for thirds of this one. It has a tasty sweetness with enough savory flavors to make it taste complex and keep you going back for more, while still being simple to prepare. We ate the cabbage with buttered noodles last night (and a quinoa dish that was not such a hit–I will spare you that recipe), and we’re having the rest with sausage tonight. There is enough flavor here that the rest of the meal can be very plain–any roasted meat with salt and pepper would be perfect.
Time from start to dinner: 1 hour 30 minutes (20 minutes active time)
Serves: 6-8 as a side
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
2 cups onion, chopped
2 drops liquid smoke
1 medium head green cabbage
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
3 Tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp caraway seed
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Heat oil and butter in a large pot (8 quarts or so) over medium-low heat. Add onions and liquid smoke and saute until soft, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, quarter, core, and thinly slice the cabbage. Then rinse it with water, letting water droplets remain. When the onions are soft, add cabbage and all remaining ingredients to the pot, and stir thoroughly.
Continue cooking over medium-low heat until cabbage is soft, about an hour and fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally.
Savorra Tips
-Super Time-Saving Tip: Many braised cabbage recipes call for frying bacon, but I like to keep things simple and just drop in a dash of liquid smoke instead. Find a bottle near the worcestershire sauce at the grocery and use it for years. Just a drop or two will add a really nice flavor any time you want smokiness without bacon or sausage. Despite the strange sounding name, it is all natural.
-I like the extra molasses flavor of dark brown sugar in this recipe, though light brown sugar would also be fine. Other recipes also call for red wine vinegar instead of white wine vinegar. Go ahead: substitute, use what you have, get crazy!! 
Another radish recipe! It’s funny, some of my favorite recipes started out by using some of my least favorite ingredients, trying to find ways to make them taste good. Look out radishes, you may join kale as one of my new favorite vegetables. This is a very tasty fish taco–adapted from a Bobby Flay grilling recipe–that my whole family loves, two-year-old and nine-month-old included. I’ve incorporated radishes and kohlrabi–two of my perennial “what do I do with this?” CSA vegetables. Even the kids chowed down the radishes and kohlrabi. If you don’t have either of these, cabbage works great too. Anything with a pungent crunch. I usually double the recipe and we love it on day two. I heart tasty leftovers.
Time from start to dinner: 40 minutes (20 minutes active time)
Serves: 4
1/4 cup safflower oil
juice of 1 lime
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1 lb tilapia, or other white flaky fish
Serve with:
1 lb radishes, shredded
1 lb kohlrabi, shredded
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
Salsa Blanca (see recipe below)
Tomato salsa
Hot sauce
8 flour tortillas
Salsa Blanca:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
Whisk together first four ingredients in a shallow glass pan and place fish on top, turning to coat. Let marinate for 15 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat broiler with the rack in the top third of the oven and shred your radishes and kohlrabi. This is also a good time to whisk together Salsa Blanca ingredients in a small bowl
Once you’re done marinating, broil fish for 5-7 minutes, then flip them and broil another 5 minutes, until fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove from oven and use a fork to flake all fish into bite sized pieces.
Serve fish with tortillas, garnishes, and Salsa Blanca.
Savorra Tips:
-It’s a snap to shred veggies in a food processor or similar, but you can also julienne them if you prefer to be old school.
-For a satisfying little crunch on your tortillas, heat them briefly in a small, dry, frying pan. Twirl each tortilla around for 10-15 seconds on each side, repeat. Looks very professional too.
I created this simple side dish to quickly prepare some soft fruits and veggies for eight-month-old Lucia, but it was an immediate favorite of the whole family. I need to start making a double batch–we never have the leftovers that I’m hoping for to make the next day’s meals easier! The apples’ sweet flavor soaks into the carrots while roasting, making Ed say it is the closest thing you can get to eating pie for dinner. There is no sugar at all, just the natural sweetness of the apples and carrots that comes out through roasting.
Time from start to dinner: 50 minutes (10 minutes active time)
Serves: 4
1 lb carrots, cut in large matchsticks of 1/2″ diameter and 2″ long
3 apples (firm eating apples like HoneyCrisp or Fuji), cored and cut in 1/3″ slices
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack in the top third of the oven. In a 9×13 pan, toss the carrots and apples with olive oil and cinnamon. Place the pan in oven to roast for 35-45 minutes, stirring once or twice to ensure even browning.
Savorra Tips
-A glass pan works fine, but if you have cast iron it will brown the carrots even more. Mmmm…
-Tastes great with roast pork or simple quinoa or couscous
I found a new tasty soup recipe on BBC’s GoodFood site and I am in love. In no time we went from, “We have nothing in the fridge but carrots,” to “Wow, this soup is amazing!” My husband ran the kids to the grocery store to pick up naan bread, while I made the soup in peace and was done before they returned. With a little advance planning next time, I would have enough carrots and lentils on hand to make a triple batch and throw half in the freezer. The soup is surprisingly rich and hearty despite its simple veggie ingredients of carrots and lentils, with a subtle Indian spice from the cumin and red pepper. My eight-month-old gobbled it up while my husband and I were wishing for more leftovers.
(original recipe with UK measurements: )
Time from start to dinner: 25 minutes
Serves: 4
1 tsp cumin powder
dash crushed red pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1.5 lb carrots, washed and coarsely grated (no peeling necessary)
3/4 cup split red lentils
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
naan bread, for serving
Heat a large pot and dry-fry the cumin and red pepper for 30 seconds to release their aromas. Add oil, carrot, lentils, broth, and milk and bring to a boil. Simmer rapidly for 15 minutes, until the lentils have softened.
Puree the soup with a hand blender or in a food processor until smooth and serve with warmed naan bread.
Savorra Tips
-Not a meat eater? No problem. Make the soup vegetarian by using veggie broth instead of chicken.
-Find naan bread at your grocery store in the bread section. We enjoy Whole Foods 365 brand. I’m sure you could make it very simply and it would probably taste better (see “About” page re: “not a purist”).
 Time to take a break from your everyday tomato and lettuce salad–especially now that fresh local tomatoes are going out of season  . This one is unique and just as simple. It’s also a great option to use the radishes that I often receive through our CSA and don’t know how to use. I am still on the hunt for more tasty radish dishes. If you have ideas, please send them my way!
This pretty salad brightens up the table with bright white and pink radishes and juicy oranges popping off a green background of lettuce. And with the flavors from peppery radishes and sweet oranges and mint, you only need to add olive oil, salt, and pepper and you have a very flavorful salad. Simple!
Total time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2 as a side dish
3 cups lettuce, roughly torn
2 radishes, sliced very thin
1 orange, peeled
2 Tbsp fresh mint, chiffonade
3 green onions, white and 4″ green, chopped
3 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Separate orange into four sections and thinly slice each section, 1/4″ or thinner. Divide lettuce into two bowls and top with the remaining ingredients. Enjoy!
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