The goal when making pasta puttanesca is to have the sauce and pasta finish at the same time. It’s good practice for a fun game that I like to play called Get Everything on the Table at Once. The sauce should cook fast and hot, and the pasta will finish cooking in the sauce. This will…
Are you ready for Memorial Day Weekend parties? Are you supposed to bring a dish to pass? Well, check your spice cabinet and run to the store for potatoes, onions, celery, and mayo. And get ready to share this fast, easy, and delicious recipe, because your friends will ask you for it. I asked my dear…
Last night we made this delicious and satisfying White Vinegar-Braised Chicken Thighs with Leeks and Peas. The leeks and peas give this dish a distinctly Springtime feel, and the vinegar smells wonderful as it lightly infuses (and tenderizes) the chicken. The recipe was only very slightly adapted from Vinegar-Braised Chicken with Leeks and Peas Recipe – Grace…
Artichokes were one of those weird things that we ate growing up that a lot of other people did not. I have a very clear memory from my volatile teenage years, of sitting with my mother at the dining room table, slowing picking our way through an artichoke in the afternoon light. There is a…
This is a great way to cook chicken legs and thighs for a simple and inexpensive weeknight dinner. Braising the chicken results in meat that is fall-off-the-bone tender and a flavorful sauce with zero extra effort. The braising liquid–in this case, stock thickened with flour and tomato paste and aromatic with Emeril Lagasse‘s “Essence” (i.e. a mix…
This started off as an experiment with one of the “Mother Sauces” of French cuisine, the veloute sauce. A veloute sauce is made with equal parts butter and flour, a light chicken or fish stock, and salt and pepper. We amped up the veloute with thyme and cayenne pepper, added our leftover chicken, mushrooms, and…
This week, I also made this practically perfect yogurt banana bread. It stays moist and is great for a quick breakfast or afternoon snack. Banana Bread Makes 1 loaf. Adapted from: Classic Banana Bread Recipe | MyRecipes.com (Cooking Light, September 2003). Ingredients 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup sugar 8 tablespoons butter,…
Last night, we made a hot and sour Thai soup based on a recipe from The Culinary Institute’s The New Book of Soups. It was delicious, and even came out basically looking like the photograph in the book (and on the CIA website). The broth of this soup is light but complex, melding the flavors of lemongrass,…
As of this afternoon, my husband and I have visited eight–eight!–different grocery stores looking for–but not finding–pickled chilies for the Thai Hot and Sour Soup that we planned to make this week. The recipe, from The Culinary Institute’s The New Book of Soups, calls for 1/2 a pickled chili and we are not about to go…
The best thing about this recipe is that you can customize it in dozens of ways with different sausages, cheeses, and fresh herbs. We especially like it with mushrooms and spinach. Once you have this recipe in your arsenal, you can class it up or play it down, for an easy dinner win any night…
We’re regularly experimenting with the best way to cook brussels sprouts. These adorable green bulbs find their way into our shopping cart at least two to three times per month. We’ve been stuck in a rut of simply blanching then sautéing our sprouts with bacon. With this recipe, I was going for a softer sprout, but still…
There is nothing like a fresh, homemade stock burbling away on the stove. It smells like comfort, and will pay off in the coming days and weeks as a basic ingredient for your soups, sauces, and other dishes. Here is the theory behind and recipe for my basic chicken stock. I don’t like to roast chickens…
