There are a lot of reasons not to write about what you’ve cooked, but it is a little sad to see all the photos of food made that will never get a day in the sun. So, here, I’ve collected are many of my 2013 recipe “fails,” or those simply not quite good enough yet…
Whoops, this post was just sitting in my “to publish” queue, forgotten. Please enjoy! This is easily the best way to wake up on Christmas morning… for grown-ups. Poach eggs in water and a splash of white vinegar until the whites are set but the yolks are still soft, toast some English muffins, and heat…
Previous Steps: Prep, The Plan The Feast of the Seven Fishes Christmas Eve 2013 Menu Shrimp Cocktail with Two Sauces adapted from Poached Shrimp by Tyler Florence and featuring my own Spicy Cocktail Sauce Baccala Mantecato on Crostini adapted from Lidia Bastianich’s Baccala Mantecato Sardine Bruschetta adapted from Sardines on Toast (MarthaStewart.com) Seared Tuna & Avacado in Boston Lettuce Cups Baked Bay Scallops…
This post is really more for me than you. It gathers together the recipes we will work from for dinner tomorrow, minus one or two more fish dishes that our friends are bringing/making. What I think will happen is that everyone cooking can have this post up on their phones so they can see the…
Right now I am in full fishes mode getting ready for our annual Seven Fishes Feast! I love Pinterest for this because it makes it so easy to collect and visualize (and share with my husband) a bunch of recipes at once. Check out my board here: Feast of the Seven Fishes. Are you doing…
Early winter at our house generally means the return of venison to the table. Here is a simple slow cooker venison stew that is in our regular/easy recipe rotation. The smaller you dice the veggies the more elegant this will look. We tend to leave it pretty rustic, i.e. very rough chopped, as you can…
There is not much to say about these except that they are f-bombing delicious and I make them all the time, on request, for family near and far. Besides French fries and chips, this is the only way my little one (who is eight) will eat potatoes. This recipe is a real treat with new…
These yummy boats are a pretty and easy veggie-centric way to use up an excess of zucchini in late summer. They are super flavorful and light, but filling. My Slow Chunky Tomato Sauce has ground beef in it, but these would also be excellent filled with sauce made with un-cased and cooked hot or sweet…
This is the best damn mushroom soup I’ve ever had. The basis for the recipe is Creamy Mushroom Soup with Velvet Chicken from Williams-Sonoma’s Soup & Stew, which, if you are serious about making soups, you should go out and buy it immediately. I adapted the recipe by poaching chicken thighs, which cooks them and makes broth for the…
You know, sometimes you need something hot and healthy to get you back on track, especially when the seasons are changing and especially if you’ve been out late the night before. This soup hits the mark: soothing chicken broth made hearty with egg noodles, chicken meatballs, and loads of the “superfood” kale, which delivers high levels of…
The nip of fall is in the air and I’m about to make a million* pot pies. To get started, we’ll need pie crust dough. This is a fantastically easy recipe that yields perfectly savory pot pies with light, flakey crusts. What should I put inside? Please share your favorite pot pie recipes in the comments, I’m…
Since making Creamy Potato Leek and Chicken Soup, I have been in love with the technique of poaching the chicken to start the stock used in the final dish. It’s so easy and allows you to start from scratch even if you don’t have any homemade stock on hand. You make the stock for your soup…
These are my Mom’s popular roasted red peppers. You will find them at almost every party she hosts because she roasts peppers in huge batches when they are in season and freezes them in appetizer-sized portions so they are always ready to whip together. They are great as part of an antipasti set up or on sandwiches, but…
These are the basic, everyday Brussels sprouts cooked at this house. They are easy and just frickin’ delicious. This is the kind of food that gives you a craving. Like, “When was the last time we had Brussels sprouts? Last week? Let’s get some.” The key is par-boiling the sprouts before sautéing them in the bacon fat.…
It was a wet, dreary summer day when I decided to make this potato leek soup. I had plenty of time, so I started it from scratch in the morning, making the stock from three frozen chicken thighs I had been saving and the vegetables that were on hand in the fridge. The chicken thawed…
Everyday I make lunch for my 8-year-old son. He loves pears, loves them! However, only about 1/2 a pear’s worth of slices fit in the designated (by me) fruit space in his (reusable, highly recommended) Easy Lunch Boxes lunchbox, so I am frequently left with half a pear to eat for my own boring breakfast…
OK, everyone is making Lasagna Rolls. A quick search on Pinterest turns up dozens of recipes. I don’t often make Lasagna because it seems like a lot of work for not much satisfaction. Over-cooked edges and watery centers: no, thank you. This Lasagna Roll recipe is unlikely to cause a revolution in the food world, however…
Tonight I am making Lasagna Rolls and for those I need tomato sauce. It’s a cool, rainy summer day and I have piles of fresh basil in the garden–a perfect day to let some sauce simmer! This is my recipe for a basic slow-cooked, chunky ground beef tomato sauce. There is nothing really fancy about…
Sara, why are you making pot pies in the middle of the summer? Well, I’d say that the surprise success of my first pot pie recipe (Spicy Mushroom Chicken Pot Pie) back in May–when it was still sensibly chilly–got me inordinately excited about savory pies. They are so easy! Especially with a forgiving pie dough like…
‘Tis the season for an overabundance of zucchini. Here is a recipe that I recently rediscovered at a cookout at my mom’s house. A friend of hers brought it as a dish to share and mom had the card in her old recipe box. I increased the parmesan and added fresh basil from our garden,…
Grill sandwiches! Here’s a good one to start with. Two secrets to a good grilled sandwich are 1) don’t put stuff in that will fall out on the flip and 2) be generous with the butter or oil, it makes the bread crispy. Oh, and use good bread. Italian is our go-to bread for grilled…
If you see fresh peas in the pod at your local farmers market, buy them immediately and plan to eat them that evening. Fresh peas are best the same day they are harvested. Frankly, they are best eaten directly out of the pod as you are shucking them. If you can resist however, cook them up…
Adding a ton of vegetables to pasta makes it healthy, right? We made this for “meatless Monday” this week. So creamy, delicious, and easy. Every summer, I make a lot of Basil Pesto. Last summer, my plants over delivered and I’m still making my way through the frozen bounty. By the time this year’s plants…
Here is the “recipe” for my basil pesto. I make this every few weeks during peak basil production (mid-summer), generally two batches at a time. During the summer, there is usually a small jar of fresh pesto in the fridge. It primarily goes on sandwiches or into hot or cold pasta dishes–I’m always looking for…
The marinade used for this recipe is great on venison, chicken, pork, and steak. This is an easy grilling option for nights when you don’t want to dirty the kitchen. In our first pass at these delectable little bites, we wrapped them in a tortilla with Pickled Chilis and romaine lettuce. For our second pass, we used…
Sara Makes Soup 