I started this food blog nearly a month and a half ago. Yet, in all that time, I never made anything for dinner. That is, there no were entrée posts. Until now.
A whole roasted chicken offers something for everyone. There’s a beautiful center item for the table, Continue reading
Every few days, it dawns on me that I haven’t exactly been eating my greens. I don’t have any particular aversion to vegetables – especially the orange ones (see my pumpkin and sweet potato posts!). But for whatever reason, green vegetables often get overlooked. Whenever I realize my oversight, Continue reading
One of my favorite things about cooking is getting to experiment. In the kitchen, there are so many different mechanisms with which to experiment and try something new. You can play with the type of ingredients and their amount. You can alter the cooking time and the cooking temperature. Or you can change the medium in which you cook – be it a grill, an oven, or a stove top.
Today I got to test something new.
One of my favorite side dishes Continue reading
Making the perfect cookie is not a two-hour affair. It’s not even a twelve- or twenty-four hour event. According to a collection of New York City’s top bakers, the best chocolate chip cookie doesn’t emerge until thirty-six hours after its ingredients have been carefully assembled. The long hydration period allows the slow-moving eggs to work themselves into the dough for the perfect flavor. These top chefs also recommended using a chocolate chip with a high cocoa percent (at least 60%), a healthy dose of sea salt (at least a teaspoon), and a good chunk of dough (to get a six-inch cookie).
On top of these suggestions, I like Continue reading
Popovers are a fickle lot. Sometimes they don’t pop. Sometimes they explode. And sometimes, they simply refuse to come out of their cups. According to one article, chefs at Neiman Marcus spent five weeks perfecting their popover recipe, experimenting with nearly a dozen variations before arriving at their now-famous recipe. Popovers, they felt, were worth perfecting.
I couldn’t agree more. Growing up, Continue reading
Bruschetta (broo-SKET-uh), as you might suspect, is an Italian dish. It does not refer to the topping, however, but to the grilled bread. The word itself owes its origins to the 13th Century word “brusare,” which referred to the act of passing a flame over the keel of a boat to aid in waterproofing. A few centuries later, the word evolved to the Latin word “bruscare,” and came to mean to toast.
All of which is to say that bruschetta Continue reading
When I first started cooking, the first effort was just that – a rough, initial effort to make something edible. If things went awry, it was helpful to have ingredients in reserve. So I got in the habit of stockpiling my cooking ammunition. If a recipe called for a cup of something combustible, I tried to have an extra cup (or two) on hand.
But as my learning curve has progressed, Continue reading
Sunday pancakes are a bit of a family tradition. I can remember Dad yelling “PANCAKES” and all of us rubbing the sleep out of our eyes, and running down the stairs to plates full of warm, stacked pancakes. The first one down could usually claim the Sunday comics, and first dibs on the syrup. Brothers being brothers, we also competed to see who could out-eat the others. Fortunately, I think Dad usually ran out of batter.
Last week, a co-worker brought in a pumpkin pie – a real pumpkin pie, she noted. Not one of those Continue reading
Making your own pumpkin puree is fun and relatively simple. Two pumpkins will give you enough puree to last you through the winter, and is infinitely better than anything out of an orange can. To make the puree, be sure and choose a pie pumpkin; a carving pumpkin will not work! Pie pumpkins – unlike their carving cousins – are smaller Continue reading
