Entries from April 2009
As I’ve mentioned previously, chicken salad is one of my lunch-time staples. Almost without fail, Sunday nights are devoted to preparing my tried-and-true chicken salad for the work week ahead. That said, everyone can use some amount of variety. So, in the spirit of variety, I decided to try a different type of chicken salad. My sense of lunch-time adventure obviously knows no bounds.
This recipe, like the other chicken salad, comes together very quickly, and is perfect served cold. But unlike the other recipe, this Asian version has a little more punch to it (more…)
Categories: Entrees · Salad
Tagged: Asian, Asparagus, Chicken, Ginger, Ina Garten, Salad, Vegetables
On January 24, 1984, Apple Computer introduced audiences to its new computer, the Macintosh. The introduction, by way of a landmark 60-second Superbowl commercial, promised users that they would “see why 1984 won’t be like [George Orwell's] 1984.”
The commercial owed its creation to the director Ridley Scott, who had recently filmed Blade Runner. The Macintosh computer owed its creation to Jef Raskin, one of Apple’s legendary computer makers. As does the computer’s trade name; McIntosh apples, legend has it, were Jef Raskin’s favorite type of apple.
And it’s easy to see why. McIntosh apples (more…)
Categories: Desserts
Tagged: Almonds, Apples, Baking, Fruit
Between Three-Cheese Risotto and the subsequent Suppli al Telefono, I seem to have rice on the brain. Naturally, I decided to make rice pudding with the little remaining rice I still had.
The beauty of this recipe rests in its simplicity. It’s six ingredients, one saucepan, and one stirring spoon. I use 1% milk and it remains delicious. If I have if after dinner, I can call it dessert. But with two cups of low-fat milk and a few servings of rice, I can also have it when I wake up, and call it breakfast.
I really recommend using (more…)
Categories: Desserts
Tagged: Favorites, Rice, Steaming, Vanilla
I wasn’t quite sure what to name this dish.
After making my three-cheese risotto, I ended up with several servings of left-over, cold risotto. Cold risotto, it turns out, is perfect for making fried risotto balls, alternately known as suppli or arancini.
Suppli is short for “Suppli al Telefono,” which translates as “telephone wires.” Traditional suppli is fried risotto that has been stuffed with mozzarella cheese. The idea, of course, is that biting into a good suppli produces a low-hanging mozzarella string, reminiscent of telephone wires.
Arancini is Italian for “little orange,” because (more…)
Categories: Appetizers
Tagged: Bread Crumbs, Cheese, Frying, Grains, Italian, Rice, Risotto
Having a food blog doesn’t stop me from asking silly food questions.
On a recent trip to the grocery store, I could not find the risotto. After several minutes of scrounging around the different rice and grain shelves, I decided to solicit help. As I explained to the store clerk, I was making three-cheese risotto, and all that was left on my list was what the recipe referred to as “risotto rice.” He kindly pointed me to arborio rice.
Risotto, I learned, does not refer to an ingredient, but rather to a dish.
The key to risotto (more…)
Categories: Entrees · Sides
Tagged: Cheese, Grains, Italian, Rice, Risotto, Steaming, Vegetarian
Spring officially arrived a few weeks back, but from the look of it here in St. Louis, you would never know it. Between a light snowstorm to start the week, and freezing rain at week’s end, the thaw of Spring remains in hiding. Given the wintry conditions, I decided a few winter vegetables would make a suitable side.
Roasting over high heat gives the vegetables a crisp outer skin while keeping the inner flesh moist. The high heat also serves to caramelize the natural sugars in the sweet potatoes and carrots, for a sweet, yet healthy, cold-weather treat.
If you like, (more…)
Categories: Sides
Tagged: Butternut Squash, Roasting, Sweet Potato, Vegetables
In algebra, the equation f(x) = x² describes a parabolic function that never dips below the x-axis. For any number you can think of, be it negative or positive, be it an integer or a fraction, the graph will never give you a negative value. With the exception of zero, squaring the unknown will only produce a positive outcome.
Which is what I thought would happen when I decided to square my Girl Scout cookies: there could only be a positive outcome. Or so I tried to tell myself.
Taking a mallet and smashing perfectly good Thin Mint Cookies (more…)
Categories: Desserts
Tagged: Baking, Chocolate, Cookies, Favorites
