Beaten egg whites give ricotta pancakes a light, creamy finish; quickly sautéed fresh pears is one of many possible toppings. Recipes and variations below.
FOR US, THANKSGIVING OFTEN MARKS THE BEGINNING of weeks of house guests. Sometimes lots of house guests. I remember one particular five-week period in which we never had less than two people visiting on any given day. Continue reading “Thanksgiving, the morning after: Wow weekend guests with Ricotta Pancakes with Sautéed Pears”
We have spent some memorable afternoons in winery wine tasting rooms. Okay, and a few blurry ones too. Sampling and comparing wines is a great way to learn about wine. But unless you live in a wine growing region, it can also be expensive when you figure in airfare, hotels and repairs to the rental car.
Now, TastingRoom.com brings wine tastings to you. Through their website, you can order six-packs of sample-sized (50ml) bottles of wine based on a theme—wine-producing regions, hidden gems, specific varietals or even individual wineries. Then you can hold your own wine tasting stumbling distance from your couch. Continue reading “Small Bites: Make any room a wine tasting room and Chicago gets a coveted little red book”
Slow cooked with aromatics, herbs and canned Italian plum tomatoes, country style ribs take on a delicious Italian accent. Recipe below.
We moved our cookbooks last weekend. More precisely, we moved our cookbook bookcase, which involved removing the cookbooks and then reshelving them in their new spot. Have you ever moved cookbooks without opening any of them? Neither have we. That’s how we came across the recipe that inspired this one.
More than a year ago, Marion gave me the wonderful (and sadly out-of-print) Roma: Authentic Recipes from In and Around the Eternal City. I immediately cooked one of Rome’s “favorite humble meals” from it, pasta e ceci (pasta and chickpeas). And I promised more to come. Of course, then it got filed away with all the other cookbooks and forgotten.
Now it’s back, with a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs rib dish that’s perfect for chilly nights. Continue reading “Country style ribs, Italian style”
For a time in my life, most of my taco consumption happened in the hours after bars in St. Louis had closed for the night. This isn’t a confessional post about substance abuse, but rather a frank assessment of the state of tacos in the Midwest until recently. Taco lovers in California (and indeed, throughout much of the Southwest) have long enjoyed much finer fare, authentic tacos sold from Mexican taco trucks on street corners. But now, really good tacos are popping up across the country, thanks at least in part to Korean tacos. For more about tacos enjoying newfound street cred, check out my latest post on the USA Character Approved Blog.
For many of Detroit’s nearly one million residents, getting to stores that carry fresh, healthy foods is a major challenge. To help people eat healthier in one of the nation’s worst food deserts, two organizations are taking creative approaches to getting the food to the people. Continue reading “Small Bites: Tacos with a Korean accent, going mobile to fight Detroit’s food desert and a new book on sustainable farming”
Duck Breasts with White Beans and Sausage combines many of the comforting elements of cassoulet, but comes together fast enough for a weeknight dinner. Recipe below.
French cooking is usually thought of as elegant and refined. And indeed, it’s no accident that the term that defines high-end dining, haute cuisine, is French. But fancy isn’t all they do. When it comes to comfort food, few can outcomfort the French. Hanger steaks with frites, coq au vin, gratins filled with cream and covered in cheese…
And perhaps the most comforting of French comfort foods, cassoulet. A hearty baked stew of beans and various meats (usually pork and duck and maybe lamb) and crusted with bread crumbs, cassoulet sticks to the ribs and satisfies your very soul on a chilly night. Unfortunately, cooking it takes forever. Recipes vary, but baking time is always measured in multiple hours, usually with at least an hour or two of prep time up front. And if you make your own duck confit for it, you can tack on another day or two.
So we were really excited when a dinner in Portland, Oregon, on our recent trip to the Pacific Northwest got us thinking about ways capture some of the flavors of cassoulet without all the long cooking. Continue reading “Duck Breasts with White Beans and Sausage: The comfort of cassoulet, only quicker”
A trio of recent USA Character Approved Blog posts, Vermont-made croutons with a cool back story and our favorite hot sauce now actually comes in four flavors. Who knew?
Thomas Edison once said that, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Not one to miss an opportunity, Amanda Hesser wrote the 932-page, 1,400-recipe New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century while working full time for the Times and giving birth to twins. For the herculean six-year project, Hesser scoured through recipes published in the Times since it began covering food in the 1850s and took suggestions from hundreds of Times readers. She then cooked and updated every recipe that made the cut. To read more of the project and what makes the resulting book essential for your kitchen bookshelf, check out my post on the USA Character Approved Blog.
At last count, there were approximately a bazillion hot sauces out there. We have maybe a half dozen or so on hand at any given time. But the one that always seems to make it from the cupboard onto the table—or into the ingredient mix—is Cholula. Continue reading “Small Bites: An “essential” cookbook, hot sauce, cool candy, food trucks 2.0, farm made croutons”
Spanish chorizo—dense, flavorful sausage—paprika, red bell peppers, onion and garlic turn potatoes into a colorful, satisfyingly hearty meal, perfect for chilly nights. Recipe below.
Before I get started, I’d just like to say that this post marks Blue Kitchen’s fourth anniversary. As Anonymous once said, “Time flies when you don’t know what you’re doing.”
MY, WE’VE BEEN BOOKISH LATELY. Today’s second post below mentions two books, one the memoir of a chef who forever changed food and professional cooking, the other, a resource for anyone interested in a career in the kitchen. A recent USA Character Approved Blog post reviews Amanda Hesser’s The Essential New York Times Cookbook, which many home cooks will find essential indeed. And this recipe was inspired by José Andrés’s lively, inventive Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America.
Andrés comes by his inventiveness honestly; he is a protege of Ferran Adrià, chef of El Bulli, Spain’s temple of molecular gastronomy Continue reading “Patatas Riojanas: Potatoes and sausage with a spicy Spanish accent”
For aspiring chefs, many roads lead to the professional kitchen. In this post, a new cooking school with a grand old name is announced, and a no-nonsense, comprehensive book spells out a whole range of culinary careers and how to get your foot in the door.
Born in 1846, the legendary Auguste Escoffier changed the course of culinary history, modernizing and codifying centuries of French cooking traditions and extending the fame of French cuisine throughout the world. In the early 20th century, he was France’s pre-eminent chef.
Besides changing cooking, Escoffier forever changed the job status of chef, elevating it to an honored profession—not just for himself, but for every chef who followed. And now he’s having an impact on food and the business of cooking again, through his great grandson Michel Escoffier. Continue reading “Two new paths to culinary careers”
