With dishes like this, every year should be called the year of the pig

Inspired by a traditional Italian dish and a memorable Chicago evening, Milk-braised Pork with Tarragon is complex, delicate and delicious. Recipe below.

The end of the year inevitably gets us thinking about what lies ahead. For that reason, my maternal grandmother always served pork on New Year’s Eve. She said it was because pigs root forward when searching for food, while chickens scratch backward. In the new year, you want to move ahead. Chicago chef Rob Levitt is making a big move ahead, swapping his toque for a butcher’s apron. By the time you read this, his new butcher shop The Butcher & Larder may well be open, selling cut-to-order meats and charcuterie from locally sourced, humanely raised animals. He’ll also offer a limited menu of sandwiches. I’m sure we’ll become regulars there. Marion was inspired to make this dish by a wonderful dinner Rob cooked on his last night at the Bucktown restaurant mado. I’ll let her tell you about it. Continue reading “With dishes like this, every year should be called the year of the pig” →

Will Allen: Basketball player, farmer, major voice for urban agriculture

An unlikely farmer with an unlikely place to farm—and the effect he’s having on low-income kids, communities and presidents (yes, plural)—is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

A World War I-era song asks the musical question “How ‘Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm? (After They’ve Seen Paree).” When Will Allen left his father’s farm on a college basketball scholarship, he certainly had no intention of ever returning to farming. But after a pro basketball career in the US and in Europe (where he certainly got to see the lights of Paris) and a stint in the corporate world, back to the farm is exactly where he headed.

It was while playing ball in Belgium and driving around the countryside there that Allen began to feel the pull of the farm again. Soon, he was hanging out with Belgian farmers and moving to a house with room for a garden and some chickens. Continue reading “Will Allen: Basketball player, farmer, major voice for urban agriculture” →

Alone together: Christmas dinner for two

A menu of Blue Kitchen favorites for friends spending their first Christmas at home as husband and wife.

Our friends Matt and Leah got married this year. They’re both sweet, funny, caring people. So as a couple, you can just imagine. Of this photo taken in the hotel elevator on their wedding day, Matt says, “Leah looks spectacular.” To which we would add radiant.

Recently, Leah emailed me. It seems she and Matt won’t be going home to Kansas City for the holidays, and she was wondering if I had any ideas about a romantic Christmas dinner for two. Continue reading “Alone together: Christmas dinner for two” →

Two recipes, many inspirations: Roasted Chili Cumin Chicken with Pickled Red Onions

Inspired by Mexican street food (channeled by Rick Bayless), sweet, tangy pickled red onions and chopped cilantro give roasted Chili Cumin Chicken a lively, fresh finish. Recipes below.

At some point, I’m not sure when, Mexican restaurant food became relegated to comfort food status for us. Something we could count on to be reliably good, filling and cheap, but no longer something we got a hankering for. It wasn’t always this way. At one point, Marion and I ate at a Mexican restaurant in our neighborhood at least once a week for a year or more. In fact, we went there on our wedding night, before going barhopping with my mom and my brand new sister-in-law.

Now, though, it’s comfort food. And that in itself is not a bad thing—sometimes, the baskets of chips, the familiar flavors and friendly, relaxed atmosphere that are part of the package deal are exactly what you want. Add some friends and cocktails and you’re set for a good evening. Continue reading “Two recipes, many inspirations: Roasted Chili Cumin Chicken with Pickled Red Onions” →

Take that, wind chill factor: Belgian Pot Roast with Onions and Mushrooms

Based on a traditional Belgian stew, this hearty roast is flavored with beer, thyme, bay leaves, mushrooms and lots of onions. Recipe below.

THE CALENDAR KEEPS TRYING TO TELL US IT’S STILL AUTUMN. The snow on the ground and wind chill numbers with minus signs in front of them tell another story, at least here in Chicago. So when Marion and I spotted a hefty chuck roast in the meat department, deep red and nicely marbled with fat, we grabbed it like a long lost uncle who’d suddenly won the lottery.

Chuck roast is one of our favorite cuts of meat, cheap and wonderfully flavorful. And yes, it can be on the tough side, but cook it long and slow and the toughness melts away. Continue reading “Take that, wind chill factor: Belgian Pot Roast with Onions and Mushrooms” →

Holiday shopping for foodie friends made easy

Okay, show of hands. Has anyone out there not heard of Etsy? Etsy calls itself “your place to buy and sell all things handmade or vintage and supplies.” From clothing to candles, toys, soaps, pottery, crochet, jewelry, quilts, woodworking and “everything else,” if someone makes it by hand, you’ll find it here.

Now, a pair of twentysomethings has taken this idea and focused it on food. Foodzie is kind of an Etsy for gourmets. Continue reading “Holiday shopping for foodie friends made easy” →

This colorful, lively side bites back: Roasted Radicchio with White Beans and Tomatoes

Roasting radicchio is a favorite way to prepare it in Italian kitchens. Here, roasted wedges add a pleasantly bitter edge to cannellini beans, tomatoes and sage. Recipe and variations below.

Of the five taste sensations, bitter is often the toughest sell, the one we come around to last. For many of us, we discover its pleasant edge through coffee, dark chocolate or perhaps licorice. In the produce department, you’ll find varying degrees of natural bitterness in escarole, broccoli rabe, eggplant, curly endive, mustard and dandelion greens… and in deep red radicchio.

A form of chicory, radicchio enjoys a long, storied history in Italy. Roman scholar and prolific author Pliny the Elder wrote of its medicinal benefits in Naturalis Historia around 77 AD, claiming that it was good for insomnia and purifying the blood. Its culinary history dates back centuries too, but Americans are fairly recent converts to its bitter charm. Continue reading “This colorful, lively side bites back: Roasted Radicchio with White Beans and Tomatoes” →

Old San Francisco speakeasy gets new life as a pop-up restaurant

Remember when restaurants used to boast about how long they’d been in business? Now, it’s all about, well, now. Bricks and mortar permanence has given way to the shock of the culinary new. Food lovers chase food trucks, whose chefs in turn chase the next new trend, unshackled by high rents and overhead. Adventurous home cooks and would-be chefs run secret supper clubs—occasional, nomadic “restaurants” whose locations and menus are announced last minute via emails or text messages to diners. And now, chefs are taking a page from retailers, opening temporary pop-up restaurants. Continue reading “Old San Francisco speakeasy gets new life as a pop-up restaurant” →