A hearty winter meal with a hint of spring: Lamb Thyme Meatballs with Vegetables

Lamb meatballs, peas, carrots and potato wedges, all flavored with fresh thyme, satisfy in winter, taste like spring. Recipe below.

Last week’s recipe was inspired by boredom. This week’s was born of disaster. I spent much of Sunday afternoon in the kitchen, filling it—and the entire apartment, in fact—with heavenly smells, if I say so myself. The taste of the finished dish delivered on the aroma, and the dish was acceptably photogenic. Sadly, it was also irreparably dry and chewy.

At moments like this, I sometimes question what I’m doing here in the food blogosphere. On occasion, as on Sunday night when I lay in bed wondering what I was going to do now for a post, the question takes a succinct and, well, non-question form: “I suck.” Continue reading “A hearty winter meal with a hint of spring: Lamb Thyme Meatballs with Vegetables” →

Black History Month: Two chefs trade restaurant kitchens for activism

As Black History Month draws to a close, two chefs who’ve taken very different career paths—one trying to turn at-risk youth around, the other trying to turn nutritionally at-risk communities around—are subjects of recent USA Character Approved Blog posts.

Many chefs are exposed to cooking and what will become their careers in their mother’s or grandmother’s kitchens. For Jeff Henderson, it was a prison kitchen. He was serving a ten-year sentence for drug trafficking and was assigned to kitchen duty as punishment. That punishment turned his life around. He quickly discovered a passion for cooking and developed a head for business.

Upon his release from prison, Henderson talked his way into a dishwashing job in the new Los Angeles restaurant of a prominent African American chef. From there, he eventually worked his way up to Chef de Cuisine for the restaurants of Caesar’s Palace. Then he walked away from it all. Continue reading “Black History Month: Two chefs trade restaurant kitchens for activism” →

The unexpected rewards of culinary boredom: Moroccan Lamb Chops with Chickpeas

A Moroccan spice rub with cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and other spices is used to flavor both pan grilled lamb chops and a side of chickpeas with golden raisins. Recipes below.

Boredom is underrated. To me, it’s often a critical part of the creative process. When I’m cooking for Blue Kitchen posts, I’m always actively looking for new ingredients, techniques and ideas—or at least new to me. But when I’m just cooking to get something on the table for a weeknight dinner, I can fall into a rut, cooking reliable favorites over and over.

Such was the case when I grabbed a couple of lamb shoulder chops at the supermarket recently. These flavorful, cheap cuts of lamb see lots of action at our house. I was planning the next night’s dinner and went through the current kitchen inventory in my head. We had potatoes and lettuce at home, so the lamb was all I needed. I would pan grill the chops after tenderizing them with kosher salt, the way I almost always do. And I would serve them with garlicky mashed potatoes and a salad. The way I almost always do. But then boredom kicked in. Continue reading “The unexpected rewards of culinary boredom: Moroccan Lamb Chops with Chickpeas” →

Duck and Andouille Sausage Gumbo: Comfort food with a Creole/Cajun kick

Just in time for Mardi Gras, Duck and Andouille Sausage Gumbo combines onion, celery, bell peppers, garlic and plenty of seasonings to make big flavored comfort food. If you can’t find duck legs, substitute chicken. Recipe below.

I FREQUENTLY EMAIL MYSELF FOOD IDEAS when I come across them, as inspiration for future posts here. Often, these emails will include a link to the article or restaurant review or whatever got me thinking about cooking something. Not so with the email whose subject line read “duck gumbo?” The entire contents of the email read “try some.” Continue reading “Duck and Andouille Sausage Gumbo: Comfort food with a Creole/Cajun kick” →

Black History Month: Tiffany Derry shows just how far hard work and talent can take you

Talent alone can take you only so far. Same thing goes for hard work. But put them together and you’re practically unstoppable. Chef Tiffany Derry, the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post, proves that.

Some time ago, I went to see Anthony Bourdain do a reading from his then new book, Medium Raw. Seated next to me was a young woman very excited to be seeing him speak. We had a long wait and so struck up a conversation that took the usual “and what do you do” path. She was a student at one of the pricier private universities in Chicago. She had just switched her major to something writing related that wasn’t actually journalism plus some culinary stuff (I wept inwardly for her parents).

When I asked what she wanted to do, she pointed at Bourdain’s picture on the cover of the book I was holding and said, “What he does.” Being both a parent and a former teacher, I launched into talking about things she could do, such as starting a food blog to develop her writing chops and build a portfolio. She was polite, but less than enthusiastic. Turns out she didn’t actually want to write—she wanted to be paid to be on TV, travel to exotic places and eat cool food. You know, what Bourdain does. Only without all the years of insane long hours in the kitchen—or at a laptop, for that matter. Continue reading “Black History Month: Tiffany Derry shows just how far hard work and talent can take you” →

Globe trotting and persistence pay off: Tilapia with Miso and Scallions

Miso, mirin, rice vinegar and garlic create a flavorful Japanese-inspired marinade for mild tilapia fillets. Quickly sautéed scallions and toasted sesame seeds add a beautiful finish. Recipe below.

Food is at a particularly cool intersection these days. On one hand, we’re thinking more about how our food gets to our plates, and locally sourced ingredients are getting much deserved attention. At the same time, global influence has never been stronger in the kitchen. Home cooks everywhere have ever increasing access to flavors, ingredients and ideas from around the world.

This week’s recipe is of the global variety. It will send you on a hunt for a number of Japanese ingredients. But don’t worry—they’re readily available lots of places, some of them in supermarkets, in fact. And in the Kitchen Notes, I’ll give you some ideas for other uses for those ingredients as well as a couple of substitutes if you can’t find them. Continue reading “Globe trotting and persistence pay off: Tilapia with Miso and Scallions” →

Small Bites: A taste of NOLA in St. Louis and Black History Month cooks

Riverbend Restaurant & Bar brings New Orleans to St. Louis, and African American wine director Brian Duncan makes wine accessible, enjoyable. Both are subjects of recent USA Character Approved Blog posts.

One of my favorite passages in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the one in which Mark Twain describes St. Louis as Huck’s raft glides by at night on the Mississippi River. It’s not a long or detailed passage, but it always takes me home when I read it. I grew up in St. Louis and can tell you firsthand that the river’s influence on the city cannot be overstated.

Happily, much of the Mississippi’s influence has actually flowed upriver from places like Memphis and New Orleans. Marion and I heard our first zydeco music in St. Louis. Fernest Arceneaux and the Thunders had packed the beer garden of the Broadway Oyster Bar, and our friend Sharon, who tended bar there, called us and said, “Get down here now.” We did. And we still thank her for making that call. Continue reading “Small Bites: A taste of NOLA in St. Louis and Black History Month cooks” →

Chocolate Chunk Cherry Brownies and the evilness of squirrels

Bittersweet and white chocolate, a touch of espresso and dried cherries soaked in red wine give these brownies a nice grown-up finish. Make them ahead—they’re twice as good the next day. Recipe below.

BEFORE I EMBARK ON THE STORY OF HOW I CAME TO MAKE THESE BROWNIES, I would like to say death to all squirrels. All squirrels, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

A few weeks back, I was seized by the baking bug and to my amazement found that we actually had ingredients that would make it possible to both bake something delicious and to avoid a trip to the store. The product of that frenzy was double chocolate chunk cherry cookies, which turned out to be rather unexpectedly fiddly to make. Continue reading “Chocolate Chunk Cherry Brownies and the evilness of squirrels” →