Hello all! Soon the whole family will be back in town. I propose that we take a new blog photo, this time with Joe looking less cheeseball and Alex looking less like a befuddled terrorist. Let’s try to remember it when we have our big BBQ. Also, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t been updating […]
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Circassian Chicken
I’ve never been the Caucasus, but if I go, I intend to eat non-stop. So far all the recipes I’ve had from that region are a fantastic melding of East and West that highlight some of my favorite ingredients. Alex once made this dish, and I remember it taking him all day because he didn’t […]
Easter in Lyon
I haven’t been keeping very good records of what I’ve been cooking in France, but this is probably the tastiest dish I actually remembered to photograph. I made this a few weeks back when I was in Lyon; after 3 days of seeing the city and ahem..living the night life, we were all pretty tired […]
Lamb Kibbeh Hotdish
Kibbeh is a combination of ground lamb and bulghur*, and is eaten throughout the Levant. It can be prepared in countless ways, from raw to deep fried. Here’s my version of a baked style, made into a hotdish with potatoes and tomatoes. I have changed and refined this recipe, and it’s very similar to Alex’s […]
Meat(loaf) ‘n’ Potatoes
On this snowy and blustery April night (who’da thunk?) I decided it was meat and potatoes time. America’s Test Kitchen came through again with a great recipe and technique for meatloaf. Theirs dealt with the problem of when you only have ground beef and not meatloaf mix (which is beef, pork, and veal). I actually […]
Stirf-fry and Potstickers from America’s Test Chicken
Last night we were watching TV, bouncing from channel to channel, when we decided to watch America’s Test Kitchen. The topic was “Not your Average Stir-fry” and we started drooling, it looked so damn good. They made a Thai-inspired beef stir-fry and some Chinese-style pork and cabbage potstickers. I like the show because it focuses […]
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Roasting Chicken
I’m fairly certain that roast chicken is the food I’ve had the most kitchen meltdowns over. It’s so simple, so basic, and so beautiful to have that whole, browned and glistening bird on the table–and yet, I can never seem to get one to the table without shedding tears of frustration and throwing a spatula […]
Steak au Poivre (Steak with Cracked Peppercorns)
The outcome of this recipe can only be described as a foodgasm. It’s a traditional French dish and now it’s one of my favorite ways to prepare steak. Anoka Meat Market was selling something called “butter steak”, and I figured, butter + steak = how bad could it be? It was some kind of well-marbled […]
Banana Bread (with chocolate!)
There are countless recipes for banana bread, and I consulted four cookbooks to come up with my own version. This one is primarily based on the recipe in The Melting Pot, but has a few variations. To be extra decadent, I added dark chocolate chips instead of walnuts–everyone knows that nuts in dessert are revolting, […]
The easiest lentil soup ever
Put 1 part lentils, 1/2 part rice in a pot. Clean well if you live in a country where bulk goods are kept in burlap sacks on the floor in dirty market places. Add enough water that things will be soupy. Add a tsp or so of turmeric, mostly for color, and salt to taste. […]