Dinner

11 of My Very Best Fall Recipes

October 7, 2016

Crisp fall air and leaves turning shades of red and burnished orange, the crackle of them under your feet as you walk down the street with hands snuggled deep inside your pockets. Autumn is by far my favorite season. The temperatures begin to cool down at night, calling for an extra blanket or a down comforter. This is something I miss now that I live south of the Mason Dixon line. It’s only been 3 and a half years, but I doubt I’ll ever really get used to the lack of (distinguishable) seasons.

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Italian Sausage Burger with Peppers

May 6, 2016

It’s the quintessential Brooklyn street fair food. There are food trucks at every single fair or festival selling that spicy sweet mix of sausage, peppers and onions. The scent of it wafting through the air brings back memories of walking through booths of games, cotton candy vendors and frozen lemonade stands. That is the inspiration for my sausage burger with peppers and onions.

When I realized that after 5 years of doing this blog, I didn’t have a single burger recipe on here, well… you can imagine my dismay. I have failed. In an attempt to make it up to you, I made a burger with the flavors of Italian sausage and peppers.

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Soba Noodles and Stir-Fried Vegetables

December 30, 2015

Soba noodles with stir-fried vegetables is a quick, easy and delicious healthy option for meatless Monday, or any day of the week. Soba noodles cook in a only a few minutes, the veggies get a quick sauté and dinner is done. From fridge to fork in less than 20 minutes – faster if you prep vegetable the night before.

It’s another New Year and once again, after the gluttony that was Thanksgiving and Christmas overindulgence, it’s time to rein it back in. One way that we have decided to do that around here is sticking to a “meatless Monday”.

While we were whooping it up in Vancouver a few months ago, we had a warm soba noodle appetizer at our favorite sushi restaurant. It was loaded with seafood and unbelievably delicious. I wanted to have something reminiscent of that salad, but suitable for a vegetarian dinner. The only restriction I gave myself (aside from the seafood) was that I had to use what I had in the kitchen. It wasn’t like there was a “rule” in play… I just didn’t feel like going to store. Out of sheer laziness, deliciousness was born!

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Pulled Pork with orange and garlic

October 6, 2012

BBQ pulled pork is a game day favorite. Pork shoulder slow cooked in garlic and orange juice until it is fall-apart tender is mixed with your favorite barbeque sauce and piled high on toasted buns.

This is the kind of food I want to have bubbling away in the oven making my kitchen smell of divine porkiness while I am preparing to entertain a group of friends waiting for my beloved Buckeyes to take the field.
(whew… how’s THAT for a run-on sentence?!)

For most people, this is summer food… For me however, I equate having my oven going for over 4 hours with cooler temperatures and for me, cooler temps automatically mean football.

I’m sure this seems absurd to most of you. Everyone else in the blogosphere is making pumpkin this and cinnamon that and here I am making pulled pork. Well, I’m sure someone somewhere understands my particular brand of crazy… it’s called football people and it’s not just football, it’s my Ohio State Buckeyes.

If you are from the Midwest or the South where meetings are rescheduled and Saturday afternoons are off limits “on account of there’s football”, then I needn’t explain any further.
To the rest of you who can’t quite conceive of this, it’s irrational. Those of us that love football with the fervor of a sale-seeking Jersey Housewife with a platinum card understand what it’s all about.

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If You’re Afraid of Butter, Use Cream…

May 22, 2012

The above is one of my favorite quotes from Julia Child, one of the gutsiest broads to ever hoist a meat cleaver. (and I use that term lovingly)

On August 15th of this year, Julia would have turned 100 years old and I’d like to think would still be cooking.
In the 100 days leading up to Julia’s birthday, the JC100 is celebrating this culinary powerhouse and her recipes. Each week, a new recipe is featured and this weeks offering was Coq au Vin… one of my all time favorites.

I remember watching Julia & Jacques and loved her candor and fearless approach to cooking. She made it seem fun and most importantly, possible. She had a way of walking her audience through a recipe that made complex dishes seem effortless and isn’t that all we really want? To feel like anything is possible?

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Choucroute Garni {For the Love of Pork}

January 29, 2012

It may not be 100% authentic Alsatian, but how can you go wrong with three kinds of pork, sauerkraut, apples and a bottle of beer poured over the whole mess?!

Traditionally, Choucroute Garni is made with white wine. However, being the good Midwestern girl that I am, beer seemed the natural way to go. These flavors are more familiar to me… cooking with beer is not exactly a foreign concept. The smell of bratwurst & onions simmering in beer is something that greeted me as I came in the kitchen door of my parents house after school on many afternoons.

This is the kind of meal that you gear up for, like Thanksgiving dinner. I’m in no way suggesting that you make this every week. Like Thanksgiving, this is reserved for once in a while when you need a good stick-to-your-ribs kind of meal.

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Roast Chicken and Vegetables

January 8, 2012

This one is for my Momma. It isn’t anything terribly exciting, just damn good. This is the only meal that my Mom actually asks me to cook for her when I’m home and I am more than happy to oblige. For me, there is no meal more soul-satisfying than roast chicken.
It is without a doubt, my favorite meal. I could have it every week and never tire of it.

The way the house smells when it is in the oven, the sound of the skin sizzling (which is exactly what I’m listening to as I write this…) makes my mouth water knowing that in a few moments when it is on my plate, I will sink my teeth eagerly into the perfect bite.

The crunch of the super crispy skin, the fat oozing out and coating my tongue. This is sublime satisfaction… the look of complete and utter joy on my face.
THIS is the meal you serve to the ones you love.

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Cod & Tapenade

May 9, 2011

Some things just go together… peanut butter & jelly, bacon & eggs, mashed potatoes & gravy, champagne & … hell, ANYTHING.

For me, another one of those pairings is fish and any kind of salty condiment. I love salt. I know it isn’t good for you in excess, but I can’t help it. There are at least 8 different kinds of salt in my kitchen at this very moment. Smoked Salt, Truffle Salt, Hawaiian Pink Salt, French Sea Salt, Kosher Salt, Maldon Salt, Australian Pink Flake Salt, Sel Gris, but NEVER idiodized table salt.

I am not alone in this near-obsession. As is the case with most Chefs, we have a salty palate. What I mean by that is we are so accustomed to highly seasoned food that for the average person it can be a bit too salty. (My Mom used to tease me that she was going to buy me a salt lick at the feed store by our house).

To feed my addiction, I made olive tapenade. It is one of the most delicious things and it will keep in your refrigerator for over a week. It can be eaten on its own: spread of a piece of warm, toasted baguette, or use it as a flavoring on a piece of fish for example. Luckily for me I have a great fishmonger a few blocks away, which brings me back to some things just go together… Fish loves salt. It doesn’t have to come from actual salt, it can come from bacon, capers or olive tapenade! If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Where do fish live? (in salty ocean water…)

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Is Dinner Ready Yet?

April 2, 2011

One of the things most of us feel we never have enough of (besides money) is time. Being at work at an obscenely early hour and not returning home until 10 hours later, I rarely feel I can take a leisurely approach to dinner.

Most people say to me “I’m sure the last thing you feel like doing when you get home is cooking” and sometimes they’re right, but a girl’s gotta eat…

A common misconception with people who may not have Chefs in their lives is that we come home and make seared foie gras. Hardly…
Like teachers, fireman, etc. most chefs do it for the love of the job. Being a chef isn’t always a lucrative gig.

One thing a chef learns quickly when creating a menu is food costs. This translates well into our own kitchens, because like i just said, we aren’t all Tom Colicchio or Mario Batali with restaurant empires.

Dinner most nights needs to be quick, not terribly expensive, good for me and most of all NOT leave a mess of dishes to clean up. If there is one chore I LOATHE it’s washing dishes.

Here’s one of my old favorites that fits the bill quite nicely:

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