Slow Cooking. Preparing Squash.

Article: Tips for Slow Cooking

It's easy to convert traditional recipes to slow-cooker versions. Just follow this simple rule from Betty Byrne, test kitchen manager at Hamilton Beach: For every 30 minutes of cooking time in a traditional recipe, cook one hour on high or two hours on low in the slow cooker.

Article: How to peel and cut up winter squash

Don't you get tired of just cutting them in half and baking them with butter and brown sugar? Peeling them gives you many more opportunities. They can be cut into large dice and roasted. They can be cut into small dice, sauteed with garlic and tossed with pasta. They can even be sliced thin, brushed with oil and grilled.

Nb, I've introduced another new tag: 'fungi.'

Polenta pizza. Garlic Infused Olive Oil.

Recipe: Polenta 'Pizza' with Pancetta and Spinach

Recipe: How to Make Garlic Infused Olive Oil

Cooking Pasta. Tofu, Tempeh, and Butternut Squash in Peanut Mole

Recipe: Tofu, Tempeh, and Butternut Squash in Slow-Cooked Peanut Mole

I made it this time with what I had in the house: tempeh, frozen tofu, and half of a butternut squash. You can use all or any one of those ingredients or make it with another meat substitute such as seitan, TVP, or sweet potatoes, but I think that frozen tofu tastes best because it absorbs the sauce and has a pleasingly chewy texture.

Article: How Much Water Does Pasta Really Need?

Some time ago, as I emptied a big pot of pasta water into the sink and waited for the fog to lift from my glasses, a simple question occurred to me. Why boil so much more water than pasta actually absorbs, only to pour it down the drain? Couldn’t we cook pasta just as well with much less water and energy?

Nb: I've introduced a new tag for 'gourd vegetables.'

Celery Fritters. 50 Best Recipes.

Blog Post & Recipe: Twenty-one Years Later ...

Celery Fritters

8 celery stalks
1 cup of flour
2 beaten eggs ...

A series of three articles from the Guardian --

Article & Recipes: 50 best simple recipes: Mighty bites

Nobu's black cod ... Le Caprice's steak tartare ... Home-style chicken curry ... Marcella Hazan's risotto with globe artichokes ... The Ivy's salmon fishcakes with sorrel sauce ... Roast potatoes ... Scott's razor clams with chorizo and broad beans ... Claridge's Yorkshire pudding ... Grandma Jeanne's roast chicken ... Caroline Conran's devilled kidney's [sic] ... My grandmother's chocolate chip and walnut cookies ... Nigel Slater's crabcakes with pea purée ... Thai prawns with salt ... Smoked haddock chowder ... Joël Robuchon's mashed potato ... My nana's onion gravy ... Jean-Georges Vongerichten's ribbons of tuna, avocado, spicy radish and ginger marinade ... My grandmother's macaroni cheese ... Fergus Henderson's roast bone marrow and parsley salad ... Nigel Slater's roast chicken wings with lemon, maple syrup and cracked pepper ... Constance Spry's boiled ginger cake ... Welsh rarebit. Not finding these challenging enough? Test your culinary expertise with recipes 22-41, for medium-skilled cooks

Article & Recipes: 50 best easy to medium recipes: Go on, you know you want to ...

Chocolate mousse ... Elizabeth David's chocolate and almond cake ... J Sheekey's fish pie ... Richard Corrigan's Irish soda bread ... Potato pie with smoked bacon and cre ème fraîche ... Jellied eels ... Caroline Conran's fish and chips at home ... My father's Turkish delight ... Gennaro Contaldo's linguine with olives, capers and tomatoes ... Meatballs ... Anna del Conte's lemon risotto ... Claudia Roden's baba ghanoush ... Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume's coronation chicken ... Apple tatin ... Moro's broad bean and dill pilav ... Simon Hopkinson's southern-style fried chicken thighs ... Michel Roux's soufflé Suisesse ... Nigel Slater's grilled chicken with fresh herb sauce ... Pork with black bean sauce ... Nigel Slater's trifle. Feeling confident? Graduate to recipes 42-50, for masterchefs

Article & Recipes: Best difficult recipes: Trotters, truffles and faggots

Piere Koffman's stuffed pigs' trotters with morels ... Gordon Ramsay's Cappuccino of white beans with grated truffles ... Raymond Blanc's coq au vin ... August Escoffier's oxtail soup ... Jason Atherton's salt and pepper squid ... Dan Lepard's carrot cake ... Angela Hartnett's chocolate and vanilla semifreddo ... Giorgo Locatelli's white truffle risotto ... Larousse Gastronomique's Bresse chicken-liver terrine

Shrove Tuesday

Recipe: Apple pancake recipe

Recipe: How to make pancakes

Recipe: Linda Masters' From the Kitchen: Make Shrove Tuesday cakes

Recipe: ‘Fat Tuesday’ means pancake recipes

Scroll down to find a recipe for M&M pancakes.

Recipe: Shrove Tuesday: Marguerite Patten's gingernut pancakes

Scroll to the bottom for links to more pancake recipes and see the sidebar to the left for a link to "Shortcuts: pancake toppings for Shrove Tuesday."

Pancakes for all people

The classic: Fine crepes with lemon and sugar

The detox: Mixed berry pancakes

The boozer: Spiced apple pancakes with calvados sabayon

The continental: Cinnamon pancakes with praline cream and chocolate sauce

The romantic: Lacy crepes with rose-water butter

The kid's favourite: Banana and ricotta pancakes with maple-pecan sauce

For Chinese New Year: Chinese roast pork with pancakes

The seasonal: Baked rhubarb

The dinner party "pancakes": Sweetcorn blinis with aubergine and tomato

The wheat-free option: Red onion and rosemary farinate

The Scandinavian: Warm potato pancakes with smoked eel

Recipe: Flipping fantastic: Mark Hix cooks up a tasty pancake feast to celebrate Shrove Tuesday

Basic pancake batter ... Crêpe soufflé with blood oranges ... Scampi crêpes ... Crespelli [sic] with braised hare ... Potato pancakes with scrambled eggs and smoked haddock

Article & Recipe: On Fat Tuesday, why not serve pancakes any way that you like them?

Blue Moon Pancakes ... Pancake tips

•Pancakes are ready to be turned when they are dry around the edges, the top is covered with bubbles and the underside is golden brown. Make a sacrificial first pancake to make sure your griddle is not too hot.

•After flipping the pancake, resist the temptation to press down on the pancake as if it were a hamburger on a grill.

•Pancakes are best eaten right off the griddle. But if you must keep them warm, arrange them in a single layer on a cookie sheet, uncovered, in a 200-degree oven. Never stack or cover them. The steam will make them soggy ...

Recipe: Flip flip hooray! Pancake day recipes

Pancakes with fruit and vanilla cream ... Tuna and vegetable pancakes ... Apple and chocolate crisp ... Bubble and squeak pancakes

Recipes: Pancake Day ideas

Sweetcorn Breakfast Pancakes ... Apricot and Almond pancakes ... Savoury Chicken Pancakes ... Chocolate Pancakes with Fruit Compote and Hot Chocolate Sauce ... Fruity Coffee Pancakes ... Sally Ellison's Yummy Banana Pancakes

Watching the Oscars

Recipe: Caramel popcorn choc tops

Recipes: Academy Awards Cocktail Party

* Black Pepper–Manchego
Cheese Puffs
* Broiled Mussels with Sweet Paprika Aioli
* Roasted Rosemary Walnuts
* Olive-Parsley Dip with Crudités
* Orange Marmalade Truffles
* The Academy Sparkler

Article & Recipes: Snackin' with Oscar

But for this special evening, Bench plans to pump up the popcorn with some glitz and glam with ingredients such as cocoa, freeze-dried apples and smoked paprika. Not all together, of course, but Bench says she loves using her imagination when it comes to popcorn ...

Chocolate Malt ... Apple Cinnamon ... Sweet Chili ... Barbecue ... Butterscotch ... Red Carpet Fizz (flavoured champagne)

Three from New Orleans.

Article & Recipes: Recipes lost to Katrina resurface with new cookbook

Katrina and the subsequent flooding not only killed many and left billions of dollars in property damage, but the storm washed away countless family recipes, those lovingly hoarded scraps of notepaper and newspaper on which family meals and family memories were made.

To the rescue came Judy Walker, the newspaper's food editor, who started the "Exchange Alley" column to reclaim lost recipes ...

Grillades and grits ... Baked grits ... Milk punch

Vietnamese.

Article & Recipes: Try cooking some Vietnamese food in your kitchen

Born in Saigon and raised in Cho Lan, "the Chinatown of Vietnam," Nguyen left for America with her family as an 11-year-old in 1975 and "never really looked back." Her parents worked multiple jobs in Denver, where they settled. As the eldest child of five, Nguyen said, "I would make dinner every night."

BANH XEO ... CITRUS BEEF SUMMER ROLL ... CARI GA

Best of British. Cooking from Gardens.

Article & recipes: Ramsay's Best of British recipes

Not posh nosh, but classic British dishes. Our mantra has always been, “Keep it simple and make it tasty.”

Roast lamb with rosemary, garlic 
and anchovies / Fennel and roasted 
red pepper soup / Baked bream fillets 
with fennel and orange / Marinated chicken 
with minted broad 
beans and peas / Smoked salmon and watercress tart / Clementine cakes with cranberry sauce / Treacle tart

Recipes: Back to earth

Jamie cooks from his own vegetable garden.

It just never occurred to me that it might be as easy as taking some seeds out of a packet and popping them into the ground.

* Sweet cherry tomato and sausage bake

* Spicy pork and chilli pepper goulash

* Potato and chorizo omelette with parsley salad

Basic kitchen know-how. Cookbook calories.

Article: Chefs advise on kitchen basics

The meat you're sauteeing for tonight's tagine won't brown – what's the problem?

A white sauce you're whipping up for a lasagne is lump-free but tastes floury – how do you avoid this happening next time?

This kind of basic kitchen know-how used to be passed on from mother to daughter, because most families cooked and ate at home. But since the advent of ready meals and a dip in numbers taking home economics or food tech at school, many people have lost touch with what used to be second nature.

Article: Recipes add to calorie blow-out, says study

Note: this is an American study, and may have been conducted using only US cookbooks.

So-called portion distortion, the trend of eating larger and larger servings, is as much a problem with recipes as it is restaurants, and has been going on even longer, a study published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine found.

The study, which looked at how classic recipes have changed during the past 70 years, found a nearly 40 per cent increase in calories per serving for nearly every recipe reviewed, about an extra 77 calories.

Doro Wat. Mashed corn and beans

Recipe: Doro Wat

Doro Wat, adapted to suit the American kitchen.

Doro Wat Chicken, an Ethiopian dish, is a good opportunity to get out of the spice rut you may be in.

Recipe: Kenyan mashed corn and beans

A popular Kenyan dish often served with meat or fish dishes, this recipe is adapted from "A Taste of Africa," by Dorinda Hafner. Use the dried beans or peas of your choice. If you wish, stir in spices or herbs, any cooked meat or fish, or additional cooked vegetables. Hafner suggests stuffing the mash into vegetables such as bell peppers and baking them.

Delicious!

Site: This is why you're fat!

Some of the culinary delights shown on this site include the McNuggetini, Bacon Burger Dogs, Bacon Cheese Pizza Burger and the reputedly delicious Sloppy Joe on a Krispy Kreme.

Cookbooks & Food Blogs.

Article: The art of food blogging

According to Anne Sage, author of a popular design blog The City Sage, a good food blog is like a trusty friend. “It should illuminate the blogger's personality, whether he or she is writing about a recipe for scones or their latest kitchen gadget. It’s like getting a recipe tip from a good friend, and who doesn't love to get kitchen advice from someone whose taste you trust and admire?”

Article: Pluck a flamingo

An article about cookbooks.

Although the recipes in one book are often similar to those in another, their presentation varies wildly. There are Lutheran cookbooks, Wiccan cookbooks, feminist vegetarian cookbooks (“The Political Palate”) and satirical cookbooks. There are instructions on cooking the food that Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes and Thomas Jefferson might have eaten. Cookbooks have been written by French prisoners, the pop singer Tom Jones, the astrologer Nostradamus and the winners of the Miss America competition.

The reason for this profusion is that cookbooks promise to effect a kind of domestic alchemy. Although seemingly straightforward, they hold out the hope of liberation from a routine of leftover chicken and from children who refuse to eat food of any colour except white. To follow their instructions—or, as Mr [Nigel] Slater would prefer, to be inspired by them—is to turn a mundane task into an engaging, romantic process. Cookbooks also provide an opportunity to delve into distant cultures without having to turn up early at the airport or read subtitles.

The first Western cookbook appeared a little more than 1,600 years ago. “De re coquinara” (concerning cookery) is attributed to a Roman gourmet named Apicius who, legend has it, poisoned himself upon learning that he could no longer afford to eat fancy food.

10 Ways to Eat More Bacon

Recipes: 10 Ways to Eat More Bacon

Maple-Bacon Lollipops ... Chocolate-Covered Bacon ... Bacon Chocolate-Chip Cookies ... Bacon-and-Egg Ice Cream ... Chicken-Fried Bacon ... Bacon Vodka ... Bacon-Wrapped Tofu ... Fool’s Gold Loaf ... Bacon-Wrapped Tater Tots ... BLT Salad in a “Bacontainer.”

Bacon is more than a simple ingredient: It can also serve as a bowl.

Frittata & Mexican Pulled Pork.

Recipe: Mexican Pulled Pork

Recipe: Asparagus and Red Pepper Frittata

The quality of asparagus from Mexico is good this month

Anchovies. Beef and Guinness Pie.

Recipe: Beef and Guinness pie

The filling for this pie is cooked long and slow, tenderising the beef and allowing the flavour of the Guinness to permeate it. You could prepare the filling a day in advance. For this pie I use a traditional shortcrust pastry, but you could use a puff pastry as an alternative.

Article: Short-cuts: how to cook with anchovies

Their classic use is crushed and mixed with garlic, rosemary and olive oil and used as a marinade or stuffing for lamb. Work the fragrant sludge between the layers of meat and fat to get the full flavour.

Blood

Recipe: Black Pudding

Ingredients

1 litre blood of wild boar
oxtails
300g fat wild boar, cubed
1.5 large onions, diced
300g oatmeal, soaked
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp butter

Recipes: Sangue di Maiale

Two regional Italian recipes for pork-blood pudding.

TIPS FOR WORKING WITH PORK BLOOD
1. Gather the blood as it drains from the slashed throat of the pig.
2. Stir continually while the blood drains. This is to avoid clots. Clots affect the texture of the finished product which you want as smooth as a dense pudding.
3. It is preferred to use the traditional method of pig slaughter to gather blood. If you can't and have obtained blood from a slaughter house then be sure to strain it, before cooking.

… Sangieri di San Fili ... Sangguinaccio Cheitin

Article & Recipe: Boudin Noir

Follow the links in the article to find the recipes.

Boudin noir — blood sausage — is one of France’s oldest charcuterie preparations. It’s part of a sausage making tradition in France that has lasted well over 2000 years. “There is evidence of the activities of the lardarius, the Gaulish charcutier, in a number of bas-reliefs and inscriptions found at Narbone, Bordeaux and Cologne, and at Rheims, where a bas-relief shows two of these specialists at work…. All the items of charcuterie shown in the relief are easily identifiable: [blood sausages], strings of sausage, joints of pork, pig’s heads.” Although the raising and subsequent slaughter of the family pig was common in the French provinces up to the Second World War, today few families in the countryside raise their own pigs …

…

Boudin Noir … Boudin Grillé en Compote de Pommes Citronnée et Fruits Secs … Émincé de Boudin Noir aux Pommes … Tarte au Boudin Noir et aux Deux Pommes … Bouchées Croustillantes au Boudin Noir … Feuilletés aux Pomme et Boudin … Crème de Boudin Noir

Recipes: Food that does not taste like chicken

A collection of blood recipes, some of them sausage.

BLOOD SAUSAGE OR BLACK PUDDING … NAVAJO BLOOD SAUSAGE … WORSPE BLOED … BLOOD PANCAKES (VERIOHUKAISET) … BLOOD BREAD … SANGUINACCIO DOLCE … TIếT CANH (RAW BLOOD SOUP) … PENANG CURRY MEE … DINUGUAN … SAKSANG (PORK BITS WITH HOT SAUCE) … CZERNINA … CABIDELA … SWARTSOPPA … CANARD AU SANG

Curry Leaves. Green Tomatoes.

Article & Recipes: Curry leaves lend powerful aroma to Indian cooking

An article about curry leaves.

To preserve the fresh leaves, if you must, Bladholm recommends grinding them in a food processor while they still have their volatile oils. She adds a little garlic and some olive oil and freezes the paste in 1- to 2-tablespoon amounts.

Cooking with curry leaves ... Roasted cashews and curry leaves ... Yellow split pea dal with curry leaves

Recipes: Eat your greens

We have stolen Tasmania's summer.

I don't know about [your homegrown tomatoes], but if I picked mine tomorrow they'd be little rock-solid balls of tart green acid without a single blush to their cheeks.

And with our summer seemingly gone walkabout to the mainland, I doubt they'll ever come good.

Green tomato pickle ... Green tomato frittata ... Fried green tomatoes ... Chiang Mai pork and tomato relish

Valentine's Day Food

Recipes: Valentine's Recipes from the Heart Foundation.

Romantic picnic for two

A heart healthy romantic evening meal

Full day menu of romantic meals

Article & Recipes: Top 10 recipes for Valentine's Day

Here’s what the million visitors to Taste every month have picked as their most loved Valentine’s Day recipes:

1. Chocolate strawberries
2. Hazelnut praline truffles
3. Love heart cupcakes
4. Pappardelle with mushrooms
5. Strawberry love heart sponge cakes
6. Pikelets with strawberry sweetheart butter
7. Broken heart chocolate puddings with mocha sauce
8. Chocolate souffle
9. Oysters with Champagne sauce
10. Roast duck with red wine poached pears

Pad Thai

Recipe: Vegetarian Pad Thai

Recipe: Best Pad Thai

Recipe: Pad Thai (Thai Style Noodle Stir-Fry)

Pad Thai is a classic Thai Food dish and one that we eat a lot - a couple times per month. Tourists, when they come to Thailand know “Pad Thai” from the Thai food restaurants in their home country. They always seem to know to order this dish!

Recipe & Video: Thai-style Fried Noodles, "Pad Thai"

Pad Thai is often called the signature dish of Thai cuisine. There are several regional variations, indeed it has been said that Thailand has not only a different curry for every day of the year, but also a different pad Thai for every cook in Thailand! This is our variation, and please see our street vendor photos & video (below) for others.

Recipe: Pad Thai Recipe

This Pad Thai recipe is how you actually find it in Bangkok and comes from testing hundreds of different variations from food carts all over the city. Pad Thai is the ultimate street food. While "street food" may sound bad, food cart cooks are in such a competitive situation, with such limited space, ingredients and tools they need to specialize in a dish or two just to stay in business. The best of these cooks have cooked the same dish day-after-day, year-after-year, constantly perfecting it.

Great Pad Thai is dry and light bodied, with a fresh, complex, balanced flavor.

Kumara: Sweet Potato

Article & Recipes: How to cook with kumara

In most countries they are called sweet potatoes, but in New Zealand they are known by their Maori name kumara. Available in red, gold or orange, each variety has a deliciously different colour and taste.

... KUMARA GNOCCHI ... KUMARA & COCONUT CURRY

Dog

Because you were wondering.



Recipe: Stewed Dog



Recipes: Cuisine of Dog Meat

Dog Soup is called, Gaejang, Gajangkuk, or Gujang, Gujangaeng, Guyoukgeng. It has been called Bosintang from the later part of 1940,but during the period of the 1988 Olympic games, it was banned to use the name of Bosintang, so its name was replaced by Youngyangtang, Sacheoltang, Mungmungtang. But nowadays, the name of Bosintang is widely used instead of Youngyangtang. Bosintang is made by boiling dog meat with thin soy paste, tearing it into pieces, putting ingredients such as green onion, leek, stalk of taro, brake into broth, and boiling it again ...

Bosintang ... Jeongol ... Suyuk ... Duruchigi

Spicy Tofu & Rosemary-Scented Chicken

Recipe: Spicy Mahogany Glazed Tofu



Article & Recipe: My furry Valentine

I'm so glad that Valentine's Day is coming up because this year I'm in love!

His name is Jake, and he's a 2-year-old Jack Russell terrier who has been my dog for almost a year. I'm truly grateful for the endless joy he brings. And since Feb. 14 is the day for our annual lovefest, I want to spend this Valentine's Day celebrating my love for Jake!

Scroll down to reach the recipe:

Rosemary-Scented Chicken for Pooch & People

Serves 4 people, or 3 people and 1 dog

Because dogs shouldn't eat salt, cream, onions or garlic, this recipe calls for cooking the chicken and vegetables first, then taking it all out of the pan and making the sauce. Doggy eats only chicken and vegetables, which are added back to the pot for a final simmer for humans. Brown rice or whole-grain noodles are good accompaniments.

Meatballs

Article & Recipes: Meatball recipes: Balls of Fun

A short introduction to the wonder of meatballs, along with three meatball recipes (look to the right of the main article for the links).

Asian pork balls with chilli dipping sauce ... Spiced meatballs in tomato sauce ... Tajine of kofta and dates with preserved lemon

Potato Literature & Growing Greens

Article: Top 10 Potato Books

Published this month, John Reader's The Untold History of the Potato charts the tuber's 15,000-year story from the US to China to Peru, Mrs Beeton to Charles Darwin to McDonald's. Here, he chooses his top 10 books on the not-so-humble spud.

...

7. The Potato: Evolution, Biodiversity and Genetic Resources by JG Hawkes

Hawkes was a leading figure in 20th-century potato research whose memoir of the British Empire Potato Collecting Expedition to South America 1938-1939 ...

Song: The Potato Man (Canting Songs)

I

I am a saucy rolling blade,
I fear not wet nor dry,
I keep a jack ass for my trade,
And thro’ the streets do cry
Chorus. And they all rare potatoes be!
And they’re, etc.

II

A moll I keep that sells fine fruit,
There’s no one brings more cly;
She has all things the seasons suit,
While I my potatoes cry.
Chorus. And they all, etc.

Article: Sprouts and micro greens: Houseplants you can eat.

Sprouts are harvested younger than micro greens and can be grown without soil in closed surroundings like bags or jars under sprays of lukewarm water. They should be harvested before their secondary leaves emerge. Alfalfa, sunflower, cress, lentil and buckwheat seeds grow quickly into sprouts and can be served up roots and all.

Micro greens are the adolescent versions of the leafy greens, edible flowers and herbs that are popular salad fixings. They are at their nutritional and flavorful best when they begin to display adult-size leaves. Seeds can be planted in potting soils, sprinkled onto sponges or fine-textured fabrics, and then misted, sprayed or watered as necessary. Among the most popular micro greens are cauliflower, peas, cabbage, arugula, radishes, beets, clover, mustard and alfalfa.

Cauliflower

Blog post: Cauliflower power

What to do with cauliflower? Readers respond.

johnadams25 09 Feb 09, 5:45pm
Cauliflower Soup

Saute a potato and onion for 10 mins, add cauliflower florets, a pint of stock and a pint of milk (I add a bay leaf as well). Simmer for 20 mins, liquidise and season.

One of the nicest and easiest of soups - brings out lovely flavour of caulfower. having said that i haven't had this for ages, as the cauliflowers in my greengrocer haven't looked too hot lately.

Chocolate, Wine & Making Tea

Recipes: Tea Time in the Desert

Brewing tea from North American desert plants.

Among the 3 species of mesquites in the desert, Honey Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) is most preferred for brewing tea. Place 8 or 9 green or dry yellow twigs in a cup. Fill with boiling water, cover and steep 20 minutes. Or boil 24 seed pods in a pot for one hour. This sweet, mild tea has a vanilla-like flavor. It was used by Native Americans to treat diarrhea and stomach ulcers.

Article: What to drink with chocolate

In case you ever decide to eat chocolate and drink wine at the same time.

"A good rule of thumb when pairing chocolate with a beverage is to look for one that is very low in tannins as well as acidity," says Thierry Muret, executive chef for Godiva Chocolatier.

Spanakopita

Recipe: Spanakopita (Greek spinich pie)

Freezing things & melting cheese

Article & recipes: Melted cheese: Alone or in a dish, it's delish

Melted, grilled or baked cheese is a terrific dish in its own right, justly celebrated in many cuisines, where crispy discs of melted Parmigiano-Reggiano or Monterey Jack or caramelized slabs of haloumi (a Cypriot sheep's milk cheese) are served, gasp, right out in the open, even given center stage.

Frico with fennel-apple slaw ... Fried haloumi with pears and spiced dates

Article: The basics of freezing

Nothing ever rots. That's the good and bad of the freezer.

Good because its preservative powers let you stock up on bargain meat, save perishable ingredients, revisit your summer garden in February. Bad because, without the motivation of stink, it can become a bleak tundra of mysterious packages, their contents iced and freezer-burned beyond redemption.

To bring your freezer back from the dark side, some tips and inspiration ...

Potatoes, Herbs, Cast Iron Cookware

Article: Cast iron's age-old allure

A short article about cast-iron cookware.

•Testing a skillet for cooking temperature, droplets of water should bounce or hop on the surface; too hot, they will disappear; too cool, they will just sit there.

Article: Pick the right potato to go with your meal

A look at the spud bins at the grocery store reveals plenty of potato choices. But which ones to serve with a corned beef dinner (not russets) and which to mash with milk and butter (definitely russets)?

Article & Recipes: Grow your own flavour

Growing herbs for the kitchen.

The more you pick the healthier the plant. Growers are told that if their chives start to flower they will have no more fresh leaves until the following year. Rubbish! Pick some of the flowers to use in salads and, if the plant is then cut back to within 4cm of the ground and given a good feed of liquid fertiliser, it will produce another crop of succulent leaves within a month.

Herbs can be picked from very early in their growing season. This encourages the plant to produce vigorous new growth. Most herbs reach their peak of flavour just before they flower. Snip off stems early in the day before the sun is fully up, or, even better, on a cloudy day.

Cut whole stems rather than single leaves or flowers. Always use a sharp knife, sharp scissors or secateurs, and cut lengths of 5-8cm from the tip of the branch, this being the new, soft growth. Do not cut into any of the older, woody growth. Cut from all over the plant, leaving it looking shapely.

... Lovage soup ... Fish with fennel ... Chocolate mint mousse

Camp Bread, Tortilla Cassarole, British Comfort Food

Recipe: Pan de Campo (Camp Bread)


Recipe: Make the ideal tortilla casserole

But whether you use expensive cheese and homemade sauces, or Monterey Jack and bottled salsa, the basic principle remains the same: Layer tortillas, sauce, meat (or vegetables) and cheese, bake it, and you've got a crowd-pleasing casserole that takes care of your tortilla surplus.

TAMAL AZTECA ... CHICKEN TORTILLA CASSEROLE WITH SALSA VERDE ... DESIGN YOUR OWN TORTILLA CASSEROLE

Recipe: 10 comfort food recipes

Chicken, coconut and ginger soup ... Gordon’s macaroni cheese ... A great fish pie ... Chorizo and lamb shepherd's pie ... Chicken, leek and tarragon pie ... Lamb cobbler with cheese scones ... Gordon’s meatballs with spiced tomato sauce ... Lancashire Hotpot ... Rice pudding with apricots ... Seville magic pudding

With something like fish pie, I don’t think you should muck around too much.

Melbourne Larder: a blog.

Blog: Melbourne larder

This blog belongs to a newcomer who sat in on the meeting last night.

Food and wine are an essential part of life for me. I live in Melbourne, Australia, with my husband, son and daughter and I love visiting Melbourne's numerous and ever-proliferating cafes, restaurants and bars, as well as our fabulous markets and culinary shops.

Zucchini Slice. Using a Microwave

Recipe: Zucchini Slice



Article: It's never going to roast a potato ... but here's what a microwave can do

It's easy to be a microwave snob but there is a genuine place for it in the kitchen and a lot of life beyond defrosting and reheating. The trouble is that it is often seen as a lazy, stand-alone piece of kit: the tendency is to think that if a dish can't go in just as it is, then what's the point. You will get better results if you take the time to cut vegetables to the right size, or use the microwave in tandem with the food processor. And get to know its limitations: it's never going to roast a potato and it's a pasty's number one sworn enemy.

Party Recipes

Recipes: 50 big game party recipes.

10 Dips

• Baked Artichoke Dip
• California Mexican Hot Dip
• Easy Herb Cheese Dip
• Hot Cream Cheese and Crab Dip
• Onion Cheese Dip
• Philadelphia™ Creamy Salsa Dip
• Quick Taco Dip
• Savory Vegetarian Spread
• Spinach Dip with Artichokes
• Sun-Dried Tomato Dip

10 Chili Recipes

• Black Bean Chili with Spicy Tomato Salsa
• Southwest Shrimp and Black Bean Chili
• Chicken and White Bean Chili
• Chipotle Vegetable Chili
• Pawtucket Chili
• Quick Cincinnati Chili
• Spicy Turkey Chili
• Sweet and Spicy Pork Chili
• Texas-Style Chili
• Vegetarian Chili

10 Chicken Wing Recipes

• Buffalo Chicken Wings
• Dan's Delicious Chicken Wings
• Honey Nut Chicken Wings
• Honey-Glazed Chicken Wings
• Uncle Louie's Chicken Wings Marinara
• Mock Buffalo Wings
• Ranch Drummettes
• Molasses Glazed Chicken Wings
• Savory Chicken Wings
• Spicy Citrus Chicken Wings

10 Delicious Main Dishes

• Classic Margherita Pizza
• King-Size Beef Kabobs with Salsa Verde
• Spiced Mediterranean Burgers
• Top Secret Recipes version of Chi-Chi's Beef Nachos Grande
•Shredded Pork Burritos
•The One and Only Beer-Can Chicken
•Mixed Grill
•Cheddar Cheesesteak Sandwiches
•Top Secret Recipes version of T.G.I. Friday's Potato Skins
•Healthy Chicken Quesadillas

10 Delicious Desserts

• Black Forest Brownie
• Blonde Brownies
• Butterscotch Cream Cheese Bars
• Carnation Famous Fudge
• Chocolate Toffee Bars
• Chocolate with Cabernet Cupcakes
• Lemon Squares
• Molasses Cookies
• Peanut Butter & Jam Bars
• White Chocolate Peppermint Patties

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