Perfect Cheeseburger. Thai Curry. Chirashi

Blog Post: The 10 Essential Steps to the Perfect Cheeseburger (via Serious Eats)

After years of grilling and experimenting, my friends Zachary and Clark finally figured out how to grill a perfect cheeseburger every time ...

Thai Curry

I find Thai curry one of the easiest curry to master. Instant curry paste from trusted brands such as Mae Ploy and Maesri are readily available in Asian markets or online. Get yourself a bottle of fish sauce, palm sugar (or sugar as a replacement), coconut milk, and you will most certainly have a decent bowl of Thai curry ...

Blog Post & Recipe: How To Make Chirashi At Home

Chirashi, also called chirashizushi, is one of my favorite Japanese meals. The word "chirashi" means "scattered," so this is basically a big bowl of rice mixed with fish, vegetables, and additional ingredients of your choice. I like this dish a lot, because it's a delicious one-bowl meal that is very filling and very versatile. There are almost no limits to what ingredients go in chirashi ...

Cooking Secrets. Weave Palm Leaf Baskets. Peanut Butter: Still Inspirational.

Metafilter Post: I love you, fresh egg

What cooking secrets take your food to the almost-pro level? [...] What practices or ingredients do you use to elevate your cooking?

Blog Post: Malaysia: How to Weave Ketupat Basket for Satay Rice

A lovely palm leaf basket for cooking and serving satay rice. To make your own, follow the pictures below. Click to enlarge the thumbnails. Expert video instructions can be found here.

Twirl 1-metre strips of palm leaves around the left and right hands to give 3 loops on each hand ...

Blog Post: Ingredient Spotlight: What Can You Do With Peanut Butter?

The Kitchn is inspired by Mark Bittman's New York Times post of a few days ago.

Peanut butter is essentially a building block. Warmed slightly, peanut butter gets gooey and we can mix in a lot of other ingredients to change its flavor profile. Add a little liquid like chicken stock or milk, and we can thin it out into a sauce that will add a peanuty note to an entire dish [...] We'd like to find even more ways to use peanut butter in our cooking. What do you suggest?

Orecchiette with Pancetta and Chickpeas. Hatch Chile Potato Casserole. Beetermilk Soup.

Blog Post & Recipe: Like Peas in a Pod: Orecchiette with Pancetta and Fresh Green Chickpeas

Once cooked into a pasta dish, I’m not sure these [fresh chickpeas] tasted that much different than my usual canned ones. They have a slightly better texture, and a slight sweetness, but I’m not sure that’s worth the trouble.

Blog Post & Recipe: Hatch chile potato casserole: funeral food

It was rich, thick and creamy, and while you were stuffed after one bite you couldn’t put down your fork. [...] I have a recipe for potato casserole that may not be exactly what we ate, but it’s very similar. It’s not everyday fare as it’s heavy and not all that healthy. But that’s exactly what makes it perfect funeral food

Blog Post & Recipe: Beetermilk Soup

And where, in fact, ARE the beets?

There aren't any. Their liquid is in the soup, and this soup did come alive with its addition. It's actually quite the traditional recipe for 'majjiga charu' (buttermilk soup?) which was often made to use up souring curds ...

Chard, Squash & Blue Cheese Tart. Baguettes. Peanut Butter's Potential.

Recipe: The new vegetarian: Swiss chard, Squash & Blue Cheese Tart

A lovely summer main course that needs no adornment other than a crisp green salad.

Blog Post & Recipes: ALMOST No-Knead Baguettes

I found this recipe even easier to execute than the NYT No-Knead Bread recipe and the dough was easier (firmer and not as wet) to work with.

The dry ingredients are added to the water and then stirred together, mixed, and then kneaded gently for a few minutes and then set aside to raise at room temperature for two hours. Then you stick the whole bowl of dough in the refrigerator overnight ...

Article & Video & Recipes: Exploring Peanut Butter’s Potential

There have been some small steps in discovering the possibilities of peanut butter. For example, home cooks have learned that it is an easy-to-find substitute for tahini (sesame seed paste) in some dishes, which can result in quick meals like cold noodles with peanut butter sauce and hummus and baba ghanouj made with peanut butter.

Grilled Pork Skewers with Peanut-Basil Sauce ... PBJ Sandwich Cookies ... Peanut Noodles with Shrimp

Tofu Dumplings. Baked Goat Cheese. Cleaning Egg Off.

Blog Post & Recipe: Tofu Dumplings

I just adore these wee things. They are so tasty and so much fun to make and they can very quickly be cooked in a variety of ways straight from the freezer.

Blog Post & Recipe: Warm Baked Goat Cheese

One of my favorite ways to serve goat cheese is the way we did it back when I worked at Chez Panisse; marinated in olive oil, coated with good-quality bread crumbs, then baked ...

Blog Post: Why Is Dried Egg So Hard to Clean Off?

When it comes to cleaning off egg residue, Swanson’s best advice is to soak the dish in hot, soapy water before you try to wash it because most detergents have fat solubilizing and wetting agents that can penetrate and break down the protein-lipid mix.

Tomatoes Provençal. Horchata. Two Fennel Recipes.

Blog Post & Recipe: Tomatoes Provençal

This dish turns tomatoes into dinner, and, if there were ever a time to do that, it's now, when tomatoes are cheap, tasty, and plentiful.

Blog Post & Recipe: Making Horchata: Which Rice Is Best?

We decided to try making a batch [of horchata] at home and wound up making three, each with a different type of rice ...

The verdicts: Long grain white rice [...] Basmati rice [...] Long grain brown rice [...]

Here's the recipe we used (substituting agave for sugar): Horchata De Almendra, from Rick Bayless

Article & Recipes: Wild Fennel: Greece's Mythic Ingredient

Because wild fennel is not easily found in the United States, for these recipes I have substituted regular fennel bulbs, including their tops, further intensifying their aroma with freshly ground fennel seeds, thus creating a very similar flavor. That means you can try the simple dish from the Cycladic island of Folegandros all year round.

Recipe: Stuffed Tomatoes With Fennel
Recipe: Stewed Fennel and Onions

Bacon. Modena Sauce. D.I.Y. Cookbook.

Blog Post: 100 Ways to Use a Strip of Bacon (via Serious Eats)

I steadfastly refuse to stop eating it in every form imaginable. So to celebrate the endless survival of bacon, I’ve compiled this handy chart of 100 Ways to Use a Strip of Bacon.

Blog Post & Recipe: Salsina modenese

Scroll down to read the English version.

This sauce is an old recipe posted by Silvietta on Cookaround forum years ago. I have always appreciated it and prepared every Summer when vegetables are fresh and so inviting! [...] It goes well either with grilled, boiled or stewed meat or fish, it's nice and tasty with cheese and ham, it's an excellent ingredient for toasted bread ...

Article: Creating Your Own Recipe Book

Customized cookbook publishers have existed for years, but most have a large minimum number of orders and are best bets for fund-raising events. Today, a crop of publishers let home chefs inexpensively design and create a single book online for their personal use.

We tried four such services. Two of them, TasteBook and Create My Cookbook, only publish cookbooks. By contrast, Blurb and Bookemon are able to produce any type of book.

Reading & Eating. Tomato Pie. Bialys.

Blog Post: MISS MANNER’S GUIDE TO READING AND EATING

Certain foods lend themselves to being consumed by fervent readers. Sandwiches are the most obvious, of course. They were deliberately designed for one-handed eating by the Earl of Sandwich ...

Blog Post & Recipe: Tomato Pie

Think pizza meets cheesy bread and they make-out in a pie crust. The recipe lends itself to estimates. Handfuls of this, handfuls of that. I measured, but you could eyeball it and it would still work out.

Blog Post & Recipe: Bialys? They’re Greek to me.

Something that might have been an onion roll, only it was too flat. And the fried onions were collected in a center depression, not scattered throughout.

I tentatively asked the counterman for “one of those onion things.”

Capsicum Risotto. Comic Sandwiches. Chicken Breast Dessert.

Blog Post & Recipe: Red Pepper Risotto

It’s a grain. It’s a rice. But it acts like pasta. Sort of. Cooking it is an experience. Cooking it is an art form…but an art form anyone can achieve.

Website: Insanewiches

That’s right, now you can break up your day by being the sandwich shrink and diagnosing how loony you think each sandwich is!

Article & Recipe: When Meat Becomes Dessert (via Serious Eats)

... tavuk göğsü [...] means "chicken breast," a name almost misleading in its simplicity. The dish does contain chicken, torn into feathery shreds, but these shreds are encased in a sweet milk pudding. In short, this "chicken breast" is a dessert.

Tavuk Göğsü

Pizza Toppings.

Recipe: Moroccan lamb pizza

Top a pre-bought pizza base with Moroccan-seasoned lamb ... [or make your own damn pizza base and put the lamb on that]

Blog Post & Recipe: Hearts of palm (Recipe: hearts of palm, shrimp and cheese pizza)

Heart of palm is the crunchy, creamy, ivory-colored inner core of the terminal leaf bud of any of up to twenty species of palm trees. It is an ancient food, eaten for centuries by indigenous populations of the tropics.

Recipes: Pizza Toppings by Fenton Keough

ROSEMARY & SEA SALT ... BLUE BRIE, ROSEMARY & OLIVES ... BASIL & MOZZARELLA ... HERBACEOUS ... BANANA & CHOC PEANUT

Recipes: pizza topping tips

Use quality ingredients, and use them sparingly. If using toppings with a high water content such as tomatoes, sprinkle a bit of salt on them and let them drain.

Florentina ... Hawaiian

Recipes: pizza recipes

fried pizza (pizza fritta) ... pizza dough ... pizza with egg, prosciutto, artichokes, olives, mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil ... pizza with green and red grapes, rosemary, pinenuts and ricotta ... pizza with mozzarella, anchovies, chilli, capers and parsley ... pizza with potatoes, mozzarella, rosemary, thyme and tomatoes ... pizza with smoked pancetta, mozzarella, fresh chilli and tomatoes ... pizza with spicy salami, courgette, basil, tomato and mozzarella ... red grape pizza with honey, rosemary and pecorino

Article & Recipes: A List of Popular Pizza Toppings

I have attempted to compile a list of pizza toppings [...] Pizza toppings are normally placed upon a pizza in a specific order, not because it is tidy but because the pizza sauce keeps the pizza dough moist, the cheese then provides a bed for the toppings to rest on and they do not dry out or fall off as the pizza slice is held ...

Sunny Side Up Pizza ... BBQ Chicken Pizza ... Muffuletta Pizza ... Frozen Peanut Butter Pizza ... Margherita Pizza ... Caramelized Onion Pizza ... Cheese Calzone ... Thai Pizza ... Grilled Pizza ... Pizza Pie ... Roasted Garlic and Peppers ... Broccoli Deep Dish Pizza ... Chicago Style Pizza ... Philly Cheesesteak Pizza ... Seafood Pizza ... Pesto Pizza ... Tex-Mex Pizza

Cast Iron Pie Pans. Beef Saute with Cream & Mushroom Sauce. Cacio e Pepe.

Blog Post: Cast Iron Pie Pans: Have You Ever Used One?

... six customers who say that the cast iron creates an even, nicely browned crust. [...] Customers also commented that the cast iron helps keep the pie warm for much longer than other pans. It's been used for fruit pies as well as pot pies, quiches and cornbread. All in all, this seems to be a well-liked, if somewhat obscure, product.

Blog Post & Recipe: French Cooks

This was one of my favorite company dishes in the 1970's. I can't believe we really ate this way - it's rich as hell ...

Saute de Boeuf a La Parisienne
(Beef Saute with Cream and Mushroom Sauce)
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Blog Post & Recipe: cacio e pepe

While you heat the water, you can grate the cheese and make basil chiffonade (a fancy term for slivers). Your fresh pasta takes mere minutes to cook and after a quick drain, you place it in bowls, add heaps of grated cheese, a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle with freshly cracker pepper. You mix the ingredients, and garnish with fresh basil slivers.

Cat-Head Biscuits.Green Capsicum. Nonstick Pans.

Blog Post & Recipe: Cat-Head Biscuits

Unless your from the mountains of east Tennessee then I highly doubt you have ever heard of cat-head biscuits. [...] They wanted a large biscuit and I guess the size reminded them of a cat head. This is just a regular buttermilk biscuit but instead of rolling and cutting them out you shape a large piece of dough by hand.

Article & Recipes: Image Problem? Don’t Pity the Bell

... the green bell pepper, the sturdy yet forlorn supermarket vegetable that foodies love to hate [...] But the vegetable has its defenders, who say that the green pepper family is tasty, diverse and versatile.

Recipe: Grilled Poblanos in Garlic Oil
Recipe: Blistered Green Peppers With Sherry Vinegar

Blog Post: Nonstick not so slick

Today, up to 80 percent of the cookware sold in America has a nonstick coating. But while it's indispensable to some people, it's evil incarnate to others, posing a toxic threat to our children and the environment ...

Slick tips for cooking in regular cookware ... Start with a good pan ... Hot pan, cold oil ... Resist flipping and poking the food ... Dry food won't stick ... etc

Sweet Corn and Parsnip Soup. Capsicum Soup. Homemade Gyoza Wrappers.

Recipe: Recipe: Organic Panificio Cafe's sweet corn and parsnip soup

Dear SOS: The Organic Panificio Cafe in Marina del Rey has a delicious sweet corn and parsnip soup ...

Dear Carol: This recipe marries sweet summer corn with delicately sweet parsnips, fresh garlic and herbs ...

Blog Post & Recipe: Pepper Soup

Yes, another Roasted Bell Pepper recipe, but a “Chilled” one this time [...] The swirly worly in the soup is not cream, I have used some thick yogurt & water blended together to form the “cream” & also for some slight tang in this chilled soup.

Pepper (Capsicum) Soup

Blog Post & Recipe: Time to Wrap Things Up: Homemade Gyoza Wrappers (via Kitchen Musings)

Just like homemade pasta, the texture of homemade gyoza wrappers is a lot different. Storebought wrappers are almost papery in comparison. Homemade are a bit doughier. With homemade you can make them as thick or as thin as you like depending on your personal preferences. Although it is easier to grab a pack of premade wrappers when making your own gyoza, I highly recommend taking the time to make your own sometime.

Rib-Eye, Potato and Portobello Kebabs. Carrot and Chantarelle Quiche. Cooking in a Hotel Room.

Blog Post & Recipe: Rib-Eye, New Potato and Portobello Kebabs

The recipe makes four skewers, with about 3 1/2 ounces of steak per skewer. That might seem a little chintzy, but since the rib-eye and mushroom pieces are marinated together, the recipe makes the most of the mushroom’s “meatiness.”

Blog Post & Recipe: Carrot and Chantarelle Quiche

A week or two ago I was staring at a pile of yellow chantarelle mushrooms and a bunch of young orange carrots in my fridge, trying to decide which one should become the centrepiece of our dinner table. Earthy wild mushrooms or succulent sweet carrots? [...] I [...] combined them both in a quiche ...

Blog Post & recipe: Cooking in Your Hotel Room - Foodie Flicks

British comedian George Egg recently posted a YouTube video in which he cooks dinner in his hotel room.

We're not talking about a quick salad and sandwich here. Without bringing any special tools from home, Egg [...] makes pasta and biscuits in his room -- from scratch. No hot plate. No microwave. If it wasn't captured in a video, we probably wouldn't believe it.

The entrée? A tortellini pasta with spinach, rocket and crème fraîche that he cooks in the room's tea kettle.

Ceviche. More Ceviche. Two Pies.

Blog Post & Recipe: Ceviche

I could actually see the lemon and lime juice turning the color of the fish from translucent pink to opaque white. The acid from the limes and lemons change the structure of the proteins in the fish, essentially "cooking" the fish without using heat.

Coincidentally there was a recent ceviche recipe at the Independent as well: Mackerel ceviche salad with samphire

[M]ackerel is one of my favourite fish to eat raw. It has to be really fresh, of course, and it has to have that delicious, slightly oily texture with a full-on flavour.

Article & Recipes: Sweet and savoury summer pies

Pies are special. They are time-consuming and demand attention and a certain deftness. They involve preparation, patience and a little bit of pig-headedness. They are the prized jewel at the end of a concerted effort.

Harissa chicken in soured cream crust ... Peach & apricot in cream cheese crust

Chicken Jus. Chipotle Chicken, Apricot & Brie Quesadillas. Elote Corn.

Blog Post & Recipe: The Importance of Jus: Two Chickens in One Meal

The jus is simply the liquid contained in the roasted meat. "The problem," [cookbook author James Peterson] admits, "that most often confronts professional chefs is that most roasts do not provide enough full-flavored jus to go around."

Blog Post & Recipe: Chipotle Chicken, Apricot and Brie Quesadillas

I remembered seeing a chicken, apricot and brie panini on good Life {eats} which sounded like a good combo. I immediately thought about doing a quesadilla version but I knew that I would need some heat so I added some chopped chipotles in adobo sauce. I followed that with some cilantro, and green onions and I was just about done.

Blog Post & Recipe: Mexican Corn on the Cob: A Light in August

Like almost all dishes, there are endless variations on elote, but most commonly it’s a cob of corn slathered in mayonnaise, cotija cheese (a semi-hard, crumbly cheese that resembles grated Parmesan), powdered chile peppers and lime juice. Sometimes, you can find it without mayonnaise and instead drenched in butter, margarine or crema. The corn can be prepared many ways, such as steamed, roasted or grilled.

Steak Salad with Chive-Yogurt Dressing. Pork Belly Roast. Thai Beef Salad.

Blog Post & Recipe: Dinner Tonight: Steak Salad with Chive-Yogurt Dressing

After trying a few different recipes I've found that dairy-based dressing work the best [in a steak-and-greens salad] to tie all the flavors together.

Blog Post & Recipe: Crackling Pork Belly Roast

The belly is brined with juniper berries, cloves, peppercorns, and bay leaves, presumably to thoroughly season instead of prevent the meat from drying out. Short of dipping the belly in a drum of napalm, you’d be hard-pressed to overcook something that is half lard.

Blog Post & Recipe: Fish Sauce (Recipe: Thai beef salad)

Asian fish sauce, called nuoc mam in Vietnam, and nam pla in Thailand, is the water, or juice, in the flesh of fish, extracted in the process of prolonged salting and fermentation. Most often, the fish used are anchovies, as they are plentiful in the waters off the coast of Thailand.

THAI BEEF SALAD

Stir Fried Glass Noodles. How to Salt. Vegetable Risotto.

Recipe: stir fried glass noodles ...or Pad Woon Sen in Thai...

Grew up in the combination of cultures, I've adopted many Chinese dishes into my own taste. I added some chilies to this one so that it tasted a bit spicy.

Article & Recipe: Vegetable risotto with bacon

Cook's tips:

* You can substitute leeks for the celery.
* For single serves, spoon the mixture into large ramekins before topping with cheese.
* Sliced mushrooms can be used in the topping before adding the cheese.
* I keep dried mushrooms on hand; they can be quickly reconstituted and are an excellent standby.

Blog Post & Recipe: Is It Better to Salt Intermittently While Cooking or Just Once?

So instead of giving us one rule, the experts we consulted advised us to consider what we’re cooking and what outcome we’re looking for.

For example, if you’re sweating vegetables, you should add salt intermittently to help leech out the moisture, says Lauren Martey, a research and development chef for Diamond Crystal Salt. But if you’re caramelizing onions or browning mushrooms you don’t want to draw out moisture, for a better caramelization of the sugars, so you should wait until the end to salt ...

Vine Leaf, Herb & Yoghurt Pie. Gorditas. Flatbread on the Stove.

Recipe: The new vegetarian: Vine leaf, herb and yogurt pie

I came across this unusual savoury cake from the Turkish part of Cyprus. I've added pine nuts, which work well. Serve with a fresh-tasting salad, such as last week's tabbouleh.

Here is the recipe for "last week's tabbouleh."



Blog Post & Recipe: Fast food fix: Gorditas without the drive-through

Several years ago, Taco Bell introduced Gorditas, soft sandwiches filled with your choice of meat, plus salsa, cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce.

The shell, an ultra-soft, almost doughy white flatbread, was a perfect container for the assertive (and messy) filling.

The following sandwich, inspired by the original Taco Bell Gordita, features a grilled chicken and sautéed veggie filling topped with a rich, homemade Caesar dressing.

Blog Post & Recipes: Oven-Free Baking: How To Bake Flatbread on the Stovetop

We like to use our cast iron skillet, but we're pretty sure any skillet would do. Just heat the pan up over medium-high heat and roll your flatbreads into 9-inch rounds while it's heating. Coat the bottom of the hot pan with a little butter or olive oil and add your flatbread [...]

Besides the fact that this method is quick and doesn't heat up our kitchen, we also like that we can make a big batch of dough and keep it stored in the fridge.

Related Flatbread Posts:
Recipe for Easy Homemade Pita
Making Naan Bread at Home
Indian Chapatis

Finnish Summer Soup. Tomato-Bread Soup. Explore Fennel.

Blog Post & Recipe: Kesäkeitto: An Easy Finnish Summer Soup To Try

Many years ago my aunt gave me the Sunset Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, which contained a recipe for Finnish Summer Soup. It was an easy-to-make concoction that contained potatoes, onions, carrots, and green beans swimming in a creamy broth.

Blog Post: Florence Fabricant's Thick Tomato-Bread Soup, Catalan-Style

Florence Fabricant, ever trustworthy, provided me with just the thing: a tomato-bread soup by way of Catalunya, chockful of most of my favorite things. Peasant bread and fresh tomatoes? Check. Smoked paprika and saffron? Check. Cubes of chorizo and minced parsley? Well, hello, lover.

Blog Post & Recipe: exploring the vegetable world – what to do with fennel

First, lets talk about the bits you can eat:

Bulb ... Fronds ... Seeds ... Pollen ...

With so many different edible bits, our friend fennel is pretty versatile in the kitchen. Here are a list of the types of ways you can use it.

Shaved Salads ... Braised Fennel ... Soups ... Fish ... Pasta & Risotto ...

two hour pork & fennel ragu

Five-Spice Pork Roll. Mango Lassi. Greek Nachos.

Blog Post & Recipe: Loh Bak Recipe (Five-Spice Pork Roll)

Loh bak is made with marinated pork in Chinese five-spice powder and then rolled up with bean curd skin (soy bean skin).

Blog Post & Recipe: Mango Lassi Recipe

Here is my easy mango lassi recipe that is totally painless to prepare. I use honey instead of sugar and that really does the trick for me!

Article & Recipe & Video: Behold, the Greek Nacho (via Not Without Salt, where the blogger supplies a recipe for whole wheat pita bread to use in place of nacho chips).

I’m [...] substituting like mad to create what you might call Greek-style nachos. In doing so, I hope to liberate the entire concept and take it in a few different directions.

My nachos go like this: pita triangles toasted with olive oil; a sauce of feta and yogurt, spiked with mint and lemon; a topping of ground lamb with onion and cumin; and a garnish of tomatoes, cucumbers and olives. The whole thing takes maybe a half-hour ...

Thyme-Rubbed Lamb. Three Pumpkin Recipes. Ensaimadas.

Blog Post & Recipe: Thyme-Rubbed Lamb Loin Chops

A couple years ago, we read an interview with a chef [...] discussing which one ingredient was the most important in the kitchen. Whoever it was responded without hesitation (and of course we're paraphrasing): "Thyme ..."

Article & Recipes: Smashing pumpkins

PUMPKIN lovers will know that when the flesh softens around the stalk, it needs to be used quick smart.

Pumpkin and vegetable lasagne ... Cherry tomato and celery salad ... Pumpkin cake with glace ginger ... Pumpkin soup with celery and tomato

Blog Post & Recipe: Ensaimadas

One of the most frequent questions I've answered concerning my book and blog is about the source of my inspiration. "Everywhere" as an answer is the slightly boring, *yawn*, yet it hits the nail on the head ...

[...] soft and flaky, slightly sweet pastry, made from long fermented yeast dough, lots of powdered sugar and greasy fingers from the used lard ... ENSAIMADAS!!!

Portabella and Brie Burgers. Pistou Sauce. Bread Baking Basics.

Recipe: Grilled Portabella and Brie Burgers

Layer mushroom caps on bottom of your buns, top with slices of zucchini, squash and roasted red peppers. Top with 3-4 basil leaves. Spread brie on top half of warm bun and serve.

Blog Post & Recipe: Another Option for Freezing Fresh Basil: French Pistou Sauce in Honor of Julia Child

What's the difference between pesto and pistou? A little quick research using Food Blog Search turned up many variations of pistou. Some recipes include tomatoes, parsley, or other herbs, and pistou may or may not have cheese. Most times though pistou doesn't contain nuts, and pistou usually has more garlic in proportion to basil than pesto. does.

Blog Post: Bread Baking Basics

Have been on a sourdough binge since the purple cabbage post [...] and loving Carri's ratio of 1 part starter : 1 part water : 2 parts flour with 1% salt by weight ...

Mixing/Kneading ... The First Rise ... Shaping ... The Second Rise ... Baking

Sweet Potato & Brussels Sprouts Risotto. A Risotto Tip. Three Meals from One Chicken.

Blof Post & Recipe: Surprising Sprouts in Risotto

I was making a feta and sweet potato risotto [...] When I came to trying it, I planned to serve it with sprouts on the side. But then I thought, why not add them into the mix. And so I did.

Sweet Potato, Brussels Sprouts and Feta Risotto

Article: Soul food: Creamy dreamy risotto

An Italian chef of reassuring girth appeared and proceeded to cook a risotto in front of us and revealed the all-time great risotto secret (which you all probably know already) — a risotto needs a good beating. He did it lightly, but consistently, all the way through the cooking process ...

Article & Recipes: Economy Gastronomy: three recipes from one chicken

If presented with a whole chicken, most of us would probably opt to roast it, and why not? It's a real treat. However, I think you can end up getting a bigger yield from boiling the bird and the flavour is every bit as good.

Boiled Chicken ... Chicken pie with sweetcorn, mushrooms and tarragon ...Hot and sour chicken broth ... Coronation chicken

Mushrooms and Polenta. Chicken liver and Onions. Paleta Ice Pops.

Blog Post & Recipes: Mushrooms, Thyme, Shallots, and Polenta

Mushrooms are hearty, flavorful, and go well with most grains. I put them on pizza, pasta, and in phyllo pie. Here they are with polenta ...

Blog Post & Recipe: Chicken Liver and Onions

The liver and onions can be eaten alone, or served over rice or pasta. I liked the idea of them over raviolis, and I think the flavors of the goat cheese and liver worked well together (if you like strong flavors of course).

Article & Recipes: A chef perfects the paleta of childhood (via the Kitchn)

What makes a Mexican ice pop - called a paleta - different from an American one is the flavor. Paletas can be either savory or sweet, and they can include such ingredients as tamarind with chile, cucumber with lime, salted plum, rose petal, hibiscus tea and even tequila. They are either water- or milk-based and, aside from a bit of sugar and sometimes gelatin, have little else added ...

Paleta de Durazno con Miel (Peach & Honey Ice Pop) ... Paleta de Pepino con Limon y Chile (Cucumber Ice Pop With Lime & Chile) ... Raspado de Frambuesa (Raspberry Snow Cone) ... Raspado de Tamarindo (Tamarind Snow Cone)

Black Pepper Ice Cream. Sesame Seeds, Sesame Seed Oil. Fougasse.

Blog Post & Recipe: black pepper ice cream

I remember the first time I had vanilla ice cream infused with peppercorns ...

M. -- yes, we'd need an ice cream maker. I just thought the idea looked interesting.


Blog Post: Sesame seeds and sesame seed oil

When buying sesame seeds, choose small packets and store in an airtight container. If not refrigerated, use the seeds within three months. Refrigerated, they last for six months and twice as long if kept in the freezer.

Blog Post & Recipe: Fan-fougasse-tastic

Fougasse is one of those breads that balances simplicity and sophistication. I especially like it because it’s so pretty in a bread basket, but the form isn’t for nothing. Its pretzelly spread out form means that it bakes in 15 minutes flat.

Three Pumpkin Recipes. Beetroot and Goat Cheese Tart. 10 Cheap & Green Kitchen Tips.

Article & Recipes: Economy Gastronomy: turn a pumpkin into a feast

For these recipes, I have assumed that you have bought a pumpkin weighing at least 3kg.

Pumpkin cannelloni with sage and ricotta ... Pumpkin risotto with roasted walnuts, red chicory and gorgonzola ... Spicy pumpkin chowder

Blog Post & Recipe: Beetroot and Goats Cheese Tart

Beetroot and Goats cheese love eachother and I was tempted to use thyme as the classic triad in the combination . However I decided to break with tradition and use a little sage and fennel , the combination worked well the sage is earthy and works well with the beetroot and I love the hit of crunchy fennel seeds ...

Blog Post: Serious Green: 10 Cheap & Green Kitchen Tips

1. Fill Your Oven ... 2. Get a Small Tub for Your Sink ... 3. Clean with White Vinegar and Baking Soda ... 4. Eat Less Meat ... 5. Keep Your Fridge and Freezer Full, Clean, and Sealed Tightly ... 6. Get a Power Strip ... 7. Ditch Paper Towels ... 8. Bring a Bag with You When You Shop ... 9. Embrace Yard Sales and Thrift Stores ... 10. Don't Waste Food

The Taiwan Burger

Blog Post: Vegetarian Food Gone Wrong

We found it at a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant last summer in Beijing, near the Lama Temple. On the menu it was called a "Taiwan burger".

Dashi & Miso Soup. Pie Lollypops. The Pie-a-Day Project.

Blog Post & Recipe: In Search of Dashi and Perfect Miso Soup

To make a proper miso soup I needed to make dashi. To make dashi I needed water, konbu, and bonito flakes.

Blog Post & Recipe of Consisting of Enormous Pictures: Float (via Serious Eats, whose Carey Jones explains the matter more succintly than the person who wrote the original blog: "pie lollipops.")

I want to be promiscuous with my food.

Blog Post: Evan Kleiman's Pie-a-Day: A Terrific Project

It was Evan's idea to make a pie-a-day all through the summer -- that's 90 pies! It was also her idea to be serendipitous about her piemaking -- she never knows the night before what kind of pie she'll make the next day.

Purple Udon. Cow Head Barbacoa. Four Marinades.

Blog Post & Recipe: Red Cabbage Udon Noodle Soup - Purple Udon!

This is a simple udon noodle soup for Presto Pasta Nights created by Ruth, and this week hosted by Pam of Sidewalk Shoes.

Blog Post & Recipe: How to make cow head barbacoa

“What do you want with a cow head?” asked the farmer selling beef at the Union Square Greenmarket. “We don’t sell cow heads here in New York—they’re illegal.”

Article & Recipes: Summer marinades

There are two reasons to marinate (well, three if you count sloth): to tenderise texture and enhance flavour. Marinades are a combination of acidic ingredients (ie lemon juice or wine), flavourings (herbs, spices and garlic) and a glug or two of oil.

Basil, garlic & chilli marinade ... Ginger & soy marinade ... Yogurt & mint marinade ... Hugh's herby marinade

Sour Cherry Slab Pie. Sambal Belacan. Pad Thai.

Blog Post & Recipe: sour cherry slab pie

... not two minutes after I discovered the existence of slab pie, I was fixing to make it. Why? Because it looks like a giant Pop Tart, and surely you don’t think a woman in her third trimester needs a single other reason to bake something.

Blog Post & Recipe: Sambal Belacan

I thought I would show you how to make sambal belacan from scratch–a must-have Malaysian condiment and the basic building block for many delicious Malaysian recipes.

Sambal belacan consists of chilies, belacan (Malaysian shrimp paste), kalamansi lime (limau kasturi), and salt and sugar (to taste or optional). In the US, kalamansi lime is scarce so lime can be used as a substitute.

Blog Post & Recipe: The Bookmark Project: Pad Thai at Last

Once in a while, I come upon a food blog post that I immediately recognize as a precious gift from the blogger to us readers. Pim's Pad Thai for beginners was one such post. [...] I highly recommend reading her post carefully to learn some important tips and techniques in the making of this dish in an authentic way. The following recipe simply tells you the way I made Pad Thai on Sunday night.

Pim's Pad Thai post can be found here.