Caramelized Onion & Spinach Olive Oil Quick Bread / Braised Fennel Pizza / Fourteen Autumn Roasts

Blog Post & Recipe: Caramelized Onion & Spinach Olive Oil Quick Bread

After caramelizing onions to a sweet, golden brown and wilting the spinach with minced garlic, the vegetables are mixed into a savory quick bread batter. The only fat in this easy bread is extra-virgin olive oil, which lends a slightly fruity taste

Blog Post & Recipe: Top This: Braised Fennel Pizza (à la Paulie Gee's 'Anise and Anephew' Pie)

"I got just the pie," replied the man behind Brooklyn's Paulie Gee's. "It cannot be topped. My 'Anise and Anephew' has fior di latte, braised fennel, guanciale, and a post-oven drizzle of anisette cream with a garnish of fresh fennel fronds."

Slideshow & Recipes: Delicious autumn roasts

Herbed rack of lamb with potato smash ... Beef pot roast ... Portuguese-style chicken ... Mexican slow-roasted lamb shanks ... Char siu pork ribs ... Greek roast lamb with skordalia and potatoes ... Slow-roasted duck marylands ... Roast beef with Yorkshire puddings ... Lamb with quince and honey ... Lemon and thyme baked chicken ... Roast lamb ... Chicken pot roast with mustard cream sauce ... Pork leg roast with sage potatoes ... Beef rib roast with spiced salt

No-Rice Risotto with Chard / Filipino Fried Noodles / Five Halloumi Recipes

Blog Post & Recipe: No-Rice Risotto with Chard

We used canned cannellini beans! It turned out to be the quickest risotto we had ever made. And it tasted really good too. You could do a lot more with this recipe: not using canned beans, adding white wine and maybe some more greens ...

Recipe: Recipe of the Day: Filipino Fried Noodles (Pancit)

In the Filipino vernacular, pancit simply refers to noodles. This version (pancit bam-i) uses both rice vermicelli (bihon) and Chinese wheat noodles (pancit canton), but you can make the dish with either type of noodle, or flat egg noodles (pancit miki) and cellophane noodles (sotanghon).

Blog Post & Recipes: Vegetarian Cookout? Try Halloumi!

Here are some recipes we're eager to try this season:

1 Halloumi Wrapped in Red Pepper with Lemon & Chilli ... 2 Grilled Haloumi Cheese and Lemon ... 3 Basil Halloumi and Roasted Veg BBQ Skewers ... 4 Halloumi Skewers with Parsley & Lemon Salsa ... 5 Grilled Cheese and Tomato Stacks

Chicken wrapped in Bacon with Silverbeet, Orange & Pinenuts / Rice Porridge with Chicken and Lemon Grass / Black Bean and Summer Squash Enchiladas

Blog Post & Recipe: Chicken wrapped in Bacon with Silverbeet, Orange & Pinenuts

The salty flavours of the bacon and the bitterness of the greens are balance beautifully I feel with the sweet citric orange. It’s a great winter dish that can be served a crusty bread, polenta or mashed potatoes.

Blog Post & Recipe: Corinne Trang's Rice Porridge with Chicken and Lemon Grass (Chao xa ga)

Because I'd had a big pot of chicken stock hanging out in my fridge for a few days, I decided to make the Vietnamese version of congee, chao xa ga, which has a slightly more flavorful base (chicken broth boiled together with lemongrass and chili) than regular congee.

Blog Post & Recipe: Black Bean and Summer Squash Enchiladas

... we were out of corn, which I usually use in black bean enchiladas. Finally, I decided to create an enchilada recipe that would use the expiring produce du jour–the last of a big bag of patty pan squash–as a replacement for corn, and it was a big hit with the whole family.

Barbecue Marinade / Vegetable Stock / Caramelized Plantains

Blog Post & Recipe: What's the best barbecue marinade?

Most marinades work by using an acid base (vinegar, wine or lemon juice, for example) to weaken muscle tissue, making the meat feel softer and juicier in the mouth.

Felicity's perfect marinade

Blog Post & Recipes: 7 tips for full-flavoured vegetable stock

i. chop fine ... ii. lightly brown your aromatics ... iii. be generous with the mushrooms ... iv. go for tomato ... v. start with cold water ... vi. let it simmer ... vii. taste as you go

basic vegetable stock ... simple soba noodle soup

Blog Post &c Recipe: Caramelized Plantains

Less sweet and more starchy than a banana, the plantains cooked up golden and crusty on the outside but tender and almost creamy on the inside ... When you buy a plantain at the store, don't buy one that is nearly black for the flesh will be too soft and won't cook up properly. You want one mainly yellow, with some black.

Cochinita Pibil / Ginger Beer / Curried Cauliflower Couscous

Blog Post & Recipe: A Twist on Pulled Pork! Cochinita Pibil from Simply Recipes

When this recipe for cochinita pibil come up on Simply Recipes, we were immediately captivated by its description of pork shoulder braised in orange juice and Mexican spices.

Blog Post & Recipes: Ginger Beer

I was interested in a non-alcoholic version that I could use as a mixer with soda or something a little stronger and decided to give making my own ginger beer a go. You’ll need a lot of ginger. Two and a half pounds of it, to be precise.

Blog Post & Recipe: Curried Cauliflower Couscous

That something is cauliflower couscous, so named because the finished product roughly resembles couscous ... When I think of regular couscous, I immediately think of that golden colour and in this cauliflower version, the combination of curry powder and butter tint the cauliflower.

Simplified Eggs Florentine / Lamb's Tongue Cassoulet / Salt

Recipe: Eggs Florentinesque Recipe

Swapping the hollandaise sauce for a sour cream mixture and cooking the eggs in spinach makes for an easier, updated take on the classic.

Blog Post & Recipe: The Nasty Bits: Lamb's Tongue

Once removed, the sky is the limit for tongue preparation. Lamb's tongue, like beef, can be stewed slowly for soup or for filling in tacos lengua. Confited, the tongue can be pan-fried lightly and served with potatoes and lentils, or ...

Lamb's Tongue Cassoulet

Article: The great salt shake-up

Other chefs are proving ever more inventive in getting around adding salt directly. Aaron Turner from Loam is among the new breed of highly contemporary chefs seasoning his food with wild, naturally salty ingredients such as samphire, sea succulents and salt bush.

WHAT SALT SHOULD I USE? ... HOW MUCH

Roast Lamb / Risotto / A Collection of South African Recipes

Recipe: Best British recipes: perfect roast lamb

These timings will give you a crowd-pleasing range of meat from well done but juicy at the narrow end, to slices that are still a little pink in the middle at the fat end.

Blog Post: How to Make Risotto.

Some links to risotto recipes at the bottom of the post.

Click through the slideshow for basic steps of this technique »

You can apply the basic risotto-making technique to barley or even certain types of pasta, like orzo or Israeli couscous.

Blog Post & Recipes: Monthly Mingle South African Roundup

Half of them are making bloody bobotie. Bonus imagination points to the one who thought of inventing homemade zoo cookies.

... a wide array of flavorful and aromatic dishes to celebrate South Africa.

Pork Chops and "pap" ... Corn and Country Ham Quiche ... Mash and Boerewors ... Smoked snoek cake with dried apricots on a sweet potato fritter ... Samp and Beans with Braised Mutton ... Bobotie ... Krummelpap/Putu Pap (Crumbly Porridge) ... L'Africana Pizza ... South African Bobotie ... South African Spiced Butternut Squash and Roasted Banana Soup with Coconut and Lime ... Milk Tart ... Maharagwe Ya Nasi - Beans in Coconut Sauce ... Koeksisters ... South African Yellow Rice with Baked Chicken Breast ... Honey Glazed Soetpatats - South African Sweet Potatoes ... Bunny Chow ... Koeksisters ... Bunny Chow with Chickpeas ... Cape Malay Tomato Bredie ... Koesisters - Cape Malay "Doughnuts" ... Bobotie ... Melktert ... South African crunchies/ Hawermoutkoekies/Oat meal bars ... South Africa BBQ Ribs ... Zoo Cookies ... Bobotie du Cap ... Pear Chutney ... Tomato Bredie ... Herbed Vetkoek ... South African Sweet Fritters ... Malvapoeding ... Koeksisters ... Biltong Potjie ... South African waterblommetjie bredie ... Roosterkoek - a South African braai essential ... South African Bobotie - with a twist

Green Tea Latte / Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce / Chop

Recipe: green tea latte ...

Bring milk and green tea powder to a boil, whisk constantly.

Recipe: Nigel Slater's classic asparagus with hollandaise sauce recipe

Hollandaise sauce is a notorious curdler. One minute you have a silky sauce, the next scrambled eggs.

Blog Post & Recipe: My Chop Challenge

What is chop? Basically chopped kale (or whatever dark green you have), cooked a long, long time with a bit of meat, hot peppers and palm oil. The result is unbelievably rich and tender and savory and tasty ... DO NOT attempt this recipe without palm oil on hand.

Coconut Curry with Yam, Shiittake, and Tofu / Asian Dipping Sauce / Stock the Pantry

Blog Post & Recipe: Coconut Curry with Yam, Shiittake, and Tofu

Tofu doesn't have to be scary, or inedible.

Blog Post & Recipe: Neil Perry’s Awesome Asian Dipping Sauce

It’s marinated then grilled (or roasted) beef, sliced thin and served with an amazingly delicious, piquant, Asian dipping sauce.

Blog Post & Recipe: Dinner on a Deadline: Week 2 – Stock the pantry

One of the most powerful weapons in the weeknight-dinner arsenal is a well-stocked pantry ... There’s no one right way to fill your shelves; the important thing is that you figure out the kinds of meals you eat (or want to eat) and stock for them.

Thai Curry Beef Noodles

Thyme Roasted New Potatoes / Penne with Cream & Fennel Sauce / Biscuits and Gravy

Blog Post & Recipe: Extra virgin olive oil (Recipe: thyme roasted new potatoes)

More a method than a recipe, this is my favorite way to cook potatoes. The secret is not to move them, shake them, or turn them more than once during the cooking.

Blog Post & Recipe: Penne with a cream and fennel sauce

Poach sliced fennel in milk till it is falling apart, rough it up a little further with a fork, add cream and lots and lots of black pepper and serve mixed into pasta with a sprinkling of Parmesan and finely chopped fronds.

Blog Post & Recipe: Better Homemade Biscuits and Gravy

The milk and flour may give it texture, and heaven knows that black pepper helps wake the whole thing up, but it essentially comes down to the breakfast sausage and the biscuits. If either of those are off, you might as well walk away.

Breakfast Sausage with Fresh Ginger and Sage ... Buttermilk Biscuits ... Biscuits and Gravy

How to Cut Carrots / Perfect Chips / Homemade Pizza

Blog Post: Knife Skills: How to Cut Carrots

Scroll to the bottom of the post for links to 'More Knife Skills'.

Rough chunks ... Dice ... Faux tourné ... Julienne ... Brunoise

Blog Post & Recipe: How to fry perfect chips

"Unfortunately," chef Paul Bloxham explains bitterly, "the wrong potato will result in a guaranteed failure."

Article & Recipes: The Slow Route to Homemade Pizza

Links to recipes are to the left of the article.

I learned an easier way to edge closer to the kind of airy, creamy, chewy, thin crust you find at pizzerias ... I let the dough rise overnight.

Radicchio Pizza With Gremolata ... Pizza Dough With Yeast ... Sourdough Starter ... Pizza Dough With Sourdough Starter

Mushroom Crêpe Cake / Cooking with Bitters / Cooking Dried Udon Noodles

Blog Post & Recipe: mushroom crêpe cake

The first one one was never meant to be, it sticks or tears, it’s too thick or thin, your fingers burn and you drop it, you flip it too soon; it’s best to move on quickly. The second one may be usable, but it’s never a pretty little thing.

Blog Post: Bitters in Your Sweets

A pamphlet I came across inside a corporate mixing guide first published in 1947 is full of stupidly perfect suggestions: add Angostura to hamburger patties, packaged pudding, or canned cream of mushroom soup. And why not?

Blog Post: Cooking Tip: How to Cook Dried Udon Noodles

Mark Bittman describes a way of cooking dried udon that we'd never heard of before. He says to add the dried udon noodles to salted boiling water as we've been doing. But when the water comes back to a boil, you add a cup of cold water to the pot.

How to Keep Basil Fresh / How to Roast a Whole Pumpkin / and Capsicum Too

Blog Post: How to Keep Basil Fresh for at Least Eleven Days

The trick is to treat the basil like you would a bunch of flowers.

Blog Post: How to roast a whole pumpkin [via Limes & Lycopene]

When it's done, all you do is slice it up and remove the seeds which, btw, are super easy to get out once the pumpkin is cooked.

Blog Post: Roasting transforms bell peppers into a new and versatile vegetable

Once roasted, the thin skin on peppers gets rather tough. To get rid of it easily, place the peppers in a heat-safe bowl and cover with plastic wrap. The residual heat will create steam in the bowl, which will help loosen the skin.

Bitters / Roti John / Two Ginger Recipes

Article & Recipe: Bringing Bitters Back

It’s hard to believe that a simple recipe for herbs and alcohol would leave much room for ambiguity, but developing these formulas proved that many factors contribute to top-notch bitters.

Blog Post & Recipe: Roti John

... a spiced meaty omelette cooked into a baguette. Some recipes have you cook the omelette separately and then sandwich it into the cut and toasted long bun but I prefer mine cooked in, just to stick to the more traditional preparation.

Article & Recipes: Ginger - delicious, versatile, good for health

And do try bites of pickled ginger with meat dishes - a small nibble between bites cleanses the palate in the same way it does with sushi.

Three-Ginger Salad ... Breakaway Pickled Ginger

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble / Horchata / Bosnian Pot

Blog Post & Recipe: Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Recipe

In this version I combined rhubarb, strawberry, and a splash of port wine with a buttery black pepper, pine nut and oat crumble.

Blog Post & Recipe: Horchata, a Refreshing Rice and Almost Beverage

It’s what’s known as an aqua fresca, which is a Mexican beverage that is a blend of sweetened water with fruits, seeds, nuts or grains.

Recipe: Bosnian Pot

It is impossible to define Bosnian pot. Basically, it is pot filled with layered meat and vegetables, mostly very hot, but apart from that, due to the flexibility of it's preparations, whatever vegetables are available they'll go inside.

Vanilla Bean German Pancakes with Walnut Baked Apples / Roast Chicken Provençal / Perut Ikan

Recipe: Vanilla Bean German Pancakes with Walnut Baked Apples

Maybe the effort put forth in this recipe is all for nothing -typical results could come from 1 tsp. of vanilla extract? I don't know.

Blog Post & Recipe: roast chicken provençal

Our first try is perhaps not quite Perfect, but certainly tasted excellent, on top of being simple to make, and filling the cool Sunday evening air with the resinous perfume of roasting rosemary, thyme, marjoram, fennel, and lavender. Chicken, lemon, garlic and herbs. How easy is that?

Blog Post & Recipe: Perut Ikan (Nyonya Stewed Fish Stomach with Vegetables)

All my family members love a great serving of perut ikan, or Nyonya stewed fish stomach (previously salted and preserved) with various vegetables and exotic herbs, including daun kadok (betel leaf) and bunga kantan (ginger flower). It’s a very tedious dish to make but the taste structure is so deep and complex.

Curry Chicken Rundown / Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli with Pine Nuts / Other Uses for Sourdough

Recipe: Curry chicken rundown

Rundown is a classic Caribbean stew, where the base (coconut milk) is simmered down. ... I decided to try this with roasted chicken instead of crab meat.

Blog Post & Recipe: Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli with Pine Nuts. Finally, broccoli worth craving!

This broccoli is roasted with garlic and olive oil until it’s crisp-tender and starting to brown, and then it’s tossed with lemon zest, lemon juice, Parmesan, basil and toasted pine nuts.

Blog Post & Recipes: Beyond Bread: The Many Uses of Sourdough [via The Paupered Chef]

A wonderful all-purpose leavening agent for quick breads and muffins, sourdough starter also adds moisture to batters and shines—more traditionally—in pancakes and waffles, less traditionally (at least in the West) in flatbreads and cakes, and, as I recently found out, even holds up remarkably well in microwave chocolate cake.

Recipe: Whole-Grain Cinnamon Raisin Muffins
Recipe: Buttery Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Recipes Using Seeds / Eight Tofu Recipes / 10 Tips for Storing Vegetables & Eggplant Parmigiana

Article & Recipes: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's seed recipes

There are few dishes that can't be improved by the addition of a small handful of seeds.

Poppyseed lemon cake ... Fennel meatballs ... Sesame dressing

Blog Post & Recipes: Weekend Wokking: Tofu - Delicious Round up

Lets see what delish dishes our awesome bloggers has made with this nutritious tofu.

Tandoori Tofu Kebabs ... Tofu with satay sauce ... Mr.Zhengs Soupy Tomatoes and Eggs with Tofu ... Steamed Fish and Tofu with Chinese Blackbeans ... Tofu and Squash Dumplings ... Semur tahu ... Vietnamese Dau Hu Chien Sot Ca Chua or Vietnamese Fried Tofu with Tomato Sauce ... Indian Style bites

Blog Post & Recipe: 10 tips for optimum vegetable storage

1. select the freshest produce ... 2. minimise physical damage ... 3. dirt is good ... 4. avoid cutting or trimming ... 5. select the best storage temperature ... 6. protect from exposure to light ... 7. minimise dehydration ... 8. avoid condensation & sweating ... 9. beware the banana ... 10. DON”T refrigerate your tomatoes

eggplant (aubergine) parmigiana

Care for Your Knives / Roasted Radishes / Greek Mushroom Pie with Leeks

Blog Post: How to Take Care of Your Knives

Yes, it's nice to have an impressive arsenal of knives at your disposal, but for most home cooks, there are three that are truly important: a chef's knife, a paring knife, and a serrated bread knife.

Article & Recipe: Roasted Radishes: So Who Knew?

Look under 'Related' for the link to the recipe.

I gave it a try, roasting a bunch of halved radishes in a hot oven with plenty of butter and lemon juice. One mouthful, and I immediately got the appeal. Instead of spicy, crisp and crunchy, these radishes were sweet, succulent and mellow, vaguely like turnips but with a softer bite.

Blog Post & Recipe: Manitaropita me Prassa (Homemade Greek Mushroom Pie with Leeks)

I sauteed the leeks first, together with garlic and spring onions and cooked them with balsamic vinegar until they were soft. I used two kinds of mushrooms: white portobello and white agaricus (button mushrooms). I added fresh rosemary which matches well with mushrooms and as the mushrooms released a lot of fluids, I added some flour to absorb the juices.

Six Skills for Cooks / Fish with Sage Crumbs / Risotto

Article: The six skills every cook really needs

Gravy ... Soufflé ... Basmati rice ... Meringues ... Pastry ... White sauce

Blog Post & Recipe: Fish with Sage Crumbs

When I know we won't finish a loaf of bread before it goes stale or if all that's left is the last two inches of a baguette, I rip it into crumbs and stash it in a freezer bag.

Blog Post & Recipe: How to make the perfect risotto

There are five key steps to a perfect risotto, we hear, as the chopped onions are softening. Firstly the right rice: ... Then the tostatura ... Next there's the stock ...

Felicity's perfect risotto recipe

Tomato Omelette / Chicken in Riesling / Chicken with Tarragon & Quick-Roasted Garlic

Blog Post & Recipe: An Omelet Without Eggs?

In all these years of posting recipes, I've somehow forgotten about one of my favorites- tomato omelet.

Blog Post & Recipe: chicken in riesling [see also: Braised Chicken with Leeks and Cream]

There’s something about braising that calms me ... something soothing about having a pot in the oven slowly applying heat to whatever it is being cooked, patiently transforming it into a dish.

Blog Post & Recipe: Chicken with Tarragon and Quick-Roasted Garlic

This recipe really feels like a shortcut, and we mean that in the best way. It's like a cheat for a flavorful, oven-roasted chicken, but it can be ready in a quarter of the time it would take you to actually roast a bird. Another "cheat" here -- one we love, and one we'll definitely be using again many times in the future -- is "quick roasting" the garlic in a pan on the stovetop.

Tweaking Recipes / Moorish Pork Chops / Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Apricot Sauce

Blog Post: The Recipe Tweaker [via Chez Pim]

It's only when you make big, bold changes--swapping limes for lemons, grinding and toasting your spices, ignoring the Mighty Keller--that you can call yourself a real cook. AKA: a recipe tweaker.

Recipe: Jamie's Moorish pork chops

When the Moors invaded Spain they brought grapes and dried fruits with them. Their love of mixing dried fruits with meats definitely left its mark on Spanish cooking and this is my nod to that time in Spain's history.

Blog Post & Recipe: Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Apricot Sauce

Yesterday I examined the contents of my kitchen and wound up with a small pile of things I needed to use: a couple of raw chicken breasts, a loaf of sourdough bread, and a bunch of baby spinach ... Realizing I had a full jar of apricot preserves in the pantry, I ... whipped up this sandwich

Peas and Onions / Leek Bread Pudding / Miso Vegetables & Tofu

Blog Post & Recipe: Simple Peas and Onions

And if I have a spare minute I'll snip a leaf or two of mint from the yard, slice it thin and add to the peas.

Blog Post & Recipe: leek bread pudding

For this savory take on bread pudding, the leeks are sliced in pretty, pretty coins then cooked slowly in butter until soft and caramelized enough to bring tears to your eyes ... From there, you build a fairly standard savory bread pudding: toasted bread cubes, shredded cheese, herbs and a mix of milk or cream and eggs.

Blog Post & Recipe: Miso Vegetables & Tofu Recipe

Eight ingredients and a few simple steps come together into something special ... Harumi makes a seductively colorful side dish by dressing lightly blanched green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower in a salty-sweet miso dressing. I wanted to make a one-dish meal based on this general idea.