Salmon Dill Crepes / Steaming Large Clams with Dashi & Sake / Chickpea Casserole with Lemon, Herbs & Shallots

Blog Post & Recipe: Salmon Dill Crepe Recipe Paired with Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand

You can make the crepes ahead of time and store them layered between wax paper in the refrigerator for up to 2 days (or freeze). As well, you can make the salmon mixture ahead of time and just heat before assembling the crepes.

Blog Post & Recipe: Steaming Large Clams with Dashi & Sake

Then Nobuko, my M-I-L, prepared 2 cups of kombu dashi, adding a pinch of salt to the liquid, and setting aside. She arranged the clams in a dry cast iron skillet, covered the skillet and placed it over high heat. After about 7 or so minutes, the clams opened up.

Blog Post & Recipe: Chickpea Casserole with Lemon, Herbs & Shallots

This is a meatless vegetarian dish, bright with lemon zest and herbs. It gets finished off with a crunchy, olive oil-drizzled crust of Parmesan and breadcrumbs. It's creamy inside, crisp on top. But it leaves out old-fashioned canned soups and all those heaps of cheese and cream. Instead I use some low-fat yogurt (so tasty and tangy!) and some cottage cheese to bind the casserole together.

Oils for Frying / Heat for Meat / Skillet Carrots with Onions & Thyme

Article: Is It Time for an Oil Change in the Kitchen?

What's the best oil for everyday frying?

Article: The Kitchen Thinker: The science of meat stew

'Two hours at 200°C' just does not work for most cuts. Similarly, being told to 'simmer' a casserole on the hob is unhelpful because you will end up boiling the meat. The truth is that most stews need to be cooked for far longer and at much lower temperatures than many books tell us.

Blog Post & Recipe: She got out a skillet

Skillet Carrots with Onions and Thyme

You warm a nice amount of oil in a large skillet, and then you soften sliced onions in it. Then you add sliced garlic, and a few minutes later, you add a lot of sliced carrots and some sprigs of fresh thyme and maybe a little more oil, and then you cover the pan with a lid ...

Grape Focaccia with Rosemary / Peking Duck with Mandarin Pancakes & Plum Sauce / 3 Cold-Weather Meals

Blog Post & Recipe: grape focaccia with rosemary

(This is a tweaked version of a recipe I posted for the first time here.)

I couldn’t get enough of the sweet/salty/olive oil/grape/rosemary thing with the crisp edges

Recipe: Peking Duck with Mandarin Pancakes and Plum Sauce

Maltose syrup can be found in most Chinese supermarkets. If you can't find it, honey can be used in its place.

Article & Recipes: Cold weather comfort

I find that most wet meat dishes require the meat to be browned before adding the wet ingredients. I have sidestepped that process in today's dishes without compromising flavour.

Potato and chicken pie ... Beef casserole ... One pot beef and paprika casserole

Enoki Somen / 10 Easy Indian Recipes / Three Swede Recipes

Blog Post & Recipe: Enoki somen (aka Enoki mushrooms with somen noodles)

[Somen noodles] are typically eaten chilled during the summer months, but this dish, Enoki somen ... adapted from The Japanese Kitchen by Kimiko Barber, pairs both in a warm dashi broth. I wasn’t sure what leftovers would look or taste like, so I modified to recipe to serve 1 and it was very filling.

Recipes: Gordon Ramsay's 10 easy Indian recipes

Look to the sidebar on the left for links to nine of them

Tadka Dal

* Gordon Ramsay’s Indian butter chicken
* Gordon Ramsay’s chilli beef fry
* Gordon Ramsay’s spiced tomato and coconut soup
* Gordon Ramsay’s chapattis
* Gordon Ramsay’s aubergine bhajis
* Gordon Ramsay’s pilau rice with meatballs
* Gordon Ramsay’s tribal chicken casserole with tamarind
* Gordon Ramsay’s Punjabi masala chops
* Gordon Ramsay’s sweet potatoes with panch phoran

Blog Post & Recipes: In Season: Rutabaga

... rutabagas are often referred to as table turnips or swedes. These brassicas are members of the mustard family, and are one of the most commonly grown and widely adapted root crops. The rutabaga is very similar to the turnip except that it generally has yellowish flesh, a denser root and smooth, waxy leaves similar to cabbage.

* Potato and Rutabaga Gratin [One Pot]* Roasted Root Vegetable Sticks [Big Girls Small Kitchen]
* Rutabaga-Carrot Soup [Method]
* Rutabaga with Caramelized Onions and Apples [Eat Real]

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 ...

Choko. Vegetable Casserole. Cornbread with Olives and Peppers

Blog Post & Recipe: Cornbread with Black Olives and Jalapeno Peppers

This is an easy bread to whip up once you've completed the somewhat laborious task of pitting the olives. An olive / cherry pitter speeds up the process.

Blog Post & Recipe: Italian Layered Vegetable Casserole

Everyone agreed that the white bean filling was not an adequate substitute for the original tofu filling ... In the end, I decided to post the recipe with links to the tofu filling so that you can have the choice of which way to make it.

Article: Choko is no joke

Choko is the name for this member of the cucurbit family of edible gourds, but it is known as such only in Australia and New Zealand.

It mostly goes by the name chayote, from an Aztec word chayotl, but is also known as christophine, vegetable pear, mirliton, mango squash, Buddha's hand gourd, and, perhaps most fittingly for this knobby prickly vegetable, alligator pears.

Spring Lamb. Freeze Onions. Asparagus Cassarole.

Blog Post: Quick Tip: Freeze Caramelized Onions

Did you know you can actually freeze caramelized onions? Indeed, you can!

Recipe: Asparagus makes comforting casserole

ASPARAGUS AND WILD RICE CASSEROLE

Article & Recipes: How to cook spring lamb

A lamb can be aged from four months to a year old. Any older and the animal is sold as hogget or mutton ...

* Saddle of lamb stuffed with wild garlic and herbs

* Slow-cooked breast of lamb with crispy breadcrumbs and tartare sauce

* Rump of lamb with boulangère potatoes

Kneading. Chicken Dishes. Root Vegetable Gratin.

Article & Recipe: Kneading bread: Science backs up an ancient technique that's as relevant as ever for today's cook

We knead dough because wheat flour contains two proteins called gliadin and glutenin which, when mixed with water, come together to form gluten. As the dough is kneaded, the gluten strands form networks, giving the dough strength and elasticity ...

Recipe: Basic French-style bread

Recipe & Blog Post: Root Vegetable Gratin

This is a great alternative to a traditional white-potato-and-cheese gratin (and it's more healthful, too). It's got a lovely depth of flavor, and the broiled panko crust gives it a fantastic crunchiness.

One side note: This is one of those dishes that really is much, much easier to prepare if you have a mandoline.

Recipes: Cooking on the cheap with three items

The challenge: Using chicken thighs, a whole grain and at least one fresh vegetable, the chefs were asked to make a hearty, healthy and delicious dish that home cooks can easily prepare to feed a family of four. More ingredients were allowed, but nothing too fancy.

Chicken Stew with Cider and Wheat Berries ... Pan-seared Szechuan Chicken ... Chicken and Rice Casserole ... Parmesan-crusted Chicken Thighs with Roasted Squash, Creamed Barley and Collard Greens ... Really Slow-cooked Sticky and Sweet Chicken Chili

N.b. I've added a 'leaf vegetables' tag and changed the 'nuts' tag to 'nuts and seeds' so that it can include peas.

Egg Drop Soup. Creamy Chicken Orzo Casserole.

Article & Recipes: Try these recipes to get you through those early-spring colds

Egg Drop Soup ... Creamy Chicken Orzo Casserole

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.

Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Cuba

Article/Recipe: McDonald's? Who needs it?

Includes recipes for: yoghurt soup; tongue of the judge; koresht fesenjan (chicken casserole); vegetables in batter; Christians and Moors; sharba Libya (Libyan soup); and baklava.

Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Cuba - these are the countries that in recent history the US government has considered to be "rogue states"; outposts of tyranny and all-round enemies of democracy and wholesomeness. But what does their food taste like?

Mashed peas, mashed potatoes. Cooking with Beer. Cooking with Wine.

Blog Post/Recipe: Crushed peas and smashed roast new potatoes with garlic and rosemary.

Two vegetarian recipes from the Guardian blog.

Article: Cooking with Wine.

I AM often asked how much one should spend on wine to use for cooking.

There are a few points to consider. Firstly, I never cook with a wine I would not drink.

Recipe: Grin and Beer It, and More Beer & Beyond recipes.

Pale ale and pearl barley soup

Vintage braised oxtail ragout with white polenta
Stout and rye sourdough ice cream
Rabbit and stout casserole and Coopers damper

Recipes from the Country Women's Association

Article & Recipes: Country Comforts.

Recipes from the Country Women's Association: french rissoles, chocolate mousse, classic fruit chutney, sticky date pudding, lamb shank casserole, everyday biscuit recipe, and peaches. (The peaches aren't actually peaches.)

Peaches

125g butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
Vanilla essence
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Raspberry jam
100ml whipping cream
1 x 85g packet jelly crystals (your choice of flavour)