25 Common Cooking Mistakes / Wintery Spring Rolls / Stifado, Greek Rabbit Stew

Article: The Most Common Cooking Mistakes [via]

The creative cook can often cook her way out of a kitchen error, but the smart cook aims to prevent such creativity from being necessary. Here are 25 ways to be smarter every time.

Blog Post & Recipe: Wintery Spring Rolls Recipe

Here's how this works. Each roll has a slather of ginger onion paste, a couple crunchy lettuce leaves, some mushrooms, tofu, and a bit of cilantro (or other herb of your choice - mint, basil). Roll tight, and you're set.

Blog Post & Recipe: Stifado, Greek Rabbit Stew

Stifado uses a lot of olive oil, so it is smooth going down. This moistens the rabbit as well, which is braised slowly until it is about to fall off the bone. You can pull the meat off the bone before serving, as I do, or just leave the pieces in the stew. The Greeks typically leave the pieces as-is. The spices give the stew zing without heat, and the tomatoes, which are obviously a post-1492 addition, add a bit more sweetness as well as needed acidity. There’s a reason stifado is such a strong part of Greek cooking.

Mapo Tofu / Kurdish Kibbeh / Cashew Nut Curry

Blog Post & Recipe: Mapo Tofu

Fortunately, mapo doufu also very easy to make at home. The recipe I’ve developed after countless times of making mapo tofu has a hearty chili sauce perfumed with sesame.

Blog Post & Recipe & Video: Kurdish (Assyrian) kibbeh (Kuttelk) and Kurdish kibbeh (video)

This kibbeh is absolutely delicious and has two marked advantages: One, it is boiled and not fried. Two, it is easier to shape than our traditional Lebanese kibbeh. The shell is composed of fine bulgur and semolina flour

Blog Post & Recipe: cashew nut curry

These nuts become mealy in the best way possible, retaining some body but mostly adding just-enough-but-not-too-much contrast in texture when scooped up with a spoonful of rice. And a ton of flavour too--this is a distinct but subtle curry, it's rich and perfect with biryani or roti, or bread, actually.

Cheese & Bacon Scones with Homemade Piccalilli / Thai Soba Noodle Bowl / Fresh Mint Hot Chocolate

Blog Post & Recipe: Cheese & Bacon Scones with Homemade Piccalilli

Of course the piccalilli was made several weeks in advance to allow the flavours to mature but the scones were enjoyed fresh from the oven.

Blog Post & Recipe: THAI SOBA NOODLE BOWL

I know heat is subjective, so I am giving amounts for a medium spicy soup. I would start there and add accordingly. It’s tougher to neutralize the spice in a soup like this, so start moderate.

Blog Post & Recipe: Fresh Mint Hot Chocolate

What I love about this version is the mint is from fresh mint. It tastes clean and unlike the candy mint – which I also love – fresh mint gives a clean earthy punch that really suits the chocolate well.

Jugged Hare / Fennel & Pear Soup / Black Pudding Profiteroles

Blog Post & Recipe: Jugged Hare

The recipe kicks off asking for a mixture of flour, mace, cloves and allspice to roll the chunks of rabbit in before frying.

Blog Post & Recipe: Good warm, even better cold - Fennel and Pear Soup

I was standing with a fennel bulb in my hand when I saw a very ripe pear on the table and somehow my mind connected with the two and there was one - the vision of a fennel and pear soup.

Blog Post & Recipe: Black Pudding Profiteroles

Remember the Chorizo Choux Puffs? When I published the recipe on my Estonian site, then one of the readers, Ilse, suggested using our Christmas favourite, finely chopped black pudding instead of chorizo. I liked the sound of that, so nicked the idea, adding a spoonful of roasted onion flakes for an extra depth of flavour.

Spicy Shoyu Ramen / Sausage Rolls with Apricots & Whisky-Caramelised Onions / Moroccan Slow-Roasted Shoulder of Lamb + Bramley & Mincemeat Pasties

Blog Post & Recipe: Spicy Shoyu Ramen

If you prefer no spicy taste at all for yourself or young children, you can use regular chili bean paste (doubanjiang) and not spicy chili bean paste (la doubanjiang).

Blog Post & Recipe: Sausage rolls with apricots and whisky-caramelised onions

Anyway, [whisky-caramelised onions are] incredible in these sausage rolls too, together with re-plumped dried apricots and a good pinch of chipotle chilli flakes to play off that smoky thing going on with the whisky. At first I was worried the rolls might be a little on the sweet side with the onions and fruit but god damn if they weren’t just plain sexy.

Blog Post & Recipe: Nigel Slater's mincemeat pasties and lamb recipes

Chunks of meat are all well and good, but few things beat a whole joint, slowly roasted on the bone until the meat slides away at the slightest prod. Lamb shoulder is arguably the king of such joints. It's tough as old boots, but so perfectly fatty that when sympathetically cooked the fat melts through the meat

Moroccan slow-roasted shoulder of lamb ... Bramley and mincemeat pasties

Preserve Butternut Pumpkin / Roasted Butternut Pumpkin Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette / Carrot Fritters

Blog Post & Recipe: Help Me Preserve 15 Pounds of Winter Squash

Editor: Rose, yes, you can preserve the squash by pureeing. Here's a good post on this:

• Preserving Butternut Squash by Amy Palanjian

Also check out this post:

• Eight Things To Do With Butternut Squash

Readers, what else do you suggest?

Blog Post & Recipe: Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette

This is pretty much the ultimate holiday salad – mixed greens tossed with roasted butternut squash, dried cranberries, walnuts and Parmesan cheese, and then dressed with a warm apple cider vinaigrette.

Blog Post & Recipe: Carrot Fritters

Serve the carrot fritters with a wedge of lemon and natural yoghurt as well as a delicious salad, or two, and you have a fantastic lunch or dinner on those hot summer days. They can also be served cold, making them the perfect picnic food.

Pickled Prawns / Pesto Frittata Bites / Freeze Chicken Stock in Ice Cube Trays

Blog Post & Recipe: Pickled Shrimp

Essentially, then, this recipe boils down to one simple step: "Throw all the ingredients in a jar and chill overnight." Easy, peasy!

Blog Post & Recipe: Pesto Frittata Bites

I was asked to bring an egg dish, which usually means a frittata. But when you go to brunch at the home of the hostess with the mostess plus, you best bring something real nice. So I went all fancy on you: I tucked my frittata recipe into mini-muffin cups.

Blog Post & Recipe: Weekend Project: Freeze Chicken Stock in Ice Cube Trays

When ready, crack the ice cubes into a large bowl, and then transfer to a zip-lock bags. Each ice cube equals about one ounce of liquid. If they seem to stick together, carefully toss the bags on the counter — they should easily break back into individual cubes.

Eggplant Parmesan Sliders / Mussel Conchiglie / How to Cook Perfect Welsh Rarebit

Blog Post & Recipe: Eggplant Parmesan Sliders

Top off the patties with homemade tomato sauce and a slice of fresh, melted mozzarella

Blog Post & Recipe: Mussel Conchiglie

Despite the cream, it tastes light and fresh but luxurious too. The shells are very good at scooping up the sauce and hiding mussels within them. Of course I had to put my own spin on it and add some lemon zest for some citrus flavour that I find essential with seafood.

Blog Post & Recipe: How to cook perfect welsh rarebit

Most rarebit recipes, with the exception of Nigel Slater's quick version, loosen the cheese with a liquid: milk or ale, in Jane Grigson's version; cider for Cheese Society; port for Mrs Beeton; or stout, which comes with the weighty recommendations of both Mark Hix and the Bareham / Hopkinson team.

Lamb & Pine Nut Sausage Rolls / Beetroot, Citrus & Ginger Juice / Curried Prawns with Cucumbers

Blog Post & Recipe: lamb and pine nut sausage rolls

prep time: 25 minutes
cook time: 40mins + cooling time (10-15mins)
makes 40 sausage rolls

Blog Post & Recipe: Beetroot, Citrus & Ginger Juice

It's hard to describe perfection, but imagine an earthy-sweet jewel coloured drink redolent with the mild flavour of beetroot as base with a few citrus-y top notes and a hit of sinus-clearing ginger to round it off.

Blog Post & Recipe: Curried Shrimp with Cucumbers

The shrimp and cucumber, which is cooked just beyond the tender-crisp stage, keeps things nice and light to balance out the rich coconut sauce. And you've got two options for the sauce. You can use a whole can of coconut to get a nice and soupy curry, which would saturate and flavor the bed of rice, or cut back to make things a less saucy.

Peppery Oatcakes / Zucchini Soup with Garlic Toasts / Øllebrød med Æggesnaps – Rye Porridge with Creamed Egg Topping

Blog Post & Recipe: There's no Cheddar without an oatcake

However, my favourite was a small oatcake from the selection of Marks & Spencer that was speckled with coarsely ground black pepper.

Peppery oatcakes

Recipe: Zucchini Soup with Garlic Toasts

Here's a great soup for fall. It uses up some of those zucchini and is easy, fast and healthy. I just add wine and chicken broth and fresh chopped chives for added flavor.

Blog Post & Recipe: Øllebrød med Æggesnaps – Rye Porridge with Creamed Egg topping

It’s a dish that is great for using up the leftover end-pieces of Rye bread, but of course it doesn’t have to be leftover bread. It is high in fiber, low in fat and it has a slightly tart taste. It’s a solid meal which leaves you with a sensation of fullness and you often see it feed to babies.

Vegan Party Pies / Sushi Burrito / Miso Pig's Head

Blog Post & Recipe: Vegan Party Pies: Aussie "meat" pies for the footy

I couldn't guarantee Geelong would win. I decided I would at least succeed in making vegan party pies.

Blog Post & Recipe: Sushi Burrito

This is really just a sushi hand roll, but the burrito part is to encourage you not to see DIY sushi as difficult or requiring rules to be followed. There is virtually NOTHING that can not/should not be dropped into the middle of these rolls.

Blog Post & Recipe: the miso pig’s head

It’s basically an adaptation of the classic Izakaya staple motsu nikomi, a hearty stew of braised pigs tripe and vegetables in a rich miso broth, a dish that really highlights the natural affinity between offal and miso – Our take on it, using all the different tastes and textures of a pigs head lifts it to another level.

Perfect Roast Beef / Mini Peach Custard Pies / Chickpea Snackers

Blog Post & Recipe: The Perfect Rocking Roast Beef

• Always bring the beef to room temperature before cooking. I leave mine out for about 30 minutes (or up to an hour if it’s been chilling in the coldest part of my fridge).

Blog Post & Recipe: Mini Peach Custard Pies

I love this recipe because the custard only has five ingredients. It also puts the peaches on beautiful display. You could also use apples, any type of berry, or whatever fruit you like, really.

Blog Post & Recipe: Chickpea Snackers

As with the kale chips, this is a highly adaptable recipe so feel free to swap your favorite spice blend for the paprika. I prefer to use dried chickpeas and cook them myself because I think they result in a better texture and a more distinct nutty chickpea flavor. However, if you don’t have the time or patience for soaking and cooking chickpeas, go ahead and use canned — just make sure to rinse and dry them thoroughly before roasting them.

Dark Chocolate Drizzled Salted Fried Eggplant / Blackberry Ketchup / Dinuguan (Pork Blood Stew)

Blog Post & Recipe: Dark Chocolate Drizzled Salted Fried Eggplant

Eggplant gets fried in shallow oil, no salting ahead of time for these, and then they get sprinkled with a bit of salt once they come out of the hot oil and drizzled with melted dark chocolate.

Blog Post & Recipe: Blackberry Ketchup, Really?

This condiment is much more ketchup than sauce. And it's certainly not jam because it has a big vinegary bite. There is also enough complex spice in it to make it much more compatible with grilled meat than vanilla ice cream.

Blog Post & Recipe: D is for Dinuguan (Pork Blood Stew)

The pig’s stomach, intestines, heart, snout, cheeks, and ears are cut into pieces and are all thrown into the mix together with the pig’s meatier butt and belly. The meat and offal are slowly simmered in vinegar seasoned with salt, garlic, onions, tomatoes, and hot chilies. The pig’s blood is then added to the simmering stew while it is stirred steadily to keep the blood from curdling.

How To Roast a Suckling Pig / Herb Soup with Eggplant Bacon / Panko-Coated Eggplant Nuggets

Blog Post & Recipe: How To Roast a Suckling Pig

Every 30 minutes or so we rotated the pig 45 degrees. Slow and even is the mantra. We made sure to pile the coals a little fuller near the front and back of the pig as the shoulders and hams take a little more fuel to cook through than the mid section belly and loin.

Blog Post & Recipe: herb soup w/ eggplant bacon...plus ABC kitchen (manhattan)

Remember that eggplant bacon I wrote about once? I skipped the fake stuff (liquid smoke) and instead brushed my eggplant with smoked paprika, oil and salt before roasting the slivers in the oven. I wasn't expecting them to come out looking anything like bacon, so I had to show you the picture below. How did the eggplant know what I wanted it to become?

Blog Post & Recipe: Crispy panko-coated eggplant nuggets

Although eggplants by themselves are almost impossible to turn crisp without first dehydrating them, with a little magic using very ordinary ingredients, you can transform them into appetizers cum snacks with layers of texture and flavor. Thinly sliced eggplants are dredged in seasoned flour, dipped in beaten eggs, rolled in panko (Japanese bread crumbs) then pan fried.

Concept: eggplant bacon, forsooth.

5 Recipes from the Momofuku Cookbook / Corn, Buttermilk & Chive Popovers / How to Sprout Lentils + Gourmet Sprouted Lentil Salad

Blog Post & Recipes: David Chang’s Momofuku (Cooking the Books 5)

A few months ago, a few crazy food bloggers (myself and the Boy included) decided that the next Cooking the Books would be from the Momofuku cookbook.

Ramen Broth ... Momofuku Ramen (Cup Noodles) ... Roasted Rice Cakes ... Pork Belly Ssam (sam gyup sal ssam) with Mustard Seed Sauce

Blog Post & Recipe: corn, buttermilk and chive popovers

I turned to Google, which led me to a recipe for corn popovers from The New Basics by Julee Russo and Sheila Lukins. I adjusted them a bit; I swapped buttermilk for regular, as was my plan, and I found that the corn really had to be blended to become part of the batter (rather than kernels that fell out after tearing the popover open).

Blog Post & Recipe: How to Sprout Lentils & Gourmet Sprouted Lentil Salad

Go here to this post - and follow the directions for Sprouting Quinoa, simply replacing the Quinoa with Lentils! Be careful though - Lentils triple in size when you sprout them: If you're using a wide mouth (3 cup) Mason Jar I recommend starting with 1 cup of dried Lentils at the very most. You don't want to run out of room in your jar.

Pork & Banana Habanero Poppers / Grilled Asparagus with Grilled Haloumi / Raw Veggie Spring Rolls

Blog Post & Recipe: Pork and Banana Habanero Poppers

I stuffed these guys with pulled pork, queso blanco, and banana, the ultimate habanero flavor complement.

Blog PosT & Recipe: Grilled asparagus with grilled halloumi

But now on to the dish I am sharing with you today; a beautiful little salad with asparagus and grilled haloumi. It’s brilliant in flavor and the mustard dressing fits perfectly

Blog Post & Recipe: Raw veggie spring rolls

Place several spinach leaves down as the base, then place a large fingerful amount of vegetable salad on top. Fold the top and bottom edges over the salad, then pull one of the remaining sides over the filling, then roll into a cigar shaped log.

Mushrooms, Garlic & Shallots with Lemon Ricotta / 17 Nacho Recipes / Souvlaki Chicken Salad Sandwich with Roasted Red Peppers & Feta

Recipe: Yotam Ottolenghi's mushrooms, garlic and shallots with lemon ricotta recipe

You don't need much more, though a chunk of sourdough would not go amiss. To help with the peeling, soak the shallots and garlic in water for half an hour.

Recipes: Choose Your Own Nacho Adventure

Start with the basic chip-cheese nexus and build from there using some of the individual ingredients we've offered for inspiration. Or go with one of the ready-made combos we've tried and tested.

Blog Post & Recipe: Souvlaki Chicken Salad Sandwich with Roasted Red Peppers and Feta

I skimmed the fat from the top, warmed them up and added them to the chicken salad. From there I added some things that I often add to my chicken souvlaki gyros, namely some roasted red pepper, red onion, tzatziki and feta.

Wild Rice Salad with Oranges & Roasted Beets / Egg & Cheese Breakfast Muffins with Mushrooms & Thyme / Roasted Baby Carrots

Blog Post & Recipe: Cook the Book: Wild Rice Salad with Oranges and Roasted Beets

Chewy, nutty wild rice is mixed with orange segments, beet slices, and lettuce, and tossed in a bright orangey-spicy Orange-Sesame Vinaigrette.

Blog Post & Recipe: Recipe for egg and cheese breakfast muffins with mushrooms and thyme

Egg and cheese breakfast muffins, made ahead and stored in the refrigerator, give me the protein boost that sees me through the day. And, like quiche or frittata, these muffins taste delicious with any mix-ins: green chiles, slow-roasted tomatoes, bell peppers, fresh herbs, smoked salmon or bacon or turkey sausage.

Blog Post & Recipe: Roasted Baby Carrots

(Note that the "baby" carrots to which I refer here are not the small pill-capsule-shaped carrots that one gets in a big bag to serve as snacks for kids.) The carrots are simply tossed together with sliced red onions, fresh rosemary, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and then roasted until all are nicely caramelized.

Sausage Rolls / Chicken with Pearl Barley Risotto / Creamed Onion with Bacon & Chives

Blog Post & Recipe: How to make perfect sausage rolls

Are sausage rolls the best party food ever, and what's the best meat to make them with; does anything rival the classic pork and herb?

Blog Post & recipe: Chicken with Pearl Barley Risotto

Using Italian farro risottos as an inspiration, in this dish the barley is not just an afterthought or bulking ingredient but the star in a savory vegetable porridge. I used chicken thighs but chunks of shoulder of lamb or beef work well.

Blog Post & Recipe: creamed onions with bacon and chives

Sure, it may sound like creamed onions = cream + onions but this is more. It’s smoky salty drippings and nutmeg and thickened cream and sherry and chives and bits of browned bacon and is worth every one of the minutes I spent peeling those onions.

Three Butternut Pumpkin Recipes / Roasted Tomato Hand Pies with Black Olives and Feta / Choosing Watermelons

Article & Recipes: Versatile pumpkins

The bulbous end contains the seed cavity, so I suggest you choose the longest-necked butternuts.

Butternut pumpkin and sweet corn soup ... Butternut pumpkin and red onion tart ... Pumpkin and bacon slices

Blog Post & Recipe: Meatless Monday: Roasted Tomato Hand Pies with Black Olives and Feta

I didn’t know anything about hand pies until I saw the sausage and fennel version in “Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook.” The photo shows these lovely golden pockets of pastry with the corners folded up and around the filling.

Blog Post & Links: Watermelons, watermelons, and more watermelons

How to choose a watermelon? Do you go by shape, colour, or spotting? Thump or not? Red or yellow? Seeded or seedless? Square? Grilled? Champion watermelons. App for your iPhone? Are you still confused, watch this instructional video?