I had my parents over for Christmas Eve dinner, and wanted to make something special for them. Those of you who know me well, also know that I really love adding extra steps to recipes, to maximize depth of flavor. My co-worker had been talking […]
when top chef first started airing, i was one of the skeptics. without willy wonka’s magical tv, i reasoned, it’s just not possible to be able to live vicariously through chefs in competition the way that one can with fashion in project runway. whereas in […]
i’m unable these days to really take on any big cooking projects, due to exhaustion from school. anything that requires more than an hour is pretty much out of the question right now, unless i don’t have to babysit it – making chicken stock comes to mind. in the past few months i’ve either split any slightly involved projects over multiple days, or more likely, i just haven’t thought about them seriously at all.
i’ve been thinking about this bread, though, and talking it up enough since it came out in bon appetit a few months ago that i finally decided to make it. that is, a week ago i decided to make it, while shopping for dinner with mary. i made the bacon-onion-dried pear mix actually about 10 days ago (maybe i shouldn’t be telling you this, but there you go). and i had bought the dried pears about 3 weeks before that. so this bread has been in the works for a while. (more…)
lindsay: would you like to try some of this? buster: [tasting] so watery…yet there’s a smack of ham to it. lindsay: …it’s hot ham water! — in warren, john and i drove by a place called “ham king II.” unfortunately for our curiosity, but more […]
one day, a pound of bacon walked into the kitchen. it accidentally walked into a skillet, but jumped out after getting a little toasty. some onions took its place with a little thyme, and the whole group took a dive into pasta, finding eggs and […]
take a moment to ponder the following phrase: “sausages with sherry caramel glazed pears.” have you ever heard anything more wonderful in your life? it was even better than i could have expected.
sausage? glorious. sherry? sure. caramel glazed pears? oh yeah.
then, i was walking across the street after exiting star when i realized i had no pears. i had three pounds of sausage (specifically pork sausage, none of that italian stuff), a package of sage (one can’t cook such a quantity of pork without sage), two bags of peas and carrots, a box of chicken stock, but no pears. huh. i was too tired to go back, so off i went without the pears.
i had just come back from finishing a model, and before that i was at my full-time job, so you can imagine how i didn’t particularly want to cook because i was incredibly tired. but i’d said i would, and invited people, and there’s nothing you can do at that point. but by the end of the night – and i know this is really sappy – i had remembered why i like cooking so much. (more…)
it occurred to me that there are phrases that make recipes sound better to me (or to other people). for example, i always am attracted to recipes that include the word “icebox” in their titles: i get an image of a white refrigerator a la […]
on tuesday i spent much of the cleanup picking semi-raw chicken off the roasted chickens. by the fourth chicken i was tired of picking it off, and probably didn’t pick it as cleanly as a hungrier person might have. i packed all of that chicken […]
beef-thyme stew with mushrooms and swiss chard
3T olive oil or vegetable oil
2 lbs beef chuck, cut into large-ish chunks
3 large onions, halved and sliced
1T garlic, minced
2T fresh thyme, leaves stripped off stems and chopped fine
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes
2 10-oz boxes white mushrooms, sliced thickly and sauteed
1 bunch swiss chard
red wine
1 baguette or loaf of rustic-type bread
[1] heat half of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. brown beef and remove to a plate (tent with foil).
[2] add remaining oil and turn heat to medium. when the pan is hot, add onions and garlic. when the fond on the pan is about to burn, add 1/2c red wine. add thyme and bring the mixture to a simmer. add diced tomatoes (including juice) and let simmer until thickened slightly. (more…)