Thai curries are one of my favorite south Asian foods that I don’t cook as much as I should. Every time I make it at home from scratch by pounding (actually, usually I use the food processor and then finish the paste in the mortar) together chilies, lemongrass, shallots, galangal and a host of other […]
Thai Curry Pork, Forbidden Rice and Watermelon Read More »
This delicious vegetarian dish comes from Yotam Ottolenghi’s book Plenty. The chef is much better known in the UK where he runs a chain of “deli” shops that serve a huge variety of creative dishes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. He also has a weekly column in the Guardian newspaper. The website has a lot of his
Yogurt Flatbreads with Barley and Mushrooms Read More »
A while back I was making a chicken stew that included saffron, a Tagine really. The saffron needed to soak and flavor a portion of chicken stock that I had put in a white bowl. The color was so pretty with the deep rich yellow of the saffron threads slowly diffusing and swirling into the clear
Yellow: Tomatoes, Saffron, Corn, Virtual Egg Read More »
This Alinea dish combines some classic combinations in a more or less classic presentation. It’s basically a pork with polenta dish with a few twists…and grapefruit. Why not though? The grapefruit is tart, sweet and a little bitter. That makes for a great counterpoint to the pork, rich cornbread pudding and the honey that is
Alinea: PORK, Grapefruit, Sage, Honey Read More »
A good friend of mine (same one who was generous with the pheasants), was nice enough to also give me a 2 lb. piece of moose meat. I was not even sure what cut of the huge animal it was, but seemed like a round roast. It felt tough and possibly not suitable for
Moose Spanish Meatballs and Vegetable Paella Read More »
Aesthetically, this dish needs work, but I am extremely proud of how delicious it was. The flavors popped and worked brilliantly together. It was fresh, healthy and refined. Cooking from the NOMA cookbook is not an easy feat. NOMA in Copenhagen is the new “Best Restaurant in the World”. Rene Redzepi’s cuisine is fiercely local, and in Scandinavia local
Barley Miso Porridge, Soft Cheese, Vegetables Read More »
I have cooked pheasant a couple of times before and was always underwhelmed. I hear wild pheasant is a different animal and is delicious, but this farm-raised, store-bought bird is always ho-hum. The legs are tough and stringy with numerous little tendons/bones and the breast meat seems to dry out very fast even though it
Porcini Pheasant, Creamed Corn, Carrot-Orange Sauce Read More »
A perfect paella is a wonderful dish. I love the process of cooking it to perfection almost as much as I enjoy eating the result. Like many “traditional” dished tied to locales, it inspires arguments and controversy as to what constitutes the proper “Paella”. Supposedly the original dish was cooked over an open fire by
Chiringuito Paella a la Marinera Read More »
I was picking up some ingredients for another dinner of Ramen the other day and stumbled on these awesome looking King Trumpet mushrooms. They looked fresh and plump, so I picked a few clusters up. The first thing that came to mind is to treat them as if they were the more prestigious Porcini or
King Trumpet, Miso, Fried Tofu Read More »
The combination of pumpkin (or butternut squash in this case) and banana seems has been something I’ve wanted to try out for a while. Specifically since I saw it in an Alinea dish combined with duck. In the Alinea cookbook the recipe is for a pumpkin soup and bite of grilled duck breast with a
Thai Duck, Barley, Pumpkin puree and Banana pudding Read More »