this is a page for
Category: Recipes
Recently, a friend invited me over for dinner and I planned to bring dessert. I thought what would be better than cheesecake, especially since his wife missed out on the Cheesecake with Smoked Cherries I made this past summer. With a busy day planned before dinner, I knew I needed something that would come together quickly (thereby counting out a full cheesecake!), but I did not want to sacrifice having homemade quality. So, I relied on a 6 pack of Graham Cracker mini-pie crusts to simplify and individualize this simple dessert. The whole process (except for allowing the cream cheese to get to room temperature) took less than 30 minutes. Yes, I said start to finish under 30 minutes. Now to consider how to accent these tiny…
Nothing says Christmas like the smell and taste of lebkuchen. As a child, I remember my mom baking lebkuchen in November before placing them in a tin in a closet for us to enjoy in December. She always said these cookies are so much better once they have been stored a while. Well, my mom’s lebkuchen recipe was lost quite a while ago… so I went online to find a new recipe to fulfill my Lebkuchen desire. Wow, was I ever surprised at the plethora of recipes! So I bookmarked several to try and possibly adapt/combine into a Cooking-4-One recipe. This recipe is primarily based on the recipe from GoodToKnow.co.uk with some aspects added from the Serious Eats recipe. The…
This week, instead of posting a weekly menu, how about I post several cookie and dessert recipes? Building on the few recipes I posted around the holidays last year, let’s start this year’s cookie baking with a favorite – the chewy oatmeal cookie. I have made these cookies many times before with varying inclusions – raisins, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, etc and they are always a hit. These cookies are warmly spiced and subtly sweet, perfect for any time of the year. When paired with a cup of coffee or tea, it is a wonderful way to give yourself (or a guest) a tasty homemade treat. I like them and I believe you will like them too! Save Print Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies Prep time…
One of the few classic cocktails to include scotch, this cocktail was named after the 1922 Rudolph Valentino movie and first appeared in Harry Craddock’s 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book. This drink’s popularity seems to ebb and flow, but I will wager that if you try it, this scotch based cocktail will become a perennial favorite. I decided to try making this classic using a new single malt scotch I recently found – Glen Fohdry from William S. Grant. This scotch is perfectly enjoyable neat, so I decided why not give it a try in this cocktail. The results were… well, less than impressive. There was a pronounced bitter aspect and unbalance between the scotch and other ingredients, typical of most scotch based…
Last week I promised to make this dish so I do not want to disappoint anyone that may be waiting for it. (smile) This dish has the potential to be overwhelmingly spicy hot, but that was not what I wanted. The peri peri paste I used has that potential so I opted to tone it down a bit. How did I do that you ask? I simply added olive oil and lemon juice to the paste to create a marinade, then controlled how long the prawns soaked. The result is that wonderful peri peri spiciness with a nice citrus tang. Perfect for a quick meal with loads of flavor, you need to try this recipe. Your taste buds will be very pleased! Save Print Peri Peri Prawns Prep…
How about a new side dish that brings plenty of flavor to the table while being easy to prepare? This tasty side dish pairs with many main dishes and uses that much maligned vegetable nearly everyone hates from childhood, but enjoys as an adult and is available just about year round. The quick preparation is a bonus and is versatile with key substitutions. Don’t have diced prosciutto? Use bacon. No shallots? Substitute white, red or yellow onions or even scallions. You can use bacon drippings instead of butter to increase the smoky bacon flavor. Heck, you can drizzle the final results with balsamic glaze or honey to add a sweet slant to the dish. If there is one tough aspect of the dish, that would be…
Let’s celebrate tonight’s happy hour with a century old cocktail that seems like a riff on the venerable Manhattan, but truly stands on its own. This combination of rye whiskey and sherry with a splash of orange/cognac liqueur creates a uniquely complex set of flavors. Depending on the type of sherry used, this cocktail could range from a slightly biting dry to a silky smoky sweetness. Unfortunately, all I had on hand was a cream sherry – a notoriously sweet sherry – and the resulting drink was indeed sugar forward but nonetheless enjoyable. Since I like Manhattans, there was more than a strong chance I would like this drink. And I do (even with the cream sherry!)… so now to collect a…
Lately I have been cooking several different side dish staples using sous vide and I thought it was time to start sharing them with you. I know it may seem boring and a bit redundant to write about cooking rice, but trust me this is great information for cooking small amounts of rice perfectly while helping you minimize waste or to help you from over indulging! The first of these posts (except for the Mashed Potato for One post I wrote at this time last year) is cooking white rice for one. I’ll admit, rice is common ingredient in many of my recipes, but it is difficult to cook the optimal serving size for just one person. I’ve tried stove top in my smallest…
Wow, this week has been a whirlwind. Between meetings and meet-ups, chores, recipe development and experimentation, and other tasks, I am ready to slow down and catch my breath. What better way to relax than with a new Happy Hour tipple – the Embarcadero. The Embarcadero cocktail is a variant of the Manhattan with amaro replacing the Angostura bitters. I was not able to find much more about this cocktail other than it is based on a recipe on Liquor.com from the renowned mixologist Claire Sprouse (@clairesprouse). I love researching the back story to the cocktail and I figured this one had to have an interesting one. But alas, it appears it does not or if it does, it has not been documented. Well, not having…
Last Summer, I featured Brazil’s national cocktail – the caipirinha – which is made from cachaça, sugar and lime. I recently encountered this cachaça based drink (which one resource claimed is Brazil’s original cocktail or coquetel in Portuguese) – primarily a smooth blend of cachaça and sweet vermouth. Roughly rabo de galo translates into ‘rooster’s tail’ or ‘cock’s tail’, appropriate for a simple tipple. After reading the description of the rabo de galo, I just had to try it. With some additional research, it appears the only thing in consensus about this cocktail is that it has no defined recipe. The most common recipes use 2 parts cachaça to 1 part sweet…