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Category: Recipes
Pasta. Tonight I wanted pasta and fresh (ok, store bought ‘fresh’) tortellini just fit the bill. This recipe is one of my go-to recipes when I don’t really feel like cooking. And with this cold/flu/lingering death making me miserable, I can say I honestly did not feel like cooking tonight. But I needed to eat, so here we are. I hope you feel like cooking tonight… and perhaps you will make this easy and tasty pasta dish! Save Print Tortellini with Prosciutto and Asparagus Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 30 mins Serves: 1 Ingredients 1½ oz sliced prosciutto, cut into strips 8 oz asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into…
Well, I jinxed myself. I was thinking last Sunday that I had gone through this whole winter without having been sick once. No flu. No cold. No sniffles, sneezing, coughing, or runny nose. I was feeling glorious… until Tuesday evening when my throat felt raw, the sneezing began, and that was the beginning of the end. But this unfortunate malady makes this week’s Friday cocktail all the more relevant. One tinted with the fond memories of childhood. Yes, I said it. We were given hot toddies as children when we were sick. So what’s the big deal? It worked to help us feel better and get better. And tonight, this drink is on deck because I need it. It’s a double…
Winter is still gripping the Pacific Northwest and this means perfect weather for using the oven for a lengthy roast like a beef roast. I am sure many of us remember growing up with the weekly beef roast dinner. Perhaps is was a beef chuck roast cooked in a liquid paired with potatoes and a green salad. It sounds very boring compared to the meals we enjoy now, but there is beauty in this simplicity. But let’s face it… the typical beef roast is way too much for one person. And given that one of the driving factors for this blog is to show you how to make meals without having to ‘enjoy’ it for seven days straight, this meal was just begging…
Today I made something new. Something I found online that piqued my curiosity. Something based on a friend’s request for dishes with lentils. This recipe is all about happy coincidences. Recently, I received an update from Suzy’s The Mediterranean Dish blog which included her Koshari recipe. I was very intrigued by her description of this Egyptian street food dish and wanted to try it. I had the added incentive of helping my friend out with his request for dishes with lentils. So I dove in. Well, I will not lie, this dish is involved. There is nothing very complicated, just many elements cooked simultaneously. That is always a fun challenge and I understand why since we are building layers of flavors and textures. Of…
Tonight’s cocktail is a variation of Jessica Torres‘ Twist of Fate at the blog OneMartini – a wonderful cocktail pairing blood orange and rye. My tweak was to start with a basic Manhattan (rye and sweet vermouth) and substitute some of the vermouth with Aperol and blood orange juice. The result is a dusky hued drink with spicy, sweet, citrus, and herbal flavors with a most pleasing fragrance. So let’s take advantage of blood orange season and make a cocktail or two with this delicious fruit. I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the unique flavor it brings to the party. And thanks for the inspiration Jessica! Save Print Twist of Fate Prep time: 5 mins Total time: 5 mins…
Here we are, one month after good old Punxsutawney Phil poked his head out of his burrow and saw his shadow. And as superstition/tradition would have it, we have ‘enjoyed’ four more weeks of winter with two more to go. So I decided why not ‘enjoy’ a soup made with a forgotten and ignored root vegetable – the parsnip. I recently cooked with parsnips in the Bableves Kolbasszal recipe and I thought, why not make some other dishes with this reliable and flavorful vegetable. First up, a roasted parsnip soup. To be exact, it is a roasted parsnip and carrot soup. When roasted, both of these vegetables become sweeter – which is good – and that sweetness allows us to pair it with…
Tonight I went old school… very old school. This throwback meal is from my childhood and I will readily admit it was not a favorite – until I was able to enjoy mine with rice instead of toast (shingles). I never was a fan of ‘wet bread’ (and still am not) so the proverbial S.O.S. was a stomach churner until rice entered the picture. Once I paired it with rice… well, the game changed and this dish became one I make on a moment’s notice when I can’t think of anything else. This version of the recipe is augmented with sauteed chopped mushrooms and ground lamb. It is slightly involved, but you will see it comes together quickly…
Tonight I decided to prepare seared ahi, a dish I regularly enjoyed ‘back in the day’. But as you all should be used to by now, I wanted to try something different and preparing it using sous vide sounded like a wonderful way to go. So after doing some research, I opted to use the information provided by the Serious Eats crew for preparing ahi using sous vide. The beauty of this dish is it’s simplicity, it’s richness, and it’s versatility. And for this preparation, I opted to cook the ahi with no seasoning or oils until time to sear. This decision allows me full latitude to enjoy the tuna as well as indulge whatever flavors that pique my tastebuds…
I made this sauce for the Sous vide Seared Ahi dish and just knew I had to share it as a separate post. This sauce is beyond description – slightly sweet, slightly sour, slightly spicy and simply amazing. I decided to use some local honey (my neighbor keeps bees and always a shares some of his honey with me!) instead of sugar to simplify this sauce from a standard gastrique. I thought sweet and sour are great and all, but I wanted to add a bit of heat to it… and hot red chilis were available at my local store. So I added them to this sauce and kicked it up just a little bit, which I think you will enjoy. Give it a try on seared…
Hoooray! It’s Friday and that means a new cocktail post! Tonight I wanted to showcase a French liqueur, St. Germain. St. Germain is an elderflower liqueur which has a pronounced floral fragrance and tasting notes. Combined with a reliable blended scotch, the flavors are robust and nuanced all at the same time and very enjoyable. Save Print Elderflower Thistle Prep time: 5 mins Total time: 5 mins Serves: 1 Ingredients 2 parts scotch 1 part St. Germain dash of Angostura bitters twist of lemon peel Instructions Add ice to a highball glass. Add the scotch, St. Germain, and bitters. Stir to combine. Twist a lemon peel over top and drop in. 3.5.3226 But wait… everyone should know that if…