Crisp Smashed Potatoes with Fried Onions and Parsley
A Sunday afternoon impulse abetted by the presence of leftover baby potatoes on their last legs as well as an abundance of duck fat from the cassoulet soiree. The only ingredient I did not have was parsley and I wish I did because it would have provided much-needed...
Off Topic: Pasta, Sausage and Bean Soup
One of the reasons I started a blog was that I would sometimes find an absolutely wonderful recipe and there were only so many people I could button-hole about it at work without getting the feeling that they were starting to avoid me in the hallways. This soup...
Off Topic: Sauted Chicken Breasts with Red Wine Pan Sauce
Once again from my favorite week night cookbook comes an amazing dish that is reliably accomplished in 30 minutes and is nice enough to serve at a dinner party. Chicken breasts, in my opinion, are over-rated. They became so popular during one of our many...
Baked Explorations: Speculaas
I knew I was in trouble with these cookies when I couldn't stop eating the dough scraps. The story behind them is the author's obsession with Delta Airline's Biscoff cookies. I can't remember the last time I flew Delta and the notion of an airline giving out cookies...
Open-Faced Beef Wellington
I made "real" Beef Wellington once. And it took days. Even without making the puff pastry or the pate from scratch, it was quite a project: a scrumptious and complicated red wine sauce made with oxtails, the Duxelles, the proper cooking of an intimidatingly...
Off Topic: Spanakopita
I had never made Spanakopita before despite the fact that everything about it sounds good: feta, phyllo, pecorino-romano, butter. And I was even able to get phyllo dough, in the correct size, at my local Jewel; a store committed to the idea that all people want to eat...
Off Topic: Pasta Al Forno
This is from the latest (February 2011) issue of Cook's Country and it is incredibly delicious and just different enough from every other pasta dish you probably make often to get your attention. And I love that the vegetables (in this case, eggplant) play a bigger...