I make butter ALL THE TIME. That may seem weird. It always seemed like a daunting task to me, and then I saw Alexandra Guarnaschelli make it on Alex’s Day Off, and she made it look so easy. And guess what? It is! If you’ve got an electric stand mixer, it is quite possibly the easiest thing to make (no churning required). It’s very little work for a big impact, so why not? All my guests are really impressed by it even though I tell them how easy it is, and it really does taste far superior to the stick of butter. Plus, there is an added bonus of buttermilk that comes along with it, which you can use for so many things, like muffins and pancakes

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I think back on the dishes I normally like to make with my all-time favorite Fall ingredient, the glorious pumpkin. On this blog, I’ve done pumpkin bread, and pumpkin spice lattes. I’ve made pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, etc. I even taste and review pumpkin beers on an almost yearly basis. I think we all know how I feel about pumpkin. If you notice, I am only using pumpkin in sweet dishes. I am not the type of person to mix my sweet and savory foods together. I know this makes me weird. I will only eat sweet potatoes if they are heavily spiced with spices like red pepper flakes, fennel, or cumin. Even my butternut squash soup has garlic and herbs in it, and tangy yogurt, rather than the typical nutmeg and sweet cream. Having said this, I would never have thought to use pumpkin in any of my savory dishes, but last year I was enticed into trying out a turkey chili with pumpkin. I can’t really tell you why, I think I was just looking for something new to try out in the warm months, and it sounded like a good idea. I was not sorry. Not only is the chili delicious, it’s quick and easy to make, and it’s also pretty healthy. I actually got this recipe from my boss. I am not really sure where she got it, so I can’t actually give credit where credit is due, but thank you to whomever originally posted this on the interwebs for us to find and make our own. (more…)

I am writing this on the way up to Maine. Can you believe I have never been to Maine?? At least not that I ever recall. It’s been several months of all work and no play, and I can think of nothing better to do on the last weekend of Summer, during an absolutely picture perfect weekend, than cracking open a lobster while drinking a cold beer, on the waterfront of Portland Maine.

This also makes me think of the BBQ about to take place tomorrow, poolside. I probably won’t have enough time to make the following recipe for our own BBQ, but perhaps you will, and I encourage you to do so. Some time back I made a turtle ice cream pie. At that time, I thought, what could possibly be better than this? Well, this ice cream pie might just be better. Who doesn’t love peanut putter? And the peanut brittle adds such a lovely, crunchy texture. For this recipe, I made peanut brittle, but that’s only because I can never get over to my local candy store during business hours. Peanut brittle is so easy to make anyway, so why not? (more…)

Long asked is the question “What is the difference between Cajun food and Creole food”? I have done much reading on the subject and I like the way Louisiana Chef Paul Prudhomme explained it best.  The short story is Creole food is old, steeped in history, and more “country”.  Creole is fancier than Cajun, a “city” version if you will.  Cajun food originated in France, came to Nova Scotia, and migrated south to Louisiana. Creole food started in Louisiana, and changed from there, adapting in the kitchens when a cook went to work in a new household, working for homes that introduced them to new nationalities. However, both are very similar, use many of the same ingredients, and have almost blended into one in many restaurants. I love both, although I have a soft spot in my heart for country fare, made with love, in a worn pot.  To me, a gumbo really says that.

It certainly was a labor of love, that’s for sure.  Between all the chopping, making the stock, and all the simmering, I spent the entire day making this dish.  I think it took a total of eight hours, although half of that is fairly inactive, for the simmering.  I almost wonder if the cooking time is a mistake (simmer for 4 1/2 hrs??), as I didn’t think it needed that long.  But I am no Cajun food expert. I was pretty excited to make a dark roux for the first time.  I have made countless roux’s before for gravy or sauces, but this was my first Cajun roux.  And they take their roux seriously down there. It was the perfect dish to make on a day off, and felt appropriate for Mardi Gras.  Long over are my days of partying it up at the bar, drinking hurricanes until I couldn’t feel my tongue anymore.  I much prefer a steaming bowl of gumbo, on my couch, with a good beer. Whatever way you are celebrating Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday, etc), I hope you are indulging just a little, eating and drinking something you truly enjoy. (more…)

In keeping with my prediction/hope of seeing more ethnic and international cuisine, I decided to hop on board and make something a little different at home.  I was going through some old recipes I had printed out and came across this one for Moroccan Spiced Lamb Meatballs in a Cumin Coriander Spiced Tomato Sauce.  I printed it out FIVE years ago.  I remember thinking they sounded interesting, and that they might be great for a cocktail party.  Every time I considered making them, I got exhausted just looking at the ingredient list.  But I am a different person now; I don’t back down from daunting tasks or feel overwhelmed by things like unfamiliar spice combinations.  When it came to actually making this, it was no trouble at all, and I couldn’t figure out why I had waited so long in the first place!  This dish is incredibly comforting, in an unexpected way.  Most of us think of the traditional Italian meatballs in a tomato sauce, not meatballs made with lamb, flavored with cinnamon, allspice, coriander, and chili powder (among others), in a spicy and fragrant tomato sauce.  The flavors were a pleasant surprise, and I intend to be making this for years to come. (more…)

Oreo cookie cheesecake is nothing new.  Mini cheesecakes are nothing new either.  So you may be wondering why this is  something to get excited about.  Well I’ll tell you why.  Because they’re easy, they’re cute, and they’re fun.  Oh yeah, and the bottom crust is a whole Oreo cookie

I’m not really sure why they are in a “cupcake” book when technically they are just mini cheesecakes that happen to be made with cupcakes liners in muffin tins, but we’re just going to go with it.  It is Martha, after all (more…)

I haven’t blogged for a while.  I’d like to say it’s because I finally found a job two months ago that has been keeping me very busy, and that it’s been hard to find a routine again.  I’d like to say it’s because I’ve been cooking meals to freeze, for people who are even busier than I am.  I’d like to say it’s because I had a trip to Seattle to prepare for.  But when it came down to it, I finally realized it was just because I was feeling completely uninspired.  I was totally bored by looking at the same things at the grocery store and was really just going through the motions, and cooking the old standbys.  I finally shook myself out of my culinary funk by going through the past few issues of Bon Appetit.  Why had I not thought of this earlier?  I impatiently await the arrival of the new issue each month and then devour the issue in one sitting while dog-earing more pages than not.  Why have I not made anything from those dog-eared pages??  I found a few recipes that really caught my attention that used ingredients that I don’t often cook with, and that fact appealed to me in a BIG way.  First up are these shrimp and sausage skewers brushed with a smoked paprika glaze.  I have never cooked with smoke paprika.  Mostly because it seemed like a silly expense for just a teaspoon here and there; it’s also hard to find sometimes.  This time around, it was essential for me to try something new and do this the right way.  It paid off in a BIG way (seeing a theme here?).  After using, and more importantly, eating smoked paprika, I can’t help feeling I have wasted so much time not cooking with it.  I missed out on so many yummy opportunities!  Shame on me.  It is SO delicious I cannot even express how it totally elevated such a simple dish.  I mean essentially, this is a kebab, you know?  It’s pretty simple to make so it’s perfect for a weeknight meal, and it’s great for a weekend bbq with friends.  I highly suggest you make this right away. Now, would probably be the best time.

Oh yeah, the dog was really into them too

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It’s been so long, that I can’t even remember the first time I made this dip.  What I can tell you is that ever since the first time I made it, it is almost always requested for gatherings.  I have had people ask me for the recipe so many times, I can’t even count.  You may be wondering why, I mean it’s only onion dip right?  WRONG.  It is the best onion dip you will ever have in your life.  It will make you want to put onion dip on your party menu again, whether it be for a football game or a cocktail party.  It really is that good.  Recently I brought it to a BBQ and so many people asked me for the recipe, I thought I’d just post it.  Of course it’s by Barefoot Contessa.  I have yet to make something of hers that doesn’t make me want to hug her.  I did make a few changes of course, so check it out after the jump.  Otherwise, you can find her original recipe here or in her cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook which I HIGHLY recommend.

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Since I went with a “comfort food” theme for Easter, I decided to make this Banana Bread Crisp I saw on one of my favorite baking blogs, Bake or Break.  What’s not to like here?  No, it’s not actually banana bread but it contains so many of the best parts of banana bread (bananas, sugar, butter) and combines it with the crispy, oat-y topping that you come to associate with a fruit crisp.  A few things you should know:  One, this recipe is actually titled Banana Bread Cobbler but it really is more of a crisp so I changed the name.  Two, the only things I actually changed in the recipe were the cooking vessel (I used small crocks to make this in), replaced the pecans with walnuts, and I added a ½ tsp of cinnamon to the topping, although I will probably add a tad bit more the next time around (and you better believe there will be a next time).  This dessert was so creamy and crunchy and gooey it almost seemed like it shouldn’t be allowed to exist.  It really was that good.  We also had it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it was pure heaven.  For the recipe click here.

I woke up at 5:00 am Easter Sunday morning.  No, it was not because I was making a complicated and delicious spread for Easter.  It was because I was attending sunrise Mass (crazy I know).  Lucky for me, it was just the boyfriend and I for Easter so I didn’t see any reason to make a big production of things.  We’re comfort food junkies so the idea of this Lamb and Eggplant Shepard’s Pie was appealing to us on many levels, plus it still counts as lamb on Easter, right?  To be honest, I could barely keep my eyes open but this dish is one of those half day things, with periods of inactivity, while yummy things simmer away and are made yummier.  Plus, the day was so beautiful, it seemed a shame to sleep through any of it.  I spent the rest of the day reading in the back yard, mingling with the neighbors and talking to my Godmother on Skype (she lives in Paris), while the boyfriend made a batch of beer.  The day could not have been better.

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Any time I have guests over for dinner I try to serve something I can make ahead so I am not cooking the majority of the time they are there, unable to enjoy their company.  As it is things get crazy right before serving as you’re assembling your salad, getting plates on the table, pouring more wine, etc.  Why stress yourself out more than you have to?  Sure, your guests want a good meal but the point of them being there is to hang out with you, not stare at the walls, while you cook an entire meal from start to finish.  I had guests over recently that I don’t see often, and really wanted to spend some time with.  These guests also happen to be “plain” eaters (their words, not mine) and it was a challenge to come up with something I could make ahead, that they would not only eat, but enjoy.  I knew they were meat eaters and pasta always works for a good make ahead meal.  I’m kind of bored with penne vodka and lasagna so I opted for a Bolognese sauce.  I’m sure some Italians would kill me for several reasons.  One, I consider Bolognese a glorified meat sauce, a fancy meat sauce, so to speak.  Secondly, I did not make a traditional Bolognese but wow, was it good, regardless.  I did some recipe research on-line and found several different recipes.  Traditionally, I believe the sauce is made with ground veal and pork, white wine, milk, and tomato paste.  I’ve done it this way before and it was certainly delicious but I’m American and I really like some tomatoes in my sauce.  I also found some recipes that used red wine instead of white.  I found that interesting as well.  So in my usual form, I combined a little from this and a little from that to make my own recipe.  It turned out to have the exact body and flavor I was looking for.  Can I call this a Bolognese?  After all the variations I saw on-line, I feel perfectly fine calling it just that.  Maybe it’s not “traditional”, but hey, neither am I!
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I came across this recipe in the March 2009 issue of Bon Appetit and have been dying to make it since.  It took me almost a year to get around to it, but it was worth the wait.  I’ve always loved ice cream cake and this is a really cool spin on it.  It’s made in a glass pie dish and instead of having those little chocolate crunchies in the middle, it’s got a graham cracker/pecan crust on the bottom which gives that crunch that you come to associate with an ice cream cake. It then has layers of caramel sauce drizzled between vanilla ice cream and is topped with a rich, decadent, layer of ganache with some pecans sprinkled on top for crunch.  In summary, two of my favorite things (Turtles and ice cream) together in perfect harmony, in the form of a pie.  I’m doing a happy dance.

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It’s still winter and winter makes me crave soup. Not only is it comforting to dive into a steaming bowl of soup but I find it to be particularly satisfying as well. Chicken soup is the ultimate comfort soup for me but unfortunately I am still smarting from my viewing of Food, Inc and I refuse to buy, cook, or eat chicken of any kind. Having limited myself in this way I decided to concentrate on hearty non-meat sources. Black beans and lentils made the most sense to me, not just because they are great sources of protein but also because I actually love black bean soup and lentil soup. It certainly helps that both soups are extremely healthy as well and what girl isn’t watching her waist-line this early in the New Year? So I decided to spend an entire Saturday making two different kinds of black bean soup and do a comparison (I also made Alton Brown’s lentil soup but that’s another post). One was a recipe from Bon Appetit (found via Smitten Kitchen) and another is a Bobby Flay recipe from his Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill Cookbook: Explosive Flavors from the Southwestern Kitchen. Both were conveniently accompanied by Bobby Flay’s cumin crema which made comparing them even easier. The Bon Appetit recipe was made in a slow cooker while Bobby’s was made in a pot but I don’t think that changed the outcome in any way and I feel you could interchange the cooking vessels and the soups would still be the same. The slow cooker is a nice option because you don’t need to keep an eye on it, while the pot is nice because the soup is done in a shorter period of time.

Anyway, enough about that, let’s get to the good stuff-the flavor! (more…)

It’s winter and there is nothing that warms my chilly bones like a steaming bowl of stew.  It’s so comforting, especially when it’s accompanied by a perfectly crusty piece of bread. I’ve made various stews in the past but I was really looking for a hearty beer stew this time around.  I was inspired by a recipe I found on Simply Recipes and used it as a base for this one.  The end result was a rich and hearty stew with depth of flavor from the beer and tomato paste, and a nice tang from the mustard. It’s gotten rave reviews from both friends and the boyfriend.

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If there is one dish that reminds me of Fall, it’s butternut squash soup. It’s incredibly comforting on a cold rainy day and that’s the very reason I was inspired to make it today. I haven’t seen the sun in days and it feels like I haven’t been dry in a while either. Tonight I decided to cozy up with a warm bowl of soup and a good movie (Almost Famous). My version starts with roasted butternut squash and is seasoned with roasted garlic and one of favorite herbs, sage, which always reminds me Fall. It’s pretty low in fat too, which doesn’t hurt, but so full of flavor that you’ll never miss it! It’s incredibly smooth and creamy with a slight tang to balance out the sweetness of the butternut squash. This recipe can be cut in half but I encourage you to make the whole recipe since you’ll want leftovers, plus it freezes beautifully.

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