CHEWING THE FAT

         Salmon is truly a lifesaver for harried weeknight cooks.  Now I suppose that means most of us, most of the week. But there’s another great plus to cooking salmon.  That is when you need something to start cooking only when the last family member…

     A classic Bolognese sauce takes hours on the stove where the sweetness of tomatoes, onions, celery, and carrots blend with beef, and pork to come together in one of Italy’s most treasured sauces.  In Italian American houses, it is called “Sunday Sauce” because the…

In Spring, Quebec taps its sugar maples. As a lot of my readers know, I am from the province of Quebec in Canada.  Even though I have lived my entire adult life in the States, I still revere my Canadian roots and I am very…

Viking River Cruises Take to the Oceans   It’s hard to tell which is larger: the ship, the amount of dining options, or the value. Last May, I took Viking Tor from Budapest to Nurnberg For the past five years, Viking River Cruises has consistently…

John Ash, Chef, Author and Teacher          Let’s face it: You can only eat so much chicken, so many ways. Well how about Duck instead?   Dark, rich, tender meat with a crackly, crisp skin, duck is often thought of as a restaurant item (think Peking…

Chile’s Chicken Valdostana  “Milanese” is god’s gift to people who love fried food but are afraid to admit it.  This easy-to-conquer technique coats meat with crunchy, crispy bread-crumbs. The meat is dipped in flour, then in egg and finally in breadcrumbs.  Originally, I tasted it…

Molly Yeh          More often than not, my inclination is to try any recipe that appeals to me that week. So it was with this warming dish of coconut-scented rice,  curried pork, crisp vegetables, a splash of lime juice and the crunch of peanuts. A…

A great stir-fry is a gift to weeknight cooks. After the initial chopping and slicing, few things cook faster or give more satisfying results.  Since this is a Chinese technique, it’s ideal for dishes like Beef with Broccoli, that Chinese takeout standby.  To the original…

My Inspiration. It was a night I wanted to cook something special just for the two of us.  I opened the pages of the book and there in front of me was an utterly attainable plate with a single crispy-skinned chicken breast, some very green…

Marc Forgione’s Crab Cake….          Larry Forgione’s Smoky Onion Remoulade A great crab cake is not easy to find.  Many versions of this Maryland classic are purposefully stuffed with as much bread as there is crab.  Sometimes this is to compensate for the price of…

After the Storm…          If you watched the news anytime in the past 72 hours, you undoubtedly heard that much of the Mid-Atlantic states are under a blanket of snow so deep, that Washington DC is shut down for at least another day.  Here in…

My Inspiration as it appeared in Food and Wine Last Fall, Food and Wine did a major article about roasts.  The one that immediately caught my eye was a picture of a Dutch oven in which, semi-submerged, was a pork shoulder roast swimming in cream…

Chef Thomas Keller Last week the unthinkable happened. Thomas Keller is surely one of the most famous of all American chefs. His  “The French Laundry” in Yountville, CA was called “the best restaurant in the world, period” by Anthony Bourdain. Chef Keller’s other offerings sealed…

As promised earlier this month, this blog has not heard the last of Ruth Reichl’s latest book (Random House 2015).   Completely coincidentally, while Ruth wrote of yet another snowstorm marooning her and her husband in their upstate New York house, we here in the city…