CHEWING THE FAT

         Anthony Bourdain is an astonishingly good food writer, right up there with MLK Fisher in my book.  Before he became a familiar figure on Television and the star of his former show “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” and “The Layover” and his current one on…

         The first time Andrew and I ever tasted a Sablé, we’d made a pilgrimage to The Essex Market where Dorie Greenspan and her son Joshua had opened “Beurre et Sel”, a tiny hole in the wall that sold nothing but these out-this-world butter-y crispy…

You may be aware that there’s a football game being played this coming weekend that is the Granddaddy of them all.  This year’s game has the Northwest facing off against the Northeast in Glendale AZ, which at this writing will still take place despite a…

Basilica de Santa Maria del Fiore The story behind Peposo, a rich stew that owes its flavor to just two key ingredients –Chianti and Black Pepper—is as fascinating as the finished dish.   I read it in Cook’s Illustrated, which, in its usual fashion, went to great…

One night, not too long ago, Andrew asked for something light for dinner.  I shouldn’t have been all that surprised because as the blog has been laden with cold weather comfort food, so has our table. I love the indulgence of these winter recipes but…

Here’s true comfort food that you can play with to your heart’s content.  It’s virtually impossible not to make something warming and filling out of this recipe because the recipe is as flexible as can be.  It’s also a great way to empty the fridge,…

I am a big fan of the loin lamb chops that you can buy at Costco in packages of between 10 and 12 chops. They are all completely trimmed with none of the extraneous fat I often see on the chops in the butcher case…

Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs Founders of Food52 Have you ever visited Food52.com?  It’s the brainchild of former New York Times Food writer, Amanda Hesser and her partner, Merrill Stubbs, a Brown University and Cordon Bleu grad who worked with Amanda on “The Essential New…

Jill Clark, Redhead and Cook  My friend Jill Clark introduced me to Melissa Clark’s recipe for “Counterfeit Porchetta” at the dinner party she and her husband Steve threw right before Christmas.  Like Jill, I’d seen the recipe in the New York Times the week before…

         If you scroll down this page, you’ll see that we show 15 posts.  What I aim to do is never to have two similar dishes in the mix. Most of the time, that’s easy to accomplish.  I just avoid cooking the same raw ingredient…

         Who can forget Carla Hall? Twice a contestant on Top Chef, she was voted “Fan Favorite” her second time around, which is equivalent to being named “Miss Congeniality” in the old Miss America days.  She was lots of fun to watch…

Costco’s $4.99 Chicken   In our continuing series of quick weeknight dinners leading up to Christmas, I couldn’t ignore the charms of Rotisserie Chicken.  I cannot go into Costco without buying one of their birds, beautifully cooked and an amazing bargain at $4.99.   I’ve made this…

Food and Wine has just come out with another of its compendiums of recipes, this one titled “Chef’s Easy Weeknight Dinners” (Time Inc. Affluent Media Group 2014).  There are all kinds of recipes here from soups to seafood, side dishes to desserts.  What strikes me…

    Who isn’t always looking for fresh, new ways to cook that workhorse of the kitchen, the skinless chicken thigh? How about pairing them with Figs and Almonds? That’s why I was intrigued by a recipe in October’s Food and Wine Magazine that was…