Extra Schmaltz!

This recipe will knock your socks off and clear your sinuses out! It requires a couple of special ingredients, but once you have them you can make this all the time. No need for a trip to Tea House when you can make Ma Po Tofu at home! You can see the chili black bean sauce in the upper left. Please excuse the lack of a Delft chafing tureen. 1/2 c. ground pork (or chicken or beef) 2 packs soft tofu, drained and cut into 3/4" cubes 1 Tbsp. oil 1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes 2 Tbsp. Chili Black Bean Sauce 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 c. hot water 1 Tbsp. rice wine or sherry 4 green onions, finely sliced into rounds 1/4 c. corn or tapioca starch + 1/4 c. cold water 1 Tbsp. ground Szechuan pepper In a large saucepan or wok, heat up the oil until it begins to shimmer. Add the pork and cook, breaking up chunks into small bits, until there is no pink left. Add the red pepper flakes and Chili Black Bean Sauce and stir for one minute. Add the cooking wine and put the lid on and cook for one minute...

This is an extremely simple roast chicken dish that was orgasmic. I made some dill butter and put it under the skin of $.79/lb chicken quarters, then salted and peppered the exterior. I browned the chicken briefly in a pan, and roasted it on 475 until crispy and delicious. For the potatoes, I diced small red spuds and microwaved them in a covered bowl for about 5 minutes, until fork tender. They went in the oven with the chicken, and because of the pre-cooking, finished at about the same time. I simply tossed them with butter, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley. The couscous with smoked paprika was almost superfluous.

Melanie got this recipe from an Arabic cookbook, and upon testing, results indicated delicious. We ate it with flatbread, but it'd be good on rice as well. I've translated it from the cookbook.: Ingredients 3 Tbsp Olive Oil 1 Onion, cut into slivers 2 cloves crushed garlic 4 small zucchini, cut into circles (remember these are theoretically the lighter green, almost grey middle eastern ones) 2 tomatoes, diced 1 can chickpeas 1 c. water (or less if you want to eat it with bread) Salt, cumin and cinnamon to taste Directions: 1. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil. 2. When onion is transparent(in the Arabic: 'when the onion becomes blond'. Go figure.), add zucchini, and cook for a short while. 3. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, water, spices and cook, covered, on medium for around 20 minutes.

One of my favorite books is Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. It's a story about a crime, the road, the trials a family faces, and miracles. It takes place in Minnesota and South Dakota in the wintertime--the perfect setting for chowder. My recipe was inspired by this line: "Supper that night was Swede's favorite, a red-potato chowder Dad mixed up with hunks of northern pike. Seasoned with vinegar and pepper this was our king of soups; a person didn't even want to put crackers in it." I've kept the recipe humble and hearty, as would befit the story. You can doctor it up as you like (though I've probably included too many herbs as it is), but believe me when I tell you that it is irresistibly good even in its simplest form. 2 lbs red potatoes, skin-on and scrubbed 1 lb white fish 4 Tbsp. butter or bacon fat 1 small onion, diced 2 ribs celery, diced 1-2 qts water or fish or chicken broth 1 tsp thyme 1 tsp dill or dill seed (optional) lots of black pepper sa...

This is actually an egg custard with some bread in it, but boy o boy, is it delicious. I use up all the old dry bread I can find: Butter baking pan (any kind will do - I use a round glass casserole pan) Add: 1 1/2 cups dry bread 1 cup milk 1 handful golden raisins Soak bread and raisins in milk; add more milk to cover if necessary. Now go do something so you don't obsess over whether it has soaked enough. Preheat oven to 350 3 cups milk (you should have a total of 4) 6 eggs 3/4 cup sugar 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp cardamom (garam masala is also good here) Whip eggs, milk, and dry ingredients until eggs are fully beaten. Pour over the soaked bread. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or until it has puffed up and is completely cooked in the center. You should probably refrigerate the leftovers if there are any. This makes a great substitute for your usual breakfast.

So, I was looking for a way to get rid of some Thanksgiving leftovers (including some pie crust), and I hit on the idea of a pot pie. I made it in a slapdash way since I didn't have too much time for cooking, so given more time it'd be more delicious: Ingredients: Leftover turkey drumstick and wing Leftover pie crust Celery Carrots Onion Peas Bay leaves Spices 3ish garlic cloves Milk Butter Flour Wine or beer I cooked the turkey pieces in water with celery and onions (I saved the carrots for later so they wouldn't be too mushy, but still add flavor), whole garlic cloves and spices on a fairly high light till the liquid reduced and was reasonably flavorful (i.e. a halfhearted stock - approx. 1 hr). I removed the bones, retaining the meat. Then I made a roux with the flour, mixed in both milk and the broth, including all the veggies and meat, and added frozen peas. I added a bit of wine, though frankly dark beer (guiness) probably would have been better, and simmered until a ...

This topic keeps coming up and it can be hard to find a definitive guide when you're in the heat of the kitchen moment. I'll try to sum up the most important facts about brining. Brining is a great way to tenderize and add flavor to meat. It is more effective than marinating, which can backfire when the acid in the marinade starts denaturing the outer layer of protein on your meat, thus degrading its final texture. The 'magic' of brining was described to me this way (though I am omitting the more scienc-ey terms): Because the meat contains far less salt than the brine, the salt from the brine is inclined to more into the meat to even out the overall salinity of the brine + meat system. As the salt moves into the meat, it brings other flavors from the brine with it, such as aromatics, herbs, sugar. It also hydrates the meat so that even as liquid is lost during the cooking process, there's more liquid in the meat in the first place and the liquid is attracted to th...

After being badgered for years by my youngest son to brine my turkey, I finally did it. Naturally, I overthought the process and compared website recipes for days, including the information about where and how to actually do it. My eventual container was an XXL ziploc bag (big enough to hold a small adult) since it is food-grade plastic and doesn't leak all over the place. I put the turkey into the bag, put the bag into a cooler (brilliant idea from several websites since there is never enough room in the refrigerator for such a thing) and poured the prepared brine into the bag. I covered it with bags of blue ice, although it probably wasn't necessary. Weather permitting, you could also leave it outside; usually the temp around here on Thanksgiving is slightly cooler than the fridge. Every so often I turned the bird around and upside down, which was made easy by using the bag.  I made my brine by boiling an assortment of root vegetables in 2 gallons of water: carrots, garlic, c...

Stir Fried Leftover Salad in Black Bean Garlic Sauce (If I had known how delicious this was I would have taken a picture) Saute in un-flavored oil: Onion, carrot sticks, green vegetables, pre-soaked shiitake mushrooms Stir in a heaping spoon of Black Bean Garlic Sauce, combine well Add the leftover salad that didn't get dressing on it: ours was spinach, green leaf lettuce, shredded carrots, craisins, walnuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, fresh parmesan cheese. Continue to stir fry at high heat until all ingredients are cooked approximately the same amount.  Serve with rice noodles or rice. Whenever I see weird combinations like this on menus at yuppie restaurants I make rude remarks and keep looking. But, by golly, it was really, really good! 

Here's the recipe for sweet potatoes that I think is essentially how I remember them from all of my childhood Thanksgivings. And I should know, since I ate the vast majority of them... Sweet Potatoes I can't tell you exactly how many to get - I had around 5 pounds (the store was having a 5#/$1 special on sweet potatoes, which was great.), but I increased the amount of sugar sauce later on. Chop the potatoes into 1-2 inch chunks - you want them to be big enough that it's not too time consuming to skin them later, but at the same time they need to cook pretty quickly. Put them in a big pot, cover with water, then boil the potatoes until a fork goes into them easily. Drain the potatoes, then let them cool. Once cool, use a dull knife to help slip off the skins of the potatoes - it should be easy, and you really shouldn't have to use much force. I recommend putting the skinned potato chunks back into the same pot. Sugar Sauce Melt 1 stick butter in a small sauce pan, then a...

This, like most French foods, is a quintessential peasant food that, through whatever process it is that idolizes french shit, is thought of as something vaguely patrician. Fish soup is exactly what it sounds like; what poor fishermen and sailors eat when they arrive in port. This particular version is considered Provencale, originating in Marseille and the surrounding area. I guess northern sailors eat different stuff. Maybe whale. The basic idea is to take as many different kinds of the cheapest fish you can find, and cook them down whole with some veggies until its a mushy slurry, and then strain it finely so you're left with a super savory, fishy broth. I will demonstrate the traditional method of service as well. I found some french language recipes, and they all basically go like this: Onion Tomato Garlic Lots of different fish - only big ones gutted, small ones whole. Brown the fish bits, add veggies and sweat until clear, simmer the whole mess without lid adding water as it...

Announcing the first of the Thanksgiving recipes! I got this recipe from NPR during a show about cranberries. It's a very simple and easy pie (great if you need to make a last-minute dessert), which uses our favorite seasonal fruit. It can be served warm or cold and with or without whipped cream, though I argue it's best as-is. I didn't take this awesome picture--it's from the NPR website (Andrew Pockrose). Yes, it's as delicious as it looks. Preheat the oven to 350 and butter a 9" or 10" pie plate. Filling: 2 c. cranberries (fresh or frozen), coarsely chopped* 1/2 c. walnuts, coarsely chopped* 1/2 c. sugar Batter: 2 eggs 3/4 c. melted butter 1 c. sugar 1 c. flour 1 tsp. almond extract *(Retain some of the most attractive cranberries and walnuts for decoration) Toss together the chopped cranberries, walnuts, and sugar for the filling. Place this mixture in the buttered pie plate and pat it down gently. I chopped these using a food processor but you can ju...

Here's another one for posterity. I found it in my old email box, back when I asked mom for the recipe while living in the dorms: POPOVERS Begin by preheating the oven to 400 degrees - place well-oiled iron muffin pan in oven while you prepare batter. Put into blender*: (you can double or multiply by 1.5) 1 cup milk 1 cup flour 2 eggs 1/4 tsp salt 1 1/2 TBSP sugar 1 TBSP melted butter Blend until smooth; pour into muffin cups about 2/3 of the way. Check at 20 minutes; remove if brown. The magic is the hot oil in the hot pans. They will be popunders if you do not preheat the pan. Enjoy! *I find they work pretty well if you use mixers. You can actually just mix vigorously, if it comes to that.

This recipe was sort of implied in our previous gnocchi post , but I thought I'd post it as a stand-alone recipe because it's just so darn good. The time consuming part is making the gnocchi, but once that's done with the rest goes quickly. If you want to freeze some for future use (which you will be very thankful you did), freeze the gnocchi in a single layer after they are formed, but before they are boiled. Once they're frozen fully, place them in a ziploc bag and simply dump them in boiling water when you're ready to eat them. They can be eaten right after boiling or fried in a little oil if you want crisp edges. Use the guidelines below as a ratio, which you can increase for a larger batch. This makes enough for 2 meals for 2 people or so. Apparently true gnocchi don't even contain egg, but I haven't tried the recipe that way. If you try that and it works out, let me know. The gnocchi with lamb summer sausage and steamed brussels sprouts (I grew them!)...

Who is Susan? We don't know! This recipe comes from the Melting Pot II Cookbook, which was a kick-ass collection of recipes from the parents of one of the pre-schools in Santa Barbara. A friend of ours, Debbie Lipp provided this recipe from her friend Susan. Whoever Susan is, she makes a good scone! 1 1/2 c. flour 2 Tbsp. sugar 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1/3 c. melted butter 1 egg, beaten ~1/2 c. buttermilk Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat egg in measuring cup and fill with buttermilk to make 2/3 cup. Stir in melted butter [should now be 1 c. of liquid]. Add liquids to dry ingredients and beat until just smooth [I have read that in Ireland this is done in a maximum of five strokes!]. Do not overmix. This is a very soft dough. Turn it out of the bowl onto a well-floured board. Flour your hands and pat the dough into a round. Cut it into six to eight wedges. Move the wedges onto a cookie sheet, spacing about 1/2 inch apart. Bake at 400 for 15-...

Here is my delicious Sunday dinner: With blueberry muffins for dessert: The enchiladas are as per Lillian's procedure, but using a mole instead of a red sauce , derived from this recipe but with total and utter lack of regard to their proportions (also with shredded chicken, black beans, and much cilantro): http://www.recipezaar.com/35659 And the Spanish rice as per this recipe, again following it quite loosely: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000040spanish_rice.php For those of you with large quantities of homemade chicken stock, you could obviously just make these, however, I needed some stock-like-substance, so I cooked the chicken with carrots, onion, some cinnamon stick, some cloves, and a bit of other stuff, then used the chicken broth for both of the above recipes. This worked out super duper well, since the chicken also tasted really good when it went into the enchiladas. The muffins are from the following recipe, though I didn't have real yogurt so I just added w...

I got this wonderfully simple recipe from the Kitazawa Seed Co. catalog, though mom says she used to make it all the time, which must be why it tastes so comfortingly familiar. I like to make it when I'm feeling under the weather, but in general it's a useful and colorful side-dish, especially for Japanese-style meals. It can be served hot or cold (when it's cold it makes a great late-night snack). 1 medium sized kabocha squash ~1 qt. dashi (recommended), chicken broth, or water 2-3 Tbsp. brown sugar 1 Tbsp. mirin or dry sherry (optional) 2 Tbsp. soy sauce Wash the squash, cut it in half, and scoop out the seeds. Cut it into 1 1/2" square chunks, leaving the skin on (keeps the pieces from breaking apart). Place it in a suitable saucepan with the skin side down. Add enough dashi or broth to cover, and add brown sugar and mirin. Cover and bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Add the soy sauce and simmer for 7 more minutes. When the squash is tend...

My minestrone, made with potatoes, carrots, small red beans, green beans, fresh tomatoes, and sproingy noodles. All just stuff I had on hand. I just learned a great tip for making this free-form soup: add a couple spoonfuls of pesto at the end! I thought I should post the recipe (or more like, guidelines) as a reminder of this tasty dish. There are basically no rules for minestrone, so just use what you have on hand. I added a ham hock by simmering it for a long time in the broth and cutting the meat off of it to add to the finished soup, but you can use pancetta or bacon or just leave it vegetarian if you like. Rainbow of colors, get ready to turn into rainbow of flavors! several pieces pancetta or bacon (or 2 Tbsp. olive oil) mirepoix (onion, celery, and carrots, diced) red pepper flakes (optional) 3-4 c. stock or water 1 can tomato sauce a few dashes of red wine bay leaves mixed vegetables, diced: --white things like potatoes, parsnips, or celeriac --summer squash or winter squash -...

Alex requested this recipe, which was a fun opportunity to look at my Jr. High School-era handwriting on the recipe card. I learned to make pannekoeken in Home Ec. in 7th grade (surely that class has since been eliminated or at least renamed) . It is like a large popover or a very eggy panckake that's baked, and is typically served for breakfast. The whole thing puffs up when you bake it and then the edges fall inwards. One example of a pannekoeken. They puff up higher if you preheat the pan and butter good 'n' hot, but this was the first batch and I was impatient. Preheat oven to 45o. Coat a circular baking dish (ideally one with high sides) with melted butter. Combine: 1/2 c. flour 1/2 c. milk 2 eggs Beat until smooth. Pour the batter into the buttered pan and sprinkle the top with cinnamon and sugar. Bake for 15 minutes, until it puffs up and browns on the edges. Serve as quickly as possible, because it will fall as it cools. I like to serve it with maple syrup, but it i...

This is the 2nd half of the spareribs I braised before . I prepared them jerk style, but sorta half assed so while they still turned out delicious, they did not spirit my palate away to the Caribbean. The jerk marinade was about 1 part cider vinegar, 1 part water, half a lime's juice, a bunch of chopped scallions, and a bit each of thyme, allspice, cumin, and coriander. I blended this with a bullion cube for good measure and a couple tablespoons of brown sugar. It probably would have worked if I had properly marinated the meat, but I didn't do it until about 10 minutes before prep so there was minimal penetration of the flavor into the meat. I compensated by basted it as it barbecued. Using Lil's tried and true method of dividing the coals with a big foil roasting pan, I slow cooked the meat for about 2.5 hours, basting it with the sauce and turning it every 30 or so. What you see above is the result, with a pronounced smoke ring into the meat. It was delicious. Here is the...

I haven't been cooking that much lately (my energies have instead been spent on pickling and preserving things), but tonight I got back into the kitchen and put together an excellent meal. Saltimbocca (literally, 'jumps in your mouth') can be made with chicken, veal, or pork cutlets, and this time I opted for boneless, skinless chicken thighs. It's wrapped in prosciutto, though I used some awesome, thin-sliced, Canadian bacon from Anoka Meats, which was surprising similar to prosciutto. The key ingredient is fresh sage, so if you don't have any just let me know and I will give you some! I have plenty in my garden. Some people add capers to the dish, some people add spinach, but I like to just keep it simple. Make it however you like. Yummy yummy! You can't see the sage, but it's underneath the outer layer of the rolls. It give the dish its characteristic flavor, which you don't taste very often. 1 - 1 1/2 lbs. chicken, veal, or pork cutlets enough thin ...

I got this wonderful recipe from the Almost Turkish recipe blog. Bastirma is a salted, highly seasoned, pressed beef product that you can find at the deli counter in Holy Land. I think it fulfills the role a pork product like bacon would fill in non-Muslim (or Jewish) cuisine. It has a complex, salty flavor, with a lot of paprika in it. It's well worth buying and is also very good in scrambled eggs and fried potatoes. Here's a domestic brand of bastirma. They have several at Holy Land, so you might find a pack that doesn't look exactly like this. They are probably all tasty, though I hear that the stuff imported from Turkey is more intensely flavored. 1 lb. cannellini beans, soaked overnight (or 2 cans, drained) 1/2 pack of bastirma strips (10-12 pieces), shredded butter or olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 2-3 banana peppers, chopped 1 Tbsp. pepper or tomato paste 2 tomatoes, diced (or 1 can petite diced tomatoes) 1 tsp. crushed pepper 1 tsp. dried...

I can't believe that I haven't posted this until now. This is the Magidow family's all-time favorite recipe involving apples; it was given to me by a dear friend who died an early and untimely death; each time I make it I think of her. To Toni! Fill buttered baking dish with chopped and peeled apples. Sprinkle with sugar and dot with butter. Put in medium oven (350) while making the batter: 1/2 cup soft butter 1 cup sugar Cream butter and sugar well. Add: 1 well-beaten egg 1 small cup flour sifted with 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 teaspoon vanilla Pour (or plop) batter over apples and bake 45 minutes or until brown. Serve hot from the oven. Invite your friends. Makes a great breakfast treat, too. As you can see, there is no specific amount of apples, just kind of mound them up so they don't fall out of the pan. The batter will seem kind of sticky, but it melts into a lovely, golden crust. It is a great alternative to pie or apple crumble and most people have all these ...

A good old Magidow recipe, posted here for posterity so I don't have to search around my computer for the recipe every time I need it: 3 egg yolks 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup cold water 3/4 cup matzo meal 3 egg whites, stiffly beaten fat for deep frying Beat together the egg yolks, salt, water. Stir in the matzo meal and fold in the egg whites. Heat the oil to 375 and drop the batter into it by the tablespoon. Fry until browned on both sides. Drain. Top with cinnamon sugar or maple syrup. Serves 3-4 very small people who aren't very hungry.* * this recipe does not "double" well. It is best to make it twice (in two different bowls) to make twice as many.

Here are some tasty meaty bits prepared via my favorite method: braising. Quick recap: this means browning in a heavy pan at very high heat to get a tasy sear, then covering the meat about halfway with a flavorful liquid, sealing the pan as airtight as possible, and baking it at a relatively very low temperature (~225 degrees) for 2+ hours. In this case, the tasty liquid was about 2 parts red wine, 1 part water. I sprinkled the meat with salt and pepper first, but otherwise there was no seasoning. You want the liquid to be gently bubbling, but not at a rolling boil; this is difficult to gauge since you must seal the container, but using tinfoil makes it pretty easy to replace the lid. Or, if your oven's thermostat is pretty accurate, just aim at a little over the boiling point (212). The heaviest pot you have is important, but cast iron or other reactive materials will change the color of the sauce (although with a red wine sauce it wont be too noticeable). When they're done (a...

If you're anything like me, you have more green beans than you can deal with right now. Even if you don't, this is an easy and versatile dish that can either be a vegetarian side-dish or a meaty main entree. You can even use frozen green beans, so this would be a welcome taste of summer when you're raiding the freezer for vegetables in the middle of winter. I first had this dish in Jordan, and was pleased to find the recipe at Summer Bahrain's wonderful Mimi Cooks Middle Eastern food blog. I followed her instructions pretty closely, so you can view the recipe there, but I will re-post it here for convenience. If you want to make this a heartier meaty main-dish, add some ground beef, lamb or beef cubes, or kufta meat balls. It's delicious with rice or as a side-dish. Many of the ingredients are optional, so just make it how you like. ~1 lb. green beans, trimmed and cut into 1.5" pieces 2 Tbsp. cooking oil 1 large onion, chopped 1 chili pepper, chopped (optiona...

Alex writes from Austin, "Mom, do you know any particularly good chocolate cake recipes?" What better time to post this beauty: Texas Sheet Cake. It is easy and quick and tastes just plain yummy. Ingredients: 2 cups flour 2 cups sugar 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup butter (so far it sounds pretty good, right?) 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 2 eggs 1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk 1 1/2 tsp vanilla Grease a rectangular baking pan, set aside. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and sale. set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup butter, 1/3 cup cocoa, and 1 cup water. Bring to boil stirring constantly (yes, Alex, you can do this while talking on the phone). Remove from heat. Beat cholocate mixture into the dry mixture until thoroughly blended. Add eggs, buttermilk, an dvanilla. Stir or beat until batter is thin (about 1 minute.) Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350 about 25 - 35 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Err on...

This soup is simple and satisfying and turns out great in the crockpot or pressure cooker. It's essentially a flavorful lamb-based broth with large chunks of root vegetables floating in it. It's traditionally served with strips of flatbread immersed in it, which I think is even tastier when the bread is stale. You can use any kind of bone-in lamb, as long as the individual chunks aren't too big (i.e. don't use an entire lamb shoulder). Try your best to find turnips because these really give it the flavor it needs. Despite the simple seasonings and broth-iness, this soup is hearty and satisfying. I normally leave the turnips in larger pieces, but some of mine had hollow centers I had to cut out. By keeping things in large chunks they don't fall apart and cloud the broth as much. 1.5-2 lbs. bone-in lamb chunks 1 large onion 1 tsp. ground coriander 2-3 tomatoes, peeled and sliced or chopped 2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into thick diagonal slices 3-4 potatoes, peeled an...

This recipe is great for when you want something really nice and simple, especially in hot weather. It's adapted from the "Sundays at the Moosewood" cookbook, where it's called Tauhu Goreng Kechap. The sauce is definitely more than the sum of its parts - I really like it. Sauce: 2/3 light soy sauce 3-4 cloves garlic 2 Tbsp minced onion/scallion/shallot(I usually use green onions) 1-2 small bird chilies 1/4 c fresh lime juice (I recommend more) 1/2-1 tsp. sugar Fry up some tofu, make some rice. I recommend adding some vegis - they recommend steaming some mungbean sprouts, but I personally skinned and seeded a cucumber, and blanched some thinly cut carrots. Put the vegis and friend vegis on the rice, then pour sauce over to taste. Depending on the season, it might go well with some miso soup or something. A picture of it made all fancy (served with a side of broccoli...and sake, even):

This might be the first sandwich recipe on the blog. When Dan returned from a daytrip to New Jersey, he admitted that he'd had a sultry and unforgivable lunchtime affair with a Garden State native who "had more meat than I could get in my mouth". Some asshole named Vesuvio. Turns out Vesuvio is a sandwich. Our family has never been big on sandwiches, and it's a bit odd to think of a 'recipe' for one, but this is a fantastic combination of ingredients that deserves posting . The key is to use fresh, high quality bread. I recommend something like a mini ciabatta roll, which has a springy, airy texture, but without the mouth-shredding crust of some other European-style breads. Assemble: deli slices of smoked turkey roasted red peppers from a jar provolone cheese a fresh ciabatta roll Try to have a ratio of cheese:meat of about 1:5. No need to add any other kind of condiment, especially if your bread is fresh. Enjoy! PS: When I posted this I checked to see if th...

You know it's late summer when you've had sweet corn with 9/10 of your past meals. If you're anything like me, you wind up with leftover ears, either cooked or raw, that you weren't able to get to before you started on the next batch. This phenomenon coincides nicely with the arrival of cooler weather--all together this means it's the perfect time for corn chowder. This recipe is pretty basic, but feel free to spice it up with curry or red pepper chunks or anything else you can imagine. I made it with 4 ears of corn, but anywhere from 3-6 would probably work. I don't like mine too creamy, but if you like it that way then just add more dairy. 3-6 ears of corn, raw or cooked 3 strips bacon or a hunk of salt pork, diced 1 onion, diced finely 2-3 ribs celery, diced 1 tsp. red pepper flakes 2-4 potatoes, cubed (~1.5 c.) 1-2 qts. chicken broth 1/4 c. vermouth or dry sherry 1 tsp. thyme 1 tsp. marjoram lots of black pepper Tabasco or chipotle sauce (optional) 1/2 - 1 c...

I remember looking this recipe up on the internet in around 1998 and I had to do exhaustive searching to find a single recipe. Now there are tons, as well as several videos of how to make it. Pão de Queijo are just as easy to make as buttermilk biscuits, but are arguably more delicious. They are springy little puffs of tapioca starch and cheese and go well with virtually anything--what's more, they only take about 35 minutes to make from start to finish. The only hard part is keeping tapioca starch (aka tapioca flour, manioc flour, cassava flour) on hand, though this is easy to find at any Asian store and is usually cheap. You also need a hard, mild cheese that won't overwhelm the puffs. I used a combination of parmesan and white cheddar. 2 c. tapioca starch 1 c. milk 1 c. water 1/2 c. vegetable oil 1 tsp. salt 2 eggs ~1 c. grated hard, mild cheese Preheat the oven to 450. Place the tapioca starch in a large bowl. Bring the milk, water, vegetable oil, and salt to a boil. Pour i...

So this is actually a ridiculously simple beet salad, but I got it from my friend Melanie who just got back from Morocco. Apparently she knows at least two other recipes for beet salad, but this is her favorite: 4 small-medium sized beets 1/2-3/4 cup beet juice(produced by boiling the beets) juice of one lemon 2-4 Tbsp sugar (to taste) Boil beets whole, then cool, and remove skins. Dice. Mix the juice produced from boiling them with lemon juice and sugar. Pour the sauce over the diced beets. Serve chilled as an appetizer. She also serves most dishes with a really simple side salad as well: Cucumbers Tomatoes Salt (more than you think) Vinegar (white is fine) Olive Oil Remove the seeds from the tomatoes, then dice. Dice cucumbers. Combine everything. Apparently this is just the basic salad they eat with everything, but it's very refreshing for those of us who like cucumbers.

Here's an easy and colorful potato side dish that uses the cheerful but under-appreciated turmeric. I've only made it in the pressure cooker, but it will probably work in a regular pot if you simmer it carefully. Only use enough potatoes that they will cover the bottom of your pan in a single layer. They look better on the plate, but here's the basic idea. The wedges will be fluffy on the inside, slightly translucent, and obviously, bright yellow. 2-4 russet potatoes, peeled cut in wedges 3 cloves garlic, chopped 3 Tbsp. oil 1 tsp turmeric 1 Tbsp. salt 1/2 tsp. white pepper 1/2 tsp. ground coriander (optional) hot water In the base of your pressure cooker, heat the oil until moderately hot. Add the garlic and saute until it just begins to turn golden. Add the turmeric and stir so it colors the oil and begins to release its fragrance, about 30 seconds. Add the potato wedges, white pepper, salt, and coriander to the pan and toss the potatoes so they are coated in the turmeric...

The first harvest of my garden has arrived, in the form of red radishes! The variety I grew is called Shunkyo Semi-long and I chose it because it matures quickly. Unfortunately (or so I thought) these radishes are too spicy for comfortable snacking or use in salads. I couldn't let them go to waste, but I just didn't know what to do with them! Fortunately, though, I emailed the wonderful Maangchi , who runs a fantastic Korean cooking blog and whom I've corresponded with in the past. She responded right away with a recipe idea: water-style kimchi ('mul kimchi'), which she recently made with similar radishes. Take that , rabbits! This style of kimchi has more liquid than what you find in the most common style of kimchi available in the store, though it is made in a similar way: a short and simple fermentation. The recipe that Maangchi sent me doesn't use red pepper flakes, which is a nice change from the usual red kimchis you find. The results are boldly spicy, cr...

This is the 100th post on the blog! Good work, family--I think we've created something wonderful here. Keep on postin'! Now that I'm writing this 100th post, I feel like I should commemorate it with some kind of special recipe, but this is just what I made for dinner tonight. In the end I guess that's the most appropriate thing to post, since the only theme for our blog is "food the Magidows cook". I learned this recipe from my roommate, JiJY, and it's the 'dry' style of pad thai, rather than the saucier American style. You can use any meat and add vegetables as you like, though it's best kept simple. The most important trick is to keep the noodles undercooked, since you want them to stay robust at the end. Tamarind sauce can be a little harder to find, but most Asian stores carry it--unfortunately there are no substitutions for this and you need it to proceed. If the paste is very thick, thin it with hot water so that it pours readily but stil...

An ode to rice noodles! Today I had fun exploring the international grocery stores in Rochester. Rice and Spice, an Indian place, is great and I got excellent service there. The shopkeeper helped me find everything on my list and even gave me some recipes. The Asian Food Store was really seedy and kind of freaked me out a little bit (especially the half-wit working the meat counter), but I found some amazing glazed pork and was inspired to make this meal. I love Singapore noodles, even though they have nothing to do with Singapore, but they are hard to find. I've been meaning to figure out how to make them and today was the perfect chance. The dish is a lot like fried rice in that you use little bits of vegetables and meat, whatever you have on hand, except that it's made with rice noodles and seasoned with curry powder. I used chicken thighs and some glazed pork, and left out the traditional shrimp. Feel free to improvise and conduct Operation Icebox. Update: Check out t...