Miscellaneous Items

Artichoke Risotto

April 7, 2024

  In Chez Panisse Cooking, Paul Bertolli prepares artichokes by boiling them whole, then separating the hearts from the leaves. He-or, more likely, a sous chef–then scrapes the “meat” from each individual artichoke leaf, mixing it with chopped shallot, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. The resulting artichoke mush may…

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Spinach and Potato Tian

March 16, 2024

Elizabeth David, writing in Is There A Nutmeg In The House, describes a tian as “an open earthenware casserole or gratin dish called in the Provencal language a tian….” David goes on to say there is no fixed recipe for a tian beyond using “a certain proportion of freshly cooked…

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Checking in

February 10, 2024

Hello all- I am dealing with a tendinitis flare in my left hand. This makes posting–among many other life activities- challenging. My apologies. I have excellent medical care and reasonable hope this will soon be resolved, allowing me to post. Thank you for being here- D.

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Macaroni and Cheese–or Macaroni Cheese, if you’re a Brit–is a dish of infinite variety. A popular local restaurant menu offers Macaroni and Cheese with Enchilada Sauce, Mac n’Cheese “pizza style,” and, in perhaps the ultimate fusion dish, mac n’ cheese with Korean Short Ribs. Then there’s Nigella’s rightfully famed Mac…

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Blood Orange Ice Cream

January 21, 2024

Americans of a certain age might recall 1970’s Samsonsite luggage commercials. These advertisements featured a gorilla in an otherwise empty airport, trying and failing to destroy a Samsonite suitcase. This ad came to mind Monday, when my husband returned after a brief trip. He’d flown on the “good” airline, the…

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Tomato Soup

January 3, 2024

Of all the recipes a well-intentioned person can offer, soup is perhaps the most difficult to quantify. Laurie Colwin famously wrote about this in the essay “Soup,” found in Home Cooking. For the three people left on the planet who haven’t read Colwin, in brief, she describes soup as naturally…

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Winter Pate

December 20, 2023

You’ve made meat loaf, right? You’ve eaten cold meat loaf, yes? Then you’re halfway to being a an ass-kicking, name-taking charcutier. “Ooooh…pate, I don’t know.” Please. Campagne means “country” in French–which means even your country-ass can make it. Anthony Bourdain (who else?) Les Halles Cookbook Today’s recipe came about after…

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A Picture Post

November 20, 2023

A picture post, because I won’t have time for a recipe before Thanksgiving. Apples. Lemongrass. Helen Goh’s Take Home Chocolate Cake, from Sweet. Sunrise, as seen out the study window. Frozen bacon. Borlotti Beans.   Have a safe and happy holiday.    

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A Photo Post

September 11, 2023

A great deal of cooking has transpired recently. None of it is especially notable. Instead, it is the kind of cooking, or more accurately, baking, that occurs when people know you bake and are in need of three dozen brownies for fundraising purposes. Helen Goh’s Take Home Chocolate Cake, prepared…

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The world divides into two kinds of people: those who must have Huy Fong Sriracha Sauce with every meal, and those who think people like us are lunatics . Well, pity us Sriracha lovers, for the rooster has fled the coop. And nobody knows when the bird will return. More…

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