What makes a pancake a pancake? Is it how it is cooked? The ingredients? When you eat it? Does it matter? This delicious “pancake” may or may not meet the common definition of a pancake, but it will knock your socks off for its delicious strawberry filled flavor, the slightly crunchy top, and the soft, pillowy interior. As a former Bed & Breakfast owner, I have cooked a lot of breakfasts in my life but it’s been a while since I made a dish that got the reception this one did at our Easter Brunch. And since I told you I would share any recipe I thought worth your time, I could ...
Main Courses
MUSHROOM BOLOGNESE SAUCE — BROWN FOOD TASTES GOOD
Mushrooms, carrots and onions come together in a delicious vegetarian Mushroom Bolognese Sauce which proves the saying that "Brown food tastes good." It just doesn't photograph well! I watch a lot of cooking shows and one of my favorites is “The Worst Cooks In America”. In this show Chef Anne Burrell takes a group of people, who hide their feelings about not being able to cook behind jokes and ridiculous (sometimes outrageous) behavior, and she turns them into decent home chefs. As their cooking gets better, they drop a lot of the façade and become increasing involved in learning a craft. I ...
VEGETARIAN CHILI: WHO NEEDS MEAT?
A Rich, Satisfying Vegetarian Chili made with Beans, Corn, and Tomatoes Two weeks into my vegetarian experiment, I have learned a few things. Namely there is a difference between eating the occasional meat free meal (pasta with fresh tomato sauce, cheese omelets for example) and making a day-to-day commitment to it. It involves cooking. It’s easy to throw some chicken in the oven or a chop on the grill, but vegetarianism done properly involves combining proteins in order to get all the nutrients you need. In the same way that one learns which flavors work well when combined with ...
Moroccan Lamb with Honeyed Figs
Wild lamb flavor is tamed with rich, winter spices: cinnamon, ground coriander, fresh ginger and cumin, and then finished with honey roasted figs, piquant pomegranate seeds and the complex citrusy flavor of cilantro. Serve it over couscous, quinoa or rice or sop up the juices with fresh bread--it's your choice! I have figs and I have lamb. Both of which are, in my opinion, under appreciated foods. Lamb is beef on steroids. Deep red and tender but with a wild gamy flavor that takes a little getting used to. It brings notes of earth and umani to a dish and can stand up to spice and heat ...
TOMATO PIE: IT’S A SOUTHERN THING
Recently I asked my Instagram followers (@awomancooks) what they would make with a big tomato harvest, and I got a resounding chorus of “Tomato Pie!”. Tomato pie is not something I am very familiar with. I am purist when it comes to home grown tomatoes. I eat them sliced with a little salt, in a Caprese salad, or in a sandwich (tomato or BLT only!). The idea of layering them in a pie crust and cooking them with a mixture of cheese, mayonnaise and fresh herbs seemed a sure way to hide the flavor of the tomatoes. But I was wrong. After a lot of research I made some tweaks ...
PEAS AND PASTA or PASTA AND PEAS?
When I told my daughter about this dish, I called it a Pea Dish. She laughed and said, “Mom, that’s a pasta dish.” Peas and Pasta or Pasta and Peas, it is delicious. Tender fresh peas are tossed with pasta, cheese and basil then topped with crispy bits of bacon for a light meal or side dish. It’s easy, quick and delicious—the trifecta of recipes. I was gifted with a bumper crop of peas this year, but you can use frozen ones if fresh peas are unavailable. The pasta is similarly a matter of choice. The only requirement is that it be a small pasta, close to the size of the ...
SAUTEED CHICKEN THIGHS WITH FRESH BLUEBERRY SAUCE
About halfway through my 2 quart basket of blueberries I decided that any true exploration of the ingredient required exploring its use in savory dishes as well as sweet baked ones. I looked to chicken for this. Americans have been pairing poultry with berries since the Civil War when General Grant served cranberry sauce to his soldiers along with turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. Like the cranberry, blueberries are native to North America, making Chicken and Blueberry Sauce a close cousin of our Thanksgiving favorite. The blueberries bring a subtle sweetness to the dish which is ...
CILANTRO AND LIME AVOCADO SLAW
Replacing mayonnaise with avocado in the Cilantro Lime Sauce for this creamy slaw results in a rich and healthy Asian style slaw, perfect for using with fish dishes, in sandwiches or by itself! The seeds for this recipe were planting in Hong Kong in 1986. On one of my first forays into the local cuisine, I took a boat to the island of Lantau where I sat in a plastic chair at a rickety table on the waterside of the South China Sea. I was served a dish of fried rice with the freshest possible shrimp. It was delicious. But there was something in it I had never experienced before, a green ...
CHICKEN POT PIE
What do you think of when you think of when you think of chicken pot pie? I think of my childhood. Swanson's Frozen Chicken pot pie was what my mother left for us when she couldn’t be there to make dinner. My older sister would take them out of the freezer, one for each of us, and bake them in the oven. Sometimes, rarely, when they were ready, she let us take them downstairs to the playroom to eat in front of the TV. The thick white gravy would be bubbling up through the crust as I used my fork to break through to the pieces of chicken, peas and carrots inside. The salty ...
CARROT BEURRE MONTE SAUCE WITH PASTA AND SEAFOOD
Was it two years ago I went to Alaska? Yes. Two years since I rode with my family on a bus headed to Denali National Park and a cooking class with Chef Laura Cole of Top Chef fame. Two years since I dined on homemade pasta topped with fresh (never frozen) Alaskan King Crab and the most unlikely and scrumptious carrot sauce I have ever had. Two years and and then the world transformed, making that trip seem like a life time ago. After our lesson and meal, Chef Cole gave us the recipe and I put it in a file and then misplaced the file. But things have a way of ...
