This week, we’re featuring six recipes/ideas from the Blue Kitchen archives for entertaining, celebrating and just feeling festive.
The holidays are upon us. Time for parties, family get-togethers, intimate dinners and even being indulgent on your own. Food—and drink—play a big part in all of it. Let’s start with something to drink. Continue reading “Six recipes for eating, drinking merrier”
An international ingredient list produces a hearty, one-pan dinner big on flavor and comfort. Recipe below.
With a headline like that, you’re probably expecting a decent backstory. Most of the recipes here at Blue Kitchen come with one. A new cookbook. An old family tradition. A restaurant discovery. Not this one. This recipe came from two simple questions. Continue reading “Korean-Italian comfort food: Pork Chops with Kimchi and Cannellini Beans”
Reducing red wine adds depth to these duck legs oven-braised with shallots, carrots, parsnip, garlic and thyme. Recipe below.
I ATE A LOT OF DUCK IN OMAHA. When we told friends about our plans to spend several days in Nebraska on our recent road trip, everyone told us to be prepared to eat a lot of beef. Nobody mentioned duck. The first night, I ate a duck leg in red wine that inspired this week’s recipe. Continue reading “French cuisine, by way of Nebraska: Red Wine-braised Duck Legs”
Weeknight-quick and one-pan simple, braised chicken thighs and potatoes are brightened with lemon juice and capers. Recipe below.
An impromptu stop on our recent road trip got me thinking about my journey to learning to cook. It was the final day of our trip. The day before, we had driven more than 550 miles, and now we were rocketing across Iowa on I-80, on the last 480-mile leg of our journey. Suddenly, Marion announced that we were not far from the “future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk.” Of course, we were going to stop. Continue reading “To boldly go without a recipe: Chicken Thighs with Potatoes, Lemon and Capers”
The sign above says it all. For the first time since we bought our new old house more than two years ago, Marion and I are on a road trip. Not just a weekend getaway, but a bonafide, see-things-we-haven’t-seen-before road trip. Continue reading “Brief, kitchenless notes from the road”
Fried rounds of store-bought polenta are topped with fresh mozzarella, caramelized onions and apricot jam for lunch on a busy Sunday. Recipe of sorts below.
Sunday was yet another of our patented too-busy days. Marion spent much of it digging in the garden of our new old house. As Marion tells it, most of what she is doing now isn’t gardening, but getting ready to garden. Digging up and hauling away tons of debris from the demolition and rehab of the house—nails, shards of glass, wire, chunks of wood and plaster. She’s also unearthed countless marbles, coins of various denominations and vintages (including an Indian Head nickel too ruined to reveal its age), a small (and unfortunately broken) glass bottle shaped like an automobile. And this literate little fellow. Continue reading “Sunday kitchen improv: Fried Polenta with Caramelized Onions, Mozzarella and Jam”
Cooking a post-worthy recipe is not happening this week. So instead, we take a look back at what we’ve cooked in some Septembers past.
Marion cooks up a hearty chowder, chock full of potatoes, corn, fish and bacon, giving it a sweet note by substituting corn stock for fish stock. You’ll find the recipe here. Continue reading “Septembers to remember: five recipes from our autumn archives”
Chicken thighs are seared, then pan roasted with apples, capers, shallots and rosemary for a meal that tastes like autumn. Recipe below.
FOR MUCH OF MY LIFE, AUTUMN HAS FELT LIKE A BEGINNING TO ME. Starting with grade school, fall marked the start of something new. A new year, with fresh school supplies, new clothes, new classes—and sometimes, new schools (we moved a lot). After college, I taught for a number of years—first elementary, then college—and that autumnal sense of renewal stayed with me. Now, I get that same sensation in the kitchen when September rolls around. Continue reading “Falling for autumn: Roasted Chicken Thighs with Apples and Capers”
So now we’re being threatened with taco trucks. “On every corner!” The response to this latest us-against-them lunacy has been deservedly hilarious. Talk show monologues, Facebook memes and T-shirts have all embraced the impending wealth of taco choices. Continue reading “Labor Day and the invasion of the taco trucks”
Pesto is a quintessential summer meal maker—garden fresh, versatile and requiring little or no cooking. Here are five pesto recipes, from the traditional basil to creative takes using sage, cilantro and even kale.
A sudden abundance of basil in our garden has us enjoying quick weeknight—and lazy weekend—dinners of simply prepared pesto with pasta. But it doesn’t always have to team up with pasta. It can be tossed with cooked potatoes and green beans, spooned over grilled meats and fishes—even smeared on crusty bread as a snack or appetizer. And it doesn’t always require basil, as some of these recipes demonstrate. Continue reading “Getting playful with pesto: five recipes improvise on a summer standard”