Passover begins at sundown this Friday, April 3. If you’re invited to a seder and asked to bring a dish, offer to bring dessert. Then make this matzoh crack. As the name suggests, it’s addictively delicious. Marion first made her spin on the popular Passover dessert matzoh crunch five years ago, using white chocolate and spicy rose sugar. It has been a hit with family and friends ever since. She shares the recipe—and the story—right here.
One of the fun things about writing a food blog is getting to know other food bloggers—even if it’s only “knowing” them from their blogs. This week, I thought I would share recipes from five fellow bloggers I read pretty regularly. Dig in. Continue reading “Five recipes, five favorite bloggers”
Cumin, turmeric and chili powder give this quick, one-pot meal of braised lamb chops with potatoes and peas a delicious Indian twist. Recipe below.
Life is being busy right now, so this post will be about as quick as making this dish is. At the recent International Home + Housewares Show, we ran into Anupy Singla, author of several best-selling Indian cookbooks. We’ve cooked from one of her cookbooks here and eaten food she’s cooked at an event hosted in her home. So we were excited to see what she’s up to now. Continue reading “Two chops, one pot, Indian inspiration: Braised Lamb Chops with Potatoes, Peas and Cumin”
We like kitchen stuff. We don’t need to own it all, but we just like being around it, looking at it and talking to people who like it as much as we do. So attending the International Home + Housewares Show every year is like the best school field trip from childhood memory. Continue reading “Cool kitchen gear alert: the 2015 Housewares Show is coming to Chicago”
Short ribs braised in stout get extra flavor from garlic, shallots, carrots, mushrooms and chestnuts. Recipe below.
Beer and I don’t have a happy history. I love wine. I love cocktails. But I’ve never acquired a taste for the suds. When my brother was living in England, I visited him for a month once, during which we drank in approximately all the pubs in England, Scotland and Wales. Also during which I suffered through countless pints of stuff that was not only beer, but was thick, dark and room temperature—you could actually taste it fermenting in your mouth. My brother, of course, was in heaven. Continue reading “Beef meets beer goggles: Beer-braised Beef Short Ribs”
The savory, pungent, spicy goodness of Kimchi Soup with Pork Belly and Tofu will fend off just about anything winter throws at you. Recipe below.
Compared to Boston and other points east, we’re not having a bad winter in Chicago. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t getting to us. Multiple days of mostly single digit temperatures and sub-zero windchills have gotten old. And then there were the unexpected snow squalls Sunday, wrecking our plans for the day and causing a 38-car accident on a downtown expressway. It was time for some serious comfort food. Continue reading “Spicy, tangy Korean comfort: Kimchi Soup with Pork Belly and Tofu”
SO IT’S ALMOST VALENTINE’S DAY, and you haven’t scored a restaurant reservation. Or maybe you’ve chosen to abstain from the madness of one of the busiest nights for restaurants. Whatever the case, you need a delicious Plan B for this most romantic of holidays. Here are some ideas from the Blue Kitchen archives that might be just what you’re looking for. Continue reading “Recipes for an unreserved Valentine’s Day”
Dried oregano, garlic and onions create an aromatic base for a weeknight quick one-pot dinner of chicken, potatoes and peas. Recipe (and thoughts on dried herbs) below.
I go through phases with herbs. For a long time, herbes de Provence showed up in everything (I even added it to scrambled eggs for a while). More recently, it was tarragon—fresh from our yard up through the fall, then dried. Now I seem to be cooking with oregano a lot. Continue reading “Oregano dials up the savory in one-pot Braised Chicken Thighs with Potatoes and Peas”
Nuking potatoes instead of parboiling them makes skillet-sautéed potatoes even quicker to fix. Fresh herbs add a nice finish. Recipe below.
A FRIEND OF OURS—AN AMBITIOUS, ADVENTUROUS HOME COOK—does not own a microwave oven. He announces as much with the smug tone usually reserved for saying you don’t own a television. Continue reading “Microwaving gives Skillet Potatoes a head start”
Orzo—rice-shaped pasta—stands in for rice in this earthy, less fussy version of risotto, flavored with dried porcini mushrooms, saffron, leeks, garlic and lemon juice. Recipe below.
For years, we bought rice in 25-pound sacks at an Asian market, and we went through those sacks at an alarming rate. Until finally, we didn’t. The change wasn’t abrupt, but it was there. The giant sacks of rice were lasting longer, then ultimately becoming impractical, taking up too much room in our cramped pantry. Continue reading “Skip risotto’s obsessive stirring: Risotto-style Orzo with Porcini Mushrooms”