Technical difficulties

We’ve been having computer issues here at Blue Kitchen. So instead of cooking, photographing and posting, we were stewing about our electronics. The blog is still very much up and running, so feel free to look around, search the archives, leave comments… We were just a little too preoccupied to put up our regular Wednesday posts. The computer is fine now, and food will be back soon, perhaps Thursday.

I’d like to take a moment here to say a little bit about Apple and their computers. Our current five-year-old iMac is the latest in a long line of Macs that have graced our desks and laps over the years. We just like Macs. They not only work beautifully and intuitively, they look cool doing it. Steve Jobs raised the bar on design as much as he did technology. Continue reading “Technical difficulties” →

The delicious root of the matter: Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables

Roasting chicken, sweet potatoes, parsnips, onions, garlic and rosemary together melds flavors beautifully in this one-pan meal. Recipe below.

This time of year brings a certain amount of angst for those trying to eat locally, seasonally and sustainably. Pickings are getting slim at farmers markets, especially here in the Midwest. The land is hunkering down for a long, cold winter, and summer’s produce bounty is receding in the rear view mirror. So what do we eat?

To answer this question, we need to look back to a time when eating locally, seasonally and sustainably was just called eating. For most of our grandparents (and certainly our great-grandparents), if the fruits and vegetables they ate didn’t come from their own gardens, they came from family farms not far from where they lived. To have produce to eat when the snows came, they would do a couple of things. Continue reading “The delicious root of the matter: Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables” →

Gluten-free flour good enough for Thomas Keller

Gluten-free flour developed for Keller’s The French Laundry, now available for home cooks, is the subject of my latest Character Approved Blog post.

Remember carob? A blogger I read regularly mentioned it in a recent post, reminding me for the first time in years of this dreadful so-called healthy substitute for chocolate. It may have been healthy, but it was no substitute for chocolate, especially the good stuff. And guess what? Now chocolate has been given a clean bill of health.

Carob’s very badness points up the problem with many dietary substitutes: They’re not very good. In fact, many of them are downright awful. But gluten sensitivity—allergic reaction to wheat products—is a huge and growing issue. And wheat is a huge part of so many of the foods we eat—especially baked goods. So finding satisfactory substitutes for wheat products is a big deal. Continue reading “Gluten-free flour good enough for Thomas Keller” →

Ten favorite recipes from five years of writing Blue Kitchen

Blue Kitchen turns five this month! To celebrate, I’m posting ten of our personal favorite recipes from the first five years.

Some years ago, singer/songwriter John Prine said at one of his concerts, “I’ve been doing this for 26 years now. But it only feels like… 25.” I understand. It feels like I’ve only been doing Blue Kitchen for four and a half years.

In trying to come up with fresh things to write about week after week, I’ve often said (and shall often say again, I’m sure) that ideas for the recipes and posts here come from many sources. This anniversary post was inspired by a very nice email from a new reader. In it, Le wrote,”Do you have a category of ‘favorite’ recipes? We all have favorite recipes that we would use over and over again and are favorites of the family and friends. I feel most of these recipes are often foolproof.” Continue reading “Ten favorite recipes from five years of writing Blue Kitchen” →

Small Bites: A website for hungry, lonely singles and hone your blogging skills at Food Blog U

A San Francisco website that matches singles based on food cravings is the subject of my latest Character Approved Blog post. And noted food writer Molly O’Neill builds a serious team for an in-depth food blogging course.

Feeling lonely and maybe a little peckish? If you’re in San Francisco, you’re in luck. Type in the food you’re craving and where you’d like to be eating it on the website Spoondate. Your cravings and your picture pop up on the site, where like-minded hungry singles can find you and make a date. Or you can see what others are craving and click with someone new.

And while picking a possible significant other based on food cravings may seem overly specific, even to foodies, meeting someone over the perfect thin crust pizza at Mario’s makes for a more interesting start than the generic “cup of coffee.” Continue reading “Small Bites: A website for hungry, lonely singles and hone your blogging skills at Food Blog U” →

A big, delicious bowl of healthy: Turkish Style Red Lentil Soup with Chard

Sweet Hungarian paprika, garlic, cayenne pepper, sumac, diced tomatoes with green chilies and just a bit of lamb make Turkish Style Red Lentil Soup with Chard a lively, healthy, robust meal in a bowl. Recipe below.

As the weather has been turning cooler, Marion has been messing around with lentils in the kitchen, trying a dazzling array of recipes. I’ll let her tell you about her most recent delicious results.

We mostly try to eat fairly sensibly. But on occasion, we don’t (and when we don’t, it’s usually pretty wonderful). When we have had a shockingly sumptuous meal, I often say for the rest of the week all I am going to eat is one lentil.

Not that eating lentils is suffering. Really, I can’t say enough about how good and important they are. Lentils are not only so, so delicious, but so, so healthy. Continue reading “A big, delicious bowl of healthy: Turkish Style Red Lentil Soup with Chard” →

Breakfast for dinner grows up: Savory Waffles with Mushrooms and Braised Veal

Savory waffles, flavored with fresh thyme and buckwheat flour, are topped with a mushroom and braised veal sauce. Recipe below.

Lots of people love eating breakfast for dinner. To me, though, it’s often been more of a meal of last resort. What you eat when you haven’t gotten to the store for more serious groceries, but hey, you’ve got eggs, and the bread is fresh enough if you toast it.

But recently, I stumbled across the idea of savory waffles—can’t remember where now—and breakfast for dinner suddenly became more interesting. For starters, you’ve got waffles, elegant city cousins of the country pancake. They even require their own machine to make—no mere cast iron skillet will do. Whenever my mom hauled out the waffle iron (always on a weekend morning, and certainly never for dinner), breakfast just felt fancier, more fun. Continue reading “Breakfast for dinner grows up: Savory Waffles with Mushrooms and Braised Veal” →

Fighting breast cancer with food

Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s food and beverage partners are the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

My mother died of breast cancer, but not before surviving it for 18 years. Every October, when National Breast Cancer Awareness Month rolls around, I think of her brave fight and how she managed to carve out more years for herself—and for us—than anyone thought possible. I think of my wife and daughters too, and of our women friends.

For that matter, I think of women I don’t know and will never meet. Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer death among women, second only to lung cancer. This year alone, more than 200,000 women in America will be diagnosed with breast cancer. More than 40,000 women will die from it. A number of organizations are leading the fight against this deadly disease, and food is playing a part. Continue reading “Fighting breast cancer with food” →

Sauce Vierge: A no-cook sauce livens up steak, fish, chicken, chops…

Sauce vierge, an uncooked French sauce, combines tomato, basil, garlic, shallots, capers and Dijon mustard to liven up steaks, fish, chops and more. Here, it’s served over pan grilled strip steak. Recipes below.

Honestly, if you ask me what I like to put on my steaks, my usual answer is salt, pepper, a knife, a fork and my teeth. I’ve never been a bottled steak sauce kind of guy. And the first time I ordered steak at Tango Sur, an Argentine restaurant in Chicago, I ignored the side of chimichurri sauce for the first several bites. (It was delicious, of course, when I finally sampled it.) I have since made my own version of the big flavored, garlicky, slightly spicy chimichurri sauce many times. Continue reading “Sauce Vierge: A no-cook sauce livens up steak, fish, chicken, chops…” →

Small Bites: A charming little shop in Chicago and a giant food festival in Cancun

P.O.S.H., one of my go-to spots for cool kitchen stuff, is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post. And the first annual Cancun – Riviera Maya Wine & Food Festival plans to change the way you think about Mexican cuisine.

Open the kitchen cabinets of any food blogger and chances are you’ll find stacks of mismatched china. We’re always on the hunt for interesting individual plates, bowls, platters and other props for our food photography. Flea markets, thrift stores and even IKEA are all prime hunting grounds. One place where I reliably have good luck is P.O.S.H., an artful jumble of restaurant china, hotel silver and vintage finds from European flea markets in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. Continue reading “Small Bites: A charming little shop in Chicago and a giant food festival in Cancun” →