A couple of our favorite recipes turn into an informal Sunday dinner when family drops in.
IF BLUE KITCHEN WERE A PRINTED COOKBOOK, some pages would be more dogeared and food-speckled than others. Often, Marion or I will be in the kitchen, a laptop open to a recipe on the blog as we cook. Last Sunday, we were both in the kitchen armed with laptops. We were cooking two of our favorite recipes. Continue reading “Sunday in the kitchen with family”
TUESDAYS ARE WHEN WE DO OUR NEW POSTS EACH WEEK. Except this past Tuesday was Valentine’s Day. Instead of cooking and talking about cooking, we wanted to eat restaurant food and feel all festive. So it seems somehow appropriate to dig into the archives and share a recipe that brings genuine restaurant flavor home. And as a bonus, it is crazy easy to make. So enjoy Marion’s Egg Drop Soup—and happy belated Valentine’s Day.
White wine and two French mustards give this meaty roast a surprisingly light finish. Recipe below.
OUR FRIEND RONNIE ANN SAYS POT ROASTS ARE “LIKE A WARM HUG FROM HOME.” We agree. So when we found chuck roast on sale recently, we snatched one right up. And looking for something new to do with a pot roast, we thought of one of the oldest culinary tricks up our sleeve: add mustard. Two mustards, actually. Continue reading “The dependable comforts of home: Pot Roast with Mustard”
A FORECAST OF SNOW GOT ME THINKING OF WARM, HEARTY MEALS. Comfort food, preferably oven-braised or roasted. And that got me thinking of the British Isles, places well-versed in homey dishes to take off the chill on cold, damp days, food to make you happy to be indoors at a kitchen table. These four dishes came to mind. Continue reading “Four cozy winter dishes from the British Isles”
Goat cheese adds a lively tanginess to spinach and bacon quiche. Recipe below.
WE GOT A NEW FOOD PROCESSOR LAST WEEKEND and wanted to test drive it. Two things we expect a food processor to do well are puréeing stuff and making pie crust dough. Next week, we’ll share a puréed mushroom potato soup that showed it could do the former. This week, we’ve made a quiche in a crust of well-made dough. Continue reading “Changing up cheese gives quiche a tangy twist: Spinach, Bacon and Goat Cheese Quiche”
BLUE KITCHEN IS CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAYS. We’ll see you soon. Wishing you a joyous season and a happy, healthy, prosperous new year.
COOKIES—AND BROWNIES—MAY BE THE PERFECT HOLIDAY TREATS TO BAKE. You can make them ahead in batches, ready to serve to guests or take to a party, scaling the amount up or down as needed. With a cake or a pie, once you’ve cut into it, you can only offer it to family or really good friends afterward without looking, well, overly thrifty. Here are seven recipes for you to bake and share. Or keep for yourself, no judging here. Continue reading “Seven cookie (okay, and brownie) recipes for the holidays”
THE ARRIVAL OF COLD WEATHER HAS US THINKING POT ROAST. Hearty, flavorful, soul-satisfying slabs of meat, usually accompanied by root vegetables that have cooked with it, everything swapping flavors and becoming better for it. And usually, an excuse to have the oven on for hours, warming the kitchen and filling the house with divine meaty smells. If you’re thinking this sounds good, here are seven recipes to try. Continue reading “Seven pot roast recipes make the most of cold weather and our favorite cheap cut of beef”
Blackberries and lime juice and zest offer a nice tangy balance to these buttery, airy scones. Recipe below.
SO SCONES HAVE APPARENTLY BECOME A THING FOR ME. I like making them and we both love eating them, so I find myself looking for different kinds to make. Our daughter Claire and her boyfriend visited over Thanksgiving and—over our apple cheddar scones, appropriately enough—they mentioned some blackberry lime scones they can no longer get (the place has gone out of business, sadly). Let’s just say some synapses fired. Continue reading “Buttery, airy, slightly tart: Blackberry Lime Scones”
See you later, sweet potato casserole—with these four unexpected recipes, you can change it up with your sweet potato sides.
AS A THANKSGIVING SIDE, TOO-SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE does sweet potatoes no favors. It turns these delicious, colorful, super-healthy root vegetables into a cloying, gooey mess. Try one of these surprising recipes instead—you just might start a new holiday tradition. Continue reading “Four surprising ways to use sweet potatoes—for Thanksgiving or anytime”