The (sort of) French connection: Grilled Lamb Chops with Lavender

Fresh lavender blossoms, rosemary, thyme and garlic deliver complex depth with a slight French accent to Grilled Lamb Chops with Lavender. Recipe below.

Cooking with lavender got me thinking about some of the strange things we humans put in our mouths. Whether out of desperation or sheer culinary curiosity, we’ve eaten just about everything, from grasshoppers to poisonous blowfish, stinging nettles and even Marmite. And while much has been comedically made of how hungry the first person to eat a lobster must have been, I’m far more impressed that anyone ever decided that there might be something worth eating inside a sea urchin.

By comparison, cooking with lavender seems downright tame. Continue reading “The (sort of) French connection: Grilled Lamb Chops with Lavender” →

No-fry zone: These Korean Style Chicken Wings are roasted, not fried

Korean hot pepper paste, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and ginger make oven roasted Korean Style Chicken Wings a flavorful appetizer, main course or bar snack. Recipe below.

The first time we had Korean fried chicken wings, we were at a rooftop bar in Manhattan. It was the Mé Bar on the 14th floor of the La Quinta Manhattan in Koreatown, with the Empire State Building rising high above us just a block away. And it was a single wing, generously pressed upon us by a table of enterprising New Yorkers who’d had them delivered to the bar (New Yorkers seem to be able to get just about anything delivered just about anywhere). We had smelled something spicy and delicious and asked what it was. They insisted we sample one.

The next day, we headed to the source for lunch—Kyochon Chicken, at Fifth Avenue and 32nd Street. Continue reading “No-fry zone: These Korean Style Chicken Wings are roasted, not fried” →

Sustainable and mayo-free: Tilapia Fish Tacos

Chunks of pan seared tilapia fillets seasoned with chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and lime juice are topped with cilantro, tomatoes and green onions for a healthy, flavorful meal. Recipe below.

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]I[/su_dropcap] like fish. I like tacos. So why has the charm of fish tacos always eluded me? Maybe it’s the fact that mayonnaise is used in so many recipes. I do use mayo on occasion (and appreciate its creamy tanginess every time I do), but putting it on fish tacos sounds like tuna salad in a tortilla to me. Some recipes even call for chopped cabbage—tuna salad and coleslaw in a tortilla.

Recently, though, two mayonnaise-free events had me reconsidering fish tacos. The first was in New York. Continue reading “Sustainable and mayo-free: Tilapia Fish Tacos” →

Celebrating an American holiday with Grilled Moroccan Flank Steak

Cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, turmeric, garlic and fresh ginger all add to the big, exotic flavor of these quickly grilled, tender steaks. Recipe below.

MEMORIAL DAY IS A PARTICULARLY AMERICAN HOLIDAY, honoring the men and women who have fallen in the service of their country. There are parades in towns and cities all over America. Classical radio stations heavy up on pieces by Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland and John Philip Sousa. And barbecue grills send up heavenly scents of smoke and meat in yard after yard after yard. Continue reading “Celebrating an American holiday with Grilled Moroccan Flank Steak” →

Big flavor in a hurry: Asian Turkey Burgers with Sriracha Mayonnaise

Weeknight quick to make, turkey burgers get a flavor boost from hoisin sauce, green onions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and a topping of Sriracha mayonnaise. Recipe below.

There are Sundays that lend themselves to giving in to indolence, lounging about and doing nothing more ambitious than occasionally stirring a pot that cooks for hours. This past Sunday was not one of those. We spent much of the day hiking around the National Restaurant Association Show in the cavernous McCormick Place (motto: “You’ll love our 2.6 million square feet of hard concrete floors”). Then, because we apparently hadn’t walked enough, we did a little more hiking along Chicago’s lakefront.

After a day of walking and grazing on various delicious, mostly fatty foods (more about the restaurant show next week), we wanted a dinner that wasn’t a fat bomb, but still delivered big taste. And personally, I didn’t want to spend a lot of time on my feet in front of the stove. These Asian turkey burgers were just what we needed. Continue reading “Big flavor in a hurry: Asian Turkey Burgers with Sriracha Mayonnaise” →

Beef and Pork Ragù: A hearty, meaty meal for yet another chilly weekend

Ground beef and chunks of pork are slow cooked with tomatoes, peppers, carrots, mushrooms and paprika to create a hearty, rustic ragù. Recipe below.

IT IS FLAT-OUT REFUSING TO STAY WARM HERE. We have these occasional days that are, frankly, just hot, where after days of unseasonable cold it suddenly, spitefully, turns 85 for like one day. The warm weather comes on too abruptly to be any fun at all. We are inevitably at the office wearing too much, too thick clothing. We get home and the apartment is stuffy and hot. The cats stagger around, collapsing randomly here and there and glaring at us: I can go no farther—you did this to me. Then within a few hours huge storms wash through and the weather turns crazy cold again and just. stays. that. way. Tomato planting? Forget it. Continue reading “Beef and Pork Ragù: A hearty, meaty meal for yet another chilly weekend” →

The delicious taste of sustainable success: Sautéed Walleye Fillets with Tarragon

Incredibly fresh, sustainably caught walleye fillets from the Red Lake Chippewa reservation require little more than salt, pepper and tarragon, then a quick sauté in butter to be delicious. Recipe below.

Fish are the last wild food. Well, they’re the last wild caught food humans eat on a large scale. And unfortunately, we’ve been eating them on too large a scale—according to the World Health Organization, we’ve doubled our per capita fish consumption in the last 50 years. Many species are in serious decline, and the fishing industry as a whole faces major challenges.

In his book Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food, Paul Greenberg says this growing appetite for fish cannot be sustainably satisfied by wild fish alone and that fish farming or aquaculture will actually overtake wild catch in the next few years. Aquaculture is not without its own problems—efforts must be made to greatly reduce its environmental footprint. That’s why the success of the Red Lake Fishery’s wild caught walleyes is particularly heartening. Continue reading “The delicious taste of sustainable success: Sautéed Walleye Fillets with Tarragon” →

“Go east, young man”: Fragrant, flavorful Chinese Duck Pasta with Mushrooms

Steaming duck legs with ginger, garlic, star anise and Chinese five-spice powder before roasting them infuses the meat with flavor and moisture for this Chinese pasta dish. Recipe below.

“Marco!” “Polo!” Before becoming an annoying swimming pool pastime, Marco Polo was an Italian merchant and explorer who, as popular myth has it, brought pasta back from China in 1295. Unfortunately, pesky facts have long ago proven otherwise. But since the journey for the creation of this dish went in the opposite direction—from Italy to China—for the sake of symmetry, I’m going to pretend that Signor Polo did indeed introduce the noodle to Italy.

The journey began as many of my food adventures do, with an offhand comment. This time it was on Grub Street New York: “…chef Jonathon Sawyer (who, by the way, makes a mean duck pasta)…” Continue reading ““Go east, young man”: Fragrant, flavorful Chinese Duck Pasta with Mushrooms” →

Globe-trotting whole cumin seeds bring a whole lot of flavor to Lamb with Cumin

Whole cumin seeds, jalapeño and red bell peppers, garlic and onions all deliver big taste in this lively Chinese dish. Recipe below.

Cumin gets around. Originally cultivated around the Mediterranean and the Middle East—and in fact found at archeological sites in Babylonia and Egypt—it’s now found in cuisines throughout Asia, Africa, the Americas and parts of Europe.

One of our favorite places to find it is in a lamb with cumin dish served at Lao Beijing, one of Tony Hu’s authentically regional restaurants in Chicago’s Chinatown. Lamb with Cumin is a traditional dish of Mongolia and the neighboring Xinjiang region of western China, but variations have made their way across much of China. Continue reading “Globe-trotting whole cumin seeds bring a whole lot of flavor to Lamb with Cumin” →

Globally inspired: Grilled Tahini-marinated Chicken Tacos

Inspiration and ingredients from Asia, the Middle East, Mexico and possibly even Bakersfield come together in tacos stuffed with grilled chicken marinated in tahini, gin, lemon juice, soy sauce, cumin, garlic and ginger. Recipe below.

One of the benefits (and pitfalls) of writing about food is that everything you put in your mouth is also food for thought. Marion and I don’t go all foodie obsessive and kidnap restaurant conversation with a play-by-play (or bite-by-bite) analysis. But we do store all sorts of information away—new flavor combinations, interesting techniques or ingredients—ever ready to call them up and mash them together into something new.

Which is precisely how these tacos came about. First, tacos are definitely enjoying a moment—I wrote about this delicious phenomenon for the USA Character Blog. Among the more interesting iterations are the Korean tacos at Chicago’s tiny, bustling Del Seoul. Since the first bite, we’ve not gotten these tacos out of our heads. Continue reading “Globally inspired: Grilled Tahini-marinated Chicken Tacos” →