Bastille Day a perfect excuse for sailor’s mussels, frites and all things French

A pair of simple, delicious French recipes this week—Mussels steamed in wine with shallots, garlic and lots of parsley and oven-fried pommes frites flavored with herbes de Provence.

“LAFAYETTE, WE ARE HERE.” Those famous words, marking our returning the favor to France in World War I for their vital assistance in our Revolutionary War, were undoubtedly followed by the less well known, “Now, when do we eat?”

Because in addition to contributing to American independence, the French are rightly far more known for their contributions to food and cooking. And not just for their stellar, elaborate concoctions. It’s more their understanding of how a few well-chosen ingredients perfectly combined can become something wonderful—and their daily celebration of food in even the simplest dishes. So when I saw that this week’s post would go up on Bastille Day, that was all the excuse I needed to feed my inner Francophile in the kitchen. Continue reading “Bastille Day a perfect excuse for sailor’s mussels, frites and all things French” →

Aged balsamic vinegar plays well with others: Vinegar Chicken with Mushrooms

Balsamic vinegar offers a subtle and surprisingly mild twist on cooking chicken in wine. Butter and chicken broth help tame it. Recipe below.

I DON’T DOUBT FOR A MINUTE that you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. But vinegar is just so much more interesting to me. (Besides, do you really want to catch flies?)

I know honey is enjoying a moment right now, especially with the sudden surge in popularity of beekeeping, but we use a heck of a lot more vinegar in our kitchen—and stock a wider array of them—than we do honey. Right now, for instance, we have three different balsamic vinegars, Japanese rice vinegar, Spanish sherry vinegar, red wine vinegar and, oh yeah, some apple cider vinegar. We have two small containers of honey.

So when I came across the phrase “vinegar chicken” somewhere recently, probably in a restaurant description, I was interested. Continue reading “Aged balsamic vinegar plays well with others: Vinegar Chicken with Mushrooms” →

Give basil the night off: Cilantro-Parsley Pesto takes pasta in a lively new direction

Surprising cilantro-parsley pesto needs only some tomatoes, onion and feta to make a quick, delicious pasta dinner that won’t overheat your kitchen. Recipe below.

I would make a terrible farmer. Once something’s planted in the ground, I want to be harvesting it. Now. This spring, we (and by we, I mean Marion) planted some tomatoes and a few herbs in the yard. The other day, wanting some pesto, I went outside to glare at our tiny basil plants, hoping it might hurry them along. It didn’t. Not sure why I thought it would work—that same impatient fatherly glare has never had much effect on our kids either.

So I tromped back inside, still wanting pesto and not wanting to resort to store-bought. Then I picked up the current issue of Food & Wine. There, tucked into a catchall piece of various chefs giving tips for being frugal, Chicago’s own Rick Bayless was talking about using leftover cilantro and parsley to make a pesto. Ha! Screw you, little weenie basil plants. I just met some cuter, cooler herbs. (Not really—I do love basil. But the idea of a pesto change-up had definitely caught my eye.) Continue reading “Give basil the night off: Cilantro-Parsley Pesto takes pasta in a lively new direction” →

Farmers market improvisation: Stir-Fried Chicken, Asparagus, Green Garlic and Tomatoes

Chicken teams up with green garlic and asparagus from the farmers market and ginger, lemongrass and other ingredients gathered from the fridge and pantry to make a quick, delicious stir-fry. Recipe below.

A friend of ours refuses to eat leftovers. She calls them “used food.” Marion and I, on the other hand, feel wonderfully satisfied and even a little smug when every last morsel of something is consumed. Whether it’s a leftover that becomes a lunch or gets repurposed as part of another dinner, or it’s a last lonely shallot that livens up a salad dressing, not wasting food—or at least trying not to waste it—is just part of our working class childhood DNA. That instinct led to the creation of this lovely dish Marion recently cooked. I’ll let her tell you about it.

One of the great joys of late spring is when local farmers markets get back into action, with their ever-changing bounty. That’s also one of the pitfalls of this time of year. Armed with good culinary intentions and eyes bigger than your stomach, it’s easy to get carried away. The other day, our neighborhood farmer’s market opened for the season and we came home all flushed and excited, toting plenty—especially, green garlic and asparagus. Continue reading “Farmers market improvisation: Stir-Fried Chicken, Asparagus, Green Garlic and Tomatoes” →

Rosemary, garlic and onions make grilled steaks healthier—and really, really tasty

The rosemary, garlic and onions in a red wine marinade make grilled New York strip steaks very flavorful—and healthier for you too. Recipe below.

Red meat lovers, rejoice! A pair of recent reports are giving it a cleaner bill of health than it has been enjoying lately.

The first was an article in the Wall Street Journal that opens with this bit of encouragement: “Maybe that juicy steak you ordered isn’t a heart-attack-on-a-plate after all.” In his article “A Guilt-Free Hamburger,” Ron Winslow reports on a new study by the Harvard School of Public Health that suggests that the heart risk long associated with eating red meat comes mostly from processed meats. So while bacon, hot dogs, sausages and cold cuts are unfortunately still bad for you, burgers and steaks may not be. Continue reading “Rosemary, garlic and onions make grilled steaks healthier—and really, really tasty” →

Hold the mayo, not the flavor: Grilled Lamb Feta Burgers get boost from Light Rémoulade Sauce

Grilled Lamb Feta Burgers are made even more flavorful with a lightened rémoulade sauce that substitutes Greek yogurt and olive oil for mayonnaise. Recipes below.

I remember feeling all grown up and adventurous the first time I ate feta cheese. Of course, I was in college at the time, and just about everything that didn’t make me feel idiotic, overwhelmed and scared made me feel grown up and adventurous.

If anything, my first experience with feta made me feel all of those things at once. This cheese didn’t come wrapped in individual slices, and it was decidedly not what was, to my then culinarily naive ears, comfortingly called ‘American.’ Most daunting of all, you couldn’t find it in the supermarket (at least not the ones of my college days). When a friend announced she was going to try a recipe that required the exotic substance, I was assigned the challenge of finding some. Continue reading “Hold the mayo, not the flavor: Grilled Lamb Feta Burgers get boost from Light Rémoulade Sauce” →

Five great grilling recipes kick off summer

Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer here in the United States. And as it so happens, last weekend marked a wonderful long weekend in New York City for Marion and me. We returned to Chicago Sunday evening to 90º temperatures, broken air-conditioning and little desire to cook. So this week, I’m raiding the Blue Kitchen archives for five recipes for the grill to get the season rolling.

1. Moroccan-influenced Spicy Grilled Chicken Paillards

Cumin and paprika add plenty of flavor to these quick-cooking chicken breasts, but not much heat. The sauce gets the same treatment from orange juice, lemon juice, honey, cinnamon and red pepper flakes. The dish originated in Paris and is just one of many French dishes that borrows flavors from Moroccan kitchens. Spicy Grilled Chicken Paillards is a great spur-of-the-moment dish, Continue reading “Five great grilling recipes kick off summer” →

Trio of big flavors makes one simple meal: Salmon with Arugula Bacon Salad

Seared salmon fillets and an arugula salad are both flavored by bacon, for a quick, satisfyingly flavorful meal. Recipe below.

Is there anything bacon can’t make taste better? Okay, pig meat is having its moment, as we all know. Chefs everywhere are going crazy for every cut of pork, the fattier the better, and bacon is turning up in some pretty strange places. I’ll admit that it didn’t do a lot for a chocolate bar I once sampled. But when paired with the right partners—especially equally big-flavored ones—the addition of bacon is hard to beat and even harder to resist.

Salmon may not seem like an obvious choice to pair with bacon—or seafood in general, for that matter. But all of those “surf and Turf” combos of the late ’60s were on to something, I think, beyond the marketing gimmick novelty. Continue reading “Trio of big flavors makes one simple meal: Salmon with Arugula Bacon Salad” →

Watercress. It’s not just for tea time anymore: Flank Steak with Watercress Salad

Peppery watercress, tossed with a Dijon vinaigrette, serves as a lively bed for quickly pan-grilled flank steak topped with sautéed shallots. Recipe below.

Somehow watercress has picked up a genteel reputation, the stuff of crustless, triangular sandwiches nibbled on by ladies who lunch, preferably with tea. But this lively green has a peppery kick that probably made it the most exciting thing about those polite sandwiches; these days, it’s often used to spice up salads of more mild-mannered greens. And when tossed with a mustardy vinaigrette, it can even stand up to pan-grilled steak. Continue reading “Watercress. It’s not just for tea time anymore: Flank Steak with Watercress Salad” →

In season now: “Wild leeks” star in simple, silky Ramps with Linguine and Fried Egg

In season for just a few weeks each spring, mild, oniony/garlicky ramps need little more than olive oil, butter, Parmesan cheese, pasta and a fried egg to make a satisfying vegetarian dinner. If you can’t find ramps, you can substitute leeks. Recipe below.

The other day, Marion called excitedly from her office, saying she would be bringing home some ramps. I knew I would be turning the kitchen over to her for this week’s post.

Last week when my friend Karin and I were talking about stuff we’d recently eaten, she told me she’d just made spaghetti with ramps, and I was immediately excited. She’d found the ramps at the Chicago’s Downtown Farmstand market. Immediately I called the market and began pestering the cheerful, cordial souls there for fresh ramps.

A few days later, the market got an e-mail—someone was going out to hunt for ramps right then. By the end of the workday, they had arrived—fresh and beautiful. Where did these come from? I asked. The answer was hazy, deliberately so. The Farmstand market shrouds its source in mystery, to prevent the general public from knowing where to find these trendy onions. But, I was assured, the ramps had been foraged by an organization devoted to sustainable harvest practices. This was conveyed to me with such gentle insistence that the first thing I did when I got home was Google ramps and sustainability. Continue reading “In season now: “Wild leeks” star in simple, silky Ramps with Linguine and Fried Egg” →