Weeknight quick comfort food: Instant Pot Korean Beef

Gochujang, a Korean fermented pepper paste, and a host of pan-Asian ingredients create a comforting beefy antidote for winter dinner blahs. Recipe below.

WE SOMETIMES REFER TO OUR APPROACH IN THE KITCHEN as cooking with a magpie eye. Like those inquisitive, acquisitive birds, we’re always looking for shiny new objects. For us, that can mean new-to-us ingredients, techniques, ideas. So when we recently came across recipes for Korean beef, we already had most of the ingredients on hand—and some sense of what they could do together. Continue reading “Weeknight quick comfort food: Instant Pot Korean Beef” →

Bò Kho (Vietnamese beef stew) gets an Instant Pot makeover

Flavors from all over Asia (ginger, lemongrass, five-spice powder, garam masala, fish sauce…) spice up this delicious, aromatic, meaty stew. The Instant Pot speeds it up. Recipe below.

OUR FAMILY LOVES THIS DISH. Hearty, complex, aromatic, it’s a popular favorite over here. Now that we are not eating all that much red meat, this has become even more of a special occasion meal. When one of our daughters found herself able to visit us over the holidays, this was the dish she requested. This time, we made it in the Instant Pot to see how it would work out. Continue reading “Bò Kho (Vietnamese beef stew) gets an Instant Pot makeover” →

Now Instant Pot-ready: Layered Pot Roast with Anchovies, Capers and Garlic

This hearty pot roast made with capers, onions, garlic and anchovies, Grillades à L’Arlésienne, comes from the South of France. Here, it gets an Instant Pot makeover. Recipe below.

OUR HANKERINGS FOR THIS DELICIOUS ROAST always come at the most inopportune times. As in when we don’t have two and a half hours for it to roast after we’ve done the simple prep work. So it was time for an Instant Pot makeover. Continue reading “Now Instant Pot-ready: Layered Pot Roast with Anchovies, Capers and Garlic” →

Authenticish maybe, genuinely delicious: Portuguese-style Beef Stew

Beef stew meat, Portuguese chouriço, bell peppers, paprika and potatoes drive the comforting flavor of this hearty stew. Recipe below.

PORTUGAL POPPED UP ON OUR CULINARY RADAR innocently enough. Not finding anything new we wanted to watch on TV one night, we settled into something old. We had already binge-watched Somebody Feed Phil about a year ago, and Netflix offered it up to us again. The first episode they served up was Lisbon, Portugal. Continue reading “Authenticish maybe, genuinely delicious: Portuguese-style Beef Stew” →

Fire up the grill—and dinner: Grilled Lamb Chops with Habanero Mango Salsa

A simple salsa of chopped habanero pepper, mango and shallots gives grilled lamb chops a spicy, flavorful kick. Recipe and substitutions below.

WE’LL START WITH A PRO TIP: don’t touch your eye after chopping a habanero pepper. Even hours after. I chop jalapeño peppers with impunity—a thorough, soapy hand wash after and I’m good to go. But not with this spicy pepper. For reference, jalapeños rate 3,500 – 8,000 SHU on the Scoville scale. Habaneros clock in at 100,000 – 350,000 SHU. That hard-earned pro tip aside, we really enjoyed the chops and their lively salsa. Continue reading “Fire up the grill—and dinner: Grilled Lamb Chops with Habanero Mango Salsa” →

Six recipes to help you tap into the autumn bounty of apples

Apples at their seasonal best are suddenly everywhere. These six recipes will help you make the most of them—sometimes in unexpected ways.

Roast Duck with Pears, Apples and Potatoes

BEEN APPLE PICKING YET? Neither have we. But with September here, billboards relentlessly announce apples for picking. As do travel emails and social media ads. But even if you prefer to pick yours in the produce department, as we do, there are many ways you do with them besides just, well, eating them. Continue reading “Six recipes to help you tap into the autumn bounty of apples” →

Not really ribs, really delicious: Grilled Country-style Pork Ribs

These so-called ribs deliver meaty, grilled flavor in a fraction of the time of true ribs. recipe below.

THE GREAT THING ABOUT GRILLING BABY BACK RIBS is eating grilled baby back ribs. The not so great thing is grilling them. It’s not the prep work so much—it’s the time. To come out fall-off-the-bone tender, baby back (or spareribs or other pork ribs) need to be cooked low and slow. Two-plus hours minimum, but more often three or even four hours or more. By way of contrast, the country style ribs above cooked in 15 minutes. Continue reading “Not really ribs, really delicious: Grilled Country-style Pork Ribs” →

Speeding up, umami-ing up and downsizing a meaty favorite: Instant Pot Pot Roast

The Instant Pot makes this weekend indulgence weeknight quickish; a secret Asian ingredient makes it irresistibly savory. Recipe below.

WE’LL START WITH THE DOWNSIZING. When you’re trying to eat less red meat, pot roast can be a challenge. First, it is one of the most delicious forms of red meat there is, meaty, robust, fatty—and yes, a little chewy. Second, most chuck roasts weigh in at three to four pounds or more, not exactly a dainty cut. Continue reading “Speeding up, umami-ing up and downsizing a meaty favorite: Instant Pot Pot Roast” →

Jamaican Jerk Ribs from a singer turned chef

Jerk rub, jerk sauce and pineapple-mango salsa bring plenty of flavor and a little heat to these oven-baked pork ribs. Recipe below.

Jubilee Jerk Pork Ribs — Jamaican Jerk Pork Ribs

FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH, a month-long celebration of the achievements of African Americans and a recognition of their contributions to our national culture and history. So it seemed like a perfect time to delve into Toni Tipton-Martin’s wonderful cookbook, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking, again. Continue reading “Jamaican Jerk Ribs from a singer turned chef” →

The forecast calls for Pork Stew with Caraway Seeds

Chunks of pork cooked with onion, garlic, potatoes, carrots, caraway seeds, bay leaves and peas create a homey, peasant-y, comforting stew perfect for winter. Recipe below.

OH, THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS FRIGHTFUL. Snow is the lead story across great swaths of the country. And around the world. Two storms collided on the east coast, dumping as much as two feet of snow on New York City. Madrid had the worst snowstorm in 50 years, a foot and a half in a city that rarely sees snow at all. And the UK issued a “risk of life” warning. So here in Chicago, Marion and I were thinking about food. Continue reading “The forecast calls for Pork Stew with Caraway Seeds” →