A quick marinade of fresh basil, garlic and olive oil gives pan-grilled pork chops classic Italian flavor. Recipe below.
I like basil. Scratch that. I love it. Basil and rosemary are my two favorite fresh herbs. So when Marion recently announced that one of our basil plants was finally ready for harvesting, I was ready too. Continue reading “Trio of big flavors blends beautifully: Pork Chops with Basil and Garlic”
Feta cheese, black olives, red onion, dill, and lemon juice and zest do their predictably wonderful thing when mixed together and heaped on pan-seared pork chops. Recipe below.
Leave it to me to appropriate a vegetarian dish for a meaty use. We were at a housewarming last weekend thrown by the adult daughter of a friend from our St. Louis days. She and her roommate have a lovely new Humboldt Park apartment, and it was filled with a lively crowd—including an impressive contingency of fairly newly minted babies. We seem to be going through a period right now where many of our friends, old and new, are young. Continue reading “A vegetarian-inspired Feta and Olive Salsa plays nicely with Pan-seared Pork Chops”
Winter is getting ready to prove to Chicago—and the upper Midwest—that it isn’t done with us yet. This oven-braised Miso Pork Shoulder first appeared on Blue Kitchen in November 2012, and it’s the perfect antidote for the coming snowy cold. Recipe below.
What’s the traditional sixth anniversary gift? If it’s a food blog anniversary, I’m going with pork. Yes, Blue Kitchen is six years old this month. A lot has changed for me foodwise in that time. For one thing, I feel like I know more about food than when I started—including how ungodly much I don’t know and will never know. But some things have remained the same, like my willingness to borrow ingredients from the global pantry and use them authentically or otherwise. This week, that ingredient is miso paste. [Read more here…]
This Mexican street food-inspired dish packs big flavor, but not too much heat. Two recipes from the archives—and a wedding story—below.
At some point, I’m not sure when, Mexican restaurant food became relegated to comfort food status for us. Something we could count on to be reliably good, filling and cheap, but no longer something we got a hankering for. It wasn’t always this way. At one point, Marion and I ate at a Mexican restaurant in our neighborhood at least once a week for a year or more. In fact, we went there on our wedding night, before going barhopping with my mom and my brand new sister-in-law. [read more here…]
While Blue Kitchen is enjoying a short break, we’re sharing favorite recipes from the archives. This week, it’s actually two recipes—Pan-grilled Lamb Chops and Couscous with Raisins and Onions—plus some thoughts on the pleasures of cooking for one.
Shortly after I’d moved to Chicago the first time, I bought a half ham. Trying to figure out what to do with it, I consulted Joy of Cooking, where I was greeted by these cheery words: “Someone defined eternity as a ham and two people.” Standing there alone in the galley kitchen of my tiny studio apartment, I did the math—my half ham and I were in for a long haul. [Read more here…]
Blue Kitchen is going on a short break for the next few weeks. We are crazy busy with a major project that, no, isn’t a cookbook—or anything even specifically food-related. All is good—we’ll fill you in soon. In the meantime, we’ll be posting recipes from the archives that we especially like. This week, it’s a traditional Provençal pot roast that is toothsome and ridiculously easy. Don’t let the anchovies scare you—they disappear into the dish, leaving only dialed-up umami behind.
A couple of weeks ago, I admitted to being a major Francophile when I wrote about roasting chicken on a bed of lentils. I guess that makes Karin over at Second Act in Altadena an enabler. After reading that post, she told me about three different French cookbooks. Already having more cookbooks than we have shelf space for, I immediately headed for the library website and ordered them. Of course, all three showed up within days of each other. [Read more here…]
Pork chops and fennel bulb are oven braised with apple cider, tea leaves and aromatics for a quietly rewarding fall meal. Recipe below.
WE SOMETIMES COOK WITH BIG FLAVORS HERE. Kimchi. Brussels sprouts. Bacon. Flavors that swagger in and own the dish. More often, though, we choose ingredients that have plenty of personality, but are content to blend in—supporting characters in an ensemble cast happy to add to a delightful performance without upstaging anyone else. This is one of those dishes. Continue reading “Nuanced performance: Braised Pork Chops with Earl Grey Tea, Cider and Fennel”
When the weather turns cool, warm things up by firing up the oven and roasting or braising. Here are six recipes from the Blue Kitchen archives.
Last week, autumnal weather inspired me to roast some chicken with grapes, mushrooms and shallots. The cool weather continues, and so does the desire to cook meaty dishes in the oven. We’ll start with some lamb. Continue reading “Six roasting/braising recipes = six reasons to turn on the oven again”
A marinade with red wine vinegar and lemon juice quickly tenderizes flavorful lamb shoulder chops. Feta cheese, Kalamata olives, red onion and lemon zest add even more flavor. Recipe below.
For me, grabbing lamb when I see it in the store is almost automatic. Ground lamb for weeknight-quick burgers, cooked rare, a leg of lamb for a special holiday feast or maybe lamb rib chops when I’m feeling extravagant. Or, most often, lamb shoulder chops—cheap, flavorful and with a chewiness that can be easily tamed with a trick or two. Continue reading “Greek-inspired, weeknight-easy: Lamb Chops with Feta and Olives”
Tarragon, shallots, herbes de Provence and panko breadcrumbs give Meatballs in Tomato Sauce a nicely complex finish. Recipe below.
I did not grow up in a meatball-eating household. We ate plenty of ground meat, of course—in countless meatloafs, in burgers cooked until my mom or grandma were sure they were dead, in giant pots of chili or spaghetti sauce (the word pasta was never used in our house). But never as meatballs. Continue reading “Make a double batch—you’ll want leftovers: Meatballs in Tomato Sauce”