So simple, Thoreau would have liked it: Spaghetti with Pecorino Romano and Pepper

With only four ingredients, Spaghetti with Pecorino Romano and Pepper is a lively, rustic Roman favorite quick enough for even the busiest weeknight dinner. Recipe below.

Henry David Thoreau liked things simple. So much so that he spent two years in a 10×15 cabin near Walden Pond, contemplating life. His most famous takeaway from his adventure? “Simplify, simplify.”

That’s often my approach in the kitchen. I gravitate to recipes with a handful of well chosen ingredients prepared in a fairly straightforward way. Not out of laziness (well, not completely out of laziness), but more in keeping with my generally minimalist approach to life. Simple is good. Still, when I stumbled across a recipe for Spaghetti a Cacio e Pepe (Spaghetti with Pecorino Romano and Pepper), it seemed almost too simple, even for me. Continue reading “So simple, Thoreau would have liked it: Spaghetti with Pecorino Romano and Pepper” →

Weeknight simple, company elegant: Linguine with Scallops and Meyer Lemons

Sweet, seasonal Meyer lemons add a lively, bright note to Linguine with Scallops and Meyer Lemons, but regular lemons can be substituted. Recipe below.

When life gives you Meyer lemons, make lots of stuff. A couple of weeks ago, Marion made Cornish Hens with Meyer Lemons and Olives for our Valentine’s Day post here. We were pleased with ourselves for finding beautiful, seasonal Meyer lemons at a bargain price.

Then we got an email from the lovely Christina over at A Thinking Stomach. Seems she has a Meyer lemon tree growing right in her own yard, producing more fruit than she knows what to do with. She offered to send us some. Being no fools, we answered with a grateful, enthusiastic “Yes, please!” Still, we were unprepared for the bounty of fragrant, yellow beauties that arrived on our doorstep days later. Continue reading “Weeknight simple, company elegant: Linguine with Scallops and Meyer Lemons” →

As seen on TV: Marion’s Creamy Mac and Cheese with Tarragon

Macaroni and cheese is one of the ultimate comfort foods. This no-bake version delivers that comfort quickly, with a creamy finish and a slight kick. Recipe below.

Marion’s in the kitchen again this week—and not just ours, but at Chicago TV station WCIU. They recently featured three home cooks making mac and cheese on their morning show, You & Me This Morning, and Marion was one of them! I’ll let her tell you about her creamy mac and cheese—and her TV appearance!

I was already having a very nice birthday when Terry got an email from WCIU saying, we like your blog and we are doing a segment on local cooks’ macaroni and cheese recipes and will your wife be on our morning show? Continue reading “As seen on TV: Marion’s Creamy Mac and Cheese with Tarragon” →

Long distance locavore: Linguine with foraged chanterelles from Seattle, cooked in Chicago

Mushrooms, shallots, sage, cream and Parmesan combine to make a rich, satisfyingly “meaty” vegetarian meal. Recipe for Sautéed Chanterelles with Cream and Linguine Fini below.

The day before Marion cooked these chanterelles in our Chicago kitchen, they were in a stall in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Not much more before that, they had been in a nearby forest. We were in the market on the last morning of our first visit to the Pacific Northwest. Our luggage was already overstuffed with food purchases, many in glass containers padded with laundry in the hope they would survive the flight home. But when we saw these mushrooms, we knew we had to squeeze some into our carry-on bags. I’ll turn the kitchen over to Marion now and let her tell you what she did with them.

In another earlier life, I used to gather chanterelles in the wild all summer. It was such an everyday thing that I took it totally for granted. It was part of the season, like swimsuits and the beach. Continue reading “Long distance locavore: Linguine with foraged chanterelles from Seattle, cooked in Chicago” →

East meets cornfields: Grilled steak, exotic flavors and honest food in an Iowa cafe

Chinese noodles, flavored with sesame oil, sesame seeds and cilantro and fired up with crushed red pepper, are topped with tender strips of grilled flank steak seasoned with cumin, chili powder and garlic. Recipe below.

When people speak of the exotic flavors of the East, they aren’t generally referring to Eastern Iowa. But when we made a recent road trip there, we found just that.

Not exotic in an over-the-top-trend-of-the-moment sort of way (no Kobe beef sliders topped with shaved truffles, for instance). The approach we found more than once—and appreciated thoroughly each time we did—was starting with quality (and often local) ingredients and doing something fresh and unexpected with them.

Nowhere was this more evident than at the Lincoln Cafe. Located on the main drag of the tiny one-stoplight town of Mount Vernon, Continue reading “East meets cornfields: Grilled steak, exotic flavors and honest food in an Iowa cafe” →

Subtle, savory black magic: Linguine with Mushrooms and Black Garlic

Fermented black garlic, the mysterious ingredient that’s been exciting chefs for a couple of years, is now showing up in grocery stores. Here it works with just a handful of ingredients to create a rich, satisfying vegetarian meal. Recipe below.

Umami. That savory, meaty fifth taste, only recently named. That’s what I smelled when I opened the bag containing two heads of black garlic. The smell of a really good consomme or perhaps the browned bits in the bottom of the pan after searing a roast.

The funny thing is, the only ingredients in black garlic are garlic, heat and time. No meat, no salt, no stock—nothing to impart that almost meaty scent. I can’t remember now where I first heard of black garlic, but it so fascinated me that I wrote about it for this week’s USA Character Approved Blog post. And I had to cook with it. Continue reading “Subtle, savory black magic: Linguine with Mushrooms and Black Garlic” →

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” →

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” →

Broccoli Rabe with Pasta: An underappreciated winter green becomes a show-stealing side

Sautéed with prosciutto, garlic and crushed red pepper, broccoli rabe combines with Cannellini beans and small pasta to become a standout side or a satisfying meal in its own right. Recipe below, with a vegetarian variation.

A recent Sunday found us at Quartino having lunch with Marion’s sister Lena. Just off Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, Quartino specializes in “authentic Italian small plates” and pizza. With painstaking attention to architectural detail, the comfortable, rambling space feels as if it’s been around far longer than the less than five years it’s been open. Just as much attention is paid to the food. We ordered a pizza and three small plates to share. All were delicious.

Interestingly, though, the scene stealer was an unassuming little dish of broccoli rabe, made with red chili, garlic, onion, olive oil and pork stock. Before we’d even paid the check, I knew I would be doing something with this multi-named, misnamed winter green.

Broccoli rabe [rob] or rapini [rah-PEE-nee], also called “raab, rapa, rapine, rappi, rappone, fall and spring raab, turnip broccoli, taitcat, Italian or Chinese broccoli, broccoli rape, broccoli de rabe, Italian turnip and turnip broccoli,” according to What’s Cooking America, isn’t related to broccoli at all. It’s actually a relative of turnips and cabbage. Enjoyed throughout the Mediterranean and China, it is used extensively in Chinese and Italian cuisine. And it’s finally gaining popularity here in the United States. Continue reading “Broccoli Rabe with Pasta: An underappreciated winter green becomes a show-stealing side” →

Winter’s seasonal pleasures: Braised Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Golden Raisins and Linguine

Many flavors come together to create a complex, satisfying and surprisingly mild seasonal pasta dish. Recipe below.

Brussels sprouts get a totally undeserved bad rap. I think much of it comes from our national suspicion of vegetables in general. And much of that stems from bad or at least unimaginative cooking. Too many cooks treat vegetables as an afterthought, something to be boiled beyond mushy and then seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Of course many of us learn to fear vegetables from our parents. They hated them as kids and expect us to hate them too. So we do.

Whatever the reason for this collective aversion, hiding vegetables has become an industry all its own. Campbell’s V8 Juice first turned them into juice, so you could drink them. Now they’ve launched V8 Fusion, which hides vegetables in clear fruit juices.

Jessica Seinfeld wrote an entire cookbook, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, based on the premise of sneaking vegetables and other good things into kids’ meals. Continue reading “Winter’s seasonal pleasures: Braised Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Golden Raisins and Linguine” →