Navarin d’Agneau: a French lamb stew for spring

Lamb Navarin combines lamb, peas, carrots, new potatoes and turnips for a spring stew that is hearty, but lighter tasting than beef stew. Recipe below.

MANY RECIPES HERE ARE INSPIRED BY COOKBOOKS. THIS ONE WAS INSPIRED BY A NOVEL. The World at Night is set mainly in Paris, in the early 1940s, during the time of German occupation. To call it a tale of intrigue and romance is accurate enough, but falls far short of doing it justice. Continue reading “Navarin d’Agneau: a French lamb stew for spring” →

Chicken Piccata, buttery and lemon bright

Based on the classic Italian dish veal piccata. Chicken breast fillets, pounded thin and sautéed in butter and oil, are topped with a piquant sauce of butter, wine, lemons, capers and parsley. Recipe below.

It’s week three of Butterfest at Blue Kitchen. Last week, my Hake with Lentils and Sage Mustard Butter had five and a half tablespoons of butter. And while Marion’s Chevre Cheesecake with Hazelnut Crust two weeks ago only used two tablespoons, dairy was otherwise well represented, with cream cheese, goat cheese and sour cream.

Based on the classic Italian dish veal piccata, this chicken piccata recipe requires a rather modest half stick of butter, four tablespoons. And requires is the operative term here—the buttery richness plays beautifully against the tart brightness of the capers and lemons. Continue reading “Chicken Piccata, buttery and lemon bright” →

A French twist: Hake with Lentils and Sage Mustard Butter

In this take on the classic French recipe Saumon aux Lentilles, mild white-fleshed fish and sage stand in for salmon and tarragon. Recipe below.

Julia Child famously said, “If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.” We’re not afraid of butter. We use an impressive amount, especially given how little we bake. But when I started researching the classic French dish of salmon with lentils and mustard-herb butter, I was still taken aback by how much butter was called for.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t just the volume of butter—eight tablespoons, a stick of butter, divided among the various components. It’s that this dish was fish. And lentils. These are not foods one generally associates with such exuberant use of butter. Continue reading “A French twist: Hake with Lentils and Sage Mustard Butter” →

Two Irish cookbooks, one hearty weeknight meal: Pork and Potato Cakes

Leftover mashed potatoes combine with ground pork, grated apple, chopped onion and fresh sage for a quick, economical, thoroughly satisfying dinner. Recipe below.

AS ST. PATRICK’S DAY APPROACHES, revving up America’s love of all things Irish, two cookbooks celebrate Ireland’s culinary heritage in very different ways. The first is Irish Pantry: Traditional Breads, Preserves, and Goodies to Feed the Ones You Love, published last November by Running Press. Chef/restaurateur Noel McMeel and writer Lynn Marie Hulsman have teamed up to deliver foods steeped in Irish tradition. Continue reading “Two Irish cookbooks, one hearty weeknight meal: Pork and Potato Cakes” →

Inspired by lunch at Eataly: Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Wilted Kale

Sweet potato gnocchi are quickly sautéed in butter, giving them a beautiful color and a lovely, nutty flavor. Then they’re tossed with kale cooked with garlic, shallots and red pepper flakes. Recipe below.

Last weekend, our family plans fell through, leaving us with two marvelous open days of no plans at all. We were cheerfully meandering around town when we realized that we had not yet been to Eataly Chicago. All those stories of long lines and frenzied crowds had kept us away—during their first week in early December, they had a stunning 120,000 visitors. By the time of our visit on Saturday for lunch, it was bustling, but not as frenetic as the smaller New York store has been every time we’ve visited. And everywhere we looked, people were relaxed and happy, having a wonderful time and glad to be there.

We lunched at La Piazza, standing at a tiny communal table. Bread and olive oil appeared almost immediately, followed by glasses of Italian wine—a chardonnay for Terry, a prosecco for me. We shared three small plates—a salad of roasted beets, olive tapenade, sea salt and mozzarella (made there daily, and so fresh and light); a half-dozen oysters representing both coasts; and supplì, deep-fried balls of creamy risotto filled with Cacio di Roma, a sheep’s milk cheese. It tells you everything about the cheerful, friendly atmosphere that strangers stopped to ask us about the supplì, and then about the oysters, and then told us about what they were having and what they were doing in Chicago. Everything was convivial and everything was sublime. Which of course got us talking and thinking about Italian food. Continue reading “Inspired by lunch at Eataly: Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Wilted Kale” →

Classic Mexican cut of meat meets French technique: Braised Costillos de Puerco

Mexican pork short ribs are given a classic French comfort food treatment, oven braised with aromatics, herbs and wine. Recipe below.

Our neighborhood is rich with little Mexican groceries, each with a small produce section and dairy case (that shuns anything low fat), aisles of canned goods and imported candy, and—no matter how tiny the store—each with its own fresh meat counter, presided over by a living, breathing butcher.

The other night, during one of the rare breaks in the snowfall, I was walking around looking at stuff in the neighborhood and remembered we were out of, well, everything fresh. So I clomped across Diversey to the store we now like the best (it is “the one that is kind of across the street”—our immediate ambit also includes “the one around the corner,” “the creepy one by the El,” and “no, five blocks west is too far”). Continue reading “Classic Mexican cut of meat meets French technique: Braised Costillos de Puerco” →

A 15-hour train ride and a four-ingredient pasta

A long train ride back from a weekend in Syracuse, New York called for comfort food even an exhausted traveler could throw together from what was on hand. Below, the recipe for the easiest thing I cook.

We took the overnight train from Chicago to Syracuse last weekend. No fancy sleeping compartment for us. We toughed it out in coach, with reclining seats, a stack of magazines and books, DVDs for the laptop, a bottle of wine, sandwiches and assorted snacks. Okay, so we weren’t exactly roughing it. Continue reading “A 15-hour train ride and a four-ingredient pasta” →

A nose for cooking: Lamb with Celery and Cumin

Sautéed and quickly braised with whole cumin seeds, garlic, lemon juice and crushed red pepper flakes, normally mild-mannered celery upstages the supposed star of this dish, ground lamb. Recipe below.

First, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Celery? Stealing the spotlight from lamb? Yes. As I sit here writing this post about this dish cooked and eaten last night, I am Pavlov’s dog, and he is going to town on that bell. And it is because of the celery.

Celery is woefully underrated, I think, largely because people mostly eat it raw. Cooked, it can become a valuable ensemble player. In soups, it adds a fresh note; in a pot of chili, it amplifies the taste of the cumin and provides nice, slightly crunchy bites. And, as in the case of Lamb with Cumin and Celery, it can burst with big, bright flavor. Continue reading “A nose for cooking: Lamb with Celery and Cumin” →

Radical hospitality, nurturing comfort: Italian Chicken Stew

Chicken, potatoes, artichoke hearts, olives and capers create a hearty, rustic Italian stew. The recipe is adapted from Hedgebrook Cookbook: Celebrating Radical Hospitality. Recipe below.

ONE OF THE PLEASURES OF WRITING BLUE KITCHEN is the opportunities we get to review cookbooks. We love food and we love the written word. Cookbooks give us both. The latest volume to come across our desk celebrates a place that has helped support the written word for 25 years now. Continue reading “Radical hospitality, nurturing comfort: Italian Chicken Stew” →

Flavor, smoke and a little fire: Grilled Sriracha Apricot Chicken

A basting sauce of Sriracha, apricot preserves, hot chili sauce, rice vinegar and fish sauce gives grilled chicken a tangy, slightly spicy kick. Recipe below.

LOOKING OVER MY MOST RECENT POSTS, I realized I’d done two vegetarian dishes, a peach-centric roundup of mostly vegetarian and/or fruititarian dishes and last week’s boozitarian cocktail. It was time to get meaty again. Continue reading “Flavor, smoke and a little fire: Grilled Sriracha Apricot Chicken” →