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” →

A simple, authentic taste of Venice: Fettuccine with Shrimp and Radicchio

Sautéing radicchio tames its bitter bite in this Venetian pasta dish. Shrimp, garlic, saffron and wine all add their flavor notes. Recipe below.

It’s another bookish week here at Blue Kitchen. This time, we’re looking at a pair of books on regional Italian cuisines, one covering Venice, the other Sicily. Most books on national, regional or ethnic cuisines aim for authenticity. These books immediately up the ante—they’re published in Italian with English translations.

The books in question are review copies we received of Venezia in cucina/The flavours of Venice and Sicilia in cucina/The flavours of Sicily, published by Sime Books. The Venice book is edited by Cinzia Armanini and Alberta Magris and filled with sumptuous, atmospheric photographs by Laurent Grandadam. William Dello Russo is the editor of the Sicilian book; Nino Bartuccio and Alessandro Saffo supply the gorgeous images. Continue reading “A simple, authentic taste of Venice: Fettuccine with Shrimp and Radicchio” →

An argument for immigration: Bengali-inspired Sautéed Cauliflower with Chili Sauce

Inspired by Gobi (Cauliflower) Manchurian Dry, a popular Indo-Chinese appetizer we sampled at a Bengali restaurant, this lighter version skips the breading and deep frying, but not the flavor. Recipe below.

So this is the third consecutive post that starts by talking about a recent road trip. Last weekend found us in the Motor City. We saw some stellar art—at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, at the Detroit Institute of Arts and on the city streets. Detroit is home to a talented, lively graffiti art scene.

We also ate some amazing food—some of it definitively American, but most of it brought to the city by immigrants. We’re always happy to eat at Señor Lopez, on the edge of Mexican Town. The food is delicious, authentic, plentiful and cheap, and the service is unfailingly friendly. But what really captured our culinary hearts this visit was a pair of Bengali meals. Continue reading “An argument for immigration: Bengali-inspired Sautéed Cauliflower with Chili Sauce” →