“Go east, young man”: Fragrant, flavorful Chinese Duck Pasta with Mushrooms

Steaming duck legs with ginger, garlic, star anise and Chinese five-spice powder before roasting them infuses the meat with flavor and moisture for this Chinese pasta dish. Recipe below.

“Marco!” “Polo!” Before becoming an annoying swimming pool pastime, Marco Polo was an Italian merchant and explorer who, as popular myth has it, brought pasta back from China in 1295. Unfortunately, pesky facts have long ago proven otherwise. But since the journey for the creation of this dish went in the opposite direction—from Italy to China—for the sake of symmetry, I’m going to pretend that Signor Polo did indeed introduce the noodle to Italy.

The journey began as many of my food adventures do, with an offhand comment. This time it was on Grub Street New York: “…chef Jonathon Sawyer (who, by the way, makes a mean duck pasta)…” Continue reading ““Go east, young man”: Fragrant, flavorful Chinese Duck Pasta with Mushrooms” →

Globe-trotting whole cumin seeds bring a whole lot of flavor to Lamb with Cumin

Whole cumin seeds, jalapeño and red bell peppers, garlic and onions all deliver big taste in this lively Chinese dish. Recipe below.

Cumin gets around. Originally cultivated around the Mediterranean and the Middle East—and in fact found at archeological sites in Babylonia and Egypt—it’s now found in cuisines throughout Asia, Africa, the Americas and parts of Europe.

One of our favorite places to find it is in a lamb with cumin dish served at Lao Beijing, one of Tony Hu’s authentically regional restaurants in Chicago’s Chinatown. Lamb with Cumin is a traditional dish of Mongolia and the neighboring Xinjiang region of western China, but variations have made their way across much of China. Continue reading “Globe-trotting whole cumin seeds bring a whole lot of flavor to Lamb with Cumin” →

Globally inspired: Grilled Tahini-marinated Chicken Tacos

Inspiration and ingredients from Asia, the Middle East, Mexico and possibly even Bakersfield come together in tacos stuffed with grilled chicken marinated in tahini, gin, lemon juice, soy sauce, cumin, garlic and ginger. Recipe below.

One of the benefits (and pitfalls) of writing about food is that everything you put in your mouth is also food for thought. Marion and I don’t go all foodie obsessive and kidnap restaurant conversation with a play-by-play (or bite-by-bite) analysis. But we do store all sorts of information away—new flavor combinations, interesting techniques or ingredients—ever ready to call them up and mash them together into something new.

Which is precisely how these tacos came about. First, tacos are definitely enjoying a moment—I wrote about this delicious phenomenon for the USA Character Blog. Among the more interesting iterations are the Korean tacos at Chicago’s tiny, bustling Del Seoul. Since the first bite, we’ve not gotten these tacos out of our heads. Continue reading “Globally inspired: Grilled Tahini-marinated Chicken Tacos” →

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” →

Braised Rabbit, Italian Grandmother Style

Slow cooked with carrots, onions, tomatoes, olives, fresh herbs, wine and brandy, braised rabbit makes an impressive rustic company dinner. Recipe below, including substitutions for rabbit.

Rarely seen in American kitchens, rabbit shows up on dinner tables all over Europe. I’m turning the kitchen over to Marion this week, as she gets in touch with her inner Italian grandmother.

Years back, when I lived in the country, a lady up the road raised rabbits for meat, and it got so pretty much no month went by without some rabbit dish making it to my table. I would walk down to her place, about a mile away (sometimes getting the chance to see the local pheasants, owls and the wacky, kind of scary neighborhood flock of turned-feral guinea hens), make a purchase, then walk back home and cook it. It was inexpensive, delicious, low in fat and versatile. I was crazy about it. Continue reading “Braised Rabbit, Italian Grandmother Style” →

Rick Bayless brings Mexican food with street cred to the streets of Chicago

Mexican street food as celebrated by America’s authority on Mexican cuisine is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

Street food is enjoying a moment. Whether it’s food taking to the streets in gourmet food trucks or street fare from the world’s street corners and marketplaces moving indoors, the street is increasingly becoming the source of some of the most exciting food these days.

One direction street food has taken is fusion mash-ups. I recently wrote about Korean tacos, for instance. They first showed up in LA on the Kogi Korean BBQ Truck. Now they’ve gone bricks and mortar at Chicago’s Del Seoul. Celebrity chef and Mexican food authority Rick Bayless’s cuisine is the exact opposite of fusion. Continue reading “Rick Bayless brings Mexican food with street cred to the streets of Chicago” →

Osso Buco: Italian “Bone with a hole” packs a whole lot of flavor

There are many versions of the classic Northern Italian favorite, osso buco. This one uses slow oven braising to make the meat flavorful, fork tender and moist. Recipe below.

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT USING KITCHEN TWINE that makes me feel like a chef and connects me to the past. Trussing up pork tenderloins or rolled roasts with string says you’re getting serious in the kitchen, in a comfortingly old school way. It was something Julia did. Continue reading “Osso Buco: Italian “Bone with a hole” packs a whole lot of flavor” →

Two recipes, many inspirations: Roasted Chili Cumin Chicken with Pickled Red Onions

Inspired by Mexican street food (channeled by Rick Bayless), sweet, tangy pickled red onions and chopped cilantro give roasted Chili Cumin Chicken a lively, fresh finish. Recipes 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.

Now, though, it’s comfort food. And that in itself is not a bad thing—sometimes, the baskets of chips, the familiar flavors and friendly, relaxed atmosphere that are part of the package deal are exactly what you want. Add some friends and cocktails and you’re set for a good evening. Continue reading “Two recipes, many inspirations: Roasted Chili Cumin Chicken with Pickled Red Onions” →

This colorful, lively side bites back: Roasted Radicchio with White Beans and Tomatoes

Roasting radicchio is a favorite way to prepare it in Italian kitchens. Here, roasted wedges add a pleasantly bitter edge to cannellini beans, tomatoes and sage. Recipe and variations below.

Of the five taste sensations, bitter is often the toughest sell, the one we come around to last. For many of us, we discover its pleasant edge through coffee, dark chocolate or perhaps licorice. In the produce department, you’ll find varying degrees of natural bitterness in escarole, broccoli rabe, eggplant, curly endive, mustard and dandelion greens… and in deep red radicchio.

A form of chicory, radicchio enjoys a long, storied history in Italy. Roman scholar and prolific author Pliny the Elder wrote of its medicinal benefits in Naturalis Historia around 77 AD, claiming that it was good for insomnia and purifying the blood. Its culinary history dates back centuries too, but Americans are fairly recent converts to its bitter charm. Continue reading “This colorful, lively side bites back: Roasted Radicchio with White Beans and Tomatoes” →

Country style ribs, Italian style

Slow cooked with aromatics, herbs and canned Italian plum tomatoes, country style ribs take on a delicious Italian accent. Recipe below.

We moved our cookbooks last weekend. More precisely, we moved our cookbook bookcase, which involved removing the cookbooks and then reshelving them in their new spot. Have you ever moved cookbooks without opening any of them? Neither have we. That’s how we came across the recipe that inspired this one.

More than a year ago, Marion gave me the wonderful (and sadly out-of-print) Roma: Authentic Recipes from In and Around the Eternal City. I immediately cooked one of Rome’s “favorite humble meals” from it, pasta e ceci (pasta and chickpeas). And I promised more to come. Of course, then it got filed away with all the other cookbooks and forgotten.

Now it’s back, with a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs rib dish that’s perfect for chilly nights. Continue reading “Country style ribs, Italian style” →