Pure summertime: Blueberry Cake with Buttermilk, Thyme and Lemon Zest

Blueberries, buttermilk, thyme and lemon zest combine to create a delicious cake—and memories of childhood summers in Michigan. Recipe below.

Most of this summer, the blueberries have been terrible—tiny, sour and disgruntled. But suddenly, they have become gorgeous—Michigan blueberries big as marbles, sweet, full of flavor and the most beautiful dusty blue. We’ve been having them on cereal, tossing them in salads (making a vinaigrette using the very pretty blueberry vinegar from Canter-Berry Farms in Washington state) and just plain eating them out of hand.

Ordinarily, I don’t bake in the summer. Even this year, which here in the Midwest has been mild and delightful, I just don’t hold with turning on the oven in July and August. But yesterday—which, natch, was the first really miserably hot day in quite a while—I got the craving. Blueberry cake—we had to have it. Continue reading “Pure summertime: Blueberry Cake with Buttermilk, Thyme and Lemon Zest” →

Seasonal summer cooking, as simple as it gets: Pasta alla Caprese

Pasta turns a classic Italian salad into a quick vegetarian meal, Pasta alla Caprese. Tomatoes, mozzarella and basil are the key ingredients. Recipe below.

The thing about growing tomatoes is this. You plant them as soon as there’s no chance of frost, and then you wait. For a long time, there are no tomatoes. No tomatoes. No tomatoes. Still no tomatoes. And then one day, there are TOMATOES!!! Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes, TOMATOES!!! So you find yourself looking for lots of things to do with TOMATOES!!! Continue reading “Seasonal summer cooking, as simple as it gets: Pasta alla Caprese” →

Cooking from the hip: Pork Chops with Peaches and Wilted Frisée

Pork chops are dry brined to keep them juicy and tender, then pan seared with rosemary. They’re topped with peaches and frisée quickly cooked in the same pan. Recipe below.

Forensic anthropologists would have a field day with my right hip pocket. It’s home to an ever shifting collection of folded scraps of paper, most covered with scribbled food notes. Some are shopping lists, folded and refolded to accommodate new lists. Looking at old lists, I can often reconstruct the meals I cooked based on the ingredients acquired. Continue reading “Cooking from the hip: Pork Chops with Peaches and Wilted Frisée” →

Biscuits and Vegetarian Red Eye Gravy to please (and maybe even fool) a meat lover

Adapted from The Southern Vegetarian Cookbook, this red eye gravy gets its umami-rich, sausage-like flavor and texture from mushrooms, herbs and spices. Paired with easy-to-make drop biscuits, it creates an iconic Southern breakfast. Recipes below.

AT DINNER WITH FRIENDS THE OTHER NIGHT, one of the diners at our table exclaimed over a vegetarian entrée on the menu. I realized at that moment that I will never willingly become a vegetarian. If there are meat or seafood options on a menu, I can’t get excited about vegetarian choices. Or as I put it to our companions, “It would take a death threat from my doctor to make me turn vegetarian.” Continue reading “Biscuits and Vegetarian Red Eye Gravy to please (and maybe even fool) a meat lover” →

Five summer recipes from fellow food bloggers

Things are a little too interesting right now at Blue Kitchen—in a good way. So rather than cook something this week, I’m taking a look at what’s cooking on some of my favorite food blogs.

1. Balsamic Roasted Cherry, Dark Chocolate and Brie Grilled Cheese Sandwich

A common thread these days is working with bountiful fresh fruit. I don’t think anyone does it more decadently than Kevin at Closet Cooking does with this sandwich. A grilled cheese sandwich. Made with brie. And dark chocolate. And cherries roasted in balsamic vinegar. Or brandy. Or port. If you’re already salivating like I am, you’ll find the recipe here. Continue reading “Five summer recipes from fellow food bloggers” →

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” →

Classic cocktail remix: Basil Lemon Gin and Tonic

Gin and tonic, a quintessential summer cocktail, gets refreshed with basil, lemon juice and St-Germain elderflower liqueur. Recipe below.

The artisan cocktail movement has turned happy hour into an adventure—part grownup playdate, part science fair. Bartenders are now alchemists, creating inventive, flavorful drinks from small-batch craft spirits, housemade bitters and all manner of herbs, fruits, vegetables and more. We embrace this trend. These days, we’re as likely to ask for a cocktail menu as we are a wine list, in a bar or even out for dinner. An imaginative, well-mixed cocktail just seems to amp up the fun and the elegance.

At home, this cocktail renaissance has us taking a fresh look at our classic go-to drinks. What is more summery than a gin and tonic? The original, made with gin, tonic water, lime and ice, is bracing and fresh, driven by gin’s signature juniper berry taste. But on a recent evening when I thought of gin and tonics, another archetypal taste of summer popped into my head. Basil. Continue reading “Classic cocktail remix: Basil Lemon Gin and Tonic” →

Change up your summer salads: Brussels Sprouts Salad with Blue Cheese

A fresh, flavorful take on the ubiquitous summer salad. Shaved Brussels sprouts are dressed with lemon juice and olive oil, then tossed with pistachios, thyme and blue cheese. Recipe below.

Leave it to us to find vegetarian inspiration in a hot dog joint. Not that Chicago-based Franks ‘n’ Dawgs is your typical joint. Their housemade artisan sausages (lamb, spicy beef, jerk goat, turkey & date, bay scallop…) are topped with everything from pickled green papaya to duck confit, giardiniera, Mako shark bacon and kimchi.

Besides delicious, inventive dogs, they serve up sublime sides. Lyonnaise fries (with braised pig cheek and poached egg). Truffle mac ‘n’ cheese. Creole red beans with blackened shrimp and jalapeño cornbread. And the subtle, citrusy Brussels sprouts salad that inspired this one. Continue reading “Change up your summer salads: Brussels Sprouts Salad with Blue Cheese” →

A winter superfood gets a summer makeover: Kale Lemon Pesto with Fettuccine

Kale, lemon juice and zest, pistachios, garlic and Parmesan cheese make a quick, no-cook vegetarian pasta sauce—or spread for crostini. Recipe below.

I rarely find myself ahead of the curve on trends, but we cooked with kale when it was just good for you. In fact, it first appeared in a recipe here about five and a half years ago. Kale’s coolness factor has soared in the last few years, with it showing up on upscale restaurant menus everywhere. Its mere appearance there bestows instant hipness. In May, kale salads received breathless praise in the New York Times, not in the Dining section, but in Fashion & Style. And Zazzle.com even sells a t-shirt proclaiming “Kale is the new black.”

Of course, part of fashion is being attuned to the season. And what could be more summery than pesto? Usually made with basil, this no-cook sauce is a staple of Italian summers. It can be tossed with pasta for a meal (our favorite use) or slathered on crostini for an appetizer. Here, kale sheds its winter greens identity and shows basil a thing or two. Continue reading “A winter superfood gets a summer makeover: Kale Lemon Pesto with Fettuccine” →

Six peachy (and apricot-y) recipes for summer

Peaches and apricots each play parts in six breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes that run from sweet to savory and first course through dessert. Recipes below.

Summer is under way, and stone fruits are filling produce shelves. Peaches, apricots and numerous varieties of plums beckon with their rich colors and heady aromas. Sure, they’re delicious to eat out of hand, their juices running down your chin. But they’re also great to cook with. Here are a half dozen recipes from the Blue Kitchen archives that do just that. Continue reading “Six peachy (and apricot-y) recipes for summer” →