Food, Travel, and Cooking!
A terrific summer pasta on a hot day; freshly cooked pasta tossed with a room temperature sauce. So perfect! We grow Sun Gold, Red Cherry Tomatoes and San Marzanos for summer cooking. I love the idea that the sauce sits and marinates on the counter until dinner time! Makes 4 Servings ¼ cup EVO 1 […]
Making Hollandaise using the blender method seems a lot easier than whisking away in a pot on top of the stove. A good thing in my opinion! 1 ¼ cups unsalted butter, cubed 2 large egg yolks 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice, plus more Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper Method: Fill a blender […]
Why bother doing this on top of the stove if you have a microwave was what I asked myself? This method is so much easier and quite frankly, it would be almost impossible to scorch it! 4 Tbsp butter 3 Tbsp flour Bay Leaf, piece of onion, 2 whole cloves (opt.) or pinch of nutmeg […]
Spring means a few things, including the arrival of fantastic, locally grown asparagus! Wash the asparagus. Snap off the bottoms of the asparagus where they seem to want to break. This will be an inch or more from the bottom. Discard the trimmings as they are fibrous. Good for the compost though. Or, you can […]
It is important to use a youngish Pecorino and not Pecorino Romano for this dish. I’d recommend Pecorino Fresca, Pecorino re Nero from Tuscany or a Pecorino from Pienza, if you can find it. Consider yourself lucky if you’ve got a good cheese shop in your area. Now’s the time to use that excellent young […]
I can’t help but think that a cold glass of Prosecco would be a great accompaniment to any of these! In Italy, a choice of more than one type of crostini is normally offered. Use slices of baguette or ficelle, or mini Market loaves from Rise Artisan.** The bread can be lightly toasted, if you […]
Here’s my rendition of Eggs Benny I enjoyed at brunch one day in Sydney, B. C. I think it makes a nice change from the usual versions and I really like that it’s vegetarian. The idea of making this for brunch and having it outside on the deck or patio on a sunny summer or […]
To Clean Domestic Leeks: Trim root end, remove outside layer of leek, trim leek keeping only the white and light green parts.. Save the dark green parts for making stock. They can be frozen. Cut down the length of the stem and holding each half under cold running water, rinse thoroughly, making sure you open up […]
Knowing how to blanch vegetables is a very good thing for us cooks and is so useful in so many recipes. Fill a large pot with cold water; bring to a boil. Add 1 – 2 Tbsp. salt. Place the cut, trimmed veggies into the boiling water for 2 – 5 minutes, depending on the […]
Being able to turn out a decent pie crust is not that difficult, really! Follow these steps and I think you’ll like the results whether you’re a newbie or an old hand at pastry making. My Mom’s Pastry For Pie’s – For 2 or 3 Double Crust Pies, depending on the size of the pie pan. I […]