Category Archives: Recipes

Summer Fruit, Summer Pie – Cherry Pie

I’m not always all about the pig here. If you’ve followed along during the last almost 5 years you know I usually try to do more seasonal things. Summer is about fruits and vegetables. Mostly. Cherries are in season and hitting the markets so this week armed with a bag of dark cherries, I bakedContinue reading “Summer Fruit, Summer Pie – Cherry Pie”

A Spin on Habas con Jamon – Kind of a Vacation Inspiration

Vacations inspire me to make something new or recreate something local or traditional we really liked while on vacation. Hang on, you say, you were in Scotland. What does Scotland have to do with a Spanish dish? Well, the Scottish dish I am definitely going to make (Cullen skink) isn’t one for our summer, fitsContinue reading “A Spin on Habas con Jamon – Kind of a Vacation Inspiration”

Pan Tomate, A Honeymoon Memory

The calendar flipped to June this week and that means it’s anniversary month for Cheryl and me. The iron anniversary! My focus on Spain lately got me thinking about the tail end of our honeymoon in Barcelona, where we took a cooking class. Yes, we learned how to make pan tomate, a delicious way toContinue reading “Pan Tomate, A Honeymoon Memory”

Panzanella – Tomatoes and Stale Bread

I’m back! This week has been waaaaaay more manageable than last week and I’ve actually been cooking dinners again. So happy. It has also gotten very warm and feels more like it should be for Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to summer. For us, summer brings salads and this panzanella is just the ticketContinue reading “Panzanella – Tomatoes and Stale Bread”

Pinchos Morunos, Get Ready for Grilling

Didn’t take long for me to dive right into my new cook book and start sharing, did it? I’ve been going through it over the past week looking at sausages and getting ideas, but as I mentioned before there’s a lot more to Charcuteria than you’d think. This recipe for grilled kebabs with Moorish influencedContinue reading “Pinchos Morunos, Get Ready for Grilling”

More Artichokes – Alla Romana This Week

Last week I didn’t have time to properly cook some wonderful artichokes but this week was a different story. Since things slowed down ever so slightly and my Wednesday night soccer was rained out I was able to quickly throw together Carciofi alla Romana like in Elizabeth Minchilli’s Eating Rome.

Spring Artichoke Salad with Grapefruit and Mint

Kitchen is finished! Well almost. A couple small finishing touches to go but we can at least move our stuff back in and the workers are all packed up and gone. However, it has been a ridiculously crazy week and I really haven’t had any time to fully test drive our (ok let’s be honest,Continue reading “Spring Artichoke Salad with Grapefruit and Mint”

Escarole with Duck Sausage – A Date Night Inspiration

For date night last week we went to one of our favorite places here in Chicago, Osteria Langhe where we ate an amazing contorno of escarole and spicy sausage with olives and cherry tomatoes. It was really really really really good. By now you can guess what Cheryl said. ‘You can make this with oneContinue reading “Escarole with Duck Sausage – A Date Night Inspiration”

Creamy Asparagus Soup – Kitchen is Almost Back to Normal

Well it’s kind of spring. The abundance of asparagus in the stores tells us it’s spring, but the weather…eh not so much. One day it’s sunny and warm, trees and flowers are budding, then the next day it’s snowing. This week I made a creamy asparagus soup and it matches the weather too, you canContinue reading “Creamy Asparagus Soup – Kitchen is Almost Back to Normal”