Out of town this week on a vacation with Cheryl’s family in the Colorado Rockies. We haven’t had much time to ourselves but were able to break away for a few hours the other morning for a nice hike along the ridge above where we’re staying in Snowmass. For all of my outdoors-y friends who rave about Colorado, I get it now. Continue reading “Travel Post: A Nice Hike in Snowmass”
Fried Pork Belly – Using Up the Bits
What do you do when you have left over pork belly trimmings? Turn them into crackling, pork rinds, chicharrón…well you get my drift. There are many different names for this little porky treat but whatever you call them, they’re delicious and easy to make. You didn’t think I’d go six weeks without a meat post did you?Continue reading “Fried Pork Belly – Using Up the Bits”
Summer Corn Chowder
Even though my favorite cooking season is fall, I do like summer cooking. Mostly because there’s just such an abundance of fresh vegetables which is constantly changing from week to week as the season progresses. As such, it shouldn’t be a surprise most of my summertime posts are vegetable-centric. Like this week’s post for example. We’re heading into the heart of sweet corn season and since it was rather cool and fall-like this week in Chicago I decided to make a quick pot of corn chowder. Correction, a chock-full-of-corn chowder!Continue reading “Summer Corn Chowder”
Heirloom Candy Stripe Beets and Goat Cheese Salad
I’ve been wanting to do something with beets and goat cheese since our dinner at Bistrot L’Entrepont in Montreal where Cheryl had a beet and goat cheese mille-feuille. I played with that idea a little, but alas I just can’t get everything to come together as well as the chef did that night, so I turned to the always popular beet with goat cheese salad. However, the one problem which always occurs is: red beets make everything they touch pink. Hot pink even. Not the most visually enticing. Ah but wait, there’s a solution. Use different beets!Continue reading “Heirloom Candy Stripe Beets and Goat Cheese Salad”
Cold Carrot Soup – A Summer Refresher
Last week, it was the abundance of tomatoes from my tomato plants. This week I pulled up about 2 lbs of carrots from our back patio garden boxes and again the question was…what to do with them all?! The answer I came up with was: a pureed, chilled carrot soup.Continue reading “Cold Carrot Soup – A Summer Refresher”
Tomato Basil Focaccia
My tomato plants are awesome. For all the crappy weather we’ve had this summer they kept chugging along, growing rapidly with all the rain. Once the hot weather hit they went crazy. I’ve been getting lots of tomatoes off of them this past week. As always, the question comes…what to do with them all? Cheryl has been buying focaccia at our local Saturday farmer’s market which gave me the idea for a classic combination, tomato basil focaccia.Continue reading “Tomato Basil Focaccia”
Corn and Lentil Summer Salad
Summer has arrived! It’s hot and steamy and I’m actually happy about it. After the cold and rain we had for past month I’m ecstatic to be using the central AC these days. Food wise, hot days require cold salads and this corn and lentil salad is good for when summer is in full swing.Continue reading “Corn and Lentil Summer Salad”
Merguez – Lamb Sausage
Ok I’ll admit, I’m on a bit of a sausage making kick lately. One reason is because Cheryl and I have been pretty busy with work and so I haven’t had much time to do some good experimenting with our CSA boxes. Another is sausages are pretty easy to make and are delicious. I’ve long wanted to make a merguez and after sampling one at Marche Jean Talon on our Montreal trip I decided now was a good time.Continue reading “Merguez – Lamb Sausage”
Wild Rice and Apricot Summer Salad
Summer Travel Post: Long Holiday Weekend in Montreal
In what is becoming a fairly annual occurrence Cheryl and I once again ventured abroad over the 4th of July Independence Day holiday. In 2008 we were in Milan; 2012, Quebec City; 2013, Barcelona; 2014, Edinburgh. This year we headed back to Canada for a relaxing long weekend in Montreal. We ended up picking a pretty good weekend to go too. Great weather, Jazz Fest, Poutine Fest, and one of the best restaurant meals I think I’ve ever had!Continue reading “Summer Travel Post: Long Holiday Weekend in Montreal”
The Roaming GastroGnome 