Things have slowed down a bit work-wise and as you may have noticed I’ve been doing some adventurous stuff lately. One experiment I was eager to try was curing some pork cheeks into guanciale. It’s been on my ‘to-do’ list but I always kept forgetting to ask about pork cheeks when in a butcher shop. …
Tag: thyme
Soup Time: Manhattan Clam Chowder
It’s cold and damp out there. Soup weather. Now, soup is not that complicated to make so don’t be scared of making it from scratch. I hadn’t made any in a while (because it was summer) and since Cheryl and I sampled some really good chowder in Seattle last weekend I decided to make a…
First Fall Dish – Lamb Stew with Backyard Garden Vegetables
I probably say this every year but fall is by far my favorite time of the year to cook. It’s nice to get back in front of the stove after cooking on the grill all summer. I just feel more creative in the fall, there’s only so much you can do with the grill, and…
Tomato Bisque
Every Monday night there’s a TwitterChat I usually participate in called #FoodieChats (follow @foodiechats or @foodiechatsCHI for updates) where the moderator asks themed questions and people tweet their responses. It’s a fun way to interact with the “Twitter Community” and I occasionally get some good ideas from it. This week’s theme was “Eating Red” so…
Cassoulet – A Labor of Love
Cassoulet is one of my favorite wintertime French dishes. On the surface it doesn’t seem like anything too special, basically a white bean stew with some meat in it, slow cooked into a rich, hot, warm your bones dish. I don’t think you simply “cook” or “make” cassoulet, it’s something you actually “build.” In her…
Braised Chicken Legs with Kalamata Olives
Way back in time when I became more serious about cooking for myself I used to read a lot of Food and Wine magazines. This is a variation of one of the first “step-up dinners” I made where I graduated from using one of those jar sauces to cook chicken in. Those, of course, were…
Garlic Herb Stuffed Leg of Lamb with an Orange Mint Sauce
So remember a few posts back how I said I always make a leg of lamb for Easter? (No? Well go back a few and get caught up!) Since we were traveling I didn’t get to cook Easter dinner. However, upon returning to Chicago I noticed ham and lamb were both on sale. Imagine that. …
What’s for Sunday Dinner – Braised Leg of Lamb with White Beans
With all the turkey, stews, soups, and pork we’ve been eating lately I decided to change it up a bit and make a leg of lamb. I saw there was a boneless one on sale at the market so I grabbed it. A boneless leg of lamb is nice because you can stuff it with…
