I have a bunch of recipes that I’ve been meaning to blog for a while, and this is one of the better ones. I can’t remember where I originally got this idea; I think it was from some blogger’s variation that was a few degrees removed from an Ina Garten concoction. I’ve been roasting cauliflower for years, and I grill a lot of vegetables, but I think the best way to cook broccoli (and keep the meal healthy) is under the broiler.
When most families get together for holidays and special occasions, everyone sits around a dining room table in Rockwellian fashion while the patriarch carves a roast beast. At my Italian family’s events, seventy-five people scarf down pounds of Italian sausage while the fraternal brotherhood of retirees complains in escalating fashion about the food not being ready yet. We have the typical American fixins’ like baked ham, deep-fried turkey, stuffing/dressing, potato salad, and mac and cheese, but there are also a couple of lasagnas, stuffed shells, fried eggplant, etc. One of the stars of the show is the stuffed artichokes. We haven’t seen them much at events since my grandmother died, so I decided to learn how to make them.
I remember trying to make ‘smashed potatoes’ once before and it not being a very good experience. However, Cook’s Illustrated recently did a piece on smashed potatoes that took some of the guesswork out of the process. I’ve made them with baby red potatoes and Yukon golds recently, and they came out great both times.
I’ve been trying to get some of my pan sauce recipes online lately so the wife can cook them when I’m not around. Chicken Marsala is her favorite.
I’ve never been a big fan of grilled chicken, especially at restaurants. You end up paying too much money for an extra thick, chewy chicken breast that tastes like water with a thin coating of whatever sauce you thought would make this version of charred bird would taste better than the last. To break that sordid cycle, I always do one of three things to chicken breasts; I stuff them, halve them, or pound them flat. The flavor of grilled chicken is on the outside, so I either add flavor to the middle, decrease the thickness and/or increase the surface area. This time, I used small, tender chicken breasts and flattened them before grilling.
Spaghetti Alla Carbonara is my favorite pasta dish. It’s basically just noodles with fat and cheese, so what’s not to like? When done right, it’s the cheapest gourmet meal you’ll ever have. The problem is, almost no one does it right.
We make pestos pretty frequently, but that’s mostly because the herbs in our garden need to be trimmed occasionally. I made one the other day to dress some lamb. It always surprises me when people are impressed by homemade pesto. It literally takes two minutes to make.
I’m usually a stickler for fresh ingredients, but sometimes the prepackaged stuff is just easier. For my clam sauce, I like to use cans of minced clams. I sometimes eat these directly out of the can as a snack. It’s weird, I know, but I was never really a potato chip kind of guy. My mother always kept junk food in the house for my sisters, but she bought wild rice, minced clams and mac & cheese for me.
Over the years, I’ve tried countless marinades, rubs and cooking styles to bring out the best flavor in pork chops. I’ve finally settled on the best recipe, which oddly enough is one of the easiest. When done this way, they come out sweet and tender. Most importantly, they taste like juicy pork chops, not like salty fruit juice.
We have an oregano plant in the garden that’s getting a little out of hand, so I decided to make some oregano pesto. Nothing goes better with oregano pesto than lamb.
For whatever reason, people get intimidated by roasted rack of lamb. They envision a Passover/Easter feast with mint jelly and overly-complicated, old-world side dishes. It doesn’t have to be that way. Rack of lamb is just the ovine equivalent of the pork chop. Who’s intimidated by pork chops?
