You say it is too hot out to turn your oven to 500 degrees and roast a chicken for an hour…I say “Chicken under a brick!” You say you want moist breast meat and crispy skin…I say “Chicken under a brick!” You say you want a lot of flavor without a lot of hassle…”Chicken under [...]

Broiled chicken is the most spectacularly delicious dish. Dried out, boneless, skinless chicken breast has given chicken a bad. These days the standard chicken dish has no chicken flavor, it is usually boring white meat with other flavors added. Broiled or roasted chicken, however, is full of chicken flavor and soul. Roasting chicken pieces on [...]

This is a quick dish you can throw together in a hurry. It was inspired by a nice bunch of chives I picked up at the farmers’ market which I had no plans for. We used rotini, but fresh pasta would probably work better.

What I am about to present here will likely shock and shame any true Southerner. Whatever! I am a Masshole and freely butcher Southern classics as I please. My version of sausage and grits is quick and tasty and only requires one pan.

Saveur is an amazing food magazine. Its articles manage to expertly capture the regions, stories and people behind food and recipes. In Washington, DC we have been having a wet and rainy Spring and it reminded of an article I read in Saveur on Brittany and buckwheat crepes or Galettes that they make there.

I am going to go out a limb and say that there is no such thing as a bad pizza…hmm, well actually I have had plenty of bad pizza. Ok, so it might be more accurate to say that most pizza is pretty good. The pizza we made last weekend was a lot better than [...]

We had a bunch of cream left over after making Kim’s Yummy Pasta and we were trying to come up with some ideas for dinner. After poking around our recipes we came across this recipe for a Vodka Cream Sauce. Instead of using boxed pasta we went for some fresh pasta. I read somewhere that [...]

Kim is our friend. And this is actually her grandmother’s recipe. It’s a very old school Italian dish—hearty and filling. Perfect for a fall or winter evening. The main ingredients (besides the pasta) are carrots, celery and onions, which is the classic combination for starting any soup or meat dish. So, while you may not [...]

The final post in my Crepe Trilogy is on savory crepes. Savory crepes make for an awesome sandwich. This recipe calls for cooking the crepes in the oven, which gets the outside of the crepes nice and crispy. With the melty cheese and salty ham, it is an irresistible treat. The best part is that [...]

Crepes have traditionally been a “going out food” - food that you think is so tricky that you only get it at restaurants. Deep fried whole fish is another good example of “going out food.” Crepes on the other hand are surprisingly easy to make and tough to screw up. The only tricky part is [...]

The last recipe I posted for French Onion soup was from Cook’s Illustrated and the soup came out great. So when I saw that they had an updated recipe, I had to give it a try. The big change between the recipes was that the updated version calls for caramelizing the onions in the oven [...]

We tried out this chili recipe over the winter and I have been meaning to get it up here. It is not that it was bad–the chili came out great–I am just lazy. This chili is not to spicy but has just enough kick. There are a lot of ingredients that go into this chili, [...]

I know what you’re thinking, “butternut squash on pizza???” We were skeptical as well, but the pictures accompanying the recipe looked too good to pass up. We are hopeful that our own photos will inspire you to try this recipe, as well! Verdict: the sweetness of the butternut squash and the dryness of the [...]

Gnocchi can be a scary… but really it is one of the simplest pastas out there. The only complicated part is baking the potatoes needed for traditional gnocchi. However if you use canned pumpkin puree you can make delicious, colorful gnocchi in no time at all. After boiling the gnocchi you can toss them with a [...]

I am a steak fan, so when ever I come across a new recipe for steaks I give it a try. The previous recipe I posted here gives great results, but I am always up for trying something new. When I came across this recipe in Cook’s Illustrated I had to try it. The recipe [...]

Successfully making thin crust pizza at home is not an easy task. When I have tried before I end up with a crust that over cooked and cracker like, or one that is limp and under cooked. That is why I was so happy to see that Cook’s Illustrated had done some testing and made [...]

Fresh pasta is ridiculously easy… if you have the right tools. The very basics requirements are a mixing bowl, and a hand cranked pasta roller and cutter. It is pretty easy to mix up a pasta dough by hand, and it is even easier to just toss everything in the food processor and mix [...]

Poached chicken is one of the most versatile things you can have sitting around in the fridge. Mix with a sauce and toss it in a sandwich. Add some dressing and place it on a salad. Throw it with some pasta and your done! Chicken Caesar Salad, Chicken quesadillas, Vietnamese chicken salad… Done, Done and Done! I [...]

Some dishes take a little chutzpah to pull off. I think large roasts fall in this category. First off, buying a large enough amount of meat to roast usaully cost a lot of money. Secondly, when you make a roast you are usaully making it for a lot of people. This means if you mess [...]

Carolyn and I made the Greek Shrimp again last week. It came out really good this time too. I had a couple of thoughts on how to make it better though. It is probably best to add the parsley at the very in and stir it in off the heat. Most leafy herbs like parsley [...]

Carolyn had been wanting to try this recipe ever since her friend Katie mentioned. We finally got around to trying it last week. It was perfect stew day: wintery, dark and cold. The recipe calls for some ingredients we don’t usually have: saffron, lamb and figs. The lamb was the easiest to find. Make sure you [...]

Beef stew is an amazingly good dish that unfortunately has fallen out of popularity. This may be because people have had so many bad beef stews with overcook meat and vegetables. A good stew will have a thick savory broth and tender beef. The vegetables should still have a little fight left in them and [...]

Before we went to Greece we took a class on Greek cooking at Sur La Table. It was a great class and we learned how to make 4 dishes. This is our favorite one. It is really easy to make and the flavor is great.

Steak is one of the most basic dishes you can make. All you do is lightly oil, season and apply some heat. A good steak has a nice crust to it, that is not charred and should be tender and just done in the center. You would think it would be hard to mess up, [...]