Archive for the 'recipes' Category
Some traditions really are just for grown-ups
January 6th, 2009by Lisa
A few weeks before Christmas, I found a recipe for caffe con correto con panna in La Cucina Italiana, one of my favorite food magazines. Basically, this translates to liquor-spiked coffee with chocolate and sweetened cream. I bought a bottle of Frangelico, which I had hitherto assumed was for people who liked drinks involving [...]
Christmas Eve, A Backwards Glance
January 6th, 2009by Lisa
I’m not sure how or why our tradition of fish on Christmas Eve began, but its roots stretch back to my childhood, when we celebrated with close friends. When it was my mother’s turn to host, she very often made a really delicious shrimp and rigatoni dish, accented with tomatoes and feta cheese. Those [...]
A Christmas Treat: Sugar on Snow
December 24th, 2008by Caroline
Usually by Christmas Eve, I’ve baked at least half a dozen batches of cookies, but this year for a change, the kids and I made candy for their teachers: salted chocolate pecan toffee, spiced chocolate bark with dried cherries and pumpkin seeds, and, now that we’re in snowy Connecticut, a kind of maple candy [...]
Dinner Everybody Eats: Pasta with Chickpeas and Almonds
December 17th, 2008by Caroline
I spotted this in a magazine and thought it had a chance. Ben didn’t care for the chickpeas, but everyone else thought it was delicious. Bonus: this is an easy pantry supper that comes together really quickly.
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
7 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
1 pound angel hair pasta (we used spaghetti)
1 15.5-ounce can [...]
The Great Pumpkin
December 9th, 2008by Lisa
Halloween and Thanksgiving are long past, but today, some beast grabbed me and urged me to cut into the Galeux d’Eysines pumpkin I purchased in October. It was a gorgeous pale pink, and covered in sugar warts. It was gnarly, ugly and completely fascinating.
It was easy to cut, as far as pumpkins go but [...]
Wonderballs (because it’s a bit too early for holiday baking)
December 8th, 2008by Caroline
It’s an in-between time right now. We have some Christmas decorations up (paper-glitter snowflakes, a wreath on the door) but not all (no tree, no stockings). The boys are opening up windows on the Advent calendar and counting down the days till Christmas, while I am counting down the (fewer) days till I can [...]
Pasta Puttanesca, 2 Ways
November 25th, 2008by Caroline
Thanksgiving prep is starting early this year as preliminary reports from my brother-in-law indicate that the rental house has an Inadequate Kitchen. So Tony and I have each made one kind of cranberry sauce, my mom’s brown and serve wheat germ rolls are rising, and the wild rice is cooking for the vegetarian entree. [...]
ButterScience, with recipe
November 24th, 2008by Lisa
Like many of my spontaneous ideas, this one began with a question.
After Finn’s long fever, he broke his fast with a brunch of green eggs and toast. For some reason, I was inpsired to butter his bread. Taking a bite, he said, “I got big bite of butter on toast.”
“Yes,” I said, “I put [...]
Dessert, (urban) homestead style
November 18th, 2008by Lisa
Unlike Caroline, I don’t bake a lot. We were joking the other day about our families and how although we have many things in common, there are some major differences. The fact that we eat meat for one. The fact–as she joked–that I’m going “going urban homestead.” I demurred, but she’s not entirely wrong.
This [...]
Peppers, The Prequel
November 7th, 2008By Lisa
The padrone-eating incident (now updated with pictures) was not without precedent.
One of our family staples, especially when it’s high pepper season, is dish of roasted red peppers bathed in olive oil, with capers, garlic, and anchovies.
Before you stop reading at “anchovy,” please consider this: a mysterious alchemy occurs when the peppers meet anchovies and [...]