Braised Leeks…

I want to love braised leeks, really I do. The French adore their les poireaux, which sound deliciously romantic in French, don’t they? But then again, everything sounds sexy in French; especially if you say it slowly, as they do in the south of France.
Cervelles au beurre noir.
Calf’s brains in brown butter. See?
The truth is, [...]

Peach Pizza

Do peaches really belong on top of pizza?
Fruit topped pizzas are not that unusual. The Hawaiian pizza is an innocuous combination of pineapple chunks and salty ham.
So when I spotted the peaches, chorizo and goat cheese pizza at a microbrewery, I thought, why not? There are probably more bizarre combination than that.
Let’s just say that [...]

Top Ten Kitchen Tools…

I couldn’t very well post the worst kitchen gadgets without immediately coming clean on the best tools.
And notice I said top 10 “tools,” not gadgets.
Because even if a couple of these are truly gadgets in the dictionary sense, they are so critical to a well-equipped kitchen that they’ve earned a promotion to tool status.
I’ve not [...]

Top Ten Useless Kitchen Gadgets

I’d share a picture of one of these contraptions, but I don’t have one — picture or contraption.
That’s not to say I haven’t had one or three of these “tools” in my kitchen at one time or another.
I have, but after discovering they were pretty much worthless, I donated them.
Why donate instead of toss? Because…
One [...]

This I believe…

A baker I am not. The whole scientific process intimidates me.
I still shudder when I think about the impact salt can have on yeast.
Did you know that salt can kill yeast? That’s heavy! How do I keep salt and yeast separated long enough for the yeast to have a fighting chance?
I believe bakers are different [...]

Top Ten Dishes Best Left to the Restaurants

Just because you can make a dish in your home kitchen doesn’t mean that you necessarily want to.
It might be because of the mess (deep frying) or the lengthy ingredient list (mole) or the whole production of it all.
Or, maybe you lack certain professional equipment (a grill that burns at 1,700 degrees, for instance).
And frankly, [...]

Trend Spotter: Agave Nectar

Tequila isn’t the only byproduct of the agave cactus that chefs adore. Arizona’s top toques have been sweetening dishes from appetizers to desserts with agave nectar for a while, and now other chefs (and cookbook authors) are catching on.
Kai, Arizona’s only Mobil Five-Star restaurant, and Tonto Bar & Grill both use agave nectar extensively. That [...]

Just for the halibut…

Because A. J.’s Fine Foods had halibut on sale for $15.99 a pound, I bit. Isn’t that a gorgeous pound of fish?

And while I was there, I noticed some plump shiitake mushrooms, big ones, so now I was beginning to picture my Saturday evening dinner.

Grilled halibut, marinated in a sherry mustard vinaigrette with a shiitake [...]

50 Quintessential American Dishes

I just read a story about the top 10 dishes of Great Britain, and it got me thinking about what an American top 10 list would look like.
To be fair, our list has to be longer and not just because we’re a nation of braggarts — that would be a Texas list (and before you [...]

Orange you glad it’s Saturday?

Guess my hand was shaking a bit while snapping this photo. Or, maybe it’s just the natural sparkling glow of candied orange peel. Yeah, that must be it.
Making candied peel is a perfect weekend task. It takes a bit of work, but the result is worth it. Start with organic oranges, or if those aren’t [...]