I had a lot of mint left over from the Balti Lamb with Peas and Potatoes I cooked few days, and I wanted to use it up. So, of course, I went to epicurious.com and looked for a recipe that called for mint. Savory mint lamb chops is what I came up with. It was simple and got great reviews. The only minus is that it didn't use that much mint.

Well, I made it last night and it was absolutely delicious. The lamb chops were tender and very, very tasty. You couldn't taste the mint at all, but the marinade really enhanced the lamb flavor. In all, I loved them and I will for sure make them again. This time I served it with steamed broccoli.

I followed the original recipe closely, though I did not include the cayenne pepper, as my kids won't eat anything spicy. The reviews also suggested that the chops were better without it.

Here is the recipe:

Mint lamb chops

Ingredients

This morning Michaela wanted to bake - which is pretty amazing because she usually disappears when Camila and I start making anything. She wanted to do it all by herself (or mostly, she still can't read a recipe) and she wanted to make cookies. I barely had any ingredients - definitely no chocolate chips - so she suggested we make sugar cookies. I found this recipe on epicurious.com (my favorite recipe site), which had the advantage of requiring few ingredients. It did call for cream of tartar, which I didn't have, but I substituted with lemon juice with perfect results. Indeed, the results were amazing. I loved these cookies and I'll definitely make them again when the occasion calls for sugar cookies. Do note that they are a bit more crispy than your regular sugar cookie.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
  
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 3 tsp. lemon juice
  
• Water and additional sugar
  

Instructions

In an electric mixer, mix the butter with the oil and sugars until well blended. Add the oil and vanilla extract and mix well. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into the butter/sugar bowl. Mix well. Add the lemon juice and mix once again.

Put the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes, or in the fridge for at least 30.

Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Grease two cookie sheets.

Place 1 Tbsp. of dough in your hand and roll into a ball. Place onto the baking sheet. Repeat until the dough is all used up.

Pour water into a small bowl, and sugar into another. Take a glass with a flat bottom, wet the bottom in the water and then press it against the sugar. Press the glass bottom on each cookie ball, each cookie should be about 1/4" high.

Place the cookie sheets in the oven and bake until they start to brown, about 15 minutes. Cool down completely before removing.

It's blueberry season and the blueberries at the farmer's market are wonderful - though expensive at about $9 for a pint? a quart? I just know it's a big bucket. But this week Safeway also has them on sale for $6 for a 2.5lbs box. They are from Canada, but they are just as good as the locals. So I got one of those boxes too. Now I have blueberries coming out of my years! (thanks god they are so good!). Anyway, I thought I'd use some making blueberry pancakes and I found this recipe at epicurious.com. It's *very* good. The pancakes came out light and fluffy, without that obnoxious metallic taste of pre-made mixes, and they had a great blueberry flavor. The best thing is that it calls for the type of ingredients you have at home anyway. I modified it a little bit, but it's basically the same as the original:

Ingredients

Last Friday, I made a cheesecake for the first time. I've been at home with the kids for a while, and I've been having this weird need/desire to bake. It's weird, because I've never been much into baking, or into making desserts, for that matter. But lately, that's what I've been wanting to cook.

So Friday I made this recipe for white chocolate and strawberry cheesecake. I omitted the strawberries, but the cheesecake by itself was REALLY GOOD. Alas, it didn't taste at all like white chocolate, but it didn't matter, as it really tasted like cheesecake and I love cheesecake.

So I learned a few things while making it. First of all, cheesecake is freaking expensive! I don't want to think how much money I spent in buying all the ingredients. Just like with ice cream, it's cheaper to buy the pre-made stuff. Second, cheesecake is pretty much fat and sugar. That's why it tastes so good, but I could feel my arteries clogging while making it. I don't think I'll make it again, unless it's for someone else to eat. Third, it's not hard to make cheesecake, though it can be time consuming.

Anyway, the recipe I linked to is pretty good. If you make it, read the comments. The recipe makes enough batter for 1 1/2 cakes. I didn't have 2 cake pans, so I put the remaining batter in ramekins and cooked them along the cake on a pan with water. I actually liked these "cheesecake puddings" more than the cake itself. I used chessmen chocolate cookies for the crust, which was good.

I never buy top sirloin, because I don't find it to be the most flavorful of steaks, but it was on sale at Safeway and I figured it was worth a try. I looked for a recipe in epicurious.com, and found this one for Grilled Steak Verciano. I made it last night and it was *very good*. It imparted the meat with a strong flavor (lots of it from wine, so don't make it unless you like red wine), and both Mike and I loved it.

I didn't get the grill hot enough before I cooked the steaks, so 4 minutes on each side led to a very rare steak. Next time I'll get it hotter, but I'll probably do 5 minutes on each side anyway.

Grilled steak with wine-soy sauce marinade

1/2 cup red wine
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. dried rosemary
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2-pounds top sirloin steaks

Mix the red wine with the soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, garlic and salt. Add the steaks and cover well on both sides. Marinade in the refrigerator for 6 hours, turning half way through.

Heat a grill to medium-high. Grill the steaks until done, about 4 minutes on each side for medium-rare.

Marga's Best Recipes

I made this recipe for Pomegranate Khoresh (basically a chicken in pomegranate) sauce last night. It was too sweet for me, even though I'd use a little bit more than half of the sugar they recommended, and eating it was actually a chore. But Mike really liked it and even had seconds.
I served it with rice, but I think it'd gone better with couscous. I think couscous is just a better base for sweet stews.

I don't think I'll make it again, but if you have a couple of bottles of pomegranate juice lying around, this may be a good way to use them.

I love short ribs. I usually order them when they are available in restaurants, and I've tried cooking them at home a few times, with various measures of success. I'm still looking for the perfect short rib recipe, however. All I know is that it will have red wine in it :-)

This one, from the Food Network, looks pretty good. I just put it in the oven, so you'll have to wait until it's ready to find out how good it is ;-).

Well, here I am, with a report on the short ribs. They were good. Good, but not great, and what I'm looking at this point is for something great. So I don't think I'd bother making them again.

For the time being, here is the recipe, as I made it. Note that I no longer use chicken or beef broth. Instead I add water and the corresponding amount of "Better than Bouillon" chicken or beef base. Also, I couldn't find good white onions at Safeway. They only had 6, and they were all bruised in some unappealing way. I got organic yellow onions instead, which looked better. As usual, I used "two-buck chuck" (cabernet sauvignon in this case).

Short Ribs Bouriguignonne

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp. paprika
• 2/3 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/3 tsp. salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 4 lbs short ribs, trimmed
• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 4 slices of bacon, chopped
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 small carrot, chopped
• 5 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 lb mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cups red wine
• 4 cups beef stock

Preheat oven to 375F.

Mix the flour with the spices in a large bowl. Lightly coat the short ribs with the flour mixture.

Melt the butter in a large dutch oven and brown the short ribs on all sides. Remove and add the chopped bacon. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes or until brown and add the vegetables. Cook until soft, stirring occasionally. Return the meat to the pot and add the wine and the beef stock. Bring to a boil, then cover and put the pot in the oven. Cook for 2 to 3 hours.

Adapted from a recipe at the Food Network.

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo and I wanted to make some Mexican food. My sister Kathy doesn't eat Mexican food, however, so finding something she liked was pretty hard. Also, while I would have liked to make a mole, I didn't have the time to commit to it. So I decided on carnitas. While searching for the entree, I also found a recipe for polvorones, a.k.a. Mexican wedding cookies, and it seemed easy enough to try. Both were quite good. I didn't like the carnitas as much as my regular recipe, but they were easier to make (if that's possible) and, more importantly, they are made in the crock pot, which means that I don't have to be at home while they cook. They were succulent, moist, tender and not at all greasy. I'll definitely make them again.

The polvorones were also very good and very easy to make. I know I've had them before, but I'd never made them. I made them according to the recipe, but I used raw pecans rather than toasted pecans, as I didn't have the latter and didn't feel like toasting what I had. I also had to go to a meeting after making the dough, so I left it in the fridge for about 3 hours. I put it in the counter for about 15 minutes before baking it, though.

Carnitas

• 5 lbs pork shoulder, cut into large pieces
• 5 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 5 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 onions, quartered.

Place the pork pieces in a slow cooker. Add the seasoning and mix well. Top with the onions.
Cook in a slow cooker in low setting for 6 hours.

Adapted from epicurious.com

Polvorones

• 1 cup butter at room temperature
  
• 2 cups powdered sugar
  
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  
• 2 cups all purpose flour
  
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
  
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon

In an electric mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and vanilla and mix well. Add flour and mix well. Add pecans and mix well. Divide the dough in two. Wrap each part in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour.

Pre-heat oven to 350F

Put about 2 tsp. of dough in your hands and roll into a ball. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat until the rest of the dough is used up. Bake for 18 minutes, or until the bottom is golden and the top slightly golden. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile combine 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar with the cinnamon. Roll the cookies on the sugar mixture until well covered. Place on a rack and cool completely.

Adapted from epicurious.com

I adapted this recipe from one a person posted in a Craigslist forum. It's amazingly simple and delicious. Even Mika thought the meat (sans the vinegar) was yummy. Mike really dug the vinegar, I thought it was good either way.

-6 lamb chops, trimmed
-salt & pepper
-1Tbsp olive oil
-herbes de provence
-1 large shallot, finely chopped
-1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Sprinkle lamb chops with salt and pepper. Rub herbes de provence on both sides. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a sautee pan and sautee lamb chops for about 3-4 minutes per side. You may have to do this in batches. Remove and keep warm.

Add the chopped shallot to the pan and sautee until tender. Add the vinegar, mix well and boil until the vinegar reduces by at least half. Return lamb chops to the pan, flip to make sure both sides are covered with the vinegar, and serve.

After making basque chicken a few nights ago, I had a lot of leftover white wine and I wanted to make something that used it. I looked in epicurious.com for recipes, and I came about this one for Chicken with prosciutto, rosemary, and white wine. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't find it either in my best recipes list or in this blog. It got pretty good reviews so I decided to try it.

Mike really liked it, but I thought it was merely OK. There was nothing wrong with it, it was quite flavorful, but I think the flavors just didn't do it for me. I thought it tasted like something I've made before, but Mike didn't think so. In any case, I won't be rushing to make it again.

I did make one change from the original recipe. I used prosecco instead of white wine, because, lo and behold, I actually ran out of the white wine making bolognese sauce - but I can't imagine that affected the taste.

Basque chicken, in its different incarnations, is one of my favorite dishes. A basic chicken stew, it's homey and satisfying. It's not high cuisine, but comfort food of the best kind.

I've made different versions of this dish before. This traditional version, from a cookbook I bought in Spain, has carrots and cognac and was originally meant for rabbit. This more complicated version is French and comes from Gerald Hirigoyen's The Basque Kitchen, a book I loved and lost (I loaned it to a friend who never returned it :-(. The one I cooked comes from Teresa Barrenchea's The Basque Table. It's simple, has few ingredients, but it did take me about 2 hours to cook :-( It is, however, very good. The recipe below is not exactly like the original recipe (of course!), but it's how I made it. I'm serving it with whole wheat couscous (because it's so easy and quick to make).

I speak in the present tense because, as I write, I wait for Mike and the kids to come home and have dinner. Hurry up! I'm hungry!

Recipe

-3 1/2 lbs. chicken parts
-sea salt
-1/2 cup olive oil
-3 garlic cloves, minced
-1 onion, sliced
-2 red bell peppers, sliced
-2 medium tomatoes, seeded & diced
-1 1/2 tsp. sugar
-1 cup dry white wine
-juice of 1/2 lemon

Sprinkle chicken parts with salt, set aside.

In a large, deep skillet or pot heat 1/4 cup of oil, brown the chicken on both sides ( you may have to do this on batches). Set aside. Pour off the used oil and add 1/4 cup of fresh oil to the pot, heat. Add the chopped garlic and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add the sliced onion and sautee on low heat until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the red pepper and tomatoes, mix well and season with the sugar and salt to taste. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring often, until the tomatoes give out their juice. Add the wine.

Add the chicken and mix well. Bring mixture to a boil and then simmer on medium heat, partially covered, until the chicken is done, about 40 minutes. The sauce should be somewhat thick, boil off some of the liquid if it's not. Add the lemon juice and cook for five more minutes. Serve.

I invited my friend Arthur for dinner last night and I wanted to make something fairly quick and easy - but also very good. Of course, I thought about my perennial chicken marsala recipe, which is amazingly yummy and simple - but I didn't have marsala on hand and our local Safeway doesn't sell it. Mike suggested that I make Coq au Vin instead, and I loved the idea.

I got my recipe from Coq au Vin from The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine years ago, and I make it from time to time, not very often as it's very fattening. But lord, is it good! It's also very easy to make, though it does take about 2 hours from beginning to end (the second hour is simmering).

This time I used a $4 Cabernet Sauvignon from Safeway, but I'm sure $2 Chuck would be just as good.

Arthur and Mike (and I) were very pleased with the results.

I've made this recipe for chicken marsala 3 or 4 times now, and I still can't believe how incredibly delicious it is. It's probably the best thing I've made. I have the link to the recipe at epicurious in another posting, but I've decided to post it here as well and link it from my favorite recipes page.

Today I forgot to salt the chicken - but the sauce was so rich in flavor that it didn't really need it. I also accidentally added a half a cup of white wine, but that only meant I had to boil it a bit longer. I used dried sage, which I hadn't used before, and I think it probably made it even better.

Here is the recipe as I made it:

1 small shallot, finely chopped
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
8 oz sliced mushrooms
a dash of dried sage
a dash of black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
flour
2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs or breasts
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3/4 cup of water
1 3/4 tsp. Better than Bullion chicken base
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. Marsala wine
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. lemon juice

Melt 3 Tbsp. butter in a large skillet and add shallot. Cook over moderate heat until golden, about 1 minute. Add sliced mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are golden and the liquid has evaporated, 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat.

Turn oven to 200F

Put flour in a shallow bowl. Put chicken between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound until about 1/4" thick. Dredge in flour. Set aside.

Heat 1 Tbsp. butter and 1 Tbsp. oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sautee first batch of chicken on both sides until golden and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side for chicken thighs. Place the chicken in a shallow pan in the oven. Dry the skillet with paper towels and add another Tbsp. of oil and butter. Melt and sautee the rest of the chicken. Put it in the oven.

Deglace the pan with the white wine. Add marsala wine, bring to a boil and cook for 30 seconds. Add water, chicken base, cream and mushrooms - boil, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is slightly thickened, around 10 minutes. Add lemon juice, 2 Tbsp. wine and a sprinkle of dried sage.

Serve sauce over chicken.

A few months ago, I started getting together with a group of friends for meals at each other's houses. We met once at Paz's, where she gave us a wonderful lesson on Lebanese food. Later it was Victoria's turn, and Indian was her theme. For our third dining adventure, we focused on fondue and I volunteered to cook the cheese fondues (we also had chocolate - it was sooooo yummy!).

I made a traditional cheese fondue and a cheddar one. We all liked the cheese fondue much better. I used a pretty standard recipe, but I did skip the kirsch - not only is it hard to find, but it made little sense to buy a whole bottle when the fondue only uses a shot.

Traditional Cheese Fondue

-1/2 lb Havarti
-1/2 lb Gruyere
-1/2 lb Emmental
-2 tbsp. cornstarch
-2 cloves garlic, cut in two
-1 glass white wine
-3 tbsp. cognac

Shred the cheeses, put in a bowl, add the cornstarch and mix together. Set aside.

Rub the garlic on the interior of the fondue pot and leave in. Add wine and heat until boiling. Add the cheese, a handful at the time, stirring until it melts. Add the cognac.

Serve with bread, apple slices, pear slices, broccoli, cauliflower

I used this recipe for the cheddar cheese fondue.

I got the following message today in response to my failed attempt at cooking Belizean rice and beans. I thought I'd share it with all of you who want to know how to do it right. Thanks Dorla!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I saw your recipe for the above dish from Belize. I wanted to share my
mother's recipe with you, and see if you like this one better. The idea is
to make the rice somewhat fluffy, but not sticky, so after you add the rice
to the beans, as shown in step 5, stir (only once), after 30 mins the rice
will need to fluffed with a fork, and at that time, you will know the
consistency, and if a little water is needed, you sprinkle a little around
the edge of the pot and in the center, but I have made this recipe a
thousand times, and did not need any water. I also use long grain rice, and
it comes out perfect every time.

Ingredients

1 lb. Red Kidney Beans 2 plugs Garlic (crushed)
1 tsp. Salt 1 cup coconut Milk (either squeezed from grated coconut or
bought prepared, canned, or made from powered variety)
½ tsp. Black pepper
½ tsp. Thyme 2 lbs. cleaned Rice
1 medium Onion (sliced) 6-8 cups of water
(optional) 1 small pigtail or salt beef or pieces of bacon

Method

1. Wash the beans, then soak beans for 4 hours, using the 6-8 cups of water.
If you are using distilled water, then soaked beans only needs 2 hours to
soften.

2. Boil beans until tender, with the garlic, onion and pig’s tail/or salted
beef or bacon pieces. Note: pre-wash the pigtail or salt beef and cut off
excess fat. You can use a pressure cooker to cut down on the time.

3. Season beans with black pepper, thyme and salt. Note: You may opt not to
add the salt if you used salt beef or pigtail above.

4. Add coconut milk. Stir and then let boil.

5. Add rice to seasoned beans. Stir, then cover. Cook on low heat until the
water is absorbed and rice is tender. If necessary, add more water gradually
until rice is tender. Note: Usually, one cup of rice absorbs two cups of
water, although rice grains can vary in the amount of water they absorb. To
warm up leftover rice-and-beans, you can sprinkle with water to re-moisten.

Sunday we went to Ardenwood Farm for their Fall Festival. They had food there (the most pathetic tri-tip sandwich ever, barely any meat and flavorless) and a bunch of demonstrations, including baking demonstrations of food cooked the old fashioned way in an old stover. One of the things they made were these amazing crispy cookies. Their program came with a recipe for "Oatmeal Crispies", and while these cookies (recipe below) were also very good, they weren't as good or as sweet as those I tried at the festival. Still, they are worth making.

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups white flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 cups oatmeal
• 1 package chocolate chips

  Cream together the butter and the sugars. Mix in the eggs and then vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking soda, salt, oatmeal and chocolate chips. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

I love chicken marsala (or veal scalloppini a la marsala). It's one of my favorite dishes and one that I seek out at restaurants everywhere. In Argentina, I've had some very good chicken marsalas - but I haven't found one here that I really like. Indeed, only last week I had a very disappointing one at Spettro. I've tried to make it before, very unsuccessfully. But I had a craving for it today, and I figured I'd give it another try.

I'm glad I did. This recipe from epicurious.com is phenomenal. It produced a dark, sensuous sauce that was bursting with flavor. Mike was very impressed, though the girls refused to try it. I did skip the sage, as I didn't have any at home, and it didn't seem to be any the worse for it. How could it be, when it was so good without it. My only complains were that there wasn't enough sauce - next time I'll double the amounts - and that it dirties quite a lot of dishes, a problem in a home like mine without a dishwasher.

Still, it's worth it. It took me about an hour to make it - and I used chicken thighs rather than breasts, as Mika only likes "slimy" chicken.

Tonight we had pork chops with a white wine-dijon sauce from the Les Halles Cookbook, which once again I borrowed from the library. It looked like a relatively simple recipe and it turned out to be delicious - though I had to make a couple of substitutions. I served it just with peas - the only veggie I had at home - and unfortunately one of the kids ate just peas, while the other one had only a couple of bites of plain pork. They don't know what they are missing. The following is my version of the recipe (which doesn't differ that much from the original). I used gherkins instead of cornichons as I couldn't find the latter at the supermarket, and instead of a high quality concentrated chicken or veal stock, I used "better than bouillon" chicken base. I also omitted the single chopped sprig of parsley that the recipe asked for (to add with the cornichons) because I wasn't going to buy a whole bunch of parsley to just use one sprig.

Cote de porc a la charcutiere

-1 tbsp oil
-1 tbsp unsalted butter
-4 rib chops of pork
-salt & pepper to taste
-1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
-1 tsp all purpose flour
-1/2 cup white wine
-1 cup chicken stock
-2 tsp Dijon mustard
-10 cornichons or 5 gherkins thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 375. Add a tablespoon of oil to a large, oven proof sauté pan and heat. Add the butter and melt. Add the pork and cook on high until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Turn and brown the other side. Remove the pan from the heat, and place it in the oven. Cook for about 8 minutes, until done.

Remove the chops from the pan, put in a platter and cover loosely with aluminum foil to keep warm. Make the sauce.

Return the pan to the heat and add the chopped onion. Sauté until golden. Add the flour and stir for one minute. Add the wine and deglace, scrapping all the brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken stock, mix well and reduce the liquid by half.

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the mustard. Add the gherkins and any juice remaining from the pork chops. Mix well and serve the sauce over the pork chops.

I don't know if I have any /regular/ readers of my Food Blog, as opposed to people who just drop by from time to time, but if you are a regular and you've missed me, I'm back. I haven't been blogging much 'cause, frankly, I don't have time to do everything in my to-do list, so from time to time I drop some activities for a while. But I like to blog about food, and I feel guilty about all the restaurant reviews I haven't posted, so in the next few days I hope to get back on track.

I'll start by blogging about the recipe I made last night: Orange Soy Braised Pork Ribs. Country style ribs were on sale at Safeway, and I wanted to braise them in some way. That recipe for Epicurious got good reviews so I tried it.

It was a very easy dish to make, juicing the oranges was what took the longest, and the ribs were very tender - just as you'd expect them to be after two hours braising in any liquid. BUT I wasn't thrilled with the flavor or the glace. By themselves, the ribs just had a mild soy-sauce flavor, nice but not very strong. On the plus side, the kids ate it without complaining. People had complained that it was hard to get the liquid to become syrupy. It did, when I boiled it long enough, but it then became very intense in flavor, I would say too intense.

Still, after rubbing some of the glace off, the ribs were pretty good and Mike enjoyed them.

I'd probably look for a different recipe for next time, though.

Sorry, no pictures. Hopefully I'll remember next time.

I was looking for something different to make for my Thanksgiving 2006 dinner, and of course I had to consult my "All About Braising" cookbook. I love to braise and that cookbook is wonderful. So I came up with this recipe, which seemed perfect for Thanksgiving. It turned out quite good, with the big exception that my brain cells were obviously not functioning as I cooked the chicken upside down!!!! Not only that, but I didn't realize it until I was trying to carve the chicken and couldn't figure out why I was having such difficulty. Yes, I'm an idiot. The big problem with cooking it that way is that the bacon drippings only affected the skin on the back (which was delicious). Oh well, next time.

As the bread stuffing and the chicken cook separately you can also make without the other. The stuffing is very good in itself. Note that if you want to stuff the chicken, you must prepare the stuffing first.

I have managed to offend many nationalities through my international food project. Some day I'll post all the comments from Appalachians I've gotten for comparing Appalachia to the third world - but a more recent comment was from an Albanian who was sure I'd never been to Albania (true) and had never eaten Albanian food (true as well). She says that the only authentic Albanian food comes from women who have kept the traditions for generations, which I can believe. She's been very gratious to send me some recipes, which I'm posting here. I may cook them someday.

I made this recipe for red-wine pot roast with porcini a few nights ago and I have to say I wasn't impressed. Granted, I used portobello mushrooms instead of porcini, as they didn't have any of the latter at the supermarket, but I think the problem was actually with the celery. Perhaps I used too much celery, perhaps the problem was that the celery had wilted (in a very strange way) after an afternoon left out of the fridge, or perhaps it was the type of celery (I'd bought organic celery at the farmer's market). In any case, the sauce tasted too much like broth. Mike liked it, I didn't.

When I make burgers I like going beyond the traditional and trying different variations. Oftentimes this means stuffing them. Stuffing them with blue cheese and goat cheese have worked, but my latest attempt at stuffing them with mozzarella cheese and green garlic was less successful. I based my recipe on an epicurious recipe for Veal burgers stuffed with mozzarella cheese. Alas, I used ground beef instead of veal, green garlic instead of green onions and thyme instead of sage. The result were burgers that were good, but not special. The devil may indeed be in the details, but somehow I don't think so - so I don't think I'll try them again. Plus Safeway's sale on 7% ground beef is over so I won't be buying ground beef for a while.

This is an incredibly easy recipe for ribs with BBQ sauce, it makes delicious, succulent ribs with little work. I got it from All Recipes.com. I've used both country style ribs and spare ribs for it, and I'm sure it'd work just as well with every kind of ribs. I've always made it with two bottles of BBQ sauce (my favorite is Jack Daniels) though I think next time I'll try using just 1, adding more water and boiling it down afterwards. As it is, there is too much BBQ sauce left over which seems like a waste. The original recipe is for 2 1/2 lbs of ribs, but I use it for whichever size package of ribs I buy.

• a slab of ribs
  
• 1 tsp. salt
  
• black pepper to taste.
  
• 1 onion, qurtered
  
• 2 bottles BBQ sauce
  
• water

Salt & pepper the ribs. Place them in a large pot along with the onion. Cover them with the BBQ sauce and enough water so that they are submerged. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Remove the ribs and boil off excess water from the sauce.

Oil the grill and preheat it for high heat. Grill the ribs, basting and turning frequently, for about 20 minutes.

It's summer so it's grilling time, and that means burgers. Or at least it does when ground beef is on sale at the local supermarket. Yesterday I made burgers staffed with goat cheese - they were delicious. All you have to do is season the ground beef with salt and pepper, make a thin patty (about 1/8 lb), put a slice of goat cheese in the middle and cover it with another thin patty. You then bring the edges together and flattent he whole thing as much a you can. Remember, burgers shrink when you cook them.

I used ground beef with 7% fat (the goat cheese will add moisture, so you don't need a higher fat meat) and herbed goat cheese. I served them with the usual accrutements and condiments, I particularly liked ripe avocado on mine, it softened the flavor of the goat cheese.

Give them a try!

I like celebrating holidays. All sorts of holidays, whatever their cultural or religious significance. I'm all for partying, whatever the cause. So when St. Patrick's day snack on me, I wanted to do something to mark it. Corned beef and cabbage is just not my style, but I had a great Irish stew at the Wilkenny Irish pub & restaurant in my home city of La Plata and I figured it'd be enjoyable to make it myself. And, as we were going to spend St. Patrick's evening with a bunch of friends at a cabin in Truckee, I'd get to share it as well.

I found this highly rated
IRISH BEEF STEW Recipe at Epicurious.com and made some of the recommended modifications, such as using more beef, reducing the amount of beef broth, adding salt and a guiness. The stew was certainly better the next day, but I was all in all disappointed with it. It's not that different from the stew I usually make (except that rather than broth and beer I use tomato sauce and wine, and add a bunch of different herbs and spices) but more work (in that you have to cook the veggies separately) and the results are definitely less tasty.

Oh well, at least we had a little of the Irish on St. Patrick's day.

I'm not a huge fan of Macaroni and Cheese (Ok, Ok, I don't like it) but Mike loves it and, predictably, Mika does as well. I hate the idea of her eating that stuff that comes from a box (what is it, anyway?) so I've finally decided to make my own. Someone in craigslist recommended this Macaroni and Cheese recipe by Alton Brown, and as it got quite a lot of good reviews I tried it. I wasn't sure if Mika would like the sharp cheddar, and I found that 10 oz of cheese was just not enough taste, so I ended up using 14 oz of combined medium cheddar, white cheddar and jack cheese. Next time I'll try the sharp cheddar instead. The original recipe also called for 1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce, but I didn't have any so I ommitted it. In any case, Mika is so weary of anything slightly spicy that I wouldn't have wanted to tempt fate. I'm sure it makes a difference, though, so if you don't have picky kids around, by all means add it.

The results were good. Mika didn't like it at first (but she may have been put off it 'cause it was hot - I have to remember to wait until the food is tepid before serving it), but later she had a bowl with her dad and asked that we send some for lunch at school today. My friend Desiree loved it and Mike said that it was very good, it tasted better than the boxed stuff, but he still prefers it out of a box. *sigh*

My version of the recipe:

This recipe for ginger scones is from Rose Levy Beranbaum's "The Bread Bible" and was posted on the Craigslist food forum by "claymonkey". It got well-deserved raves. It's easier to make than it appears at first and simply delicious. The original recipe called for unsalted butter, I used lightly-salted European style butter and that worked well enough. I made this recipe for the tea I hosted at my house and served it with a variety of butters & jams.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• a dash of salt
• 1 tsp. grated lemon zest
• 12 tbsp. butter, cold
• 3/4 cup whipping cream, whipped
• 2/3 cup crytallized ginger, chopped ground ginger - 1 tsp
• 2 tsp. whipping cream
• 1 tbsp. sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Oil and flour a large baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, ground ginger, salt and lemon zest. Cut the butter into pats, add them and mix by hand until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Mix in the crystallized ginger.

Make a hole in the center and add the cream. Mix with a rubber spaturla until the flour is moistened. Knead the dough inside the bowl until it holds together and then turn it onto a lightly floured working surface. Knead it into a smooth ball and chill it.

Remove the dough from the fridge, divide in two and shape each half into a ball. Press each ball into a disk, about 3/4" high and 6" across. Wrap with plastic wrap and freeze for 15 minutes.

With a sharp knife, cut each disk into 8 wedges. Brush with the cream and sprinkle with sugar. Place the wedges onto the baking sheet. Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake until the edges start to brown, about 15 minutes.

I made this chicken salad for the sandwiches I served at the tea party I threw last weekend. It was wonderful and I'm planning to make it again. All of the quantities are approximate, so modify them to your taste. I cooked the chicken breasts on my George Foreman, but you can cook it anywhere you want.

-4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
-2 large celery ribs, chopped
-2 green apples, peeled, cored & chopped
-3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
-1 cup mayonnaise
-1 tbsp. lime juice
-1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
-salt & pepper

Combine the chicken, celery, apples and walnuts. Add mayo, a little bit at a time, just enough to join all the ingredients. Add the lime juice and vinegar, salt and pepper, tasting to make sure the proportions are to your liking.

I had a pork tenderloin left over after I made the pamplona a couple of days before and I wanted a quick and easy way to make it. I got this suggestion from a user of the craigslist food forum who uses the moniker "Voltaire".

Marinade the pork tenderloin in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, with some chopped garlic and rosemary. I didn't have rosemary so I ommitted it but I did add a tablespoon or so of hoisin sauce to the marinade. Then we grilled it over medium-low heat until done. It was very good, in particular the outside part that had caramelized with the marinade. Next time I'll butterfly the tenderloin so as to maximize the caramelized area.

A couple of nights ago I made this very easy recipe for pork roll, an Uruguayan classic I took from the Barbecue Bible cookbook. The recipe below serves 4, I halved it for the two of us. Note that pre-packaged pork tenderloins usually come two to a package. I served this with a salad and leftover grilled corn.

Yesterday I wanted to make something French to celebrate Bastille day and as it's summer we are grilling. I looked into my dear Barbecue Bible for something French and came up with this extremely simple recipe which, according to Steven Raichlen at least, can be found all over Provence. It was very good, so much so that my 3 yo asked me to make them again tonight.

Basically, mix 1/4 cup of olive oil with a tablespoon or two of lemon juice (I didn't bother measuri