Food Blog

In Maine, gardening season begins June first. It’s a short season, so we’ve got to pack as much in as possible, in the shortest time. Luckily, many sellers in my area begin planting indoors in March/April, so the general public can easily purchase pre-grown plants to place in their gardens. One vegetable that does especially well in the cooler climate of Maine is kale. Swiss chard does just as well, but kale is the veggie of the day. For this recipe, I use fresh kale from my very own backyard garden to add to a lovely garlic spaghetti dish. It’s an easy dish to prepare and the recipe doesn’t call for many ingredients at all. I enjoy preparing spaghetti dishes because most of them are so straightforward. For this one, all I used was kale, spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, lemon, Romano cheese, and seasonings. It went together fast and had a nice fresh taste. If you’re into garlic and lemon (and kale), click through to take a look at this recipe. Continue reading…

If you haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing the out-of-this-world goodness of melted leeks yet, allow me to personally recommend them. They’re like nothing you’ve ever tried before. Before you go off and melt your leeks though, be sure you buy some heavy cream. It’s the cream that does it. Trust me on this. Leeks are like mild onions and when simmered in a pan with some cream, salt, and pepper, you’ll get a bedding that’s simply divine. After tasting it for seasoning, you won’t want to stop. In today’s post, I share a recipe from Curtis Stone’s cookbook titled, What’s for Dinner?. The dish includes melted leeks, asparagus, shallots, paprika, cod fillets, and a few other ingredients. Each part of the dish is prepared separately, so the proper attention is given to those parts. When combined…well, just check out the photos. Basically, if you already enjoy leeks, asparagus, and cod, and already know what these things are and how they taste, you can well imagine the resulting combination. Click through for the recipe and photos. Continue reading…

I can’t be sure, but if I had to guess, I’d say that mac and cheese recipes are probably some of the most prevalent on the internet. We’ve all tried it and we’ve all probably made it. Good ol’ mac and cheese. When I was a kid, I used to eat it from the box. That was okay, but it wasn’t until I prepared real mac and cheese did I learn how wonderfully creamy and delicious it can be. Today’s recipe calls for some ingredients you might not expect to be found in a simple cheesy pasta dish; garlic, flour, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, sour cream, scallions, bread crumbs, and colby-jack cheese. I always thought this type of recipe merely called for pasta elbows, butter, milk, and cheese. I guess not. This recipe definitely takes things up a notch. My overall opinion of this dish is this: it’s pretty awesome. It’s got a lot of nice flavor to it and it’s rich and creamy. It’s also rather filling, so as I warn in the post, beware of your serving sizes. If you’d like to try a mac and cheese recipe that differs from many others out there, click through to take a look at the instructions and ingredient list. Continue reading…

You’ve probably heard of tapenade somewhere along the line. I have. A long time ago, I was introduced to tapenade and thought it was the tastiest thing I’ve ever tried. I was offered a sandwich that featured it as a spread and was floored by the flavors it offered. When asked what was in it, my friend, the person who made me the sandwich, told me it included olives and capers. For years that’s what I thought tapenade contained; olives and capers. Apparently, a good tapenade contains a few more ingredients than that. Not that olives and capers wouldn’t fit the bill most of the time as is. If you aren’t familiar with what I’m referring to, tapenade is a Provençal (Provence, France) name for a spread or condiment that consists of, generally, puréed or finely chopped olives, capers, and anchovies. Its name comes from the Provençal word for capers, tapenas. There’s a tapenade component of this sandwich. If you decide to go ahead with this recipe, you’re going to be surprised by how complex the spread is. It contains three types of olives, garlic, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, basil, parsley, and a few more ingredients. For the sandwich itself, the list of some primary ingredients includes red peppers, eggplant, pepperoncini, artichoke, chard, provolone cheese, and on and on. Can you imagine tasting a sandwich like this? If you know ingredients, I know you’ve already clicked through to the recipe. This one’s a no-brainer. It’s astonishingly good. Continue reading…

Let’s say you’ve got a fancy dinner for two coming up and are looking for a dessert to impress. There are many options available to you. Simple options. The thing is, you don’t want to go overboard, but you’d love a reaction from your significant other. You’d like to show off your skills in the kitchen. I think I can help. If you like blueberries, you may want to try out this blueberry clafouti. What’s clafouti? It’s a dessert consisting of a layer of fruit (such as blueberries or cherries) topped with batter and baked. The beauty of these types of desserts is their simplicity, yet elegant taste and presentation. Because of the custard, you’ll give the impression that skill and time were necessary components of this dish. Yes, it’ll take a few minutes, but just about anyone can pull it off. There are a total of ten ingredients; one of them being vanilla ice cream. The others, besides the blueberries, are all basic staples you’ve already got at home. Flour, eggs, milk, cream – those sorts of things. I can tell you that this is an awesome dessert that’s tough to screw up. And it’ll get a reaction out of even the most discerning of customers. It’s smooth and creamy and fruity and flavorful, all in one. Click through for the recipe. Continue reading…

A tart is an open pastry that contains a filling. In this case, the filling is a wonderful combination of peppers, eggplant, sweet potato, zucchini, and onions. Once roasted, those vegetables are smothered in eggs and cream and topped with ricotta and feta cheese. And finally, cherry tomatoes on top of all that. Once the tart is baked and everything has melded together, it’s ready to eat. I have to tell you, this is the real deal. Before tasting this one, I’ve never tried a tart quite like it before. All the vegetables are pretty great, but having them baked in eggs and heavy cream put it over the top. It’s quite rich. The seasoning was just right too, which makes a huge difference. This is another one of Yotam Ottolenghi’s dishes, so I knew it was going to be good. The man is a master. He’s got delis and restaurants in London and has been a hit since 2002. I use his cookbook called Plenty when I’d like to prepare something special. This tart was special. I wish you’d give it a try. Click through for the recipe. Continue reading…

Homemade pizzas are fairly easy to prepare. The primary hurdle is making the dough, but if you can get past that, it’s smooth sailing. When I make a pizza, since I’m already making one dough, I’ll go ahead and make two or three and freeze what I don’t need at the moment. They last in the freezer for months. It’s important to label each to indicate whether it’s already risen or not, so be careful of that if you’d like to do the same. Regarding this specific pizza, it’s a garlic lover’s dream. The whole wheat crust adds a rustic edge and the garlic and olive oil infuse themselves into pretty much everything. Add some oregano, red pepper flakes, basil, and three kinds of cheese, and you’ve got yourself a big winner. I loved this pizza and I think you will too. Click through for the recipe. Continue reading…

Gazpacho is an incredible dish. I’ve somehow avoided tasting it for most of my life, but now that I have, I can tell you it’ll be a regular thing. Not only because it tastes great, but because it’s so insanely easy to make. Prep ingredients, combine ingredients, blend ingredients. That’s pretty much it. After that, you’ve got yourself something like none other. In this post, I share my interpretation of a Gordon Ramsay classic. The recipe calls for cucumber, both red and green bell peppers, nice ripe tomatoes, garlic, scallions, stale bread, vinegar, and oil. Of course seasoning as well. But wow, what an easy soup to pull off. And what flavor! What stood out the most for me was the actual flavor of freshness. I’m not sure I’ve yet tasted that. I have now. Click through to check out the recipe as well as the photos of my modest attempt at putting this soup together. Continue reading…

By this point, you’re aware of what pearl couscous, otherwise known as Israeli couscous, is. It’s a wonderful little pasta ball that’s used in many different types of dishes, salads being most of them. When preparing pearl couscous, it’s best to toast the pasta in a bit of olive oil or butter before cooking it, as the toasting adds a nutty flavor. This type of couscous, which actually isn’t a couscous at all, was developed in Israel in the 1950s, when rice was scarce due to austerity. No matter its history, this food has become wildly popular across the world and I use it for many of my salad dishes as a tender, chewy base. After all, why eat a salad that only consists of vegetables? Why not add some pasta (and cheese)? And if you’re going to be adding vegetables anyway, why not brown some of them for additional flavor? If you were to do that, your result would look like today’s dish. This incredible salad recipe features a honey and lemon vinaigrette as well as cucumber, scallions, parsley, mint, and basil. It also includes browned red bell pepper and Swiss cheese. As far as salads go, this one is outstanding. Click through for the recipe. Continue reading…

Eggplant Parmesan is quintessential Italian. Mary Berry has done a fine job of bringing a favorite to us via her Complete Cookbook. As I write in this post, this recipe comes in two basic parts; the eggplant slices and the tomato sauce. Once the eggplant slices are dipped in egg and flour and then fried in a skillet, they’re essentially finished and ready for the next step. The same is true for the tomato sauce. Once it’s done, it’s ready for the next step. For this recipe, I use another recipe from this very website. It’s my famous tomato sauce that pretty much goes with many Italian dishes I prepare. Once both of those things are prepared and completed, the assembly and baking begins. The result is an extremely flavorful and tender aubergine parmigiana, or otherwise known as eggplant parmesan, or eggplant parm. Whatever you choose to call it, it’s an incredible Italian dish that you can make for any night of the week. Click through to take a look at the recipe and some photos. Continue reading…