Cauliflower Cheese
Cauliflower cheese is what the English call a faff. It is not difficult to prepare, but it takes a little time and dirties a few pots and pans. Just what you want to hear after the holidays, right? Leftover from last post. I could say pseudo-meaningful things about life choices…
Boxing Day Photo Dump
So where have I been during this foodiest of food months? Cooking like a madwoman, actually, in expectation of a Christmas guest. Days of shopping, cleaning, and cooking finally culminated in my going to Oakland Airport on Friday, December 23rd, to pick up our guest, who was expected to arrive…
Cranberry Galette
Thanksgiving feels like a century ago. Back then–what was it, two weeks? I has leftover cranberry sauce, so, in an effort to use it up, I baked a cranberry galette. This cranberry galette was a huge hit with Mr. IK, so I decided to bake more. Above, the galette that…
Buttermilk Potato Gratin
Buttermilk potato gratin came about by mistake. I’d purchased a bottle of buttermilk for another recipe, which never got made, and now it was down to the wire: use up the buttermilk or let it go off and toss it. So I poured it into a potato gratin. The result…
Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce
Also known as Cote de Porc a la Charcutiere. (The ability to add accent marks appears to have vanished.) Do know this recipe is French, and comes from the late Anthony Bourdain’s Le Halles Cookbook. Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce is all about the sauce, which is made from butter,…
Queen Henrietta Maria’s Morning Broth
Long before Pop Tarts or Kellogg’s Rice Krispies were widely available, people breakfasted differently. Then as now, what you ate depended on your societal status. If you were a Tudor monarch, you ate very well indeed. If you haven’t heard of Queen Henrietta Maria, a quick history lesson. Born in…
Long-Cooked Broccoli
Long-cooked broccoli comes to us from Paul Bertolli’s Chez Panisse Cooking. I cooked it for years, forgot about it, then recalled it when I began making Paula Wolfert’s green beans with tomato, another recipe calling for long cooking. “Long-cooked” isn’t a euphemism for pap. Prepared with attention and care, long-cooked…
Omelet with Chinese pickled vegetable
Soaring fuel prices are forcing many people, myself included, to reconsider everything we were taught about “good cooking.” Especially now, when we would normally be starting to prepare stews, bone-in roasts, and soups, dishes demanding hours of slow cooking. Gourds. Official harbinger of Fall. Well, these and pumpkin-spiced coffee drinks,…
Braised Artichokes
In this Julia Child recipe, braised artichokes are slowly cooked in chicken broth seasoned with white wine and butter. Child uses a classic mirepoix of diced carrot, onion, and celery. I had no celery and am married to an onion hater. I therefore used carrot, leek, and a little garlic….
Summer Squash Soup
I know, summer squash soup now? In September? Well, yes, summer squash soup now, in September. Because zucchini (courgettes to my English friends) are piled high in the markets, along with all manner of yellow summer squash. And my instagram feed is full of posts from my gardener friends, who…
