Pasta, my greatest love… I can’t think of anything more comforting than curling up on the couch after a long day with a big bowl of pasta. It’s my ultimate comfort food and nothing fires up the serotonin in my brain quite like carbs tossed in a tasty sauce and generously dusted with finely grated…
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Why Roasted Onions? Is it just me or have people forgotten about roasted onions as a side dish? Sure, they are quartered and spread with other root vegetables at the bottom of a roasting tray alongside a gigantic roast where they are cooked until dry, burnt, and no longer edible. But as a stand-alone side…
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What’s on your shopping list? For me, I always buy chicken thighs. No offense to the rest of the chicken, but these parts are effortlessly sumptuous. Not only that but thighs (and dark meat in general) are budget-friendly, versatile, culinarily forgiving and beloved by kids. Chicken nuggets are great and all, but crispy roasted chicken…
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My favorite comfort food Chicken tenders are my weak spot when it comes to food. I simply can’t resist them. As a child, they were my favorite and even now as an adult, I still crave that long chunk of chicken heavily coated in crispy batter and dunked in a creamy ranch sauce. The only…
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Whatever happened to pork chops? Do people still eat pork chops? Are they celebrated with great joy and gobbled down with sheer food lust like Homer Simpson? Granted it has been over 13 years since I have lived in my home country so I am not sure if they are still quite as popular…
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Chicken Broth heals all Chicken broth is the ultimate comfort food. After all, is there anything more comforting than a warm little mug of this tasty elixir to drink when you’re sick or sad? For the past month or so, I have been sick…TWICE! The first time was a bit of a cold that made…
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What is spatchcock chicken? ‘Spatchcock’ is just a funny word for butterflied. You basically just cut the chicken down its backbone and flatten it. What you get it one whole chicken laid flat for your cooking and eating pleasure. Why would I do this? There are several advantages to spatchcocking chicken.…
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My Nana made the best stuffing. It was dark brown, mushy and looked like something the Adams Family might have a conversation with before eating it, but it was also damn good. Digging into it was quite the adventure. What was that I just found? A bit of celery? Sliced mushroom? A scrap of turkey? …
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I dream of calamari. Crispy, tender, salty calamari with a dipping sauce I could pour all of my troubles into. Pair it with a pitcher of quality margaritas and it’s a delicious happy hour fantasy. I don’t know why I always picture this scenario alone. Probably because I would enjoy the solitude but…
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My new favorite side salad: Roasted pear with bleu cheese My new favorite salad which comprises all necessary elements of a great bowl of the green leafy stuff: sweet, salty and a crunch. The sweetness of a roasted pear combined with the salty and sharp Bleu cheese crumbles and the crunch of…
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What is there to say about this omelette recipe? What anecdote or clever quip can I use to describe it? How shall I sing its praises? Should I discuss how the combination of sweet Marsala wine and lemony thyme are soaked up by meaty mushrooms? Should I elaborate about how much I love those…
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Edible Rosettes These ham and cheese pasta rosettes are made by stuffing pasta with cheese and slices of ham then rolled up, sliced and baked in a white wine and thyme sauce. I began by kneading the pasta dough by hand, rolled it out by hand, smothered it in a creamy béchamel sauce, topped with…
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Springtime is here! In Italian, Primavera means springtime. Springtime with its awakening gardens and brighter days. So it makes sense that a pasta primavera be filled with all the garden has to offer. A colorful rainbow of fresh vegetables and mushrooms. Now if I am going to toss all those lovely fresh vegetables together with…
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The British Comfort Food Spaghetti Bolognese, aka spag bol, is not just pasta with meat sauce but is actually the ultimate comfort food in the UK. For a Brit, a plate of spaghetti bolognese tastes like childhood and a mother’s love and the comfort of coming in from the cold on a rainy day to…
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The perfect roasted chicken is a thing of beauty but very difficult to come by. Up until 5 years ago, I avoided anything roasted, always fearful of the dry, squeaky meat. Then I started experimenting and researching just how to get the perfect roast and thankfully I’ve never looked back. Now roast chicken is…
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The siren call of fettuccine I started to worry that I would eat all of this fettuccine in Marsala cream before getting a decent photo of it. In between takes, I was sneaking bites. It’s difficult not to be tempted by this plate of pasta. As food goes, this is quite a sexy dish. I…
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One of my favorite cooking shows of all time is and shall forever be, Two Fat Ladies. For those unfamiliar with this British gem of a cooking show, it involves two women of a certain age, Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson, as they travel around the UK making…
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Cabbage Brained One would think that the only vegetable my husband knows to exist is cabbage and potatoes. I swear to God we have the same conversation every week and will probably continue to do so until someone takes the initiative to stop asking hence ending the vicious cycle. “What do you want to…
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For years I stopped cooking with mushrooms altogether after my husband had a bad experience. At the time, he was living in rural China when it all went down. The mushrooms were bought from the local supermarket, cleaned properly and cooked thoroughly. Everything seemed OK but little did he know that some mushrooms were…
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Chicken nuggets, the ultimate kid food Does anything epitomize kid food more than a chicken nugget? I doubt it. Chicken nuggets and mac n’ cheese were some of my favorite foods when growing up. In fact, they still remain some of my favorite foods to this day. During my pregnancy, I had vivid dreams involving…
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