A passion for food

"Madame" has been after me to share what we do in the kitchen, so here goes! I have a passion for preparing and serving great food. I have a goal of getting a great meal on the table every evening in around 45 minutes - the time it takes when I get the phone call that "Madame" is leaving work until the time we eat. I look for fresh ingredients - in season, supplemented with herbs, peppers, and very occasional tomatoes from the garden.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Salt Baked Potatoes

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We were at a an event where appetizers were passed around. One of the finger food dishes was baby baked potatoes split and topped with sour...
Sunday, November 9, 2014

Mushroom soup

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This month's issue of Fine Cooking had a terrific looking recipe for mushroom soup. However I didn't completely remember the ingred...

Chickpeas and pepitas - a really simple salad

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I had read somewhere that a salad made with chickpeas and pepitas would be pretty good. The pepitas give some much needed crunch. But there...
Sunday, September 7, 2014

Kitchen Trick - Woody Herbs

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How much of a pain is it to get the leaves off tarragon, rosemary, etc. In my world it is a huge PITA. So I cast around thinking about how ...

Kitchen Trick - Marking Bowls

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Do you ever need to know the weight of what you put into the bowl before zeroing the scale? Yeah, I know it shouldn't happen, but I hav...
1 comment:
Sunday, March 16, 2014

Fresh Bread Every Day

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I am lucky enough to have had some  baking teachers. Some of them know who they are, but many don't. In this post I want to acknowledge...
Sunday, March 2, 2014

Oysters Bienville

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We have some friends who throw a wonderful Mardi Gras party (well it is really more like Dimanche Gras), so we have an excuse to cook a lit...
1 comment:
Sunday, February 23, 2014

Vegetable casserole (again)

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With my new dietary requirements, vegetables playe a much larger part than even before. So we have taken to making a lot of vegetarian dish...

A sort of screwdriver

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I am allowed to drink alcohol again. We had a modest celebration yesterday with a cocktail. In the house we had some blood oranges,...
Monday, February 3, 2014

Superbowl Nachos

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This is a recipe that is more assembly than cooking. We were invited to a super bowl party and needed something appetizer like and suitable...
Sunday, February 2, 2014

Clams are so versatile

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Saturday was a chapter of accidents - I missed a hair appointment, so had to go later. That messed up dinner plans. The French beat the Eng...
Saturday, February 1, 2014

Kombucha "Ginger Beer"

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Ginger beer has been one of my favorite drinks for as long as I can remember. It requires this mysterious "plant" that you feed w...
Sunday, January 19, 2014

Bitter orange marmalade

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Marmalade is a staple of English breakfasts. We Brits prefer it to be made with  bitter (Seville) oranges. These are only in season in the ...
Sunday, December 8, 2013

Home Made Beef Pho

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I have been wanting to make that terrific Vietnamese noodle soup - pho for a long time. The key seems to be getting the broth right. So, I ...
1 comment:
Friday, November 29, 2013

The Kombucha Files

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David Gilbert introduced me to kombucha a while back. It took me a while to get comfortable with the idea - and importantly to introduce it...
Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Seasoning meat

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This is really just a technique post. It has always bothered me that we season (and occasionally spice) the meat that we are going to put i...
Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Mac and Cheese

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This Macaroni and Cheese dish was made for Madame's faculty party and the students working the TV station. It seemed to go down quite w...
Monday, August 19, 2013

Thom Yum (Chicken)

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I was given a copy of Chef McDang's terrific book on Thai cookery ( http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Thai-Cookery-Chef-McDang/dp/616906...
Saturday, August 10, 2013

Caesar Salad - Kind Of

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I wanted to make an elegant looking, but somewhat deconstructed Caesar salad for a fancy party at hour house. We were saying thank you to a...

Blueberry Semifreddo

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This recipe is adapted from one that I saw in Fine Cooking Magazine. I have made it a couple of times and it is absolutely delicious. It is...
Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Clams with Linguine

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We were on vacation in England. Renting an apartment which meant that I didn't have all of my usual cooking toys, the ovens were calibr...
Thursday, June 13, 2013

Should I use a knife or a fork?

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Years ago I heard the following story. I hope it was true, ... A newly minted doctor. was practising his patter at a London hospital. He ...
Thursday, June 6, 2013

Two ways with the same chicken

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I have a "proper job" now - meaning that I don't work from my home office everyday. The commute time cuts into my cooking tim...
Sunday, February 24, 2013

OTBN 2013 - aka parsley is a vegetable

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Feb 23, 2013 was another round of "Open That Bottle Night". OTBN was started by a couple of WSJ wine writers. It is always the la...

Duck with mushroom, wine sauce and walnuts and crispy skin

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I needed a dish in quite tricky circumstances. It needed to pair with a 1996 Chateau de Pommard Burgundy. It needed to be held warm while o...
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Chris Bird
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