food

Cooking Spree: Lemon Garlic Chicken with Parsley Rice

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It won’t surprise many of you that most of my food inspiration comes from television. I do enjoy a good food blog, and I peruse many a food section in magazines. But nothing captures my attention quite like watching a meal come together in action. Especially when it’s prepared by Ina, Giada, Nigella or Tyler.

If I’m not watching something in particular or if I’m just puttering around the house on the weekend, chances are my TV is on and tuned to the (new-ish) Cooking Channel. It’s the comforting background soundtrack to my life at home. Cooking Channel skews to a bit younger demographic, focuses on organic and artisinal cooking and highlights more global cuisine than its sister channel, the Food Network. I just couldn’t watch one more cupcake challenge, cake decorating competition or “meal” prepared by Sandra Lee. She just opens four cans … that’s not my kind of cooking.

I discovered or was inspired to create many of my favorite recipes — see beef stew or Shepherd’s Pie — from TV cooking shows. And I recently found another winner:  lemon chicken with parsley rice. It’s very nearly a pantry meal, since I had lemons, garlic, frozen chicken and even remnants of a bottle of white wine already on hand. It has also been a nice, light escape from the Italian feast leftovers currently overloading my fridge. Keep reading »

Cooking Spree: Raspberry Tiramisu

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Following a bleary-eyed week of little sleep but joyous puppy loving, I somehow pulled myself together this weekend to knock off another item on my 2011 resolution list:  home entertaining.

Some of my dearest ladies came over to experience my reinterpretation of the Italian feast. And to finish the meal after a hearty heap of pasta, I thought there was no better accompaniment than the Italian dessert classic tiramisu. During my New York days, I made tiramisu a couple of times but it’s been at least six years since … I don’t know why, because it’s so easy! The hardest part is tracking down real ladyfingers, which was simple in Queens but is a little more of a challenge in Charlotte. Thank goodness for Pasta & Provisions.

This time around I felt that the traditional chocolate-espresso tiramisu needed a lighter makeover, since the Italian feast of meat and sauce is on the heavy side and our weather has been in the 80s already (in March!). So this is a summer-ized riff on the classic recipe with raspberries, whipped cream and orange liqueur. It’s fluffy and creamy, yet tart and really not too sweet. Keep reading »

Cooking Spree: Cake balls

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It has come to my attention that some of you don’t know about a little thing called cake balls.

They will change your life. And your waistline.

I first discovered cake balls at my cousin’s wedding — I thought they were truffles, but instead I bit into this gooey, creamy, flaky, unidentifiable substance. It was delicious heaven.

When I got back to the office, I was raving about these wonders and my fellow-foodie coworker scoured Google for them. That’s how we found Bakerella, the grande dame of cake balls. Her blog is the go-to source for all cake ball varieties and amazingly inventive ways to decorate them, and her “cake pop” cookbook is on the New York Times bestseller list.
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Cooking Spree: Chinese Takeout

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For many years I lived in the heart of NYC, where anything you can imagine was delivered straight to my door:  food, groceries, laundry, cupcakes, wine, even prescription medicine. That came in really handy when I had the flu and could order Gatorade, a bagel and some chicken soup from the deli downstairs. You become friendly with your regular delivery folk, in an awkward, overly-familiar kind of way. When the laundry comes back, you try to meet their eyes, smile and thank them at the door while hoping they weren’t the ones folding your clean underwear earlier that day.

In Manhattan, almost all restaurants deliver, and you’ll find a folder crammed full of countless menus in every NYC kitchen. When I didn’t feel like cooking, I reveled in my ability to order takeout from anywhere at anytime. I explored the world’s cuisines from the comfort of my own couch — sushi, Indian, Thai, Italian, Mexican, Hawaiian, Greek. Now that I’m back in the suburban South, my options are limited to pizza. Or pizza. Needless to say, I don’t have food delivered anymore.

That’s okay, since I discovered how to make some of my favorite Chinese food at home. I give you sweet & sour chicken with coconut rice and sesame noodles. I won’t claim either to be authentic, but they’ll do for me.
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Culinary Bucket List: Chicory Coffee

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One of the horrors of my life so far is that I haven’t been to New Orleans. Nope, I’ve never strolled the French Quarter past the wrought-iron trellises as jazz wafts through the air. And now I’m way too old and modest to road trip to Mardi Gras to drink hurricanes, flash my goods for beads and stumble around Bourbon Street. I kind of regret that I didn’t visit before Katrina, though now the city gets to show off its pluck and battle scars, which can only give it more character.

I’ve always thought New Orleans would have the same sensibility as Savannah, since they share deep historical roots, stifling humidity, a dark undercurrent of voodoo and mysticism and a general style of “elegant decay.” This is shameful to admit, but a lot of what I know about New Orleans is only pieced together from scenes in The Pelican Brief, those Zatarain’s commercials or The Real World: New Orleans. But I hear it’s a great foodie town. And that brings me to the next item on my culinary bucket list.

Today’s Eatocracy blog has a nice roundup on traditional New Orleans fare, and there are a lot of things listed that I’ve never eaten. I’ve never tasted true filé gumbo, sucked the brains out of a crawdad, enjoyed a shrimp po’ boy or a mouth-searing dish of jambalaya. I am confounded by something called étouffée, but I do enjoy saying it over and over again. Of all those foodie experiences though, my number one goal is to someday enjoy a cup of chicory coffee. Keep reading »

Obsessions: Nutella

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I totally forgot to mention that Saturday was World Nutella Day!

I’ve made no secret of my obsession with the smooth, chocolatey, hazelnutty goodness that is Nutella. And I actually commemorated this year’s anniversary quite by accident.

My obsession with Nutella goes pretty far back, to a holiday season years ago when my mom’s cousin used it to make her White Trash (a special recipe for another day!). At the time, Nutella had not yet gained its popularity stateside, and it was a hard-to-find, gourmet delicacy (moms also weren’t yet being encouraged to spread it on toast for their children’s “nutritious” breakfast. Do what?). In the ensuing years, many of us made Nutella memories while traipsing around Europe. Mine mostly involve obsessively sticking my spoon (okay, fingers) in the jar while driving on the wrong side of the road. It was totally worth the scary danger. Now Nutella is available to the masses — they even sell it at Wal-Mart, which I guess is how you know you’ve really arrived. Keep reading »

Stick to your ribs.

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When it’s cold and gloomy outside, I need comfort food. The stick to your ribs kind of fare.

My go-to as of late is this beef stew, which I make all the time. You can’t beat a dish that allows you to throw some meat and chopped vegetables in a pot, pour a bottle of wine over it and then forget it for a couple of hours. (It would probably do really well in a crock pot, though I haven’t tried that yet.)

This recipe is a little different, because of its surprise ingredient — barley. I know, I know. That sounds totally weird, but it’s delicious. And you can feel healthy about eating your whole grains, right? The original recipe called for a topping of potatoes, but I like roasting them separately. Or serving it with mashed potatoes.

Enjoy, and stay warm out there! Keep reading »

No place like home.

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Today marks my 6th day in a row being at home. Last week I was felled by the plague (again), but I worked from home while chugging soup, hot tea and Delsym. Then I canceled all plans for the weekend to rest, except for one short jaunt to the grocery store for the requisite pre-storm eggs and milk. Come Monday, half a foot of snow and ice fell. And here’s the scariest part:  I haven’t minded one bit. I’ve been completely relishing in my homebodiness while “snowed in” — I’ve watched TV, I’ve cleaned my house, I’ve read a book, I’ve talked on the phone, I’ve watched some movies, I’ve made dinner. I’ve even had time to bake two loaves of bread.

Bread might be my favorite food, and I will eat it in any form:  a sandwich, toast, crackers, rolls, scones, pancakes, even croutons. (I obviously would fail miserably at the Atkins diet.) You probably know that I a) enjoy a culinary challenge, b) am wary of what’s in my food, c) bake to offset stress and d) like preserving the slow ways of cooking. For those reasons, I started baking my own bread about a year ago. I used to be afraid of yeast and the finicky nature of dough, but I’ve learned that I like working with it as much as I like eating the finished product. Sure, there’s all that kneading and rising and punching. But it’s kind of a miracle when you can put some flour, butter and water in the oven and a light, flaky baked good comes out. Keep reading »

A Christmas baking recap.

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I love the holidays. But at the same time they can be challenging. Last week I set off for home with a twinkle in my eye about the four days of rest, relaxation, cocktail parties, presents and time with family I was going to enjoy. In truth, I didn’t sit down for four days.

My Christmas vacation was full of said parties, gifts and family but also a blur of errands, baking and post-Christmas shopping. (Have to stock up on wrapping paper and bows for next year! Even if it’s snowing!) Weirdly enough, it did snow … at Hilton Head Island of all places. That’s especially rare since most years I’m wearing short sleeves on Christmas Day in 70s-degree weather while grumbling about how it needs to be colder. I got my wish this year.

Anyhoo, about the baking. I crossed off a few culinary challenges from my list and added some new items to my repertoire, including: Keep reading »

Sherlock and shortbread.

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I finally watched “Sherlock Holmes” this weekend on HBO — the Guy Ritchie version, not to be confused with PBS’s recent “Sherlock” series. (I loved the PBS series, which cleverly updates the characters to modern times.)

I’m a huge fan of Guy Ritchie’s, ever since I saw “Snatch” at the movie theatre by mistake. I like his cheeky take on things, and I find his camera angles and direction to be really interesting, dare I say genius. Ok, I’m easily impressed. I don’t usually care much about Robert Downey, Jr., or even Jude Law, but I thought the movie was entertaining, and definitely watchable. More importantly, it inspired me to bake.

Something about the cold, somber shots of industrial, 19th century London made me crave a spot of hot tea … with shortbread. So in my usual, rash display of weekend binge cooking (or baking, as it may be), I made homemade shortbread at 10 pm. Keep reading »