“How the hell does one complicate a roast chicken?!?!” was the response I got when I texted my cousin that I’d made a really good roast chicken, “but it was a complicated one.” How does one turn a dish that should be simple and straightforward into a four-hour-long headache of loads of dirtied pots and [...]

The husband requested filet mignon for dinner. I said, “boring!” The compromise was that I got to make a sauce. Filet doesn’t need one, of course, but where is the fun in simply searing some salt-and-peppered steaks in a pan?

Does chicken with roasted grapes sound a little odd to you? It did to me, which is why I needed to make it.

Back in the early days of this blog, one of my first loyal readers (what up, Danny!) wrote me an email detailing an experience that had changed his life forever. A longtime fan of sweet potato fries paired with ranch, he was blown away by a new dip he’d been served with them in a [...]

The husband requested lamb chops for dinner, and I do everything he says. I wanted to make some sort of pesto to go with the lamb, and this one, a variation of what is apparently a mainstay of Georgian national cuisine, intrigued me. There was cilantro, parsley, apricots, walnuts, walnut oil…yum, yum, yum, yum, and [...]

So, I recently went through two very exciting major lifestyle changes, the first of which has absolutely nothing to do with this cake, the second of which has everything to do with it: 1. I am now an official Jewess (yes, I had to go in the mikvah; no, the rabbi didn’t see me naked); 2. [...]

This is a sophisticated baked pasta that still speaks to your inner child. Slivered radicchio, normally tough and slightly bitter, submits to a simmering sauce of butter, onions, and whole peeled tomatoes, which is then enriched with cream. Parbaked pasta is layered with the sauce, diced fresh mozzarella, and melt-in-your-mouth mini chicken meatballs that have been coated in flour [...]

I almost never cook lamb, but when I do it makes my house smell like a street cart, which I kind of love. Mmmm…and this recipe got me thinking that I should make lamb more often. It’s just a nice alternative to…everything, really. Plus, it lends itself well to lots of fun, exotic spices, and ground [...]

Once in a great while, a recipe comes along that I am so enamored with, it gets awarded a permanent spot in my repertoire. This is a very special honor because I am always wanting to make new things, of course, and so a repeat performance is rare. So in honor of Valentine’s Day, I’d [...]