morsels & sauces

Do you need a super easy go-to appetizer? Are you stressing about your pre-dinner bites? Are you sick of cheese and crackers (okay, that's blasphemy)?   I gotta say, it's as simple as having some frozen puff pastry on hand, because Martha Stewart is to the rescue. Again. We would expect no less from the queen of entertaining. While this would be the perfect appetizer for a Mexico - Italy soccer match up in the World Cup, I can also vouch for its viability in an American Superbowl game this past February. Since I don't particularly care about the Superbowl (and somehow do decidedly care more about the World Cup), I do try to ensure that the food is fantastic on that wintry Sunday evening. Enter Puff Pastry Tart Three Ways. Sure, you could make just one, but this is perfect as a combination piece because everyone can have a little of everything. And it really does look quite striking all together. And if you cut it into even smaller bites, you can spre...

Oh, people, this dish is just a fancy way to say "Chicken with Mushrooms" (and cream).  Forestière means "of the forest" or "in the forest manner." Or in a more vernacular manner, "This has got mushrooms in it." And there is no one I would rather trust with chicken and mushrooms than food writer and journalist Diana Henry . From  her traditional English pea soup to a Japanese-inspired chicken  and her warm duck salad , Henry has been a hit on this here blog. In part because of her commitment to a wide range of flavors and the other part because of her gentle peroration on the foods she loves, I just cannot get enough of her work. Lucky for me, she has a plethora of cookbooks.  This recipe comes from her cookbook,  A Bird in Hand , a book entirely devoted to the bird. Because we eat so much chicken ( according to this website , the US meat and poultry industry processed 38.4 billion pounds of chicken in 2015), ...

There is not much at all  to this soup. In fact, even my photographs are a little stupidly simple. But I have always been a fan of potato and leek soup. And I like stupidly simple from time to time. Usually on a weeknight. Oil. Leeks. Potatoes. Liquid. Salt. Dairy. Parsley. Do you really even need a recipe?  Given that this is a food blog, I am going to provide you one. But, seriously, change every amount to fit your palate, your taste, your proclivities on a random Tuesday night. Throw this recipe to the wind. Sure, use it as a guide if you want, but you should play and dabble and change this one for yourself. But let me tell you a little secret about this recipe. Even though I don't fully believe in it, I have a soft spot for the recipe and for its cookbook. But I am about to donate this cookbook to the l ittle free library  in my neighborhood.  I loved this cookbook in the 90s, and I have waxed nostalgic about it...

Nope.  It's not possible to have a simpler--or more satisfying--summer dinner.  This week in the CSA box, we were gifted both cabbage and potatoes. In my Midwestern upbringing, this might mean a heavy meal of German Brats and Sauerkraut or smack of Irish (or New England) Boiled Dinner .  Don't get me wrong. I love both. But they both feel a little heavy for a July dinner, don't you think? Deborah Madison, described by Lucky Peach as the "Queen of Greens,"  is America's answer to what to do with the CSA box question.   She is also one of my heroes .  She argues that Summer Braised Cabbage (combined with potatoes and dill and a smattering of fresh feta) will keep dinner on the lighter side, lift the spirits, and keep it all a bit simple in the process. Don't we all need that? Plus, we got to use some of the feta made by the husband-cum-fromager. Seriously, he's getting pretty good at this cheesemaking thing. And thank...

I have posted about potato salad in the past.  I get it, I really do, this current moment you're having. Why, oh why, is she posting about potato salad?  Does potato salad deserve not one but two posts?   I am here to confirm that as we're now firmly ensconced in summer and summer barbecues and trips to the beach and picnics and backporch swing sitting, potato salad needs to be posted at least once a month. The first potato salad  was your basic potato salad, tweaked and gussied up to be satisfying for all palates--young, old, picky, and adventurous--for it strikes the right note of Americana backyard.  That one is a standard salad that promises to be a hit with just about everyone. But this more recent potato salad is more for your gourmand. For those who want something predictable (potato salad) with a surprising twist (roasted veggies) that strikes just the right balance. The simple change of roasting your potatoes before putt...

This is not your basic British mulligatawny, which often arrives in soup form, often with lamb instead of chicken, often thin and easy to slurp with a spoon. Instead, this mulligatawny arrives as a curried stew, all thick and oily and so wildly wonderful that you’re a little disappointed that you didn’t make more than six servings (which really, given the amount you put on your plate when you came back for seconds, means four servings). Oh, the Brits do wild things with their mulligatawny, adding nutmeg, apples, nuts, and sometimes even port wine (!?). However, this is your basic mulligatawny sauce rather than soup recipe and is far more reminiscent of the Indian rather than the Anglo-Indian dish, which is precisely how it is served at  Ajanta , Berkeley's fabulous Indian restaurant perched atop Solano Ave. According to Moorjani's headnote the word  mulligatawny  comes from a Tamil word ( mulligat ) which means  pep...