Filed under Eating in …

Oysters

This should have been barbecued shrimp on cheese grits. But oysters is what I had in the fridge, so oysters is what I cooked for dinner recently. For some reason I had a hankering for grits, too, and decided to use up a knob of cheddar cheese I had, so I ended up with cornmeal … Continue reading →

Joys of Crock Pot

This was excellent crock pot barbecued beef!  All I did was to put big cubes (~2-3 inches) of chuck roast in the crock pot, add a sliced sweet onion, a little garlic powder and a shake of liquid smoke. Then I poured on a bottle of regular supermarket barbecue sauce (KC Masterpiece Original in this case).  Set … Continue reading →

New Year’s Treat

Here’s a fast and easy treat for New Year’s Eve or New Years’s Day brunch.  It was part of one of my first In The Kitchen columns written for the Packet, back in April 2002 (yikes!).  Where ever I take it, it gets raves, and it only takes moments to put together.  I almost always … Continue reading →

Beautiful Burrata

If you like fresh mozzarella cheese, chances are you’ll love burrata.  I first spied this creamy treat from the Puglia region of Italy on one of Lidia Bastianich’s PBS shows, probably “Lidia’s Italy.”  She cut into what looked like a ball of mozzarella and a creamy interior spilled out onto, if I am remembering correctly, a … Continue reading →

Craquelin Brioche

Run, do not walk, to Wegmans to buy a loaf of the Craquelin Brioche bread pictured in the photo, on the left (that is sourdough next to it on the right, also quite good).  I suspect the brioche, which cost $5, will be a holiday item, and will cry when/if it is no longer offered (hint, … Continue reading →

Time to Vote!

No, you’re not having an post-election flashback.  This is a different type of election.  Princeton’s own supreme culinary contestant, Devon Delaney, who has won mega cooking awards, is once again in the running, this time for a Super Bowl tailgating recipe contest at epicurious.com. She is one of ten finalists and you have until December … Continue reading →

Say Cheese

I just go cheese-crazy at holidays, and often put together rather elaborate cheese trays for family dinners. Sometimes I get the camera out to document the tray, as I did here a few years ago – but not until we’d already made inroads! The cheeses here were a blue (Maytag?) and Wensleydale with cranberries in front, … Continue reading →

Fast Food

Fast food at my house means something quickly assembled from purchased prepared ingredients.  So the lasagna pictured here was a breeze to make. I always keep Delverde no-boil lasagna noodles on hand (the package says Ondine No. 106, and even includes 2 8-inch square foil pans).  You can find them at the supermarket, and when they … Continue reading →

Barley Risotto

I’ve been meaning to make barley risotto for ages, but just got around to it recently.  It is more or less just like making the rice version (see my post of September 30, 2008), but with barley, the kind with the hull removed.  I used Shiloh Farms hulled barley. I used Mark Bittman’s excellent recipe in … Continue reading →

Mac & Cheese and Pinching Pennies

Dark days persist.  In my September 17 post, I suggested dark chocolate as an antidote to these hard economic times.  But as the clouds darken, I must go a step further.  It’s time for the kind of comfort that only comes from…macaroni and cheese. Making your own is the best, of course, but I do think … Continue reading →