Tandoori Chicken

We made this loosely following a Cooks Illustrated recipe, which recommended rubbing a dry spice mixture into the raw chicken before applying a wet yogurt-and-spice mixture. It came out great! Also on the dinner plate (not pictured) was jasmine rice, yellow split peas cooked like chana dal, and sauteed spinach.

Birthday Dinner

You can cook a meal at home that's better than 90% of restaurant dishes. Spend your money on quality ingredients, not table service. The menu: pepper-crusted pan seared New York strip steak (finished in the oven), saffron-pepper scallops, mashed potatoes with mushrooms sauteed in steak fat, and roasted green beans. Who has room for cake? (Ok, I always have room for cake).

Perfect Grilled Cheese

This is how I make a grilled cheese sandwich: spread butter on one side of a good bread like sourdough or multigrain, and place butter-side down in a cast iron pan. Place slices of a good cheese like extra sharp cheddar on the top of the bread. Put a lid over the pan to promote cheese melting. When it begins to soften and melt, add thin slices of a ripe, real tomato. Keep checking the underside of the bread to make sure you like the toasty brown color that's happening. Add the top bread layer, and flip after re-buttering the pan to brown the other side. Voila! Best eaten with piping hot tomato soup sprinkled with hot sauce like Tapatio.

Healthy Dinner

Turkey kielbasa, boiled red potatoes, roasted green beans, sauerkraut, caramelized onions, schmear of dijon mustard.

Recipe: Mocha Cookies from Some Crust Bakery

A few years back, the Los Angeles Times published the recipe for Mocha Cookies from Some Crust Bakery in Claremont, CA.  They will transport you to the chocolate dimension.

Some Crust Bakery Mocha Cookies

Total time: 1 hour

Servings: Makes about 20

(3 1/2 -inch) cookies

Note: Some Crust chef Jack Housen uses Guittard unsweetened and bittersweet (70%) cacao chocolate (available at Sur La Table) but you can substitute another top quality chocolate such as Scharffen Berger and Valrhona with the same percentage of cacao. 

 

4 1/2 ounces (99% to 100%) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

4 eggs

3 tablespoons instant espresso

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup pastry flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2 -inch chunks

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan over low heat, combine the unsweetened chocolate, bittersweet chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from the heat.

2. Combine the eggs, espresso and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on low speed, scraping the bowl as needed, until blended, then on high speed until the mixture becomes lighter in color and thickens, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the melted chocolate mixture (do not cool it beforehand) and beat on medium speed until just mixed with the batter.

3. Add the pastry flour, baking powder and salt and beat at medium-low until just mixed in, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chocolate chunks.

4. Spoon one-fourth cup batter per cookie onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until set, about 15 minutes. Cool for a few minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Each cookie: 287 calories; 4 grams protein; 34 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams fiber; 19 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 54 mg. cholesterol; 51 mg. sodium.

Picking fresh blackberries in Humboldt County

We picked two buckets by the side of the road.  Berry juice stained our hands and lips and thorns scratched our arms and legs.  Wouldn't have it any other way - makes the pie taste better.

 

Peach Tart for Thanksgiving

This tart was made for the family of a friend.  The peach filling was made during the height of peach season in the summer, frozen, and placed in the freshly-made tart crust right before baking.

Delmonico steaks on a summer Sunday

My parents were in town so we got the good stuff. Not pictured is the wild Alaskan salmon that accompanied the steak - we had been dreaming of a grand surf and turf dinner all summer.

The original Freedom Dinner - chili dogs, tater tots, peas and sauerkraut

After a crappy day, there's no better pick-me-up than a Freedom dinner.

Grill prep

Don't need no fancy schmancy grill.

Watermelon eating contest, 4th of July Atlanta

July 4th fireworks picnic

Ahhh...sweet southern summer fruit.

July 4th pork ribs two ways in Atlanta

Grilled with wet sauce and baked with a dry rub. We picked these up from a pig farm and happened upon a litter of newly born piglets - they must have been minutes old - still shaking and looking for mama's nipples for their first meal.

July 4th potato salad in Atlanta

How it's done in the dirty south.

Late night pie making - peach and blueberry

When you get the urge to make pie you have to do it, no matter what time it is.

Gladstone's clambake in Malibu

A gluttonous meal for four that was as messy as it was tasty.

Carne asada on the Weber

We made soft tacos out of it. Really missing LA.

Cheeseburger animal style

There is no better fast food burger, period.

Chicken kebabs in a spice mix from the DC Farmers Market

These spice mixes score every single time, and are only 99 cents per box. If you've never been to the DC Farmers Market, go. It is not your typical Farmers Market. The best description I've found of it is here.

Lunch after shopping at A. Litteri at the DC Farmers Market

I love the "kitchen sink" possibilities of making a salad. These particular salads were inspired by the delicacies of the Italian market - salami, roasted red peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, peperoncini, olives, etc.

Cannolis from Modern Pastry in Boston

Well of course we did a taste test between Modern and Mike's. Modern won.

Baklava

I love the sensation of biting then chewing baklava, when the dry ingredients (crushed pistachios, walnuts and phyllo dough) separate from the juicy sugar syrup in an aromatic flood of of cardamom and rosewater.

Scallops in saffron butter

We made risotto too - a rich meal that warmed us perfectly in the middle of winter.