Recipe: Charred Shallots Cooked in Barley

This recipe is a little bit of a strange duck. I had to read through the recipe more than three times to really understand how to make it and then I can’t locally get freekeh so I replaced it with barley. I imagine most very hearty, long cooking grains will probably be able to fill in like bulgur or brown rice even (with slightly adjusted cook times). This recipe is a flavor bomb so it’s really best served in small portions with something fresh and crisp on the side and maybe some bread sticks or grassini to round it out into a meal.

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Recipe: Potato, Cheese, and Leek Pie

This is a little fussy to make but it’s worth the fuss sometimes. If you want a show stopper vegetarian main you can do worse than this. This pie would pair nicely with a good creamy soup and a fancy salad. The type of cheese you use will basically be the main flavor so I suggest going for something local that has the flavors you personally like. I used a creamy, nutty almost sweet cheese and that pairs beautifully with the leeks and potatoes here. You can skip the nuts if you want but it helps with the texture.

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Recipe: Chicken Chasseur

This is a great fancy weekend meal because it is a nice and extra special dish but also it isn’t too involved. The only ingredient you might have to go out of your way to get is cognac. You can substitute in a white wine (or use both cognac and white wine) but that flavor really makes the sauce special since it’s such a simple dish. This can be easily doubled, made ahead, or frozen meaning decadence can be available at almost any time.

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Recipe: Pastitsio

This is a big Greek pasta bake which is definitely a dish that will impress and fill up any guests you may have. It’s rich and creamy and meaty and carb-y all at the same time. While it takes a bit of effort to get everything together, since the meat sauce can be made ahead of time, with a little multi-tasking that could be a dish that gets into regular rotation. Classically this uses bucatini as the pasta but you can replace with ziti, penne, or rigatoni if you can’t find that in your local supermarket.

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Recipe: Panettone

This is one those recipes that is definitely worth the trouble. I’ve never had a panettone from a store but I can’t imagine it gets better than this. This is half bread / half dessert with a soft and tender crumb and amazing punches of sweet and boozy from the fruits. You can use whatever combination of dried fruit, nuts, and candies that you like but I used what was available to me. I suggest reading the recipe through several times before starting and making sure you correctly line your tin as those will both save you a lot of headaches.

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Recipe: Bacalhau à Brás

We had Bacalhau à Brás a few years ago when we were in Portugal and I was just kind of craving it lately (who doesn’t love a good salty fish and potato combination?). It uses salted cod which you can make yourself or you can usually find it in specialty stores since it stores very well. It’s a great treat for a weekend meal but it is important to plan ahead because the salted cod has to soak for a day to get some of that salt out before cooking but then it comes together pretty easily after that.

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Recipe: Beet Pasta

This pasta is delightful in color and actually does not taste like beets at all so it’s basically a way to eat pink pasta. You can make the beet puree ahead of time or even make a big batch of it and freeze it (which is what I did) meaning that once you have the puree it’ll be the same 45 minutes from start to finish that regular homemade pasta is. This is honestly one of the best and easiest ways to make sensational pasta if you want to wow a friend or family.

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Recipe: Fish Ball Paella

I wouldn’t say any of the food I make is authentic in any sense but I kind of feel like I’m sometimes stretching the idea of what some foods are. Either way this is undoubtedly a paella even if I made a small adjustment of not using fresh cod pieces but instead I was gifted minced fish and rolled those into balls. It’s practically the same to switch out the minced fish for fish pieces at the end and I’m sure both are great so feel free to play around with whatever you have on hand.

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Recipe: Squid Ink Pasta with Crab Meat

Even though this looks like a very fiddly meal, it’s actually not a big deal. I’ve been making pasta quite a lot lately since I bought a pasta maker and it’s both really easy and satisfying. You can always buy the squid ink pasta and simply make the topping / sauce which make this a 15 minute meal if you have lump crab or canned crab. For sure this meal turns any night into a very fancy date night.

Squid Ink Pasta with Crab Meat

Adapted from Love and Olive Oil and FoodieCrush