Simple Roast Chicken

Many times I feel that people making cooking much more complicated that it needs to be.  Roast chicken is the perfect example of this phenomenon.  A brief search of roast chicken recipes online and in my cookbooks gives a bewildering array of procedures and complications.  I have seen procedures for turning, basting, trusing, shoving butter [...]

Homemade Pasta

There are few things better than fresh, homemade pasta.  It has a vastly superior texture and flavor when compared to that dried stuff from a box.  I suspect that more people don’t make it because it seems somewhat intimidating if you haven’t done it before.  While it does take a bit of time to complete, [...]

Cheese plate

 
A Cheese plate is one of my favorite things to serve at at party or before dinner.  Why? A few reasons: 1) I can assemble it before everyone arrives and they can munch away and chat while I finish cooking, 2) the only work on my part is to buy things from the grocery store [...]

Duck Part Two: Duck Confit

That’s right folks, today we’re cooking pieces of duck in a pool of duck fat. At this point you are either revolted or salivating, either way take a moment to regain your composure before proceeding. Just in case anyone was revolted, cooking duck (or other meats) like this does have a (historical) purpose. [...]

Duck! Part one….

Ok, so maybe I have too much free time…  I was at the farmer’s market on saturday and had a flash of inspiration… I was going to buy a duck and use every last scrap for something.  If a cute little quacker had to die for dinner, I would enjoy every last bit.  In about [...]

Mmmm…saucy

Along with all the ‘gourdy fun‘ this weekend (thanks for coining the phrase Christine)  we also stopped at a nearby orchard.  We didn’t pick our own apples since we tired from our fabulous day in the country.  Well, the myriad insects were decidedly less than fabulous, but I suppose they provided wonderful opportunities for interpersonal [...]