One of my favorite meals is grilled veggies over a bed of rice. I cut the veggies into bite-sized pieces, toss them in olive oil and whatever dry spices look appealing, then add them to a hot cast iron pan on the grill. Within 10-15 minutes, dinner’s on the table. But sometimes I like to…
sauce
A Batch of Red Sauce
I’m not Italian, but I adore Italian food, and my obsession started as a kid. My family’s old farmhouse had a big yard with a field that backed up to our Italian neighbors. I was friends with their granddaughter, who lived there with her brother, mother and grandparents, and it was my first exposure to…
Roasted Shrimp with Lemongrass, Lime & Cilantro Sauce
A tasty sauce adds flair to whatever you pair it with, and it even has the potential to become the star of the dish. When pairing a sauce with something, I try to not create flavor competition. Basically, if I’m making a zippy, very flavorful sauce, I tone down its partner. The same is true if…
Sour Orange Mojo Marinade
I had never even seen a sour/bitter orange (a.k.a. Seville orange) before last week, when some dear friends picked ‘em right off their tree and gave me a bunch. They have a darker orange exterior color, with a distinctly rough, thick and dimpled skin — not the prettiest oranges you’ve ever seen, but they’ve got…
Green Almond Sauce for Fish
I love to read food memoirs, and one that I recently pulled off my shelf is a long-time favorite. Laurie Colwin, in her “Home Cooking” memoir, shares delightful food memories and humorous tales of the evolution of her culinary prowess, including her many cooking foibles. One of my favorite quotes in her book is “One…
Flounder with Mint-Lemon Gremolata
Gremolata might sound like a fancy word but it’s really just a mixture of a few ingredients and it brightens up just about anything it’s paired with, especially braised meats which tend to be heavy (eg. you usually see it served with osso buco). Traditional gremolata is a mixture of minced parsley, lemon rind and…
Citrus Infused Whole Roasted Snapper
We’re doing something a little different today. . .cooking a whole fish! Don’t be intimated — it’s actually a little easier than cooking a single fillet and you can even make stock with the leftover bones and pieces! If you’re fortunate enough to catch a fish yourself, that’s great, but you can also find one…
Yummy Chimichurri
You’re probably thinking today’s post is all about this beautiful steak. Actually, it’s about the tasty chimichurri sauce I made to top it, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t first share a story about my family’s funniest experience with steak. . . Like many families with small kids in the 1960s-70s, we were on a…