Above photo is a fully pulled batch of strudel dough. On one of my business trips to Budapest, I spent a lot of time looking around the Central Market. The highlight was watching a husband-wife team make strudel after strudel. It was amazing to watch the two of them take a blob of dough and Read More …
This is the classic filling for strudel and is easy to make. This version is adapted from Nick Malgieri’s instructions on Craftsy. 2 Tbs. unsalted butter 2-1/2 lbs. Granny Smith or Golden Delicious apples 2/3 cup sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon ½ cup dried currants or raisins ½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts Peel and core the Read More …
This easy braise filled the house with the smell of star anise from the Chinese Five Spice powder. We ate it with the Stir-fried Asparagus and Shitake Mushrooms and steamed rice. This recipe is adapted from Cook’s Illustrated’s “All-Time Best Chinese Recipes”. Cooks recommended making this with beef shank or short ribs, as flavorful and Read More …
This side dish accompanied Chinese Braised Beefin the photograph. The mushrooms were a good addition since they really soaked up the sauce. This is an adaptation from Cook’s Illustrated’s “All-Time Best Chinese Recipes”. Sauce 2 Tbs. water 1 Tbs. soy sauce 1 Tbs. dry sherry 2 tsp. brown sugar 2 tsp. grated fresh ginger 1 Read More …
The key insight to this version of fried rice is to boil the rice in lots of water like pasta, rather than steaming it in a precise amount of water as usual. This is a way to use freshly cooked rice and have each of the rice grains separate vs. the natural tendency to form Read More …
This Central European classic was an accompaniment to a pork roast, the comfort food of Carol’s childhood. It was easy and very good. Note that this was started the day before, rested overnight in the refrigerator to meld the flavors, and then reheated the second day. This version is adapted from a favorite cookbook, The Read More …
I spotted a recipe in the Food Network Magazine which I thought was worth trying since Carol likes barley, which is a low-glycemic and high fiber alternative to rice. It turned out well, including being surprisingly creamy. Since we had whole barley (vs. the quick-cooking pearl barley in the original recipe), that is what I Read More …
My birthday this year was on a Friday, and we are going to have a family birthday party on Sunday to fit everyone’s calendar better. We thought it would be nice to have a small cake for my actual birthday, and looked at the options in America’s Test Kitchen’s The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook. Read More …
Louisiana barbecued shrimp are very tasty, but they are not at all what their name describes, since they are actually shrimp cooked in a skillet with a spicy and buttery sauce. This version is adapted from a recipe in Food52, which I noticed because it used a moderate amount of butter vs. the extravagant amount Read More …
We just got home from a week in the Caribbean and were looking for an Ash Wednesday dinner which would be easy on our stomachs, which are a little worse for the traveling. This was a successful improvisation using “Char’s Maine Fish Chowder” in Cook’s Country: Best Lost Suppers as a starting point. Many fish Read More …