A Hungry Bear

cooking my way through jamie’s italy

My friend Lydia told me that she has a habit of reading cookbooks cover to cover, even curling up in bed with them like they were novels. I like cookbooks too, but never really understood what she meant until I discovered Jamie Oliver’s “Jamie’s Italy.” I saw a review for it on Orangette, and ordered it immediately. As soon as it arrived, I started flipping through, and before I realized what had happened, it was an hour and half, and 300 pages, later. Normally, I dismiss “celebrity chefs” for the most part - I mean, if you’re going to sell out and endorse the Applebee’s restaurant chain, you lose a lot of credibility with me. But this guy’s cookbook is amazing, and I know nothing about his “celebrity personality” behind the book. He basically traveled all around Italy for a few months in a camper van, collecting different regional recipes - and *amazing* photos of local people and their food. There hasn’t been a thing from the book that I’ve cooked that we haven’t raved about. Here are some highlights… (more…)

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memorial day cookout: my favorite borrowed recipes

I’ll take any excuse to grill burgers, and memorial day is no exception. I found several recipes from my favorite new food blogs, and decided to spice up my cookout routine - I’m so glad I did. The blue cheese and bacon potato salad is from the latest issue of Martha (which I accidentally receive at my house, since its former occupant was a subscriber). The burger recipe, which is unique more for the preparation method instead of the ingredients, comes from The Kitchn, an Apartment Therapy blog. And these onion rings, these most crispy-perfect-with-a-kick onion rings, are from Last Night’s Dinner, quite possibly the world’s prettiest food blog. (more…)

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lemon and herb crusted halibut over arugula salad

Pacific halibut is now available at WF here in Atlanta, and I can’t stop thinking about new ways to try it. I found this Emeril recipe and when I saw that it involves painting the fillet with dijon mustard (before pressing with lemon zest and herbs), it reminded me of this delicious vinaigrette concoction featured on Orangette a few weeks ago. I decided to make my own version of the lemon-herb mixture, sear the fillet, then serve over a simple arugula salad - summery, light, but tangy enough to it complements this delicate whitefish. A perfect weeknight meal for hot Atlanta weather (at least while halibut is available). (more…)

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homemade pasta with veal ragu

I’ve been traveling a lot for work lately (yes, I sandbag — cook a lot on the weekend and then blog from lonely hotel rooms later in the week), so being back in the kitchen this past weekend was so great. It didn’t matter to me that it’s 85 degrees in Atlanta and that I shouldn’t be thinking about heavy, hot dishes like homemade pasta and rich meat sauce, but I couldn’t help it. The fact that I’m here, and my pasta machine is here, and we haven’t seen each other in so long… Hence this meal. I can’t fully explain how great homemade pasta is, but if I had to quantify it I’d say it’s approximately 500 times better than the stuff from the box. In hindsight I guess I should have fed the pasta sheets through the attachment to cut them more evenly, but I loved the wide hand-cut noodles that I made myself. (more…)

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happy birthday cheesecake

Yesterday was A’s birthday, so I knew his “Mama Lynn” would be making him his favorite chocolate kahlua cheesecake to celebrate. Of course there’s no way I wasn’t going to make him a dessert myself, I just had to do something different (and a day early). I decided to make a standard cheesecake with lots of strawberries and sauce on top, as “refreshing” as a cheesecake can possibly be. I found an Emeril recipe that I took some pointers from as well — like adding lemon and orange zest, and a splash of bourbon. Other than that, the ratios of sugar to cream cheese, how to make the crust, etc are based on the chocolate cheesecake. It was delicious - and poor A now has to choose between 2 types of birthday cheesecake every night this week. (more…)

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chilled avocado and crab soup

In the June issue of F&W, there’s an article about “great ways to use guacamole”. Normally if I make guacamole, there’s never any leftovers that I need to worry about, but since I’m always looking for ways to eat more avocado, I really liked this recipe. Starting with a base of guacamole, you can puree it into this soup, which is actually both creamy and airy (yes, airy — check out the bubbles in the picture) because of the addition of buttermilk. (more…)

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grilled grouper with cheddar grits, tostadas and chipotle salsa

Several weeks ago I went to Buckhead Diner for lunch, and had one of those entrees that you think about for days afterwards. It was such a unique combination of things - cheesy grits underneath a couple of crisp tostadas, with grilled mahi-mahi, all topped with a smoky chipotle sauce and fresh guacamole. I decided to try and recreate it on my own, and while definitely not exact (I admit, I used a jar of “homemade” salsa that I found in whole foods since I had no idea what to do with the original), it was delicious. (more…)

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orangette’s gruyere souffle (AKA julia child’s everyday souffle)

I recently purchased the May issue of Bon Appetit magazine to read on a flight. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have a new featured column by Molly Wizenberg, who writes the wonderful Orangette blog. I love how she tells a story when describing an experience with a certain food, and then transitions into a specific recipe — so captivating. Anyway, she presents her modified version of Julia Child’s “everyday souffle” recipe, which of course I had to try myself. It wasn’t quite as easy as Molly claims, but her reassurances made me want to try it in the first place, so I don’t mind being oversold a tiny bit. As far as souffles go, it’s as simple as they get — just gruyere cheese mixed into the base. (more…)

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chef sev cracks the benihana code: yum yum sauce

I have always loved a good “Japanese steakhouse” — in college my friend Morgan and I would save up for special occasions to go over to the hibachi grill for the early bird special (2 for $19.95!). While I love the highly trained grill masters who can create little bunny rabbits out of shrimp tails and flaming volcanoes out of stacked vidalia onions, my favorite thing has always been the mysterious “yum yum sauce”– the white sauce that they provide on the side for dipping your shrimp and vegetables into (or for smothering your entire plate indiscriminately). I have tried and failed to figure out the secret to this sauce for years, but there isn’t a Benihana in the world that will give up the ingredient list. That is, until A’s dad, AKA “Chef Sev”, decided to crack the code. He has succeeded - don’t ask, because he won’t reveal his sources - and the result was the absolute perfect replica of benihana’s world-famous yum yum sauce. We grilled up shrimp, chicken, steak and tons of mixed vegetables last night, and drowned it all in this amazing sauce. Grab this recipe while you can, before the Benihana trademark police force me to take it down… (more…)

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old school apple pie

When I was growing up, one of my favorite things *ever* was spending time with my grandparents, who live on the Pee Dee River in rural North Carolina. They grew (and still do, although less volume) every fresh vegetable imaginable, and had all kinds of fruit trees right by the house - figs, peaches, pears, apples, etc. My Gramma and I would bake all kinds of cobblers and pies, which, looking back on it, probably planted the seed for my love of cooking. These days it’s fun to impress A and his family (all from Pittsburgh) with recipes that aren’t so common outside of the southeast — recipes taught to me by my Gramma. One of A’s favorites is this apple pie. (more…)

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