A Hungry Bear

pasta with asparagus, peas & bacon

I should try to play this off as an intentionally designed menu, to celebrate spring with new fresh produce etc… But actually I realized I had nothing planned for dinner, a bunch of asparagus and a few mushrooms in the fridge that were about to go bad, and half a slab of bacon. I remembered seeing a pasta with asparagus dish in Bon Appetit recently, but when I looked on Epicurious I found something that could be adapted even more to suit the vegetables I had. So celebrate either with me: spring is here, and/or I whipped up dinner in 20 minutes without having to run out to the store.
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braised beef short ribs

I’ve cooked short ribs before but knew I must have been missing something. They were fatty and chewy when I made them - if this was the essence of short ribs, why would they keep turning up on the menus of some of the best restaurants I’ve been to lately? I decided to give it another try when the farmer’s market featured some on sale from a local butcher recently. I bought them, stuck them in the freezer, and procrastinated. For at least 3 weeks, those short ribs looked at me every time I opened the freezer, smirking. They probably didn’t think I could transform them into tender, falling apart, rich, juicy morsels of heaven - I didn’t think I could either. But after a several uninspiring searches on Epicurious, Food & Wine, I stumbled on Smitten Kitchen’s recipe on FoodBlogSearch.com.

Her pictures are captivating, and to call her descriptions inspiring is selling them short. I’ll let you read her opinion about the smell of the braise (red wine, thyme, homemade beef stock), and just stick to saying she’s right, and you should make these short ribs tomorrow. I’ve made them twice within a week, before I could even get around to posting this. (more…)

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blood orange and agave margarita

I never post drinks on AHB, which I realize is kind of odd. At holidays, I put as much thought into finding and fixing a fun cocktail as I do a holiday-themed dessert. So since it’s Friday, and we’re all counting down till Happy Hour, I’ll share with you one of my recent favorites. This was inspired by (a) a display at my local Whole Foods about Agave Nectar that caught my eye, and (b) the gorgeous blood orange margarita shared by The Kitchen Sink. (If it’s not time for happy hour already, I’d consider her photos NSFW - they will inevitably cause you to leave early, run to the store and get the ingredients for mid-afternoon cocktails. You’ve been warned.)
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a new mac & cheese: leeks, goat cheese and cheddar

Mac & cheese makes me crazy. Like football. I count down to the next time I allow myself the indulgence of mac & cheese like I count down to Football Sundays. This new recipe was the equivalent of the Steelers winning the Super Bowl in the last seconds of the game: it was the best mac & cheese I’ve ever made. Of course, this is coming from the girl who can eat leeks for dessert, so keep that in mind. But I think you should try this, immediately if not sooner.

This recipe is adapted from one I found in March 2009 Bon Appetit. I substituted goat cheese for some of the cheddar, since that’s one of my favorite flavor combinations, plus a few other changes. The original can be found here.
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cracked wheat bread

There’s no better way for me to show A that I really love him than by baking him homemade bread (okay, maybe Steelers tickets, or that fighter pilot for a day thing). I’ve been trying several recipes for classic white sandwich bread and variations of whole wheat, but by far, the most perfect loaf of bread that I’ve found is the Cracked Wheat Bread from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible. In the recipe, she says she modeled this one after her favorite sandwich bread from Pepperidge Farm, which has since been discontinued. I’ll make up a double batch of this bread, slice it, then freeze the slices in large ziploc storage bags (the slices can be individually taken out as needed, thawed for a few seconds in the microwave or toasted). (more…)

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tzatziki sauce

Tzatziki sauce, or the Greek yogurt-cucumber sauce, is really quite easy to make. I could have picked any number of simple recipes on Epicurious or in my “food ideas binder” that I’ve been saving. But when it came down to it - pita dough was rising, pork was marinating - I wanted to get this right. So I searched a little more and found this recipe on Kalyn’s Kitchen. This was given to the blog’s author by her Greek friend, and she claims it is the “world’s best” tzatziki sauce. While I don’t have anything to compare it to (and my mom, Yia-Yia herself, wasn’t here to taste mine for comparison to the real deal), I can’t imagine it being any tastier.

Note: assemble the sauce at least 2 hours prior to serving, so the flavors have a chance to come together. (more…)

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greek style braised pork

Recently Food & Wine magazine had an interesting article that presented some classic Greek recipes in simpler, Americanized fashion. One of these was for a simple grilled pork tenderloin, served with pitas and tzatziki. But when it came time to cook this, we were in the middle of 3 straight days of rain - no way was I turning on the grill. So I set about searching for a braised version and found Kalofagas Greek food blog. His recipe for pork shanks was gorgeous, but a little too complicated ( it featured a pink peppercorn sauce). I took some of his suggestions for the herbs and wine for marinating and braising, and used a big pork shoulder I could shred for the pitas.
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pita bread

I was finally motivated to try cooking Greek food for my mom (Yia-Yia) not by the lamb & eggplant shepherd’s pie, but really by this post on Smitten Kitchen. She reviewed the recipe for homemade pita bread from my favorite bread book, Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible. I couldn’t believe how easy it looked. I’ve tackled some of her other loaf bread recipes that are far more complicated, so I was sure I could handle this. And they actually came out puffy and soft, just like the one’s in Smitten Kitchen’s pictures. The hands-on time was less than an hour too.

I made these to go with a Greek-style braised pork and tzatziki sauce, for which I’ll be posting recipes over the next couple of days. (more…)

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butternut squash and radicchio pappardelle

Winter squash is going to be done soon at the farmer’s market, so I want to enjoy while it’s still available (especially when it’s still $1/lb!). I’ve made butternut squash with risotto, and a couple different ways with pasta (Jamie Oliver’s rotolo and ravioli). It almost always is paired with sage - granted, that’s one of nature’s best pairings, but it gets old. I was curious to try this recipe from January 2009 Gourmet, which dropped the sage in lieu of bitter radicchio leaves. I adapted the original recipe by crisping up some cubes of pancetta, to give it a little more saltiness. Since the squash was cubed and then sauteed (meaning no roasting required), it was ready in about 45 minutes.
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lamb and eggplant shepherd’s pie

I’ve wanted to try more greek recipes since my parents returned from sailing around the Greek islands. My mom became so enamored with the food and the culture that she actually decided she’d be called “yia-yia” instead of some version of “grandma” when my niece was born. And still here I’ve sat, cooking Italian like it’s the only kind of mediterranean food that exists. So when I noticed several greek-themed recipes in both Bon Appetit and Food & Wine in the past month, and I took that as a sign that it’s time to try something new for my mom. So I’m starting with this lamb and eggplant dish from March 2009 Bon Appetit, which has a garlicky mashed potato topping - it may not be authentic, but it’s great comfort food for these last few cold and rainy winter weeks.
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