A Hungry Bear

provencal chicken with bearnaise

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

I haven’t seen the Julia Child movie, but I’ve been hit with the fever all the same - looking for dinner ideas in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This is probably one of the easiest and most iconic of the JC recipes - chicken sauteed in herbs de provence, with a simple bearnaise [...]

pastitsio: greek pasta & lamb casserole

Monday, September 7, 2009

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I’ve been saving this recipe in my binder since late last year, when I saw it in the December 2008 issue of Gourmet. As I’ve mentioned before, my mom is a little obsessed with Greek food (her name is Yia-Yia, not grandma!), so whenever I see an interesting Greek dish I want to make [...]

tuscan spare ribs

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

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Our neighborhood Whole Foods carries a small selection of local pork. If they don’t have a certain cut of meat, I’ll find a way to adapt a pork recipe that I want to try. But recently, I had the opposite experience, going to WF and seeing a cut of meat I knew I [...]

cedar plank salmon

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

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I love the flavor that a cedar plank imparts on a piece of salmon when it’s grilled, but I had always assumed it was difficult to make so I only enjoyed this at restaurants. A couple of weeks ago, I was on a flight perusing one of those airline magazines (Delta’s Sky magazine actually) [...]

vodka thyme lemonade

Friday, July 24, 2009

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Herb-flavored simple syrups, where have you been all my (bartending) life? Discovering this technique is one of the greatest breakthroughs in the bar - or in the kitchen - that I’ve had in along time. And it only takes a couple of minutes! My new plan is to make up a big [...]

pork chops with tomato-peach compote

Monday, July 20, 2009

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This is a really quick and easy way to use up some of the local fresh peaches, heirloom tomatoes and vidalia onions in abundance right now (there’s only so much peach cobbler a girl can eat, even for me). I made it with braised collards and kale - it was a southern meal, with [...]

grilled halibut and vegetables provencale

Thursday, July 16, 2009

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My little container herb garden is growing like crazy these days, and I’m finding more ways than ever to incorporate them in unexpected ways (see this Bufala Negra drink for an unconventional way to enjoy basil). This recipe for grilled halibut and vegetables with fresh herbes de Provence caught my eye, as a way [...]

foster’s market mac and cheese

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

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It’s about time for a new MAC recipe right? Foster’s Market is quintessentially Chapel Hill NC - a place where hippies and yuppies both get along, for good coffee, amazing pastries and sandwiches, comfy seating where you can sit and read a paper for hours, etc. I haven’t been for years, since I [...]

olive tapenade stuffed chicken

Thursday, April 23, 2009

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Chicken thighs are cheap, but I’m always at a loss for how to make them. Recently I’ve been searching for new ways to try them, and found a recipe on foodblogsearch.com that was really compelling (3 exclamation points convinced me). I made some modifications, but it’s basically just chicken thighs rolled around a [...]

braised beef short ribs

Monday, March 30, 2009

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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 [...]