dinner

If our kids had to choose one thing to eat for dinner every day, it would be pasta. Specifically plain pasta with just butter and parmesan cheese. I’m sure that there are many children in the world with the same preference and even I wouldn’t touch tomato sauce when I was young, so I’ll usually make pasta once or twice every week. The trick is to keep it interesting for the grownups and find something that the kids end up liking as well. I thought this dish would be a sure-fire winner – it’s just a classic white clam sauce, but I figured it had the appearance of a plain pasta so the kids might go for it. I even… CONTINUE READING

There are times when I have no idea what to make for dinner – kind of like writer’s block, only in the kitchen. Occasionally I will ask everyone what they want to eat, but usually I get little help. When someone does give me an idea, however, I’ll most often make it. For example, last week Jenna mentioned that she felt like eating enchiladas, so I bought some enchilada fixings. Now I love enchiladas as much as anyone, but making them can be a serious pain so I don’t do it very often. I did take a short cut this time and bought a can of enchilada sauce. If I had some extra time to cook I’d make a nice… CONTINUE READING

Roast pork is not something that I ate as a child, but I do have one vivid childhood memory regarding it. I was nine years old and we were on a family vacation in Norway aboard an antique wooden ship whose name escapes me. Our shipmates were several families of tourists from various countries, plus the friendly Norwegian crew. We spent over a week sailing through the fjords and visiting many small coastal towns. One afternoon I awoke from a nap (in my bed, which was a literal hole in a wall with a mattress) and smelled something absolutely delicious. I set out to find what it was and it turned out to be one of the crew cooking a… CONTINUE READING

I found myself in Flushing, Queens the other day, to make the long subway trek back to Brooklyn after dropping off the car at a body shop. Not exactly a relaxing day out, but a quick trip to the Chinese grocery at 41st and Main Street made it a little more enjoyable. I picked up some thin egg noodles, fried tofu, and some water spinach – my favorite Chinese green vegetable. It’s a bit like regular spinach (hence the name), but when cooked it has none of the gritty spinach aftertaste. I blanched it and mixed it with ponzu sauce to go with the rest of dinner. As for the noodles, the package said they did not need any extra… CONTINUE READING

I can’t believe I haven’t posted this recipe yet! It has long been a favorite standby of mine. Pork shoulder is simply cut into large chunks and simmered for 90 minutes, cooled in the same liquid, then easily shredded by hand and ready to be seasoned with your favorite sauce and eaten. It goes well with mexican rice, or tortillas, or even rolled in lettuce with various accompaniments. Any fat should be trimmed before cooking, and on this particular cut of meat the fat was particularly thick. I think I’ve mentioned my love of crispy pork skin before, and I couldn’t resist giving it another try. This time I kept it simple and just deep-fried the sliced skin for a… CONTINUE READING

We just received our annual shipment of tomatoes from Jenna’s Dad’s garden. Every year at around this time, his garden overflows with big, fresh, juicy tomatoes and we always end up bringing home a full bag. Rather than use them gradually and have them slowly go bad, I just use them right away to make a big batch of fresh tomato sauce. It freezes well if you can’t use it all at once, but we never seem to have that problem. Fresh Tomato Sauce (makes about 2 quarts) 12 big, ripe tomatoes 1/4 cup olive oil 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped 3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped 2 sprigs of fresh basil salt and pepper to taste First,… CONTINUE READING

Here’s an example of a dish I made up from ingredients that were laying around. I bought some shrimp, yellow squash and sweet peppers and figured that I’d find something to do with it. When it was all finished I realized it was pretty much a ratatouille with the addition of shrimp (and no tomatoes). I marinated the shrimp, cooked the vegetables separately and mixed it all together and served it over couscous. I suppose if it was served over rice I could have called it a stir-fry. Shrimp Ratatouille (serves 4) 1-1/2 pounds large shrimp, cleaned 4 Tablespoons olive oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 cup chopped cilantro 1 Tablespoon paprika 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper… CONTINUE READING

I’m a sucker for short ribs. Even in the middle of July, with our 100-degree heat index, I could not resist these thick, meaty ones from the store. I did a few things to lighten it up a bit. First, I did not add any onion or garlic to the pot, instead I added extra carrot and celery. Second, for the liquid I used only white wine and water, flavoring it with some lemon thyme and rosemary from our balcony garden, along with a bit of citrus zest and ginger. Lastly, I pureed the cooked vegetables into the cooking liquid after I removed the cooked ribs. It made it into a sort of thin vegetable puree, which is a little… CONTINUE READING

During a recent trip to the farmers market I noticed an unusually long line at one of the stands. It seemed like they were selling the same vegetables as everyone else, but then I spotted them – zucchini flowers. No other stand had them that day and they were nice and fresh. Five dollars for a good sized container. I hopped in line and bought some. So then I had to decide what to do with them. Zucchini flowers were made for stuffing, but the only question is with what. I love stuffing them with crab or lobster, but that’s obviously not your everyday dinner. Even plain cheese is nice, but I wanted something different. I decided on polenta. I… CONTINUE READING

For some reason I have had a fried calamari craving for a very long time. Every time I order it in a restaurant I end up disappointed because it’s usually too soggy, greasy, or both. So while shopping the other day I made a bit of an impulse purchase and bought a 3 pound box of frozen squid for just 5 dollars – how could I pass that up? The only drawback was that they were not cleaned. Usually that would be no problem, as I’ve cleaned many a squid in my life, but this time they were the absolute smallest squid I have ever seen. Seriously, some were no bigger than my thumb. I spent close to an hour… CONTINUE READING