Category: our kitchen

Fried Gnocchi with Mozzarella and Cherry Tomatoes

This is Marie, contributing an article about a gnocchi recipe made recently for a family dinner. I ran across it somewhere (surely you’ve noticed I’m an NPR devotee by now?), fell in love with the photo, and had to make it as close to immediately as possible. Continue reading “Fried Gnocchi with Mozzarella and Cherry Tomatoes” →

Kristin Sollenne’s Chicken Piccata

This is Marie, contributing an article about a recipe we tried from Domestic Chic, a new book by Kristin Sollenne that we received for preview. There are always cookbooks out there, and I know full well that the vast majority of the ones I own are going to be used for one thing and one thing only: for food porn. I have a much-abused box of slightly stained cards that have the family recipes on them; I have my Joy of Cooking which breaks automatically to the waffle and pie sections, and then…there is the endless stacks of print-outs stuffed haphazardly into a 3-ring binder of “oooh, nifty!” from the internet – some used, some not, but all forgotten the instant they are filed. Continue reading “Kristin Sollenne’s Chicken Piccata” →

White Cherry Jam

This is Marie, contributing another article about jam. Now, this one is less for our regular readers than some hypothetical person who happens to be standing next to something interesting in the produce section and doing an internet search to see what the intriguing something is good for – in this case, white cherries. Can you tell I’ve done this a lot? Continue reading “White Cherry Jam” →

Food From Fiction 7: Sunshine’s Cinnamon Rolls

“Tell me, what were your first cinnamon rolls like? And didn’t the recipe look simple and pure and beautiful on the page? And the instructions your teacher gave you, before he left you to get on with it, were perfectly clear and covered everything?” – from Sunshine by Robin McKinley (Berkeley, 2003)

One of my very favorite books is called “Sunshine” by Robin McKinley. It’s about a coffeehouse baker who finds that she has more power than she thinks, and would rather not have found out as the discovery is made under the most stressful of circumstances. She’d rather be making muffins and pies and bread and her signature cinnamon rolls, but instead finds herself in the uncomfortable position of being able to do unlikely things that make a huge difference in the world. However, baking is her passion, so food and cooking are used as metaphors throughout. Continue reading “Food From Fiction 7: Sunshine’s Cinnamon Rolls” →

Food From Fiction 5: Sirine’s Saffron Chicken

“The recipes…are little more than lists, no cooking instructions or temperatures, but scattered among the pages are brief reflections on the nature of animals, flowers, people, and God. Sirine browses through the book, lingering equally over the reflections and the lists of ingredients, which seem to have the rhythms and balance of poetry. There is one for a roast chicken that she decides she may try preparing for a daily special: chicken, saffron, garlic, lemons, oil, vinegar, rosemary.” – from Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber (W.W. Norton & Company, 2003)

This is Marie, contributing a story about a roast chicken inspired by the book Crescent. I must confess, I actually ran across a description of the chicken before I’d read the book, but I had saffron and it sounded so good I had to give it a try. Then I checked out the book to see where the recipe came from, once we found it was good. Continue reading “Food From Fiction 5: Sirine’s Saffron Chicken” →

Ginger Noodle Stir-Fry

This is Marie, contributing a recipe I tried out because I just didn’t want to make spaghetti again (for once). Thursday is our Pasta Night, and the overwhelming majority of the time we have red sauce with sausage and rotini. Although it’s usually comfort food, I found myself suddenly and inexplicably underwhelmed by this prospect. Continue reading “Ginger Noodle Stir-Fry” →