These Cherry Folditups Only Sound Easy and Inexpensive

Why am I calling this a cherry folditup, and not a cherry galette, its correct culinary name? Because one sounds like something that's easy to make, and one doesn't. You may think it's silly to dumb-down the name just so a few more people watching on YouTube will give it a try, but it's very important to me that these recipes are accessible to as many people as possible. Oh, and by the way, did I mention you need to buy a $18 jar of cherries to make it? So much for that whole accessibility angle. Yes, I did use the world's most exclusive jarred cherries. Luxardo make's what they claim are...

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An Early Spring Lunch

Today for lunch, Michele fried some sweet Italian sausage and served them on toasted, garlic-rubbed bread. Next to it was an ordinary green salad, made extraordinary with her kumquat and blood orange dressing. It was a perfect early spring lun...

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No Russian this Beef Stroganoff Recipe

Beef Stroganoff is one of my favorite recipes of all time, but not the classic Russian version, which had neither mushrooms nor onions, and was served over rice or fried potatoes. No, I prefer this this Americanized rendition that gets to sit on a pile of wide buttered egg noodles. There’s something about the rich, creamy, tender beef wrapped inside those fat ribbons of pasta that really does it for me.Speaking of tender beef, this isn’t the quick-seared beef tenderloin filet you often see used in restaurants. That version is nice once in a while, but I prefer this slower, beefier recipe,...

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Homemade Crème Fraiche – Nobody's Ever Made it Just Once

Crème fraiche is French for "fresh cream," which makes it one of the most ironically named foods ever, since it's made by leaving cream out in a warm spot until it’s soured and thickened by a growing colony of bacteria. Yeah, fresh.Regardless, making crème fraiche is very easy and as the title implies, once you taste the magic of homemade sour cream, you'll have a hard time not repeating this somewhat esoteric exercise. Sure it takes a couple days, but the effort is minimal for such a marvelous payoff. As I mention in the video, besides the amazing taste and luxurious texture, maybe the best thing...

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Random Food Porn: Creamy Beef and Duck Fried Rice

This is not a tease for an upcoming fried rice video. As magnificent a meal as it was, this was simply the result of using up some leftover Thai takeout. However, this is a little tease for an upcoming crème fraiche video. A chef I used to work for would mix sour cream and herbs into leftover rice pilaf, and bake it in a casserole to create a new side dish. I believe that's what possessed me to add the dollop at the end. Enjoy and stay tun...

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Pickled Grilled Vegetables – Now, Why Didn't I Think of That?

This pickled grilled vegetables technique was my favorite new discovery on the Kingsford University trip. It's quite a simple, and seemingly obvious trick, yet it never occurred to me. It's times like these when I'm faced with the tragic realization that I'm not as smart and creative as I think I am.Basically, small pickling cucumbers (which I've always called, "pickles," even if they aren’t pickled yet, just to be confusing), as well as other firm vegetables, are seared briefly over very hot charcoal, before being packed in the sweet and sour pickling liquid.The grilling imparts a subtle smokiness,...

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What I Had for Breakfast

Some leftover barbecued pork belly from Sneaky's Barbecue was crisped-up in it's own smoky fat. The thin, red Carolina-style pepper sauce was drizzled around, and then two eggs were cooked to just-set in the sizzling pool. A perfect breakfast-for-lunch experien...

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Coming Soon: Pickles and Cream

Well, the rain finally broke and I was able to dust off the old grill and film the pickled grilled pickles video I teased after the Kingsford University trip. To the right of those you'll see a jar of homemade Crème Fraîche, inspired by comments on our handmade butter post. Stay tun...

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A Spicy Tomato Crab Bisque for When You Need to Think Fast

This light and spicy tomato crab bisque is one of my all-time favorite "need something gourmet at the last minute" emergency recipes. It's easy to shop for, requires very little effort, and only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to pull off. Of course, none of that would matter if it didn’t taste any good, but that's really not a problem here.Besides its ability to impersonate a special occasion soup, this crab bisque also tastes fantastic…if you use a decent, preferably all natural brand of soup. There are lots of choices, especially if you are shopping at stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joes. I'm...

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Coming Soon: Spicy Crab Bisque

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National Corned Beef Hash Day

Apparently the official National Corned Beef Hash Day is celebrated on September 27, which is as arbitrary as it is ridiculous. Everyone knows the real National Corned Beef Hash Day follows St. Patrick's Day. If you have some leftover corned beef, you should seriously consider making the hash recipe below. There really isn’t anything like a plate of crusty corned beef hash. Topped with a perfectly poached egg, it's not only a classic breakfast (and proven hangover cure), but makes for one hell of a dinner. To read the original post, and get all the ingredients amounts, click here. Enj...

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Homemade Butter – The Original "Elbow Grease"

When I saw my friend, Jennifer Perillo, do a homemade butter post on her great blog, In Jennie's Kitchen, I thought it would make for a very cool video recipe here. The problem was I have the world's ugliest food processor. It's chipped, yellowed from age, and simply not a good look. But it still works fine, so I'm not able to make myself throw it away and get another. Then I thought about doing a real homemade butter video; a true handmade version, without using any machinery whatsoever, save for the finely sculpted apparatus that is my arm. Besides not having to show my lame processor,...

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Happy St. Patrick's Day Eve

I can’t believe tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day! Seems like just yesterday I was shoveling snow at my mother's house. Anyway, it's too late to do any new Irish-inspired recipes, so I'll do the next best thing and post links to these three delicious videos (click on the recipe captions, and away you go).By the way, any Irish drinking jokes you may hear in these clips were only meant to offend my Irish friends and family members, and not the general Irish-American community. Having said that, most of them will be too drunk to care tomorrow, so I guess it really doesn’t matter. Erin go Bragh!Coconut...

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My Snackpicks' White Bean Dip

This super easy white bean dip is perfect for those occasions when you have a few friends coming over and want to make a tasty snack or appetizer that's not going to take a lot of time, or break the bank. I also like this recipe because it's not hummus. Don't get me wrong, I love hummus, but you have to admit, it's a little overused. If you took a picture of 100 snack tables at 100 random parties, I bet 75 of them would show a bowl of hummus.This white bean dip recipe is part of a series of eight snack videos I did for Kellogg's Snackpicks.com. When you click on the video player below, you'll...

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Summer Tomato Live!

My good friend, Darya Pino, who publishes the blog Summer Tomato has just launched a live, interactive nutrition class called "Summer Tomato Live." This episodic online classroom will focus on discussing a variety of reader-selected food and health topics.You'll have the chance to ask questions and get answers from Darya in real time. I almost never recommend or promote things here that actually cost money, but knowing all that Darya has to offer, I think that the $3.99 per month subscription fee is a great deal. While I don’t use as much of Darya's advice as I probably should, I really enjoy...

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Creamy Tomato Tuna Penne Pasta and the Great "Tuna Melt Defense"

This fast and easy creamy tomato tuna penne pasta recipe is inspired by one of my favorite lunches of all time; the tuna melt with cup of creamy tomato soup combo. Not only is this diner classic a great tasting meal, it's also the basis for what I call, "The Tuna Melt Defense."Whenever I hear chefs (usually young American ones, trained in Italy) say that you may NEVER add cheese to a pasta that contains fish or seafood, I'm forced to use this argument to defend my firm belief that sometimes it's okay to do just that. Who can argue against the deliciousness of the perfectly made tuna melt? I don't...

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Fast Cars and Slow Food – Highlights of the 2011 Kingsford University

Last weekend, Michele and I were invited to participate in the 2011 Kingsford University, a NASCAR-themed barbecue and grilling event, held in everyone's favorite adult cartoon of a city, Las Vegas, Nevada. What follows is a photo recap of the trip's highlights. I don't do multipart event posts, so this is a little long, but I promise it will be a quick read. Enjoy!The first night featured a welcome dinner at Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak. The festivities began with a cocktail hour where we got to meet and greet our fellow attendees. While saddened more former classmates from the fabulous Healdsburg...

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