It’s No Trick!

Today’s stew wants to be bad for you.  It really does.  Generous quantities of bacon fat builds the base, and is used to saute the garlic and shallots.  Then comes the wine and the dark-meat chicken.  It’s not over yet, because two garnishes top it all with a choice of flavored oil or crispy chicken…

Unpacking the Bundle

Just one raft of three lemongrass sections is sufficient to flavor a whole potful of soup, earning Khmer Lemony Fish Soup its name.  The fish glides through a simple broth accompanied only by rice and flavored with only a few herbs, in addition to the aforementioned lemongrass.  The lemongrass provides an herbal, citrusy melody that…

#47

By the time New Mexico gained statehood early in the 20th century, it already drew on culinary traditions reaching back centuries, even millennia.  What New Mexicans were, and are, eating took in influences sequential residents, be they Anglo, Mexican, Spanish or, before them, the Pueblo and the Zuni, contributed to the melting pot. Today’s preparations…

Well, Warmth Is Nice…

Particularly now, when anything that lifts us beyond winter’s grasp, even  just for one meal, is celebrated.  Few things are better at doing this than is a hearty pot of stew, steaming away happily on the kitchen stove.  The contentment even has spread to the title, as today’s entry is called Warmly-Spiced Saucy Lamb Stew.…

At Last, Competition

Until this weekend, Lamb Tagine filled the kitchen with the most magnificent aroma ever.  It was narcotic.  Suddenly, tough, a new contender appeared yesterday, meaning to take the title all for itself.  Tom Kha Gai (Thai Chicken Coconut Soup) just might do it too, loaded with enough beautiful aromatics to rocket it to the top.…

Like Velvet

Naturally.  When pork stews for hours, as today’s attempt has, then is cooled and brought back to a simmer, how can it be anything other than fall-apart-tender?  Certainly, Silky Pork and Cumin Stew is a good title, and the description was tempting enough to make “the list” when Bon Appetit highlighted the recipe in its…

Innovation’s Reward

Today’s submission is tomato soup.  Big deal, right?  Perhaps this journal could come up with something a little more imaginative than what’s found by the hundreds of cans in any supermarket.  After all, tomato soup is about as basic as it gets. Maybe so, but here’s the interesting twist – these tomatoes are smoked, giving…