Concentrate

All right, here’s a challenge.  How do you take a pot of shrimp and pasta, perfectly prepared to delight you and dinner guests, then pour in five cups of stock, and avert disaster?  Not just that, but bring it instead to triumph, much better than what originally was intended?  Quite a baffler.  Is there a solution?  There…

Kaleidoscope

Before you, a riot of colors.  Not just amidst the tablecloth and on the dinnerware, but within the meal itself.  Vibrant reds, yellows, greens and oranges bejewel the grains, which are crowned with a snowy white dollop and a dusting of crimson powder.  That’s just one part of the plate, too.  Off to the side…

Hey Bruh, Mahalo!

Aʻole pilikia (no problems), man. Such a pleasant exchange could take place only in Hawaii, and the reason for this sociability? Food almost certainly is involved, and it’s likely we’re talking chicken just pulled from the grill, topped with teriyaki and pineapple, and adorning a toasted King’s Hawaiian bun. In other words, an Aloha Chicken…

For Real This Time

Not too long ago, a preparation of shrimp and orzo, a pasta somewhat reminiscent of rice, was featured on these pages.  Satisfying, surely, but it was merely wheat acting.  Enough of the imposture.  This time we get the real deal, no looks-like.  Honest-to-goodness rice, simmered with tomatoes and parmesan cheese until the whole sauce is…

Welcome Back!

Summer’s returning from its vacation soon, and it brings all sorts of nifty things we haven’t seen for nearly a year now, like fresh garden vegetables and cookouts.  What better way to celebrate the season of plenty than with a dinner featuring so much of what gives summer the nicest house on the block? Specifically,…

Toast’s Higher Calling

Why settle for “mere” toast when greatness waits to join you at the next stop?  After the toaster pops, for a little more time than it would take to butter the bread, a preparation beckons that’s creamy, tangy, spicy, savory and a little sweet too.  Yes, it’s all that – every application that would supplement…

Good Noodles Take Time

All the more so when they’re prepared in a dining car galley gently swaying along at seventy miles an hour, as was the inspiration for today’s entry.  Dinner was selected not long after crossing the Virginia state line, within view of sunlight glistening across the Potomac.  Although the meal was prepared promptly and efficiently, it…

A Plate Full of Ghana

It all comes together this week, as one plate holds everything you’d need for a full meal, from meat, to potatoes, to vegetables.  Wrapping the total package in style is a recipe Fine Cooking offered in its April/May 2019 release, Crispy Peanut-Chile Chicken with Sweet Potatoes. The preparation is inspired by Ghana’s affinity for combining…

Such Memories!

Summer of…whenever.  Family vacation to the beach includes a day spent a bit inland at Colonial Williamsburg.  A full afternoon beneath the broiler (aka, the southern Virginia sun) spurs the appetite something fierce.  Then, from a distance, an aroma.  Faint at first, but soon it surrounds and captivates.  The beautifully transcendent scent of a wood-fired…

Rock That Wok!

Don’t be shy.  To get this week’s ingredients to work for you, to come alive, it’s necessary to keep that wok moving.  Make the contents jump.  That’s the whole idea behind Shaking Beef, a workable translation of the original Vietnamese Bo Luc Lac.  “Diced Beef” also fits, though it doesn’t tantalize the imagination in the…