As if Italy hasn’t offered us enough delicious dishes (hello, lasagna!) we can also thank them for bringing ricotta into our lives. The word ricotta means “recooked” in Italian. This cheese is made by recooking the leftover whey from other cheeses, like provolone and mozzarella. If you’ve got 30 minutes you can make your own ricotta right at home with just a few pantry items or simply pick up a tub at your grocer....
Turn Tacos Into a Dinner Salad! This recipe takes fish tacos, deconstructs them, and turns them into a salad. While fish tacos are often served in soft tortillas, in this case you get a bonus crunch in the form of tortilla chips. The chips can be used to scoop up delightfully messy bites of this salad, or crushed lightly and sprinkled on top. Or both! This salad has so much going on in terms of color, texture and taste....
My father doesn’t eat ginger if he can avoid it, so when I made it I just warned dad ahead of time that he might have to settle for yesterday’s leftovers if he couldn’t bring himself to touch it. Well, everyone loved it! Even dad. Strips of boneless, skinless chicken breasts are briefly marinated in ground coriander, ground ginger, vinegar and oil, then they are stir-fried with scallions and julienned ginger....
These Goldfish Chicken Tenders are a perfect example. 4-Ingredient Chicken Tenders! We seem to have a never-ending supply of Goldfish cheese crackers at our house. I find them everywhere. In the car. In the couch. On the floor. One time I time found a Goldfish cracker in my shower. So finding a few cups of the super crispy, cheesy crackers to use on some chicken tenders was not hard. (I did not, however, repurpose the ones I found throughout the house....
I don’t know if my kids liked eating vegetables as finger food or the flavor, but either way they’ve signed on to eating green beans for the duration, and that makes me a happy mama. What’s in This Salad I do my best not to over complicate summer food. I want to be outside, enjoying the weather, not inside over a hot stove or a cutting board. That’s exactly why this salad is just green beans tossed in a quick dressing....
That’s where egg bites come in: a 100% make-ahead breakfast that you can reheat in the microwave and devour while doing just about anything. These egg bites made with ham, cheddar cheese, and canned diced green chiles are anything but ordinary, so if you’re looking to combat your breakfast fatigue, start here! A 30-Minute Grab-and-Go Breakfast Egg bites are super simple to whip up in just 30 minutes, and most of that time is spent waiting for them to finish baking....
We always have potatoes and onions on the countertop, and the refrigerator is rarely without a leafy green and jar of olives. Toss them together with some marinated chicken from the freezer, and dinner is ready in a snap! The Best Chicken for This Recipe Skip over split breasts and boneless skinless chicken breast halves for this recipe. You want thinly sliced chicken breast, chicken tenderloins or chicken tenders. A thick breast would take too long to cook, and your vegetables would be overdone by the time the chicken finished....
We did it all tense and fussy, with a bowl over a water bath, whisking in tiny ladles of melted clarified butter bit by bit. Gallons of scrambled and broken hollandaise went into the garbage. It was only years later, watching Julia Child on an episode of “The French Chef,” that I learned you could make hollandaise over direct heat with whole—not melted—butter. It’s so much easier! What is Hollandaise?...
Store-bought crescent rolls are oddly sweet and one note. This version is less sweet and butterier, making them an ideal accompaniment to any savory meal or a great breakfast with butter and jam. Their crescent-moon shape and hard-to-resist flavor are wonderful for sharing, but I won’t blame you if you find yourself hoarding the whole batch for yourself! Let’s Talk About Yeast Proof the active dry yeast in warm water and a little sugar before adding it to the dough....
Freezing bananas is a no-brainer. This is going to be the best thing you’ll read all day. The Easiest Way to Freeze Bananas Put them in the freezer, peel and all. Nature provided you with the perfect packaging. Seriously, that’s it. If you want, you can keep them in a zip top freezer bag so they don’t roll all over your freezer. (I’ve had enough bananas in mine that they’ve come tumbling out when I had them in loose....
Butterscotch sauce was an all but extinct, or out-of-date, substance and flavor until recently. Now it’s all the rage. Wouldn’t you like to know exactly what butterscotch sauce is and how to make it? What Is Butterscotch Sauce? Historically, butterscotch was a hard candy made with unprocessed sugar. The suffix “scotch” means “to cut”. When sugar or candy is hot it’s difficult to get a clean break, so one must score it while warm to facilitate getting a clean edge later....
For this recipe, I make small scones (2 to 3 bites each) studded with currants. It’s the perfect size for a quick snack, or to serve with an assortment of pastries and breakfast items for a casual brunch. Here’s how to make a warm batch of flaky, delicately sweet Irish scones at home! What Are Irish Scones? Irish scones are close relatives to English scones. They are made with a simple combination of flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, and milk....
One of the recipes Biba demonstrated during our evening with her was her “Stracotto di Manzo alla Fiorentina” or “The Braised Beef of Florence”. Biba, in her typical down-to-earth manner called it “nothing more than a glorified pot roast”. It’s a simple and delicious recipe, much like our standard pot roast but with a soffritto base, the addition of tomatoes, and a whole bottle of wine. When the oil is hot, shimmering but not smoking, add the roast and cook, turning it a few times, until it is nicely browned on all sides, 10-12 minutes....
This is critical knowledge to have if you plan to drink one. Or three. Because not knowing this will get you in a whole heap of trouble. Why Long Island Iced Tea Is So Good The Long Island Iced Tea is a curious cocktail. Theoretically, it shouldn’t taste all that good considering how many different liquors are being mixed together. Yet, it works! The triple sec (an orange-flavored liqueur), lemon juice, and cola bind everything just perfectly....
For Thanksgiving, my mother is in charge of the roast turkey and stuffing (they’re the BEST), my father the mashed potatoes, and I the pies. Dad and I split the sides. My dad shies away from anything resembling a Brussels sprout (why dad? you’re denying your German heritage, just think of it as a mini cabbage!) but everyone else loves them, so I make sure they make an appearance. With all the cooking that needs to be done our mantra is Keep it Simple....
Since I’m trying to keep the number of times I have to venture outside to a minimum, that means making sure my pantry is stocked and my recipes are versatile enough to handle a change of plans. I’m also doubling up several dishes so we have plenty of leftovers. Alas, I’m saying “See you later” to my grill until warmer months, but it also means having more time with my toasty oven!...
They also couldn’t be easier. Use store-bought puff pastry for the crust, and smoked salmon, cream cheese, and scallions in the filling. I love working with store-bought puff pastry mostly because, well, I don’t have to make it myself! Back in my former life as a pastry chef, puff pastry was a weekly task — it was fun to make, but it requires a serious number of hours to make....
But of course, there can always be more! Eggs and toast are the ultimate comfort food, so why not incorporate them into a salad? Make some hard-boiled or jammy boiled eggs, and toast some bread on top of the stove. Set them atop your greens and you have an appealing salad that you could serve all by itself as a light meal. If you happen to be grilling or roasting a chicken, this salad would be a standout accompaniment, too....
In this recipe, the tomato pulp is scooped out and used in the filling (no waste!) along with just enough soft breadcrumbs to absorb the moisture and give body to the stuffing. You can use the recipe as a guide and swap in your favorite combination of cheeses and herbs. If you have the grill going, throw these on! If not, bake them in the oven and enjoy these cheesy stuffed tomatoes all year long....
