This photo on Apartment Therapy definitely called my name. "Elllllllen..." it whispered. "Bloooooggggg about meeeee...."
Making a mental note to lay off the hallucinogens, I decided to relay the recipe. Apartment Therapy offers it as a "low-fat, no cream" alternative to heavier, creamier pasta sauces, but I saw it as a great vegan option, and a welcome reprieve from pesto or marinara. AT uses butter and beef or chicken stock, but you could easily use Earth Balance or veggie/faux chicken stock, and omit the Parmesan, or use one of the many awesome soy or rice-based cheeses.
Epicurious and Dawn Direct Foam set out to find the world's messiest dish, and they found it all over the face of 1-year-old Audrey Kaplan. The food all over Audrey's face is spaghetti and meatballs, made by her grandmother, Dorothy.
Dorothy won a flatscreen TV and a year's worth of Dawn Direct Foam for submitting the picture of her very messy granddaughter. It's kind of ironic that this photo won, since Dorothy will presumably not be using Dawn Direct Foam (a dish soap) to clean up her granddaughter (although I'm sure it will do a number on her dishes).
A lot of our food traditions and habits we learn from our parents at an early age. Take pasta sauce. I come from a large Italian family, so we had spaghetti every single week when I was growing up. My mom made her sauce (my dad's recipe, and I'm not exaggerating when I say it was award-winning) and when we put it on the pasta, we put a lot. Not enough so it gets all watery and the pasta is swimming, but certainly enough to cover the pasta out to the edge (more than the photo above).
Now here comes Mark Bittman at The New York Times who agrees with this approach. While most cookbooks will tell you to make a lot of pasta and just add a couple of ladels of sauce in the middle of the plate, Bittman suggests you turn the amounts around and make twice as much sauce as pasta. Mario Batali, in a video from Serious Eats after the jump, disagrees.
Chocolate pudding cake is an intensely satisfying, yet simple, dessert. As it bakes, it separates into two layers - a tender chocolate sponge-type cake and a very rich chocolate sauce/ pudding base - so the cake needs no accompaniment unless you want to throw a scoop of vanilla ice cream into the bowl, too.
The second best thing about this cake (the flavor is the first, of course) is that it is incredibly easy to make because it is mixed in the pan that you bake it in. This means that cleanup is minimal and that you can have a delicious, from-scratch dessert on even a very busy weeknight. Not that you shouldn't have it at other times, as well. Any excuse is a good one for chocolate pudding cake.
What would a collection of SuperBowl dip recipes be without a little blue cheese, considering that it is held to be the gold standard of hot wing dips - excluding hot wing sauce itself, of course. Blue cheese (or bleu cheese, if you prefer) dip is made with a pungent, creamy cheese that cuts into the spiciness of hot wings by adding a new layer of flavor and a cooling sensation that dulls the heat of the chicken. The strongly flavored cheese, in most of these dips, is often combined with sour cream, mayonnaise or cream cheese, each of which contributes to the overall texture of the dip without bumping up the flavor to the point where it overpowers the hot wing itself.
This particular dip is a pretty standard recipe that you'll probably find in several different places. It calls for sour cream and mayonnaise in addition to the cheese, so "healthy" is not something that could be applied. You can always substitute low fat or nonfat sour cream/mayonnaise; using a good quality blue cheese will make up for any loss of flavor in either of those ingredients.
Joe, from Culinary in the Country, included these Honey-Chipotle Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches in a post about summer dishes. I'm not going to argue that barbecue is summer fare and that these would be perfect for, a cookout, but barbecue is also perfect for sporting events - which makes this sandwiches a great option for Super Bowl Sunday. The sandwiches are very easy to make. They start with chicken breasts that are boiled/steamed with a bit of garlic and cumin until tender, although you could very easily go with grilled chicken or a pre-cooked roast chicken - all you really need is a good amount of meat. The meat is then tossed with a simple, smoky chipotle sauce (that sounds like it would be good on pork or ribs, in addition to chicken) and piled onto toasted hamburger buns with a bit of smoked mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese.
Even though I don't live anywhere near Illinois, the pizza restaurants here offer three styles: regular, thin crust, or "Chicago Style". They are referring, of course, to Chicago Deep Dish. When made properly, one slice is equivalent to three slices of regular. The crust is deep on the edges, and the toppings are literally piled on. Just talking about it makes me want to order in a pie right now.
If you are making it at home, don't use a regular flat pizza pan as it is virtually impossible to build up the edges of the crust without some reinforcement. Personally, I use a 14-inch cake pan which has always worked well for me. Cook the crust part way first to ensure that it will be cooked through once the toppings have been added. Sauce is added, then layered with toppings of your choice and smothered in cheese - lots of cheese. Bake until golden brown and serve. I recommend having a knife and fork handy, or at the very least, a handful of napkins!
I'm not going to lie to you. When it comes to fast food pizza, I'm a Pizza Hut guy. Actually, before I even get to calling Pizza Hut, I'll go with one of the two local pizza places in my town. They're two of the best pizzas I've ever had anywhere, and I usually go with one of them. But last night I had this craving for one of your deep dish pepperoni pizzas. Plus there's a Domino's right next door to my apartment and I didn't feel like going across town.
So I went to you web site and almost ordered the pizza online. Not because I'm lazy, but because I've never ordered a pizza online before and thought it would be fun. I decided to just walk over because it's only about 33 steps from my front door. But while I was on your site I noticed something that troubles me.
A recent survey taken of Britons revealed that nearly two thirds of them think that "arrabiata" is a sexually transmitted disease of some kind, which probably makes going out for an Italian restaurant for dinner a rather unique experience. Arrabiata, as fans of Italian food will know, is not a sexually transmitted disease. It is a spicy Italian pasta sauce. Characterized by the use of simple, but fresh, ingredients, the sauce always features tomatoes and hot chili peppers, either fresh of dried. Other common inclusions are garlic, fresh herbs, olive oil and sometimes a little bit of meat or some olives for additional flavor and texture.
In fairness, the survey was about sexual health in general and was released on World Aids Day, this past Friday, so it is possible that some participants were confused by the questioning. It might be a good idea to give the sauce a try just to ensure there won't be any confusion over the name in the future. Read on for a recipe.
How much do you want to know about sauces? If you are looking for one solid tomato-based meat sauce, then Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making is probably not the book for you. If, however, you want to know just about everything there is to know about the history, evolution and techniques of sauce making across cultures, then this James Beard Award winning cookbook is the perfect choice. The encyclopedic book is over 600 pages and starts with the basics, including the equipment that is needed for proper sauce making and the fairly standard stocks and things that are the absolute foundation of most cooking. The subjects, in terms of the types of sauces covered, range from meat and fish sauces to salad dressings, vegetable-based and dessert sauces. There is even a who chapter dedicated to the somewhat out of fashion jellied sauces, although their construction is interesting even if you don't plan on serving them.
The wonderful thing about sauces is that they can transform something ordinary into something much more impressive, not to mention into something that is far tastier that it might be plain. This book is an essential reference for a home chef who wants to really take their cooking up to a new level and for a pro who wants to, similarly, learn some more techniques and just improve their basics.
To be honest, I don't mind the kind of cranberry jelly that comes from a can. I'm not saying that it's the epitome of gourmet cuisine, but it tastes pretty good and, thanks to some relatives I mentioned before, it's generally going to be on the table at holiday meals regardless of what else is there. But I don't want to limit myself (or my family) to the cylindrical jelly, so one of the other things that is usually on the table as well, is homemade cranberry sauce. It is bright and can be flavored in any number of ways, not to mention that it is very easy to make. From start to finish, the sauce only takes a few minutes and it can be made well in advance and stored in the fridge. This particular recipe was adapted from Bon Appetit and uses fresh cranberries as well as cranberry juice and dried cherries, which plump up as they are heated. I used organic berries and cherries in mine, but the flavor really isn't very different if you use conventionally grown fruits.
Hollandaise sauce doesn't have to be served over poached eggs and Canadian bacon to make Eggs Benedict. You can ladle it over tomatoes, avocados (now we're talking high fat), low-fat ham, even a simple salad-- but always on a good French or sourdough toast. The toast/sauce texture ratio is key. Also, don't be intimidated by the 'ole double boiler. It's quite easy to get the hang of and if you like chocolate...well, that's another post.
There is no question about the fact that Alicat, at Something So Clever, takes great photographs of her food. More recently, she has started to add a faux polaroid effect to her shots, which definitely give her blog a unique look and add a really homemade feel to the photos and recipes - sort of like looking into a family recipe book. These Lasagna Rolls, which are from a Giada de Laurentiis recipe, look positively mouthwatering. They are filled with ricotta, prosciutto (both of which Giada puts into every single thing she makes, it seems) and parmesan cheese, then are topped with a generous amount of sauce and mozzarella. The beauty of the rolls is that each serving comes out of the pan very neatly. Whether you want to attempt to eat it neatly is entirely up to you. You can find the recipe here.
You know it - it's the Asian hot sauce that comes in a squeeze bottle with the little green tip. In college, maybe you called it "Rooster" for the picture of the rooster on the front, like we did, because we had no idea how to say "sriracha." It's a staple. If i have nothing else in the refrigerator, like Nick, I have a half-full bottle of sriracha (because it never stays full for long).
I don't know what it is about sriracha that makes me want to put it on everything. Everything, I say, from scrambled eggs to mac and cheese to...pizza? Yes, pizza. If you're a sriracha lover, pizza is probably not even an unusual recipient for a lovely back and forth drizzle of the stuff.
But recently, on a night of Indian take-out, I found myself squeezing the stuff on my naan, as if it were completely normal. My dining companion at first gave me a strange look, then grabbed the bottle. "That's brilliant!"
What's the strangest thing you've done with sriracha sauce (in the kitchen, that is)?
Cook's Illustrated has featured their taste test of bottled barbecue sauces on their website as we head into the summer grilling season. They sought out all the "original" flavored BBQ sauces that they could find in their local (Boston, MA) markets and tested them as dipping sauces for chicken tenders. Barbecue sauces are clearly a personal matter, but the tasting panel looked for a balance of sweetness, smokiness and spices that had a good tomato flavor and a relatively thick consistency. While 30 sauces were tested, only 8 made the final cut.
I have a couple issues with the test, the first one being that not all of these sauces are nationally available, though I wouldn't expect them to test every brand in the country. The bigger issue is the fact that the winning sauce had a "thick, coarse texture" and seemed "unprocessed." Even when I make barbecue sauce, I try to have it thick and smooth, not chunky or textured. Also, do most people eat their barbecue sauce purely as a dip? Was this really the best way to compare how the sauces would hold up to, say, grilled foods? It's hard to know, but here are their results:
Have you ever stashed a Coke in the freezer, hoping to chill it quickly, then forgotten all about it, only to have it explode all over your frozen peas?
A lot of our food traditions and habits we learn from our parents at an early age. Take pasta sauce. I come from a large Italian family, so we had spaghetti every single week when I was growing up. My mom made her sauce (my dad's recipe, and I'm not exaggerating when I say it was award-winning) and when we put it on the pasta, we put a lot. Not enough so it gets all watery and the pasta is swimming, but certainly enough to cover the pasta out to the edge (more than the photo above).
Even though I don't live anywhere near Illinois, the pizza restaurants here offer three styles: regular, 
Dear Domino's,
A 
Hollandaise sauce doesn't have to be served over poached eggs and Canadian bacon to make Eggs Benedict. You can ladle it over tomatoes, avocados (now we're talking high fat), low-fat ham, even a simple salad-- but always on a good French or sourdough toast. The toast/sauce texture ratio is key. Also, don't be intimidated by the 'ole double boiler. It's quite easy to get the hang of and if you like chocolate...well, that's another post. 
Cook's Illustrated has featured their 
A fraking amazing Battlestar Galactica cake
Iced Tea 101
Pierogies + cheese + onions + kraut = Parmageddon!
