Family Dinner with JP

As usual, it tends to go back to Anthony Bourdain or Julia Child. In this case both. Bourdain informed me of the ease and utility of making your own stock from your scraps of vegetables and bones, and of keeping the stock around in the freezer, pre-measured in one cup containers. Julia provided extensive notations and descriptions of making the perfect stock out of just about anything. Such a simple thing to make, but when done right, a stock is a delicate, flavorful base from which you will build your recipe. Thankfully, the stock in this recipe is fast, cheap, and easy.  Many thanks to Laura (and her recipe blog  ) for the recommendation and base recipe from which I worked. This jam is vegan, which I am surprised to write as you are to read, and it is absolutely delicious, which surprised me even more. My dinner guest, one who has tried several of my recipes now, for the first time ever went back for seconds! I found the soup to be hearty (see: old rustic joke...

Christine is from Tampa, which is why she 1)knows a thing or two about Cuban food and 2)knows the Columbia Restaurant. One of those moments where, pestering her over Gchat, Christine sent an entirely inspired response to my "what should I make for dinner this week?" The answer was a Cuban Picadillo. And Christine was right. Picadillo, or "hash," is a traditional Spanish-influenced dish that usually includes ground beef. The Cuban variety typically involves raisins, olives, and capers, while other national varieties vary incredibly (some including hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, honey and lime, etc.) The dish was simple, but ultimately complex. Like a chili or stew, the leftovers were somehow even better than the original serving. I served mine over fluffy white rice. You might also include some fried plantains for scooping. Other suggestions include using this as taco filling or in croquettes. Its a seriously versatile dish. Of final note: If you don...

Justin passed along this recipe to me a while back, and I'd tried it once with my Dad as the guinea pig. The end result seems incredibly complex and is assuredly a delicate balance of varied flavors, but the execution is simplicity unto itself. Skirt steak is delightfully inexpensive and, when cooked and cut properly, can be a tender bite with a whole lot of flavor. I've only ever made this dish for 2 or for 1 alone - I highly advise you make this for 4 people (or two with leftovers for both of them) - this is a rich meal and, if you eat like a bird (like me), you may end up with leftovers for days. Delicious leftovers, mind you, but phew that's a lot of buttered corn sauce. I made this recently for myself. As noted, it is not a terribly complicated recipe, but I made it on a Friday night at a leisurely pace, making my way through most of a bottle of an Oregonian Pinot Noir while I cooked for a few hours. You could increase the pace and cut down on the time e...