Family Dinner with JP

Pickles! Who the hell doesn't love pickles? And the beauty of it - you can pickle ANYTHING! Cucumbers! Garlic! Onions! Cauliflower! Beets! Eggs!  I read up a bit on other types of pickling brine, and adapted the original recipe for use in making zesty dilly beans (pickled green beans, a little bit spicy). Please note : these are rookie pickles! I know a lot of you out these may be scandalized that these aren't sealed in a hot water bath and stored for 2 months. Don't be such a Pickle Purist, ya dingus! Or else teach me your more complex pickling ways ... But for the rest of this, these are unbelievably good pickles that we can make at home without any special equipment. This recipe is for Quick Pickles. Jar them, and they'll be ready to eat the next day. The pickles are best if eaten within 12 days. These are not long-term pickles! These make great treats for attending dinner parties, for late night drunk snacks, and for tabletop gaming sessions. Spoiler: I kn...

This is the synergy I was hoping for! I posted a tomato and anchovy and garlic butter spaghetti recipe. Eliza makes it for her family, and it's a hit! Eliza posts pics of the endeavor on the facedbooks. Friends of Eliza post a recipe they're reminded of, from the New York Times . I make that recipe. Things of note for this recipe: First off, this one was simple, and I made it for lunch. Not a huge time commitment. Secondly, I use chicken thighs. If you are boring/weird/like spending three times as much money on things/hate good flavor, you can certainly use chicken breasts. But don't. Third, this recipe uses anchovy, but I did not mention it in the title. People are afraid of anchovies. So make this dish, serve it to them, and don't even mention the anchovies until after they've already finished their seconds. And finally - this was the first dish I've made using my very own Fire Escape Herbs, who are doing very well and have not died yet at all. This ...

Not long ago, staying in a group house in the Belgium with an assortment of talented home cooks, a discussion ensued about cooking Indian food at home. My take on it: the start up cost for cooking Indian can be cost prohibitive when looking at finding a specialty store to buy all of the unique, authentic spices and accoutrements to make something as simple as a chana masala. A few weeks later, a cookbook arrived unexpectedly on my doorstep, and a promise that those very friends would be visiting me soon, and a full day of Indian cooking would ensue. That November, the Day of Too Much Everything did in fact occur, and it was probably the best day of 2013 for me. Plus, Dutton and Nic left all of the Indian spices at my place, making it easy to play pickup games of Indian Cuisine anytime I want! I chose this recipe for two main reasons: vegetarian-ish dinner guest, and the ease of entry. This recipe does not require too many specialty ingredients: the ghee can be made beforehand at ...

The point of this blog, besides keeping me off the streets at night, is to chronicle making nice meals at home and to show people that cooking is not nearly as intimidating as it seems at first. You've (hopefully) noticed that I attribute almost all of my recipes to a source. Primarily Julia Child, let's be honest. Even when I tinker with a recipe (like last week's soup ), I'm always basing my ideas off of someone else's original idea . Part of the fun of cooking is to improvise and make a recipe your own. The wine helps bolster this confidence. At any rate, let me tell you about braising ... I had no clue what braising was for many years. Or at least, I had no sense of how to braise at home without the use of a crock pot. (Aside: if you don't have one, get yourself a crock pot!) A long long time ago, the Food Network had actual culinary school trained cooks, known internationally as "chefs." Sure, they also had Rachel "Bell Peppers ...