Family Dinner with JP

During a brief period of my life, which I like to refer to as my Plump Years, my affection for certain foods was limited only by my willpower. Of which I had none. And while I would certainly doff my cap to the makers of those delightful Haribo gummied bears or the entire pantheon of Cheetos snacks, I would be remiss if credit were not given to a dish which, even now, I have trouble putting down. Chicken Tikka Masala, you test the limits of my will! And I love you for it. The problem was twofold. First, there was an all you can eat Indian buffet near my law school that served CTM. And the answer was "I can eat 5 plates of rice and Chicken Tikka Masala before I need a nap." Second, there was an amazing delivery joint near my house, specializing in Subs, Pizza, and Indian food (and yes, they did all 3 amazingly well), meaning that on a good day, I could polish off 4 pounds of CTM during my lunch break, then head home and order CTM delivery, eating half for dinner, and the o

Sometimes (all day every day) I think I'm much cooler than I actually am. So when I excitedly told Laura that I got heirloom beans, I genuinely expected a response along the lines of "Oooooh! What are those?!" or "Where on earth did you get those?!" Instead, I received a very mundane, unimpressed "From Rancho Gordo?" Because, as Laura pointed out, who else sells heirloom beans? Still, I was grateful when Laura lent me her Rancho Gordo Heirloom Beans cookbook. Beans - incredibly versatile, incredibly varied. For this adventure, I opted for some hearty soup to warm me up in the impending rainy snow of winter. This soup is really easy, though it requires the use of a stand or immersion blender. There are really three components at play that will be combined into the final served dish: the bean soup with chard; the croutons; and the poached egg. I've given a primer on poaching eggs before, but I will refresh your memory here. The

Just in time for Thanksgiving, I present a delightful side dish, seasonal and non-traditional. Straight from the pages of Bon Appetit (webpages, whatever), as suggested by Justin, these crusty carrots present a ton of kick and a real heartiness lacking in your mundane side salad or "really, brussel sprouts AGAIN?" Aside from the harissa paste, which can be easily located in your hummus aisle, nearly everything else in this recipe is likely already in your cabinet! The tricks to this recipe: do not be afraid to let the carrots get a dark crust, and learn to embrace the heat. What may at first glance appear to be burnt parts are in fact a deliberate charring of the smokey spices in this dish, creating the caramelized crust that gives the carrots their bite. And dive in to the harissa yogurt! While the harissa paste certainly kicks the spice level up on its own, the balance of the yogurt and citrus provides a wonderful taste experience, peaking and cooling down your mouth

Look at that picture above. As a friend noted, perhaps the best selling point of this recipe is that this is a crusty fish recipe with no added breading. This recipe comes straight out of the Thomas Keller Ad Hoc cookbook, a wonderful coffee table style cookbook with beautiful photographs to accompany the aspirational recipes. Which is not to say the recipes are difficult to make, so much as difficult on the wallet. The first time I tried this recipe was years ago, when Josh made it for me for a fancy lunch. I readily admit that when I saw how much oil he used in the pan, I kind of scrunched my face at him. There must have been half an inch of cooking oil! Was he trying to deep fry this thing? Clearly mistakes had been made ... how much wine had we all been drinking? But no, Josh was correct, the instructions were correct, and, despite the wine (or perhaps because of it), the fish ended up amazing! By cooking the hearty halibut in a deeper amount of oil, a thick crusty bottom for

Mussels. Let me tell you a little bit about mussels. See, when you grow up in Maryland, and spend your summers down Ocean City, mussels are inevitable. Of course, we're talking rough and tumble, steamed in water, served with a wedge of lemon and a ramekin of melted butter, no frills mussels. And they are delicious! For the uninitiated, I think of mussels as the textural middle ground between clams (more chewy) and oysters (more viscous). Mussels are perfect: cheap, easy to make, poppable, fun to share, and can look absolutely beautiful! What follows is a bit of a primer on making mussels. This is clearly a food that should be demystified, so that everyone can eat mussels all of the time. Once you know a few things, like how to sort out the bad from the good, and how to ensure the mussels are clean and without grit, this becomes a fast meal that you can adapt to any flavor profile you want. So of course, following the Tao of Julia, I made mussels in the French fashion - steam