Family Dinner with JP

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 ...

Easy weekday meal, perfect for the summer! Plus - totally cheap! I made this meal for $7, and I got two servings out of it. I think the first time I ever had grilled lemon, it was used in a cocktail at Del Campo. The smoky, citrusy, sweet flavor of the lemon, grilled to a slight char over an open flame, was used to accentuate the Limonada Sucia to perfection. It wasn't until a subsequent trip, celebrating multiple life successes of three friends, that we tried out ALL of the grilled Latin American meats. With the giant platter of delicacies (steak upon steak upon steak) was a large portion of grilled lemon halves. Life changing. Truth is, this recipe is simplicity unto itself. This is the perfect way to grill for a weeknight, with just enough pop to make it special. For those who don't know, adding an acid to finish any entree is the quickest shortcut to making your food go from good to great (or at least fooling people into thinking you did something more complicated t...

I love Smitten Kitchen . Everyone loves Smitten Kitchen. The familiarity with which people lovingly refer to "Deb" as "Deb" and not "The Woman Who Posts on Smitten Kitchen" blows my mind. And apparently she is gracious and delightful in person. If you've not checked out her site, you are a fool and know nothing. The recipes Deb publishes are somewhere between elevated and easy home cooking, with a whole spectrum in between. She has a relaxed, explanatory style, and she takes wonderful photos of the dishes. I highly recommend her delightful cookbook, too. So this week I did a straight Smitten Kitchen recipe, with minor variations. To be honest, I was sold on both the spring flavors of the dish (lemon, mint) and on her description of it as a weeknight meal (wish I had started just a little bit earlier, but next time I could shave time off for sure). It was nice to have guests over for a meal for once(Hi Joe! Hi Beth!), as I don't think I coul...