Don’t start that diet yet! Save room for just one more decadent dish…

1 large artisnal loaf bread, cubed (12-14 cups of cubed bread)

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon evoo

2 leeks, white and light green part only, washed and sliced into 1/2 moons

1 fat garlic clove, minced or…
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I served this at a dinner party last night and people sort of lost their minds. It is so fresh and delicious, it’s redunkulous.

Whether or not you like fish sauce, it is integral to this dish and no one, (not even my friend Emma who acts like a feisty toddler in her non-fish-sauce food…
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Umami is recognized as the ‘fifth taste’; sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. Just as it is difficult to describe bitter or sour, umami is not easily explained, but here goes… Umami is a depth of flavor, it is savoriness (but not necessarily salty), it makes flavors more flavorful– like a…
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My love of smoked foods can be traced back to my family’s annual, summer trips to Colonial Williamsburg. Short of donning a hoop skirt and bonnet, my parents, siblings and I are as historically geekish as is possible. My parents would pile the five of us in their old, red station wagon at 3am,…
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Who doesn’t like a baked pasta with crunchy crumbs on top? This dish is so classic, middle America. If you are from the midwest (or have a female relative who grew up there) you will have had some derivative of this mother-of-all-casseroles.

My friend Aimee told me about a recipe she makes…
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Toast the bruschetta ahead of time. Make the mushroom/gorgonzola mixture up to several days in advance and stash in the fridge. A quick schmear then a broil, and you’ve got yourself a righteous party hors d’oeuvre.

10 slices artisanal bread, cut in half all pretty like

2 fat cloves garlic,…
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In keeping with the Middle Eastern Palooza going on in the world during the past half year, I thought it appropriate to cook with some flavors from that region.
This one’s a keeper. The yogurt/olive oil marinade keeps the chicken juicy, the saffron, cumin and garlic give it lashings of flavor,…
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I made this up a few nights ago. I used it as a smear on the bottom of a large plate, then assembled an elaborate tossed salad on top, full of greens, grilled zucchini, steamed asparagus, grilled teriyaki chicken and pistachios. YUM!

But now, I am trying to figure out other uses for the…
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Yesterday, I spent five hours smoking a pig’s shoulder. Hovering over my old Webber grill in our carport, in the 97 degree, breezeless day– this was not such and unusual sight where we live here in the Carolinas.

I love the ritual, the process of smoking meat. Tending the fire, soaking and…
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Doing my monthly, local television gig tomorrow. No, I will not post the video, because I am chubby. I think that excuse can be legitimately used on many occasions, but it is exceptionally appropriate in this case. I was chubby a month ago, then I went to France and ate Camembert cheese,…
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