Calabrian chicken and chorizo is a one skillet dinner that is absolutely dinner party worthy. Easy and posh at the same time. What’s better than that? The great thing about this recipe is you get crispy skin and you get this crazy delicious sauce. Bits of chorizo floating around. Roasted red peppers. Cherry tomatoes. And the secret weapon. Calabrian chilies. Calabrian chilies are a secret you need to know Don’t know about Calabrian chilies?...
Chaat masala is the spice mix backbone of Indian street food. It’s tangy, salty, tart and a little bit spicy. Just the thing to wake up your tastebuds. It’s great with potatoes. With chickpeas. Chicken bites. I even use it in an aloo chaat chicken curry. Anywhere you need a bit of zing. You can buy chaat masala. They have it at every Indian supermarket I have ever been to. Costs next to nothing....
Chicken karaage is this wonderful Japanese take on fried chicken. It gets a big flavour kick from a quick marinade. And the potato starch makes it super crispy. Tasty stuff. Like the best chicken nugget you ever had. You see on every Japanese menu. Well, maybe every menu outside of Japan. Chicken karaage is an appetizer up there next to gyoza and edamame. Great with drinks. Party food. Technically this recipe is tatsuta-age, not karaage....
Larb is a Laotian or Thai pork salad loaded with big flavours of lime, chili and fresh herbs. Hot. Sour. Spicy. There is lots to love here. It’s is easy to make too. Crazy big tastes that come together in no time flat. Want something to impress? Have no time to cook? Larb to the rescue. Really easy. Really tasty. Larb is meat salad Think about it. A meat salad. I have a hard time reconciling those two words....
Moroccan chicken and chickpeas. That’s a pretty broad description. This version is a warm dish of onion, garlic, spices and peanut butter. The chicken stays crispy and the chickpeas get meltingly delicious. It just works. And it works well. Moroccan chicken and chickpeas is one skillet dish that I’ve been making forever. It’s not particularly authentic, I don’t think. But it’s really good. One of those homey style dishes that hits the spot....
Potato leek soup. So good. So easy. Something wonderful from the simplest of ingredients. Potato leek soup is one of my favourite soups of all time. There is something magic about taking such basic ingredients and creating a dinner party worthy dish. Potatoes. Leeks. Onions. Stock. Cream. Butter. Salt and white pepper. Nothing to it. But put them together. Wow. That’s the magic of cooking. It’s why I do it. No flour....
Steak with chimichurri sauce is a great way to add some zing to your every-day pan-fried or grilled steaks. It’s an Argentinian steak sauce brimming with olive oil, chili, garlic, lemon, parsley and onion flavour. It’s a totally different take on steak sauce. Juicy steak depends on internal temperature This post is more of a rant on the myths that seem to surround cooking steaks than a recipe. Don’t turn your steak more than once or the juices will run out....
The world needs more killer sides for tandoori chicken. I think anyway. And I think this is one of them. Indianish curried potato salad. Flavour loaded potatoes. Hard-boiled eggs. Red onion. Spice. All wrapped up in a creamy mayo yoghurt dressing. Who doesn’t like a good potato salad? With grilled chicken? It’s a natural. Classic backyard BBQ menu. Real comfort food. But when it’s tandoori chicken? The potato salad needs to step up....
There’s a super popular article in the NY times by Mark Bittman about Jim Lahey’s no-knead bread. I looked at it, saw the pictures and thought I’d give it a try. The beauty of this recipe is it teaches the benefit of longer fermentation. This no-knead bread takes about 24 hours to make. Time is a wonderful thing when making bread. Complexity happens. Depth of flavour results. The NY times recipe, as written, is a bit vague....
Penne with sun-dried tomato cream sauce is fast enough for a weeknight dinner but fancy enough for a special dinner for two. It’s rich and creamy and loaded with flavour. You can even make it a vegetarian dish by just leaving out the chicken. This is the type of pasta you get in a restaurant. It’s all about taste. It’s unapologetic. There’s no consideration whatsoever given to anything but taste in fact....
Crispy pork carnitas make some of the best tacos around. Little bits of pork wrapped in a soft corn tortilla. That is just good living. I’m so obsessed with pork carnitas. Tacos in general I suppose. I can’t do it like they do in Mexico. Giant pots of carnitas simmering pork lard is a bit over the top for my kitchen. Sad but true. Oven baked pork carnitas This is a scaled down version....
Korean pork ribs with gochujang glaze. Perfect for when you need a rib fix. Sticky. Spicy. Salty. Sweet. Just really tasty in a messy sort of way. Lip smacking finger food. Pork back ribs with sauce. Who doesn’t love that. This is just that. Sticky delicious ribs. Coated with sauce. Except this isn’t Bull’s Eye. Not your run of the mill sauce. Can’t buy this sauce in the grocery store. No cheating here....
Montreal smoked meat is Canada’s answer to the pastrami sandwich. It’s a seriously great sandwich. I love sandwiches. Seriously. It’s a bit of a sickness. And my absolute favourite? The Montreal smoked meat sandwich. Luscious smoked beef piled high on rye bread and slathered with ballpark yellow mustard. Kosher dill on the side. Maybe a Cott’s cherry coke. Sandwich nirvana. Montreal smoked meat is bullet proof BBQ brisket My second favourite thing to do with a brisket is to smoke it Texas style....
Papadum are those wonderful crispy Indian appetizers they serve up at Indian restaurants to start the meal. Try them with red onion chutney and mint raita for your next Indian dinner party. If you’ve never had papadum think corn chips, Indian style. Except instead of corn masa they are made with lentil flour. Seasoned with black pepper or cumin seed. Crunchy. Tasty. Fun. People say papadum are a flat bread. I don’t see it....
Shahi chicken korma is a rich and flavourful curry. It’s a dish invented for nobility. Spice, coconut, almond, cream and a hint of sugar come together in a sumptuous curry worthy of any celebration. Chicken korma can be a great dish. If it’s done right. This is a dish that has been around forever. Traces back to the 16th century. Legend says it was served at the inauguration of the Taj Mahal....
Thai nam jim or Thai dipping sauce is crazy flavourful and dead easy. Garlic, shallots, lime juice and hot chilies. It’s a Thai wonder sauce. Thai dipping sauce is great on just about everything. Maybe not ice cream but other than that. It’s called nam jim. That’s actually just another way of saying Thai dipping sauce so that’s not particularly useful information. The flavours are wonderful though. Salty, sweet, spicy and sour....
Chicken masala curry. Ready in 30 minutes. Deep flavours. Straightforward ingredients. And a crazy tasty Indian restaurant gravy. This is what would happen if the chef at your local Indian restaurant was craving comfort food. Chef’s special chicken. It’s probably already on the menu. It’s actually what happens when I crave comfort food. Tomatoes, onion, garlic, ginger, green chilis and spice all wrapped up in a lush sauce. Curry in a hurry....
Hariyali chicken curry is a green curry with big mint, coriander and green chili flavours. It’s not your run of the mill Indian restaurant curry. It’s different. For when you want to mix things up. You don’t see hariyali chicken curry on many restaurant menus. That’s too bad really. So many Indian restaurants are stuck on the same formula. 15 dishes. Done over and over. Time to grow a bit. Time to step it up....
Karahi chicken curry done restaurant style. All the great tastes of classic karahi chicken with that thick, rich gravy you only get in restaurants. This is a Northern Indian street food classic adapted to restaurant style cooking. Like you would get in a restaurant. Not like you usually make at home. I like chicken karahi done homestyle. It’s a relatively simple curry but it has great balance. And it’s a bit different....
Momofuku pork belly is so good a restaurant empire was built on it. Melting tender and deeply flavoured. And this is how they do it. For real. I asked. At the restaurant. I’ve seen a bunch of Momofuku pork belly recipes on the net. I’ve looked at the book. And I’m telling you it’s all wrong. All the recipes are the same. Cure it up to 24 hours. Blast it at 450 for an hour....
