Category: Side Dishes
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Laughably-Easy Lard (or Bacon Fat) Pastry Crust
The perfect pastry crust eludes most of us…seemingly thousands of infinitely-thin layers that are tender, but shatter in your mouth while still remaining moist and succulent. It usually involves massive amounts of butter cut into the flour at just the right temperature to just the right texture…then a chill in the fridge…then the addition of…
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Homemade Chevre (Fresh Goat Cheese)
The pungent, goat-y chevre you get in the grocery store is an acquired taste. I’ve definitely acquired it. But many people haven’t. Part of the reason it’s so pungent is that it’s old. The longer goat cheese sits, the more pronounced its flavor becomes. This flavor is caused by an enzyme called “lipase” that exists…
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Sous Vide Scotch Eggs
The Scotch Egg was invented in a pub in London, and it was an intriguing, if crude, concept. A hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage, breaded and fried or baked to a crisp. But hard boiled eggs are truly one of the worst inventions of mankind. Yes, they are a convenient and nutritiously dense snack. …
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Bourbon Preserved Figs
If you’re lucky enough to have a fig tree, or a neighbor who has one, you have figs coming out your ears in early summer…and perhaps again in late fall, especially if you live in a Southern state. This fall crop of figs often gets interrupted by early frosts. The figs are still green when…
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How to Make Aged Cheese: “Black and Bleu” Ricotta Salata
I’ve been making cheese at home for about 3 years now, and SO many fans have begged me for instructions on how to make cheese after I’ve posted photos of exquisite homemade cheeses. Cheesemaking is a specific hobby with it’s own set of necessary equipment and supplies. It’s sort of like wine making or beer…
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*NO CANS* Green Bean Casserole
Ah, green bean casserole…that staple of Thanksgiving dinners and church potlucks for decades. So easy that even someone who can’t cook can make it, because all you have to do is open a can of green beans, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and a package of French fried onions and it makes itself. …
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A BETTER way to roast Hatch green chiles
Yesterday I posted this photo of Hatch green chiles flame roasting in my backyard. A number of folks were VERY concerned about the chiles in the center, which are completely black. But those chiles look that way intentionally. Allow me to explain. Some chiles have such a thick skin that they need to be peeled…
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Beurre Blanc (white wine butter sauce)
Beurre blanc is a classic French sauce made with butter, white wine, and shallots. I recently made this sauce at a cooking demonstration to prove how important it is to cook with quality wine, and I promised I’d post the recipe. It’s a very simple sauce to make, and it goes fabulously with fish and…
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Bourbon Fig Jam
You fall into one of two categories of humans. The first: someone who has to pay an outrageous amount of money to purchase figs at the grocery store when they’re in season…sometimes up to a dollar a fig. If you’re not that person, you fall into the other category. Either you or a neighbor has…
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Spicy Pickled Asparagus
I planted my asparagus patch in my garden about 4 years ago, and it has always been productive, but this year…I guess with the mild winter…it has been rabid. I’m pulling about a pound a day out of the garden, harvesting twice a day, and have been for more than a month! If you’ve never…