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Years ago, I created an all-purpose sauce that worked with a variety of dishes. Because it has a base of mayo, mustard and ketchup, it's awesome on burgers and fish...on lobster and crab salads and shrimp cocktail...and just about anything else you can think of. So...I called it Awesomesauce. And though I got tired of…
I'm old school. When a cold seafood tray, filled with oysters, shrimp, clams and lobster arrives at the table, I always choose the cocktail sauce to go with it. Mignonettes are OK, but nothing makes me happier than a cocktail sauce with enough horseradish in it to curl my nose hairs! We slurp down more…
Sometimes the best ideas come from out of nowhere. I had 5 lbs. of beautiful St. Louis-style heritage Berkshire (also known as Kurobuta) pork ribs thawing in the fridge, and I knew I wanted to create a new sauce or glaze with them, but I was feeling less than inspired. Our food-loving friends, Don and…
Corned beef hash is actually a very simple thing to make. The most difficult part is the corned beef, especially if you’re curing it yourself. That process takes about three weeks…a long time to wait for a plate of hash! If you have a package of already prepared corn beef that you bought…
I love fried shrimp. It’s like seafood candy. And I’ve got a really easy method of making it. For me, the secret to great fried shrimp is a light batter. I’m not crazy about the heavy, almost pancake mix-like batter that is used in some restaurants for shrimp or onion rings. As I looked through…
Every year, I still have a lot of green tomatoes on the vine as the summer comes to an end. Fried green tomatoes are the tasty solution to the problem. It's a really simple process of slicing the tomatoes, seasoning them with salt and pepper, dusting them with flour, dipping them in egg, and then…
A great dipping sauce for Chinese dumplings, known as Jao-Tze, needs to be more than just a bowl of soy sauce. Sure, if you're having sushi-grade raw fish, you may want to keep it simple with a gentle dip of high-quality soy sauce to preserve the subtle flavors of the fish, but sometimes you want…
Now's the time to head to your local farm stand and pick up a bag of gorgeous plum tomatoes, before the season is gone! And this is what you do with them... These are not sun-dried tomatoes. They're better, because fresh plum tomatoes are still moist after roasting, with a bit of that magic tomato…
Sometimes the happiest of cooking accidents happen with bacon. My original plan was to make Chinese-style honey ribs for dinner. But instead of pulling a nice rack of ribs out of the freezer, I accidentally took out a slab of pork belly. I only realized my mistake after I thawed it, so I decided to…
Before our daughter was born, my wife and I traveled the world. We got engaged in Paris. We honeymooned in Thailand. We swam with dolphins in Moorea. We rode camels along the Mediterranean in Morocco. So when our daughter was born, many of our friends thought our traveling days would be over. One…
I live just down the road from Fall River, Massachusetts, and New Bedford, Massachusetts, two thriving proud Portuguese communities. In middle school, my daughter had to take mandatory Portuguese language classes. We've got dozens of authentic Portuguese restaurants in the area, and even a well-stocked supermarket with its own bacalhau (salt cod) room: Portugalia Marketplace,…
I recently rediscovered a story I wrote a couple of years ago, after my trip to New Zealand. I had hopes of getting it published somewhere, with no luck. So, what the heck...I'll reprint it here, adding a few photos to help with the story. A Guy Walks Into a (New Zealand) Bar… I recently…
I grill year-round. I'll stand in 3 feet of snow to get smoked ribs just right, if I have to. Through years of tireless experimentation, I've come up with a barbecue sauce that I can be proud of. I prefer a slightly sweet and tangy barbecue sauce, and it works really well with pork or…
What do you do when the hot weather kicks in and the cucumbers start taking over your garden? Make soup! The original cucumber soup recipe comes from Ikies Traditional Houses, a wonderful hotel in the beautiful town of Oia in Santorini, Greece. After a long, hot day of exploring the island, we would settle down to a…
The definition of a consomme is: "a clear soup made with concentrated stock." I might add "mind-blowing" to that sentence, especially with this recipe. The key to success-- and this is crucial--is to use absolutely garden-fresh, in-season ingredients. If you try this with greenhouse or supermarket tomatoes, you're just wasting your time. 4 1/2…
Pork is magical. And though I’ve loved pork chops and store-bought bacon all my life, it’s only been in the last decade that I’ve learned to appreciate other cuts of pork and how they’re prepared. Guanciale is one of those meats, and it's a key ingredient to a classic Italian dish: pasta carbonara. Looking at…
It's interesting that an Eastern European country that is as far north as Newfoundland has one of the most refreshing cold summer soups of any country in Europe. It's a cold beet soup called Šaltibarščiai (pronounced shul-tih barsh-chay) and it's classic Lithuanian cooking at its best. No summer was complete without my Mom's Šaltibarščiai on the table,…
These pancakes are made from fresh ricotta cheese, whether homemade or store-bought. Light as air...and really delicious! I've made a few batches of fresh ricotta cheese in my day, but when my daughter has a craving for pancakes at the last minute, a good-quality store-bought ricotta cheese will do. 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I…
I've got dozens of chicken wing recipes, but even so, sometimes I just want something different. I decided to take my favorite taco seasonings recipe and adapt it to chicken wings. Caramba! One of the tastiest wings I've made in a long time! This is such an easy and delicious recipe to make, even for…
When it's done right, gazpacho is one of the most delicious summer soups you'll ever have. The secret, of course, is using super-fresh veggies. That's why I crave it at the first sign of a vine-ripened tomato in my garden or a local farm stand. When my tomato plants have dozens of ripening fruits on…
Sometimes, a cool adult beverage is just what you need after a long day of yard work. The cucumber plants in my garden have started producing, so it's time to make this refreshing cocktail! 4 fresh cucumbers, peeled and seeded Small ice cubes 1 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves 2 teaspoons granulated organic…
It's not often that my daughter spends extended time at my house, so when I asked her for a food shopping list, and she said she was craving applesauce, I went out and bought a few pounds of organic apples to make my own. Applesauce is so easy to make, I don't know why people…
I don't have the patience to boil Mason jars and lids and all that. But I love me my pickles, especially when this year's garden cranks out so many cucumbers! This is such an easy way to make great pickles, it's almost unbelievable...and no water is needed! The salt extracts just enough moisture to make…
Been away from the blog for a few days... I recently drove up to Maine to pick my daughter up from the Hardy Boat in New Harbor, a ferry that takes you to and from Monhegan Island, about 10 miles offshore. My daughter spent a week there with her mom, and we decided we'd take…
I’m pretty good at keeping the zucchinis in my garden harvested on a regular basis, so they don’t get too big. But once in a while, I miss one, and it gets to be huge. That’s when it’s time to make zucchini bread. I was recently told that zucchinis are green...summer squash is yellow. I use…
The inspiration for this incredibly easy to make cocktail is the famous Capital Grille Stoli Doli. I think I've done it one better with my Velvet Elvis. A Stoli Doli is simply Stoli vodka that has been infused with fresh pineapple. If you sit at the bar at the Capital Grille, you won't be able…
I grill year-round. I'll stand in 3 feet of snow to get smoked ribs just right, if I have to. Through years of tireless experimentation, I've come up with a barbecue sauce that I can be proud of. I prefer a slightly sweet and tangy barbecue sauce, and it works really well with pork or…
Ever since I had char-grilled oysters in New Orleans, I’ve been obsessed. I’ve made them at least once a month since I’ve been back. But the other day, I went to my local seafood store and I saw some beautiful clams, and I thought: Why not try those on the grill? I had some friends…
It's that time of year when friends are coming over, and you want to make one drink you can serve everyone, rather than playing bartender all night. This one hits the spot. There's only one thing better than a freshly made mojito...and that's a pitcher of freshly made mojitos! Organic raspberries and blueberries are in…
Fourth of July weekend means it’s time to do some serious barbecue! When I smoke my brisket low-and-slow in my smoker, I use a coffee steak rub that I developed a couple of years ago. It gives a deep, rich crust to the meat that is just fantastic. Depending on the size of the brisket,…
I find little or no difference between the stove in my kitchen and an outdoor gas grill...so I don't own one. I can make a perfectly delicious steak by searing it in a cast iron pan on the stovetop, then finishing it in a hot oven. So, for me, if the real reason for outdoor…
Back from a trip to Poland and Lithuania with my daughter, where I literally ate my weight in herring. I know a lot of folks aren’t as crazy about herring as I am. But I was raised in a Lithuanian home, and it was everywhere. Growing up on Long Island, outside of New York City,…
I was away on a fantastic trip to Poland and Lithuania with my daughter for a couple of weeks, and I'll be posting some of our food finds soon. Meanwhile, enjoy this summer favorite. If you're trying to think of something new and interesting to bring to the July 4th celebration, this is it. It…
I came up with this crunchy appetizer years ago, when I needed a tasty bite for one of our summer parties. I wanted something fresh that highlighted the veggies of the season, so when I spotted these baby bell peppers in the supermarket, I got the idea. Baby bell peppers 6 ears fresh corn,…
I call this a milk liqueur, because I remember my Mom made it when I was younger, and she called it "pieninis likeris" (milk liqueur) in Lithuanian. But a good friend of mine, knowledgable in all things alcohol, said that it's not much different than a "milk punch," something that was common in New Orleans.…
After making a batch of this for my daughter this week, I got a bunch of requests for the recipe. So here we go! Chicken parmigiana, much like pizza, is a bit more difficult to make than you might think. Sure, there's plenty of crappy chicken parm out there, made with processed frozen chicken cutlets,…
An easy way to marinate beef is to simply throw the meat in a bag and dump some Italian dressing into it. As simple as that sounds, it flavors the meat really nicely. But I've got a problem with anything that comes from a jar and was made in a factory, especially when it's so…
It’s been a few years since I visited New Orleans, and it was great to see that many of the old food destinations were still there: the Napoleon House, Café Dumonde, Acme Oyster House, and across the street from it: Felix‘s Oyster House.My friend, Rick, told me I had to try the char-grilled oysters at…
I've always loved Manhattans and Negronis...two different cocktails, yet similar in certain respects. Both use sweet vermouth. Both have a touch of bitterness: Manhattans will often include a few dashes of angostura bitters, where a Negroni gets its bitterness from Campari. So when I visited Food Network chef Geoffrey Zakarian's The Lambs Club restaurant in…
Butter and cheese. Can anything be better? It’s especially great when asparagus is in season, growing in my garden, like right now. This is a great side dish with any main course like a big slab of meat, and has special meaning to me because my cousin first introduced me to asparagus with this recipe…