First, before you ask, I have no clue why I call this Venetian Pasta and Peas. I mean, I know WHY the peas are in the title..I am just not sure where it came from. I think there was a recipe for Venetian Pasta and Peas in a cookbook I bought the year I got married but I can’t remember details.
Anyway. I have been making this for ever. And a day. It is a bog comfort food for me, and at present pasta seems to be one of the few nonliquid foods that will go down my throat.  I literally …read more

O.k. so when it gets to be a muggy 110 degrees and the only breeze at night comes from your husband who snores, you know you are in the South and you need a quick and easy dinner.
Summer is hot here. We don’t use air conditioning, haven’t for the several years we have lived in this house. Frankly, it is too expensive, but I also like the idea of flowing with the seasons..experiencing them rather than manipulating them. I know..I am so weird.
Nothing is worse than cooking a hot meal in a hot kitchen and serving it in a hot …read more

I served this with the spicy mango chutney and it was a big it at the house. Marc is always appreciative of my cooking but doesn’t always comment on it. He gave this recipe a Marine Corps “Out-effing-standing” . I think that is as high in the USMC rating system as anything can get that isn’t directly related to Chesty Puller, or a bulldog.
The chicken comes out very flavorful and tender. The flavors are exotic enough to be impressive but, and here is the best thing of all, you can have it totally finished in 45 minutes. Serve it with …read more

Here it is.  Presto Pasta 108.  You won’t believe the visual feast you are about to experience.  We have gotten some of the most amazing dishes ever.  If you are hungry now? No worries, you will be by the bottom of the page.  Ready?

Lemongrass is not something I use much.  I love Asian food but I have not really played around with the ingredients a whole lot- I guess I am rather in a rut with European and classic styles, with a little Tex-Mex thrown in. It is a comfortable place for me…not much thought goes into the flavor combinations and I am familiar with the techniques.  My family likes it.  What more can you ask?
Umm….variety?  Challenge? Stepping out of the box with flavors?
The last time I shopped I saw lemongrass at the little natural grocer I use and I decided I would …read more

This is my pasta entry for  Presto Pasta Nights…which I remembered this week.  This week’s host is Pam of Sidewalk Shoes.
This week I made a penne with leeks, bacon and smoked gouda, inspired by a recipe in the March issue of Bon Appetit.

I really liked the smokey flavor of the cheese combined with the bacon and leeks.  I used a whole wheat penne which seemed to me to handle the depth of the flavors better than normal pasta would have.  The sauce was smooth and rich and I really liked the way this pulled together.

Penne with Smoked Gouda, Leeks, and …read more

I wish I could call this Calvados Chicken Normandy but I can’t.  I didn’t have any Calvados but I did have a nice bottle of Crown Royal that a customer gave to Marc a couple of years ago.  What can I say? We don’t drink very much.
I wanted to make a cider reduction for this chicken and I thought that the whiskey would give it a nice mellow depth.  I was not disappointed at all, and the Hot Pepper Jelly was a brilliant touch if I do say so myself.

We love corned beef but it can be pretty expensive.  Consider that brisket sells for an average of $1.49  a pound here, and can often be found for 99 cents a pound, and corned beef sells for upwards of 4.99 a pound, making your own corned beef just makes sense.
Just before Christmas brisket went on sale for 99 cents a pound.  I picked up a 12 pound brisket planning on using it for 3 meals.  Two corned beef and one BBQ sandwich meal.  I just started the corned beef today and it will be five days before it is ready …read more

When we had the restaurant one of the sauces that we used as a signature sauce was Fischer and Wieser’s Roasted Raspberry Chipotle.  Our signature dish was a grilled chicken breast served with this sauce and I can tell you, quit honestly, it was incredible.
I had not seen the sauce available in a retail market, although I knew you could buy it online, so when I saw that Tom Thumbs/Safeway had started carrying it I was ecstatic.  And I bought a bottle immediately.

Today is the first day of real autumn in the Dallas area.  Rainy, cool…it feels almost Christmassy…I know, I know….you up north are wondering oif I lost my mind…Christmassy? Yeah.
We don’t have white Christmases…we have WET Christmases..so when it gets cool and rainy I start whistling Jingle Bells…go figure.