Month: July 2022

Peanut butter is a Proustian paste. Virtually no serious discussion about peanut butter can take place without evoking childhood memories, so we might as well get this out of the way: my family bought Skippy. The jar of extra crunchy super chunk, to be specific. This was the brand my mom picked up at Albertsons, without fail or derivation, and when I was old enough to start hanging around other kids’ houses, I was astonished that a whole world of peanut butter existed outside the Michelman family monoculture. Who’s Jif? I don’t know her.  If only eight-year-old me could have tagged along to the grocery store today. Somewhere on the way, perhaps ten years ago, a new paradigm emerged. The nut butter shelf, traditionally jammed with the standard ma...

At Molly’s Rise and Shine, chef Mason Hereford’s New Orleans temple of classic Americana breakfast fare, everything, from the crispy fried chicken on a biscuit to the tamales topped with salsa macha, is served with a heaping side of nostalgia. The walls are loaded with what appears to be the top-shelf treasures of a ’90s toy box: a life-size reproduction of E.T., a cardboard hoverboard from Back to the Future Part II, and a prodigious number of Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads. But perhaps the most potent time capsule is their Grand Slam McMuffin, a delightfully unholy union of the Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast and a McDonald’s Egg McMuffin. It’s a breakfast sausage patty topped with thick-cut griddled onions, melted American cheese, and a fried “McDona...

Cavatelli [cah-vah-TELL-lee] Pasta My daughter gave me a wooden pasta board that can be made for gnocchi or cavatelli pasta. One afternoon we made some fresh pasta and prepared a batch of fresh cavatelli pasta for dinner that night.  We had a blast seeing who could make the perfect cavatelli. Since then, I've had store bought cavatelli and they are fantastic but not as good as preparing them with your daughter. Shape: They are shaped like tiny little hot dog buns but are considered a shell pasta because they are hollow like a sea shell you might find at the beach. I've seen them with and without the corrugated lines as show in the photo above. (these are cavatelli my daughter and I made) I've also seen them short and stubby like above or long and thin. They are easy to mak...

This honey garlic butter chicken recipe takes simple ingredients and turns them into juicy flavorful chicken smothered in addictive buttery sweet and savory sauce. This 15-minute meal is going to be a family favorite and is great for quick weeknight dinners. Today we’re making some honey garlic butter chicken, a variation of the popular reader-favorite honey garlic chicken recipe with a few flavor adjustments. The chicken is lightly coated in flour and pan-fried for a thin crispy crust that will soak up all the butter and honey garlic sauce. It’s smothered in a sweet and savory sauce with lots of garlic and buttery goodness. The best part about this sauce is if you’re not a fan of chicken, you can pair it with other proteins like shrimp, salmon, or tofu. Serve it over some mas...

Chouxnuts Give Crullers a Glazed Glow Up Recently, I was winding down from a day’s work with an episode of The Great British Bake Off—an admittedly funny way to relax after teaching a baking class in my hometown of Seattle. It was pastry week, and the contestants were asked to make something called a “chouxnut,” a hybrid pastry that is essentially a doughnut made from pâte à choux (also called choux pastry). I wached the bakers fill their creations with creams and custards made of passion fruit, yuzu, and caramel, and I suddenly found myself in the kitchen, whipping up a batch for myself. From fry bread to beignets to gulab jamun, people all over the world enjoy dough cooked in hot oil. It’s a...

I’m sitting at a plastic table in front of a strip mall at the edge of Portland. I-5 hums in the distance. There is a Cadillac Escalade parked in front of me with tinted windows and a bar lock over the steering wheel, which seems excessive for 2 p.m. on a Wednesday in June. I’m waiting for the line to die down at Bentoz, one of the hundreds of Korean-owned teriyaki restaurants along the I-5 corridor in the Pacific Northwest.  It has been more than a decade since I’ve been here for chicken teriyaki. I’ve never ordered anything else off the menu. I’m not sure anyone else has, for that matter. I used to come to Bentoz all the time in high school, during our lunch hour. It was nearby, cheap, and I could get a close relative of my dad’s shoyu chicken...

A Quick & Easy Cavatelli Pasta with Fresh Peas and Pancetta This cavatelli pasta recipe was part of a Blue Apron package we received. I've shared several of my favorite dinners coming from this home meal delivery service and continue to use their service to make dinner decisions easier and less shopping. The sides that are part of this recipe include asparagus, lemon and soft boiled eggs. All of the ingredients can be found at your higher end supermarkets but if you can't find some of them, I'll offer some substitutions. What is Cavatelli Pasta? Cavatelli [cah-vah-TELL-lee]   They are a called a shell pasta and if you spend any time at the beach, you may find some shells that have their shape. I have. For the Soprano fans out there, they were called 'gavadeels' [gah...

This chicken enchilada casserole takes all the fun flavors of chicken enchiladas and stacks them into a delicious, hot and cheesy casserole. Today we’re making a cheesy chicken enchilada casserole with layers of corn tortillas, shredded chicken, corn, green chiles and black beans simmered in enchilada sauce for maximum flavor with lots of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese. It’s even easier to put together with store-bought rotisserie chicken that is ready to be shredded. This recipe takes away all the fuss of rolling up individual tortillas and stacks them into neat, deliciously flavorful and cheesy layers for a piping hot Mexican-inspired casserole. Top it with your favorite toppings like avocado, tomatoes, red onions, jalapenos, cilantro, shredded lettuce, green onions, or so...