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You'll find over 470 of my favorite recipes here, including ideas for Quick meals, Cooking for 2, Feasting on Leftovers, and cooking with 5 Ingredients or Less. I'm adding new posts regularly; you can subscribe by email or RSS feed if you'd like to receive the latest recipes. Bon appétit!
Rosemary Gin Fizz
We celebrated Laura’s birthday yesterday and we started with a festive cocktail that she suggested. She had seen the recipe for a Rosemary Gin Fizz on a blog called Cookie + Kate and I had to admit it looked pretty good.
We’re lucky to have a giant rosemary bush in our yard, so we have rosemary available in abundance year-round. It’s blooming right now, so a blooming sprig made a pretty garnish.
The Cookie + Kate recipe called for using the juice of one small lemon. I had large lemons, so I used the juice of half of a lemon and that proved to be just right.
This Rosemary Gin Fizz is simple to make and a very refreshing cocktail for spring and summer entertaining!
(Photo courtesy of Laura)
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Rosemary Gin Fizz
(Adapted, barely, from the recipe on the Cookie + Kate blog)
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Serves 1
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1 two-inch sprig of fresh rosemary
Juice of ½ large lemon
½ teaspoon honey
1½ ounces gin
3 ounces club soda
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Optional garnishes:
1 additional sprig of rosemary
Thin slice lemon (from the other half) for garnish
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1. Put one sprig of rosemary, the lemon juice, and honey in a double old-fashioned glass and muddle it. (Muddle = smash it around a bit. I used a wooden spoon.)
2. Pour in the gin and club soda, and add ice cubes.
3. If desired, garnish with another sprig of rosemary and a thin lemon slice.
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Cheers!
(Photo by Laura 🙂 )
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Steak Salad with Snap Peas
Searching for a quick, yet delicious, idea for last night’s dinner, I came across Martha Stewart’s Steak Salad with Snap Peas. Now, steak salad is something that we eat fairly often, but I’ve never used a recipe for it. I just make a big salad, dress it, and add slices of grilled steak.
Martha adds steamed snap peas to her salad, which I thought was a great idea. You could also cut them in half and use them raw, as I have often done. Use whatever greens or vegetables you have; this is not a recipe that needs to be followed exactly. Aim to include colorful veggies for the best presentation.
I usually get a top loin or rib eye steak to grill, but yesterday I chose a less expensive sirloin tip steak and decided to pan fry it. It was great!
Steak Salad with Snap Peas is a good idea to keep in mind for those hot summer days ahead when great summer vegetables are plentiful and you don’t want to heat up the kitchen.
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Steak Salad with Snap Peas
(Adapted from a recipe by Martha Stewart, Everyday Food, May 2009)
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Serves 2
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4 ounces sugar snap peas
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
1½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 peeled garlic clove
3 cups arugula
4 radishes, trimmed and quartered
1 carrot, sliced with a peeler
½ of a red pepper, cut into bite-sized pieces
½ pound sirloin tip steak, about ¾-inch thick, trimmed if necessary (I like to trim any silvery membrane off)
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1. Bring some water to a boil. Place a steamer basket with the sugar snap peas over the boiling water. Cover, and steam for 3 minutes. Rinse, set them aside to drain while you prepare the rest of the salad.
2. Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, and mustard together. Press the garlic clove into the dressing and whisk to blend.
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3. Put the arugula, radishes, carrot, and red pepper in a large bowl.
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4. Heat a skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until it is hot.
5. Generously sprinkle salt into the skillet. Pat the steak dry with a paper towel and add it to the skillet.
6. Cook the steak for 4 minutes.
7. Turn the steak, and cook for another 3 minutes. (This gave us rare steak, just the way we like it. Cook a bit longer for medium-rare or medium.)
8. Remove the steak to a cutting board and tent with foil. Let it rest for 5 – 10 minutes.
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9. While the steak is resting, toss the salad well with about ½ of the dressing. Divide the salad between two plates.
10. Pat the sugar snap peas dry with paper towels and add them to the salads.
11. Slice the steak against the grain, and add it to the salad. Drizzle the salads with the remaining dressing and serve.
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Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes
We had Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes along with Laura’s gorgeous Carrot Cake Cupcakes for dessert on Easter Sunday. Cupcakes proved to be just the right-sized treat following the big ham dinner.
I adapted the Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes from a recipe in Elana Amsterdam’s Gluten-Free Cupcakes. I have to admit that I was very skeptical about how they would turn out, but they were actually excellent.
Elana writes that cupcakes made with coconut flour cannot be stored at room temperature for more than 10 – 14 hours or they will turn “hard as rocks”. She suggests putting them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I just kept the leftover cupcakes in my cake keeper on the table. Bob ate the last one 3 days later and said it was fine. I think the airtight container is the key.
This is the first time I have ever used coconut flour. It apparently soaks up all the liquids in a recipe, so her coconut flour recipes are developed using more liquids. For this reason, I would not recommend substituting all-purpose flour for the coconut flour unless you want to experiment with it.
Elana uses agave syrup to sweeten the cupcakes. I’m not a big fan of agave, so I substituted honey and it worked perfectly. Again, I don’t know if sugar would be a good substitute. I suspect that a liquid sweetener is necessary with the coconut flour.
I was so impressed with Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes! They really had a great cakey texture; I expected them to be a little weird. I liked them so much that I bought Elana’s book. If you need gluten-free recipes, I think you’ll be very please with these cupcakes and Elana’s book.
(You may want to visit Elana’s blog (Elana’s Pantry) for more great-looking gluten-free recipes!)
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Laura’s gorgeous Carrot Cake Cupcakes and the Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes (with Asparagus and Mustard Sauce below)
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Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes
(Adapted from Elana Amsterdam’s recipe in Gluten-Free Cupcakes)
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Makes 9 cupcakes
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½ cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
4 large eggs
1/3 cup light olive oil
½ cup honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
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1. Preheat the oven to 350˚. Put 9 cupcake papers in a muffin tin.
2. Stir the coconut flour, salt, and baking soda together in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl.
3. Whip the eggs, oil, honey, and vanilla extract together in another bowl until well blended.
4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix in the stand mixer, or with a handheld mixer, until thoroughly combined.
5. Put ¼ cup batter into each of the 9 prepared muffin cups.
6. Bake for 18 – 22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with just a few crumbs on it. (Mine took about 21 minutes.)
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7. Let them cool in the pan for 1 hour, and then frost with your favorite frosting. (I used a Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting. See below.)
8. If storing them for any length of time, put them in an airtight container.
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Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
(Adapted from Elana’s Orange Cream Cheese Frosting in Gluten-Free Cupcakes)
Elana has recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting, but I chose to use base my frosting on her Orange Cream Cheese Frosting because it had butter in it as well as cream cheese. I thought it might be more like a traditional buttercream frosting. Everyone seemed to like how it turned out.
This makes a lot of frosting. You’ll probably have more than you need.
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 ounces butter (1/2 stick), at room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon vanilla
Dash of salt
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Cream all of the ingredients together. Taste, and add more honey, if you would like it a bit sweeter.
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Asparagus in Mustard Sauce
I quadrupled Jacques Pepin’s Asparagus in Mustard Sauce for Easter dinner, and it was a huge hit – especially the Mustard Sauce!
The Mustard Sauce was placed next to the asparagus in the serving line so people could add as much as they wanted. Sarah sat down at the table and said that she had added the sauce to the ham, too. After hearing her rave about it on the ham, the sauce was brought to the dining room table and passed around so we all could add it to our ham. It was truly incredible!
The Mustard Sauce was the surprise hit of the dinner. How could something so simple be so good? (To me, it’s the genius of Chef Jacques Pepin.) Everyone started thinking about ways it could be used…on lamb…on grilled fish… I admitted that I had used a bit as a salad dressing the night before.
The recipe is from Pepin’s Essential Pepin. On the cover, he says it has “More than 700 All-time Favorites from My Life in Food”. I love his style and look forward to trying a lot more of his favorites. There are no photos in the book, but it is full of charming illustrations done by Jacques. If you’re interested in classic recipes that just work, I highly recommend this book!
Jacques Pepin says that Asparagus in Mustard Sauce is a classic dish in French bistros and restaurants. I think the Mustard Sauce is going to become a classic in my kitchen!
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Asparagus in Mustard Sauce
(Adapted from Jacques Pepin’s recipe in Essential Pepin)
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Jacques uses canola oil; I substituted light olive oil, which worked fine. You don’t want to use a flavorful olive oil here. He used white wine vinegar; I used white balsamic vinegar.
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Serves 4
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1¼ pounds asparagus
3/4 cup boiling water
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Mustard Sauce
2 tablespoons Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons light olive oil (or canola oil)
2 tablespoons walnut oil
2 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
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1. Wash the asparagus and break off the ends.
2. Put the asparagus in a large pan. Pour the boiling water over it. Cover and turn the heat on high. When it comes to a boil, boil for about 3 minutes.
3. Put the cooked asparagus in a strainer, and let it dry and cool in the strainer.
4. When ready to serve, put the asparagus on a platter. Serve the Mustard Sauce on the side, or drizzle it over the asparagus on the platter. Serve at room temperature.
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Sauce:
I put everything in my Blender Ball and gave it a few shakes and it was ready. If you don’t have a Blender Ball, put everything in a bowl and whisk it together. It doesn’t matter if it is not fully emulsified.
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Mustard Sauce in the Blender Ball
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Oven Fries
For many years we have enjoyed Oven Fried Potatoes. They’re easy to make and are great with grilled or roasted meats.
As much as we like the Oven Fried Potatoes, I wanted to make Oven Fries that were more like traditional French Fries. I remembered the recipe for Skinny “French Fries” in an old cookbook I have, The New American Diet. I made a few minor changes and was quite pleased with the results.
The Oven Fries turned out much better than I expected! They truly are very much like “real” French fries! I made a very small batch and gave most of them to Bob. I won’t be making that mistake again!
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Oven Fries
(Adapted from a recipe in The New American Diet, by Drs. Sonja and William Connor)
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Serves 1
(Just use more potatoes for more servings. No need to add more oil; 1 tablespoon is plenty.)
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1 small Russet potato (about 6 ounces), peeled and cut into thin French fries
1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
1 tablespoon oil
1. Preheat the oven to 425˚.
2. Put the potatoes in a bowl. Cover with water and stir in the teaspoon of salt. Let them soak for about 15 minutes.
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3. Drain the potatoes and dry them with paper towels. You want to remove as much of the water as you can.
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4. Spread the oil on a rimmed baking sheet.
5. Put the potatoes on the baking sheet and toss them a bit with your hands to cover them with some of the oil.
6. Roast for about 30 minutes.
7. With a spatula, gently turn the potatoes over. Roast for an additional 10 minutes or so, until they are done they way you like them.
8. Sprinkle with salt to taste and serve!
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The Easiest Roast Chicken!
This is it! This is the easiest Roast Chicken ever! Leave it to Mark Bittman to make it simple and tasty!
I wouldn’t have thought that I needed another Mark Bittman cookbook, but I couldn’t resist buying his hot-off-the-presses How to Cook Everything the Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food – With 1,000 Photos. Even though I already know my way around the kitchen, this book has a lot of appeal for me. The photos are gorgeous and really make me want to try the recipes. And, no doubt, I’ll learn a thing or two, like this easy method for roasting chicken!
Don’t expect to find recipes for how to cook everything in this new book. He wrote How to Cook Everything for that, and it’s one of my favorite cookbooks. How to Cook Everything the Basics’ focus is on the techniques that are needed to cook everything. Mark gives simple instructions for each technique and the beautiful photos clearly illustrate the lessons. The recipes demonstrate how to use the techniques.
So I decided to try his Roast Chicken. Could it really be this simple to make the perfect roast chicken? Yes! There’s no basting, turning the bird, or temperature changes involved. And yet, my chicken had crisp skin, perfectly cooked dark meat and breast meat that was not overcooked.
According to Mark, the secret is the hot pan. Putting the chicken breast-side up in a sizzling hot pan enables the dark meat to cook more quickly, so the whole chicken is evenly cooked.
This is a terrific method for Roast Chicken! I’m looking forward to learning another thing or two from my new How to Cook Everything the Basics cookbook!
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Roast Chicken
(Adapted from the recipe in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything the Basics)
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Serves 4
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1 whole chicken (3 to 4 pounds)
2 – 3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
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1. Preheat the oven to 400˚ with the oven rack placed in the lower third of the oven.
2. When the oven has reached 400 ˚, put a 12-inch cast iron (or other heavy oven-proof) skillet in the oven to heat for 10 – 15 minutes.
3. While the pan heats, wipe the chicken dry with paper towels. Rub the oil all over the outside of the chicken and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
4. When the pan is heated, carefully put the chicken in the pan, breast-side up.
5. Roast for 45 – 60 minutes. (45 for a 3 pound chicken to 60 for a 4 pound chicken)
6. Check the chicken. When done, the thickest part of the thigh should register 165˚. Alternatively, tilt the chicken and the juices running from the inside should be clear, not red or pink.
7. If it’s not quite done (my 4.35 pound chicken was not quite done after an hour) put it back in the oven and check again in 5 or 10 minutes. (Mine was done after an additional 10 minutes.)
8. Remove the chicken from the pan to a cutting board or plate. Let it rest at least 5 minutes.
9. If you want to serve the chicken with the pan juices, pour the juices into a glass measuring cup. Let them sit for a few minutes to allow the fat to rise to the top.
10. Spoon some of the excess fat from the top of the juices.
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11. Cut the chicken into serving pieces and serve with the pan juices.
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Pan Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms, Onions, and Rosemary
What’s for dinner? That’s what I asked myself last night. I wanted to use the chicken thighs and sliced mushrooms that were in the refrigerator. I did a quick search on Kalyn’s Kitchen and found her Pan Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms, Onions, and Rosemary. Perfect!
Kalyn adapted her recipe from one in Eat This Book: Cooking with Global Fresh Flavors, by Tyler Florence. She says Tyler made a pan sauce after the chicken was done, but she chose not to do that. I added just a bit of water to the pan after removing the cooked chicken to make a simple sauce. The original recipe serves 4; I cut it in half for a “dinner for 2”.
If you have a cast iron skillet you can go right from the stove-top to the oven with it. If you don’t have an oven-proof skillet, you’ll have to put everything in a casserole after the initial browning.
Pan Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms, Onions, and Rosemary has a lot of flavor and is an easy weeknight meal. Next time I might add some garlic cloves just because I think garlic would make it even better!
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Update September 23, 2013: I made this again last night with one small difference. I used half and half instead of water for the pan sauce. No surprise….it was even better. 😉
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Pan Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms, Onions, and Rosemary
(Adapted from a Tyler Florence recipe on the Kalyn’s Kitchen blog)
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Serves 2 (double the ingredients to serve 4)
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4 chicken thighs
Salt and Pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup red onion, chopped into 1-inch pieces
4 oz. sliced mushrooms
5 sprigs fresh rosemary
¼ cup water or half and half (optional for sauce)
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1. Preheat the oven to 350˚.
2. Generously season the chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper.
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3. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the oil.
4. When the oil is hot, add the chicken thighs, skin-side down. Let them brown for about 10 minutes.
5. Turn the thighs over and brown for another 5 minutes.
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6. Remove the thighs from the pan. (Put them in a casserole, if your pan is not oven-proof.)
7. Add the onion and mushrooms to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
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8. Add the rosemary sprigs.
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9. Put the chicken back in the pan. (Or put the mushroom mixture in the casserole with the chicken.)
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10. Roast for 40 minutes or until done.
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11. Remove and discard the rosemary sprigs; take the chicken and vegetables out of the pan.
12. If you have roasted the chicken in a skillet, you can make a quick pan sauce. Tip the pan to spoon out some of the excess fat. Then add the ¼ cup of water to the pan. Cook, stirring, for 2 or 3 minutes. Serve the chicken with the sauce.
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Chickpea Salad with Ginger
Chickpea Salad with Ginger has an Indian flavor, and I recently served it as a side dish to go with Vij’s Family’s Chicken Curry.
I adapted the recipe from one by Mark Bittman in his The Best Recipes in the World. He did not add any oil to the salad, which certainly would make it healthy. I chose to add 1 tablespoon of light (light flavor, not fewer calories) olive oil and I omitted the tablespoon of sugar that he used. I think the oil helps to carry the flavors. Next time, I might use 2 tablespoons of oil, which is really not that much for 4 to 5 servings.
Served on a bed of arugula, I found Chickpea Salad with Ginger to be a refreshing and colorful salad to serve with a rich Indian main dish.
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Chickpea Salad with Ginger
(Adapted from a recipe in The Best Recipes in the World, by Mark Bittman)
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Serves 4 – 5
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3 cups cooked chickpeas (I cooked a pound, but you could use 2 cans of rinsed and drained chickpeas)
2 bell peppers, red, yellow, or orange, stemmed, seeded and diced
½ cup chopped red onion
One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon ground cumin, lightly toasted in a dry pan until fragrant (takes 30 – 60 seconds)
1 – 2 tablespoons light olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped cilantro for garnish
Arugula for serving (Optional)
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1. Toss the chickpeas, peppers, onion, ginger, cumin, oil, and lemon juice together in a large bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. To serve, put a handful of arugula on each salad plate. Top with the chickpea salad and garnish with the cilantro.
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Maple-Roasted Apples with Candied Nuts
Maple-Roasted Apples with Candied Nuts is a very satisfying sweet treat, but it is much lighter than many desserts. The recipe is adapted from one in Molly Stevens’ wonderful cookbook, All About Roasting: A New Approach to a Classic Art.
I love the fact that the recipe can be made ahead of time for easy entertaining. After briefly reheating the apples in the oven, it is ready to serve.
Molly suggested serving the apples with ice cream, which would be delicious. I decided to lightly sweeten some crème fraiche to drizzle on top. It worked for me!
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Maple-Roasted Apples with Candied Nuts
(Adapted from a recipe in Molly Stevens’ All About Roasting)
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Molly uses ground nutmeg. I used nutmeg the first time I made it. The second time I tried cinnamon instead, and I think I prefer that. Use whichever spice appeals to you.
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Serves 4 – 5
Be sure to line your baking sheets with aluminum foil to keep the apples and nuts from sticking. You’ll be glad you did.
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4 large apples (I used organic Braeburn apples)
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon maple syrup
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg (or ¼ – ½ teaspoon cinnamon)
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of salt
¾ cup nuts (I used pecans)
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For serving:
Vanilla ice cream or crème fraiche, sweetened or plain
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1. Preheat the oven to 400˚. Arrange the oven racks so that one is in the lower third of the oven and the other is in the upper third of the oven.
2. Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil. (One large baking sheet for the apples and one smaller one for the nuts works well.)
3. Cut the apples into small chunks. (With organic apples, I like to leave the peel on; if you prefer, you can peel them.)
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4. Toss the apples with ¼ cup of the maple syrup, 3 tablespoons of the melted butter, ground ginger, and salt.
Melted butter, maple syrup, ground ginger, and a nutmeg. 
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5. Grate the nutmeg over the apples, and toss again. (Or toss in the cinnamon.)
6. Spread the apples out on the large prepared baking sheet.
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7. Roast the apples on the lower oven rack for about 15 minutes. Stir them and roast for another 10 minutes. Stir again and continue to roast until the apples are looking a bit caramelized. Total roasting time will be about 35 – 40 minutes.
The apples are done. And the blackened mess is on the foil, not on my pan!
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8. While the apples are roasting, toss the nuts with the remaining tablespoon of maple syrup, the tablespoon of melted butter, and a pinch of salt on the smaller baking sheet.
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9. Roast the nuts on the upper oven rack for about 10 minutes, stirring a time or two during the roasting time. Let the nuts cool.
10. If making the dessert ahead, put the cooked apples in an oven-proof dish so they can be reheated later.
A pie plate works great for reheating the apples later.
11. When ready to serve, heat the apples for about 10 minutes in a preheated 350˚ oven.
12. Serve the apples topped with some of the nuts and some ice cream or crème fraiche.
(I whisked ¼ teaspoon of vanilla and about 1 teaspoon maple syrup into ½ cup crème fraiche to drizzle on top.)
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Roasted Asparagus Bundles Wrapped in Bacon
Roasted Asparagus Bundles Wrapped in Bacon is from my latest favorite cookbook, All About Roasting by Molly Stevens. The book was just released in November. I already loved Molly’s All About Braising, so when I saw all of the 5-star reviews for her new book I knew I had to make room on my bookshelf for it!
I first made the Steakhouse-Style Sear-Roasted Strip Steak, and it was amazingly good. It did create a lot of smoke, though, and I failed to turn my vent on soon enough, so the smoke alarm went off. I will be making it again sometime, though, and I may take pictures next time.
Last night I tried the Roasted Asparagus Bundles Wrapped in Bacon. Molly gives full credit for the idea to her friend, Randall Price, who is an American living and cooking in France. I cut the recipe in half to serve 2, and it was a perfect side dish with chicken. So simple! So good!
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Roasted Asparagus Bundles Wrapped in Bacon
(Adapted, barely, from Molly Steven’s recipe in All About Roasting)
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Serves 2 (multiplies easily for more servings)
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½ pound asparagus
2 slices thin bacon
Freshly ground black pepper
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1. Preheat the oven to 425˚ with the oven rack in the center of the oven.
2. Make 2 bundles of asparagus and wrap each one with a strip of bacon.
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3. Place the bundles on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, if desired. Generously grind some black pepper over the bundles.
4. Roast for about 12 minutes, and then turn the bundles over. (Easily done with tongs.)
5. Roast for about 12 minutes more, until the bacon looks done, and enjoy!
In the kitchen with Kath 