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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!
Cornish Game Hens with Garlic and Rosemary
By Kath Dedon
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Garlic and rosemary! A recipe that showcases garlic and rosemary always gets my attention. I came across this one at epicurious.com; it was originally published in the February 1996 issue of Bon Appétit.
One thing I like about epicurious is the fact that you can read reviews of the recipes. They often have good suggestions for improving the recipes. Many of the reviews for Cornish Game Hens with Garlic and Rosemary commented on the deliciousness of the sauce; they recommended doubling the sauce ingredients. That’s exactly what I did and it was perfect!
The most tedious part of this recipe is peeling the garlic, but that task is much easier with an inexpensive garlic peeler. It’s one of the most-used gadgets in my kitchen.
Most Cornish game hen recipes allow 1 whole game hen per serving; I find that a 1½ pound game hen serves 2.
A good French bread is great with the game hen and sauce!
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Cornish Game Hens with Garlic and Rosemary
(Adapted from a Bon Appétit recipe on epicurious.com)
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Serves 4
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2 (1½ pounds each) Cornish game hens
1 small lemon (called “baby lemons” in my stores), quartered
2 large fresh rosemary sprigs
3 tablespoons olive oil
29 cloves garlic, peeled (about 1½ heads of garlic)
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup chicken broth (Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base is handy for a small amount of broth)
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Preheat the oven to 450˚.
Rinse the game hens and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle salt in the cavities; put half of the lemon in each along with a sprig of rosemary. Put 2 cloves of garlic in each hen. Use 1 tablespoon of olive oil to rub all over the game hens. Tie the drumsticks together with kitchen twine. Salt and pepper the outside of the game hens.
Put the game hens in a roasting pan and surround with the garlic. (I used my 12-inch cast iron skillet which worked perfectly!)
Roast the game hens for 25 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350˚. Pour the wine, chicken broth and remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the hens. Roast for an additional 25 minutes, basting with the sauce a couple of times during this time.
Remove hens to a cutting board or platter and cover with foil.
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If you’ve used a roasting pan, pour the juices and garlic into a saucepan. If you’ve used a cast iron skillet, you can continue with the sauce right in the pan.
Boil the juices until they reduce a bit and become a nice sauce. This will take just a few minutes.
Cut the hens in half lengthwise and serve with the sauce and garlic.
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Oven-roasted Prime Rib Bones
By Kath Dedon
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There are lots of recipes for short ribs in cookbooks and floating around on the Internet, but there aren’t so many for a rack of prime rib bones. This is the big “cavemen” rack of beef bones that you see in the grocery store. This is the prime rib roast without the roast. I always wondered what to do with it until I came across this recipe years ago in Sunset’s Quick Meals with Fresh Foods.
This is a very easy recipe that can be made quickly. The meat roasts in a 425˚ oven; you could easily put some vegetables or Oven Fried Potatoes in the oven to roast at the same time.
Because the rack is more bone than meat, you need to allow about 1 pound per person.
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Oven-roasted Prime Rib Bones
(Adapted from Sunset’s Quick Meals with Fresh Foods)
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Serves 3 – 4
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A 3½ – 4 pound rack of prime rib bones
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
¼ cup oil
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
½ teaspoon thyme
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon pepper
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Preheat the oven to 425˚.
Trim excess fat from the meat and put it in a roasting pan or broiling pan.
Stir the mustard and vinegar together. Whisk the mixture vigorously while slowly adding the oil. Add the remaining ingredients to combine.
Put about 2/3 of the mustard mixture all over the ribs.
Roast the ribs for 10 minutes, meaty side up. Turn the ribs over and baste with some of the remaining mustard sauce. Roast for 15 minutes. Turn the ribs over and baste again. Roast for 10 more minutes.
Cut the rack into individual ribs and serve.
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Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs and Deviled Egg Salad Sandwiches
Edit 12/29/16: If you have come to this page for Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs, you might want to take a look at my new way to make Perfect Hard Cooked Eggs that peel easily every time. Click here to check it out! 🙂
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With Easter right around the corner, it’s time to think about hard boiled eggs.
You would think that a recipe for hard boiled eggs would be unnecessary, but it’s good to know a few tricks to get perfect hard boiled eggs. You want them to be done, without being overdone with “rubbery” egg whites. And you don’t want that dreaded green ring around the yolk. There are certainly other techniques that work, but I get consistent results with this one.
This is a simplified version of Julia Child’s recipe for hard boiled eggs in The Way to Cook. (She gives credit to the Georgia Egg Board.) Her method involves putting the cooked eggs in ice water, then putting them back in boiling water again for 10 seconds, and then back in the ice water for 15 – 20 minutes. That’s just too many steps for me.
I have found that you can get good results without the 10 second boil and the second ice bath.
I boiled 3 perfect hard boiled eggs today and made Deviled Egg Salad Sandwiches.
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Update June 14, 2010:
Last weekend Laura called to ask me about cooking hard boiled eggs. Off the top of my head, I told her this method, but I said to leave them in the pot for 10 minutes instead of 17 minutes. Were her eggs undercooked? No…they were perfect!
How could we both get perfect eggs when the timing was so different? Perhaps the eggs are fully cooked in 10 minutes; after 10 minutes the water is cooler so they do not continue to cook much in the next 7 minutes. That’s my theory, anyway, and I’m sticking with it!
The current (May/June 2010) issue of Cook’s Illustrated has a short article confirming that, after 11 years, they still like this method of cooking eggs. Their timing? 10 minutes in the pot and then a 5 minute ice bath.
So there you have it. We can cook hard boiled eggs faster than I thought we could! 🙂
Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
(Originally adapted from Julia Child’s recipe in The Way to Cook. Updated version – June 14, 2010 – adapted from method described in the May/June 2010 issue of Cook’s Illustrated)
3 large eggs (the timing may not be quite right for extra large or jumbo eggs)
Prick the large end of the eggs with a pin. Allow it to go about ¼ inch into each egg. (This allows the air to escape from the eggs as they heat up; it helps to keep the shell from cracking as the eggs cook.) This step seems unnecessary.
Put the eggs in a pot that is tall enough so they are covered with an inch of cold water. (You can cook up to a dozen eggs using this method, but the pot needs to be large enough to hold them in one layer.)
Put the pot on the stove over high heat. As soon as it comes to a boil, remove the pot from the heat, cover and set the timer for 17 minutes 10 minutes.
When the 17 minutes 10 minutes is almost up, prepare the ice bath. Fill a large bowl or another pot with cold water and lots of ice cubes. The water should feel very icy to touch.
When the eggs are done, immediately remove them from the boiling water and immerse them in the ice bath. (A large slotted spoon or skimmer works well.) Let them sit in the ice bath for 5 minutes.
Crack each egg on the countertop and then roll it gently to break up the shell. Peel the eggs. They’re ready to use immediately.
(Julia Child suggests you can store them in ice water, uncovered, in the refrigerator for 2 – 3 days. You can also leave them in the shells and store in the refrigerator for up to a week, but they may not peel as well.)
Deviled Egg Salad Sandwiches
Serves 2
3 hard boiled eggs, peeled
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
About 4 dashes of Tabasco sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Slice onion (optional)
4 slices bread (whole wheat or sourdough are good)
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Toast 4 slices of bread.
Chop the eggs in a bowl. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, Tabasco, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.
If desired, top two slices of bread with sliced onions.
Spread the egg salad on top of the onions.
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Penne with Roasted Grape Tomatoes and Fresh Basil
By Kath Dedon
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This is another winner from Diane Rossen Worthington’s Seriously Simple. She adapted it from a recipe from food writer Nancy Harmon Jenkins. I scaled it down for 2 – 3 servings and decided it needs more tomatoes. So my recipe reflects that change.
It’s important to use the best ingredients for such a simple recipe. Everything counts. I bought an A La Francaise baguette for the bread crumbs. The rest of the loaf was a great accompaniment for the pasta.
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Penne with Roasted Grape Tomatoes and Fresh Basil
(Adapted from a recipe in Seriously Simple, by Diane Rossen Worthington)
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Serves 2 – 3 (double to serve 4 – 6)
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1 pound grape tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 oz. penne
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
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Preheat the oven to 400˚.
Cut the tomatoes in half and put in a baking dish.
Combine the garlic, bread crumbs, and Parmesan cheese in a bowl. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and stir.
Spoon the bread crumb mixture over the tomatoes and drizzle the olive oil over everything.
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Roast for 30 – 35 minutes.
About 10 minutes before the tomatoes are done, cook the penne in a large pot of salted boiling water. Drain and add the pasta and basil to the tomatoes in the baking dish. Stir and serve.
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Spring-time Roast Turkey Breast
By Kath Dedon
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Turkey breasts are easy to roast. You get a great meal the first night, and you’ll have leftover roast turkey for future dinners and/or sandwiches.
According to the wrapper on the turkey, my seven pound turkey breast would take 2½ – 3 hours at 325˚. With the time it takes to get the turkey ready to go into the oven, I allowed about 3½ hours.
I skipped most of the usual holiday side dishes, but I did make mashed potatoes. (I think they were Bob’s favorite part of the meal.)
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Spring-time Roast Turkey Breast
(Adapted from a recipe by Ina Garten)
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1 6½ – 7 pound whole bone-in turkey breast
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons dry sage leaves, crumbled
2 teaspoons kosher salt
A few grinds of black pepper
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
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Preheat the oven to 325˚.
Pat the turkey breast dry with paper towels. Put the turkey on a rack in a pan.
Slide your fingers under the skin and gently separate the skin from the meat.
Combine the mustard, sage, salt, pepper, butter and lemon juice and stir to form a paste.
Spread half of the paste under the skin on the meat. Spread the other half over the skin.
Pour water in the pan until it almost reaches the rack.
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Put the turkey in the oven to roast.
Check the turkey at least a half an hour before you think it will be done. I checked mine at 2 hours and 20 minutes with an instant read thermometer and it was DONE! (The thermometer should read at least 165˚ in the thickest part; check it in several places to be sure.)
It’s not a problem if your turkey is done before the rest of the meal (as mine was last night). Just cover it loosely with a sheet of heavy duty foil and let it “rest” while you finish preparing everything else. (You want to give it at least 15 minutes to rest even if it’s done on schedule.)
Optional: Pour the juices in the pan through a strainer into a pan. Bring to a boil and whisk the juices. Simmer for a few minutes. Serve the juices with the turkey.
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Arroz con Pollo (Chicken with Rice)
By Kath Dedon
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I don’t know how authentic it is, but I like Mark Bittman’s version of Arroz con Pollo in his cookbook, The Best Recipes in the World. I like his style of taking recipes that might seem complicated in other cookbooks and making them very approachable.
I used chicken broth, but you could just use water. Mark points out that because you’ve got the chicken, vegetables, and seasonings cooking together with the rice, it will still be quite flavorful if you use water.
He says the recipe will serve 4. I think it would easily serve 4 – 6. I cut it in half; we had 2 servings last night, and there is a generous serving for me to take for lunch today.
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Arroz con Pollo
(Adapted from Mark Bittman’s recipe in The Best Recipes in the World)
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Serves 2 – 3 (easily doubles)
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About 2 ounces bacon, diced
1½ cups chicken stock, or water
Large pinch of saffron threads
½ onion (about ¼ pound), diced
4 chicken thighs (1½ – 2 pounds total)
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ red bell pepper, diced
Salt and pepper to taste
¾ cup white rice
1/16 teaspoon ground allspice (eyeball about ¼ of a ¼ teaspoon)
1 bay leaf
½ cup frozen peas
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1. Put the bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium heat until the fat is rendered and the bacon is getting crisp.
2. Heat the stock, or water, to boiling (I used my microwave oven) and crumble the saffron threads into it. Stir well.
3. Add the onion and the chicken, skin side down, to the pan with the bacon. Brown the chicken, turning it occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper and sprinkle everything with salt and pepper. Continue to brown the chicken for about 5 minutes more.
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4. Take the chicken and vegetables out of the pan. Add the rice, and cook, stirring, until the rice is glossy. It takes about 3 minutes. Add the allspice, bay leaf, peas and stock. Then put the chicken and vegetables back in the pan. Reduce heat so it is simmering.
5. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is done, the water is absorbed and the rice is cooked.
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Corned Beef Hash with Poached Eggs
It’s good to have leftover boiled potatoes (preferably Yukon Golds) and leftover corned beef. Then you can have corned beef hash with poached eggs for breakfast!
The ideal ratio is equal portions of potatoes and corned beef, but there’s no hard and fast rule. You can use whatever you have.
I am not skilled at poaching eggs. So you will see that I “cheated”, as Bob commented, and used my handy-dandy egg poacher insert. I’m sure Julia Child never owned one. However, I know I would not have had presentable eggs without it. I should practice making poached eggs so I get better at it, but not this morning.
[Update (March 28, 2010): I see in Julia Child’s The Way to Cook that she does recommend an egg poacher! Just stick with Julia and moi! ;)]
Corned Beef Hash with Poached Eggs
(Serves 2; multiply for more servings)
1 cup corned beef, diced
1 cup cooked potatoes, diced
½ cup diced onions
1 teaspoon dried sage leaves, crumbled
¼ cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, plus a bit more to butter the egg poacher if using
3 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste
If using an egg poaching insert, butter the cups and place it in a pan. Fill the pan with water, up to just below the top of the poaching insert. Cover and bring the water to a boil, and then reduce heat so it is just simmering.
Melt the butter in a pan. Add the onions and sauté until soft.
Add the corned beef, potatoes and sage. Cook, turning occasionally. Add the milk and stir. Continue to cook, turning it now and then until the milk has evaporated and the hash is done as you like it. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
When the hash is almost done, break the eggs into the egg poacher cups. If necessary, increase the heat so the water is again simmering gently. Cover and cook until done.
Serve the hash topped with the poached eggs.
Corned beef hash, poached eggs, and Whole-Wheat Irish Soda Bread toast:
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Irish Whole-Wheat Soda Bread
James Beard’s Irish Whole-Wheat Soda Bread was published in his 1973 book, Beard on Bread. It’s always been my favorite because it is so simple to make. It has very few ingredients. There’s nothing in it to “fancy it up”. There’s no butter, raisins, caraway seeds, eggs–all things I’ve seen in other Irish soda bread recipes. This is the way I imagine my Irish great-great grandmothers would have made it back in “the old country”.
I have tweaked it a bit over the years. The version I make today uses much less salt than Beard called for (1 tablespoon!), and I use more baking powder. I used 1 ¼ teaspoons of fine sea salt today. Sea salt is not as salty as regular table salt (it is lower in sodium); had I used table salt, I would have used just 1 teaspoon.
I often make it to go along with my corned beef dinner for St. Patrick’s Day. That didn’t happen this year. I made it this afternoon and I’m looking forward to having it with some of the leftover corned beef tomorrow!
Update March 14, 2011: A big “thank you” to Carrie who spotted a major ingredient typo in the recipe. It’s all corrected now. Thanks, Carrie! 😉
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Irish Whole-Wheat Soda Bread
(Adapted from the recipe in Beard on Bread)
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3 cups (456 g. of Bob’s Red Mill brand) whole wheat flour
1 cup (120 g. of King Arthur’s Unbleached) all-purpose flour
1¼ teaspoons fine sea salt, or 1 teaspoon table salt
1 level teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1 ½ – 1¾ cups buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 375˚.
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir well with a fork.
Add 1½ cups buttermilk and stir well. You want a soft dough, like a biscuit dough. It it’s too dry, add an additional ¼ cup of buttermilk. (I found I needed 1¾ cups today.)
This is how the dough will look at this point:
Knead the dough on a floured board for 2 or 3 minutes until it is a smooth ball. (A dough scraper can be very handy if the dough starts to stick. Just scrape it up and add a bit more flour to the board.)
When the dough is ready, it looks like this:
Put the dough on a buttered baking sheet (or on a buttered piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet, as I did).
With a sharp knife, cut a cross in the top of the dough.
Back for 40 – 45 minutes until the bottom sounds “hollow” when tapped. You can also use an instant read thermometer—the bread should register about 190˚ in the center. (This is the first time I used a thermometer to test the bread, and I’m hooked! No more guessing. It’s a brilliant solution for novice bread bakers, like me.)
Let the bread cool on a rack before slicing.
James Beard said that soda bread must always be cut in thin slices, never thick. It makes great toast!
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St. Patrick’s Day Corned Beef Dinner
My slow cooker (a Rival® Crock Pot, to be exact) got plenty of use back in the days when we had softball games that went into the dinner hour. Since then, I haven’t used it much. Even on work days, there are so many great recipes that can be prepared quickly.
So what is the main reason I still have my slow cooker? Corned beef for St. Patrick’s Day!
I always get a corned beef from Market House Corned Beef in Seattle; it’s the best! I heard the owner, Vic Embry, talk about cooking it on Tom Douglas’ radio program. He said that you should not rinse it off, and you must leave all of the pickling spices on it. Some people even ask for extra pickling spices.
My recipe is adapted from the one that came with my slow cooker.
Although it always tastes delicious, I have found that the corned beef doesn’t slice neatly when it’s hot out of the slow cooker. It does slice nicely the next day for sandwiches.*
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Update, March 17, 2016: If you have a large slow cooker (about 6 quarts), consider trying my new favorite version of corned beef. Click here to see the recipe. It’s only slightly different, but I think it’s improved.
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St. Patrick’s Day Corned Beef Dinner
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3 – 4 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 (3 – 4 pound) corned beef, including the pickling spices that come with it
1 large onion, cut into wedges
1 cup water
Potatoes (Yukon Gold are good), scrubbed and cut in large pieces
Cabbage, cut in wedges
Horseradish for serving (optional)
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Put the carrots in the slow cooker; put the corned beef on top of them, fat side up. Add the pickling spices. Put the onion wedges on top of the corned beef and add the cup of water.
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The pickling spices and pepper that came with the corned beef are on top.
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Cover and cook on low for 8 – 10 hours.
About 45 minutes before dinner, put the potatoes in a pan and cover with water. Add about a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil; turn the heat to simmer and cook until they are done. Drain, and put back in the pan. (Toss them with a bit of butter, if you want.)
When the corned beef is just about done, heat the oven to Warm. Remove the corned beef to a plate, cover with foil and put in the oven to stay warm. Put the carrots and onions in a bowl, cover with foil and put in the oven to keep warm.
Put the broth from the slow cooker in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the cabbage wedges; cover and cook until done, about 10 – 15 minutes.
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* Corned beef sandwich, just the way Bob likes it! Lots of horseradish, a bit of mayo, lots of sliced onions, and corned beef, all on lightly toasted Essential Baking Company Mille Grane bread:
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Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables
This is an easy and delicious vegetable side dish. You could add zucchini; a yellow pepper would add even more color. If your eggplant is small and really fresh, you might opt to leave the skin on. Mine was a little “tired” and the skin seemed a bit tough, so I peeled it.
Don’t worry about the amount of garlic; it becomes sweet when it’s roasted.
The vegetables cook down quite a bit, so this recipe serves 2 – 3.
Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables
(Serves 2 – 3)
1 small eggplant, peeled if you prefer, and cut into cubes
1 large red pepper, cut into square pieces
½ large onion, sliced lengthwise
About 1½ tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
About 1 tablespoon dried sage leaves, crumbled
8 cloves garlic, peeled and larger cloves cut in half
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 400˚.
Line a large baking pan with foil.
Put the vegetables and herbs in a large bowl. Give a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss all ingredients with the olive oil and spread them out in the pan.
Roast for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice during the roasting time.
In the kitchen with Kath 