I’m of the opinion that any dish named using its French term immediately sounds 1,000 times fancier. Souffles (puffed up egg dishes) and fondue sovoyarde (cheese dip) and crème brulee (custard topped with burnt sugar) all sound infinitely luxurious. Even foie gras (duck liver pate) almost sounds appetizing. Shrimp etouffee is another of those dishes. …
Continue reading “Etouffee is easy to make and ‘shrimp’ly delicious”
This summer, we have had the privilege of welcoming an intern from the University of Kansas into our newsroom. It’s amazing how quickly someone can go from being a stranger to being part of the family, and that’s definitely been the case with Will. So, with his final day looming this week, Joey and I …
Continue reading “You won’t want to hush about this week’s southern dish”
An article by Eliana Rivero goes into great detail about some of the cultural dishes of Cuba, including a dish I decided to try for this week’s column, congri. According to Rivero, “The name comes from the Creole French words congo and ris (beans and rice) to produce what today is widely consumed by Cubans …
Continue reading “Everyone will want to ‘congri’gate around your table for this dish”
There is an in-depth article that appeared back in 2017 in Texas Monthly by John Nova Lomax about the origins of chili con carne in the United States. It’s a great read, if you get the chance, and apparently there’s a lot of controversy about the recipe’s origins from historians, but I did love a …
Continue reading “Seize the ‘carne’ with a summer-friendly chili recipe”
Even though I try not to heat up the house with my oven too often in the summer, I am definitely willing to make an exception for the right recipe. Last week, that exception came when I decided I didn’t want one of the typical cold summer sides like coleslaw, potato salad or a green …
Continue reading “Roasted vegetables will be the ‘bell’ of the ball this summer”
Quite a number of years ago, when we put our house on the market, our realtor gave us some tips for keeping our home ready for showings. In addition to keeping things clean and organized, he encouraged us to pin back the curtains for plenty of natural light and begged us to take a break …
Continue reading “Meat is ‘naan’ essential for this potato and chickpea curry”
Sometime last summer I found a huge bag of hatch green chiles that were on clearance in our local grocery store. I immediately threw them in my cart, visions of cheesy enchiladas with mild, roasted chiles dancing in my head. What I created was an abomination. I quickly realized how spicy the chiles were when …
Continue reading “Be ready for an enchi’little’ heat with jalapenos this week”
We decided to have a few friends over for dinner this past week, and I decided it was finally time for me to try this amazing-looking recipe for a baked Italian dish. Joey was gracious enough to help me out by manning the saute pan. He was busy cooking the sausage and onion and asked, …
Continue reading “Make a ‘rigaton’ of food with this sausage pasta bake”
Awhile back, I stumbled on a Facebook group called “Good Ol’ Mennonite Recipes,” and of course, I had to join to see what kinds of great food people were sharing on there. I have jealously looked at delicious loaves of bread and mounds of verenike under ham gravy, but I recently stumbled on a post …
Continue reading “Save lots of time this week with some phony pierogi”
When my sister and I were growing up, my mom always joked she was going to open a restaurant called “I don’t care,” thanks to the number of times we uttered the phrase when the family was choosing where to eat. On the occasions when we did care, there were certain places that turned into …
Continue reading “Sprinkle in something new with peppered beef”
