I’m not from Brooklyn, and I’m actually not even Italian, though I did grow up in a place where 75% or more of the population had at least some Italian heritage, but I’d like to think that all of those years of eating delicious spaghetti dinners at the local Sons of Italy have given me at least a decent ability to tell a good sauce from a not so good one. And, in my not-Italian-but-Italian-food-loving opinion, this is a very good sauce. Actually, it’s more like liquid meat with a little bit of sauce in it. The recipe is a descendant of Bolognese sauce, which I also love, but instead of containing a variety of meats, it only calls for ground beef.
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I always feel like I’m getting away with something when I make a dish that tastes like it should have a bazillion calories, but there’s no butter, cream, cheese, or bacon to be found in the ingredient list. Read the rest of this entry »

This winter, so far, has been more than a little unusual. It’s been strange to be in New England looking at weather maps and watching everywhere from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., and even the deep south get inches upon inches of snow as we sit here looking at bare earth and brown trees. But I can’t complain too much, as the roads have been perfectly clear! And, hey, it’s still cold, so perfect beef stew weather.

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These days, I order most of my spices from Penzey’s, and a big thank you to Alton Brown and Good Eats for introducing me to this place. Penzey’s has pretty much every spice you can imagine, and I can really taste the difference between the quality in their spices and those that I pick up at the grocery store. I also appreciate the great prices that they have on bulk spices like ground ginger, cinnamon, and chili powder, which I seem to use by the bucketful.

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Though I have yet to find a great gluten free recipe for burger buns — I’m working on it — I still enjoy a tasty burger. I’ve been experimenting more with ground chicken and turkey, and these chicken burgers with spinach and caramelized oinions have definitely earned their place on my “make again” list. The spinach and onions not only keep the meat nice and moist, but they also bump up the flavor. Add more caramelized onions and a little cheese on top, some rosemary thyme oven fries on the side, and you’ve got a winner!

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We return to that magical June 2009 issue of Bon Appetit for this recipe for a “15 minute” spicy orange chicken. Now, I don’t know about 15 minutes — unless they weren’t including prep time — but this is still a very quick recipe compared to my regular go to orange chicken recipe. No messy breading, no deep frying, just a simple orange chicken with a nice flavor payoff for something that takes so little time. I think that it would be even better if you added some garlic and a little fresh ginger.

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