Braising meat is nearly foolproof and you end up with a succulent gourmet meal. Short ribs, like so many other grainy meats, were once the cheap cuts but have now become more popular as slow-cooking and braising have caught on. Read more…
This recipe cheats the fall season a little by using summer garden vegetables that have their days numbered but are still around, barely. If there are two vegetables that are here and then gone completely until the next season it’s tomatoes and peppers. You simply cannot get them fresh and they also won’t survive being shipped so when they are gone they are gone. Read more…
Traditional Chinese restaurants used to be a staple in the Portland area and other cities on west coast. It’s sad to see that they have had a major decline since my childhood. Some remain but the proud Chinese traditional restaurants of the past seem to be harder and harder to find. Every Chinese restaurant has an egg drop soup and they range from forgettable to fit for a king. Read more…
Zucchini blossoms are a great seasonal ingredient and a fun one to work with. Yes, you will get a little less zucchini when you harvest the flowers to eat but I think anyone who has grown zucchini can agree that this is just fine. The fried zucchini blossom sitting atop a fresh heirloom tomato salad is a divine treat. Thank you, garden! Read more…
Oregon Grape may just be the most underused yet widely available foraging opportunity out there. Oregon Grape grows all over the northwest and beyond, it’s also an especially popular landscaping plant. Read more…
If I could only eat two categories of foods, they would be fish and vegetables. Cod is a mellow tasting fish, ready to be prepared with other ingredients and it really shines when fried up with only butter cooked up hot and fast. Read more…
When the milk solids are removed from butter what’s left is just the healthy fat and this is a tremendous cooking fat. The butter can now be heated to high temps without being damaged. Read more…
Eating something a little different can be exciting. Maybe you have not tried it before or are not sure if you want to eat it altogether. We are not generally grossed out by a chicken breast or a slice of ham but those pieces are only part of the animal. Read more…
Sometimes it’s nice to have limited ingredient choices as this helps to direct the creation of a recipe. Here I use almost everything that’s ready in my early spring garden this year. Although every fruit is a perennial plant, only a few vegetables are, asparagus being an exception. Read more…
It’s almost spring and my herb garden has already sprouted back to life, I am ready to put fresh herbs up front in any recipe I can, and the chickens are nearly back to full production of eggs. Adding a goat or cream cheese into the mix and you wind up with a scramble that is creamy and scrumptious. Read more…
by the handful 