AWEsome Cookery

  (A visit to the Niagara Escarpment, more photos below…)     Close your eyes and open your mind to let ketchup become more than you think it is.   That red puree we think we know so well has origins in China (doesn’t nearly everything?!?) as a fish-sauce condiment called kê-chiap or ke-tchup (From slate.com “the syllable tchup—pronounced zhi in Mandarin—still means “sauce” in many Chinese dialects”) made from fermented fish and spices.  During centuries of its evolution the base ingredient of ketchup has shifted to salted anchovies, then soybeans were used in certain regions,

  For the last month or two colorful eggplants have been brightening the palette of our local Farmer’s Market.  This picture of dazzling garden abundance is from my friend and photographer David Cavagnaro of the Pepperfield Project.  Color and shapes!  Many of these varieties can be used but the size and sweet flavor of the skinny Asian eggplants make them perfect for these little pizza bites.   Part of the nightshade family, eggplant are high in potassium, fiber, vitamin B’s and numerous phytonutrients.  Read more about their

… Fresh tarragon with sugar was not my original idea, but reading it in a menu convinced me this was the meal I wanted to attempt to recreate for a Scandinavian dinner for my friend Dennis, the generous Dane who loves to host elaborate festivities. The Faroe Islands were the geographical highlight of this year’s feast, small bits in the North Atlantic between Norway, Scotland and Iceland, an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark.  Puffin, seal and whale blubber are common foods eaten there…but we

  The Holiday Music Motel We were wandering around Sturgeon Bay looking for a place to stay since it appeared as though a storm was descending, and though we like camping…it takes real dedication to set up WHILE it’s raining.  Vacationland of Door County is host to a plethora of cabins, cottages, condos, campsites, B&B’s, hotels, motels, resorts, and it didn’t help that we are easily overwhelmed by choices, especially when tired.  The warm neon sign of the Holiday Motel

  These orange lumps turned out to be great munchables.  We served them at an event as a gyro substitute with yogurt tzatziki, then the next day we ate them as leftovers, and the day after that I packed a few along for a road trip and they held up well to the trials of travel.  Moist, not quite as intense as falafel, easy because they are baked, and best of all… ORANGE…I am definitely adding these to the catering repertoire.    

  How is ‘beetroot’ different from a beet?  Not.   You’ve already heard me say what I’ve said for decades….beets are back.  They are back stronger than ever and people are asking for them—I even served a beet salad at a wedding last summer.  Don’t be afraid of your root vegetables.   I (not a Scandihoovian) was posed with cooking another ‘Norwegian’ dinner last April and I wanted intriguing flavors to share with the group….but not too interesting since most diners were in

  Maybe not something you do every night, but these gems are stunning on a plate.  I recently made these as a garnish for a wedding dinner to be set atop the saffron rice pilaf next to the pesto green beans.  Color!!  We eat with our eyes as well so why not occasionally feed our oculars a feast.   Accessorize. Garnishes are like the perfect pair of earrings, condensed nuggets of beauty. They are about enriching and augmenting, enhancement of the senses is a wonderful thing.  Adding contrasting

  Before we get to refreshing cucumbers, here are more photos from the Willow Gathering in June.  These are from classes led by the two Danish instructors Ane Lyngsgaard and Eva Seidenfaden.         You can see the soaked willow on the floor in the background.               The booklet describes Baskets4Life, a group of Danish weavers that converge twice a year for one week to stretch themselves to new dimensions of their art and to thoroughly enjoy

  The plan seemed doable. I wanted a photo of the stuffed mushrooms resting on a serving tray mere minutes before they would be introduced to the hungry post-wedding crowd.  Anyone who is or has been involved with catering or restaurants will know how incredibly funny that notion was.  Over and over I bring a camera to events telling myself THIS time I will have the presence of mind to snap the shutter at that moment the delicacies are perfect, and two moments before they vanish or become not so perfect. The

  Gluten Free and Low Carb—perfect for summer!  You can put nearly anything in a lettuce leaf and it provides a handy shell to hold the flavors.  I often am looking for edible vehicles that can deliver the punch line and in the summer lettuce leaves are a refreshing meal-holding-husk.  But they can be a little messy so watch out for those after-Memorial-Day white pants.    . Fillings can be as simple or complex as you want to create.  A vegan alternative to bacon could be

    Skewered roasted tofu with a peanut sauce is one of my all time favorites for catering, and it’s pretty awesome for eating at home too. When I began this site I wanted to start with some of my crowd-pleaser recipes, dishes that I knew and loved so you could get a feel for my style of cooking.  Two and a half years later seems like a good time to dig up and recirculate a few, just for fun.  This was

  Sour cream–it’s the perfect dip starter: a bit tart, a bit creamy, and it ‘plays well with others‘, merging and melding with most herbs or flavors.  Lightly fermented dairy similar to crème fraîche but is more tangy and often made with less fat…I say yes.  If you’re feeling the need for more scrumptious fats in your cream, try this little method of a non-cultured sour cream:   Quick Sour Cream:  pour 1 cup heavy whipping cream into a bowl and add 1 teaspoon (or a little

  These buddies were a scrumptious success at a luncheon I recently catered.  You can make them without smoking the salmon, of course, but smokiness adds a rich depth, a ‘something extra’, oooh I could even say “je ne sais quoi”…whatever you want to call it, it will compel you to eat at least ten of them.   Do you need a smoker?  No, a charcoal grill works splendidly.  My grill-guru cousin swears by the Weber grill for all of his smoking activities.  There are smoker boxes for

  While we were in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in February we ate lunch at a little place called Steep Creek Cafe (and White Cap Kayak Trips) in the Ironwood and I seem to recall we licked out the bowl that this dip was served in.  Having only the three ingredients listed in the title to go on, I came home and ran with it making a slightly different rendition that is very green and not half bad. Is it hummus?  Is it pesto?  Is

  Despite the occasional April snowstorm our landscape is about to explode into electric GREEN.  It’s been patiently waiting and waiting and the time is nigh.  Later this week I’ll plant my onion sets for green onions —I keep harvesting the shoots throughout the spring and the bulbs keep producing more.  But I rely on others with more space for growing the asparagus, especially since I don’t know where the secret ditch patches are around these hills.   A few

  Question: What does one eat when coming home after weeks on a ski sabbatical? Answer: Whatever is in the house because the catering has not yet begun and we blew our wad for the winter.  I think it’s time to revisit pintos and Pinto Fuul because my sister fed it to us on our way home, and since then I’ve been utilizing my big bag of pintos making various versions of it.  Today it was with feta cheese, yesterday

    Croquettes enable you to eat mashed potatoes with one hand and no fork. Isn’t that what everyone has been asking for?   Last week we found ourselves driving home in the midst of another blizzard, perfectly bookending the trip with driving north in the snowstorm at the beginning.  I suppose we did yearn for the snow to come with us and prolong our skiing affair…and this was another reminder to be careful what we ask for!  Countless times

  Racing is a curious thing.  To the observer it makes no sense at all—people spend loads of money to travel to a location, sleep on floors (or wherever), rise early after not sleeping well, venture out into often uncomfortable conditions, stress and adrenaline courses through their veins, then they push themselves beyond their limits until weary, cramping, frostbit or nauseous….this has never has looked very fun to me.   But there is something about pushing, something about stretching beyond

  Two liver posts in one year?!?  I must really have a need to push your boundaries, and this time there is no conclusion to the cliff-hanger story.  Just think of it as another tasty grey spread….creamy and rich and great on a cracker. Step outside your comfort zone in this life. Eat Liver.   You can’t get any more powerhouse than liver. They say liver contains more nutrients than any other food, gram for gram.  Protein, iron, folate, calcium,

  Aloo = Potato,   Jeera = Cumin  Aloo + Jeera = Yum   It’s been a while since I’ve had time to sit down and ramble on about food, I’ve been too busy catering.  It seems the more I cook the food the less I have time to write about it. We’re heading into a slowing-down time of year.  Late October and November are often overcast and drizzly, and the brilliant leaves are on their way out leaving dull