Every bite of food should be a sweet bite
Dilemma – what to cook for dinner fast?
Answer – Fish!
Its, fast, and pretty much any flavor will do. This is a quick recipe, one that I put together by simply opening my refrigerator and taking out what ever I had in hand.
A while ago during one of my monthly visits to the bookstore to browse the cookbooks that I was told not to buy, I came across Savory Baking. This 168 page book from one of America’s top pastry chefs, Mary Cech is filled with recipes that focus entirely on savory baking.
The book has a clean, crisp layout and while you do need to have some knowledge of “baking/Cooking” Cech takes the time to explain how to bake successfully and her writing is easy and friendly giving you the necessary push to try her recipes even if they seem a bit complicated.
What really made me buy this book was the unique way she pairs the usual baking recipes like eclairs, tarts even shortbread with the savory ingredients. Enticing a baker/cook like me to dive in and try them out. And let me tell you I have already done 3 of the 75 mouth-watering recipes and so far, all of them have been a major hit around these parts.
One of the ones that truly blew everyone away was the Onion, Fennel and Orange Upside-Down Shortcake. This shortcake topped with caramelized onions, roasted red peppers cooked in an amazing reduction of dry sherry and balsamic vinegar is a delight. And the shortcake infused with orange zest is a combination that may sound a bit odd at first – until you take the first bite and realized that being daring and bold in the kitchen is what cooking is all about.
Last weekend we celebrated Tom’s birthday by buying 2 charcoal grills, inviting about 20 friends and then grilling everything in our sight.
We grilled vegetables, corn on the cob, hamburgers, ribs and because I was brought up in the center of an Italian butcher family, we had to grill sausage.
When I was younger and growing up in Venezuela, most major events in my family revolved around a “Parrillada” (BBQ). My paternal side of the family owned a cattle ranch, and a “Parrillada” party was a huge affair with the family. They would usually take place at “el rancho” (ranch) and pretty much consisted in a full day eating feast. Pigs, cattle and chickens were butchered, prepped and ready to fill the great big “parrillas” (grills) which were coal-heated hours before. In some cases the whole animal was grilled, nothing was left to waste and while meat was favored, I loved the grilled sausages.