recipe Archives - Page 8 of 30

recipe

Simple roasted asparagus, a Diana Henry gem

Posted on June 16, 2020June 15, 2020 by Pat and David

Every year about this time we work our palates into a state of frenzy trying to enjoy the fleeting season of local asparagus. The farm at the head of the post is one of those legendary growers along the banks of the Connecticut River in Hadley, Massachusetts. Until verticillium blight struck after World War II, Hadley grew much of the country's best asparagus. Good tillage practices and more resistant varieties have helped revive the asparagus industry in the Pioneer Valley, though it's never going to be what it was. It does mean that even 90 miles east in greater Boston, we enjoy a surfeit of the noble spears for a short time each year. And granting that one cannot live on asparagus risotto alone (hungrytravelers.com/remembering-italy-3-asparagus-prosciutto-risotto/),...Read More

No yeast? Treat yourself to Irish brown soda bread

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Pat and David

We confess to scoring a half-cup of instant yeast last week when we were walking past our ‶sales-by-pickup-only″ neighborhood butcher shop, Savenor's. (Yes, the one where Julia Child bought her chicken, ducks, and breast of veal.) That should keep us going until we're out of flour. But a lot of folks aren't so lucky, so we'd thought we'd post one of the all-time great bread recipes that doesn't require yeast. It's for an Irish brown soda bread, as served on the breakfast buffet at the Marker Hotel in the hip Docklands district of Dublin, Ireland. Seeds in brown bread are nothing new, though the classic recipes only call for oat groats to add texture. This version adds the perfect balance of sesame, sunflower, and flax...Read More

Pasta fazool, for the immigrants we have all become

Posted on April 15, 2020April 15, 2020 by Pat and David

We've never eaten pasta e fagioli in Italy. We've never even seen it on a menu there, though a reliable source (Michele Sciocolone) tells us it is Neapolitan. (That's why we posted the Neapolitan chef and food vendor miniatures above. They're masked for Carnavale and sold on the same street as Christmas creche figures.) The dish—‶pasta fazool″ in the Neapolitan dialect—has an Italian-flavored familiarity that marks it as real comfort food. Turns out that it's known mainly in Italian-American cuisine. It's from that branch of cooking born when immigrants made do with canned and dried commodities rather than the fresh ingredients they knew in the old country. We're all immigrants now to the world of social distancing and staying indoors. We're making do with canned...Read More

Patatas a la riojana feeds the pilgrim body and soul

Posted on April 6, 2020 by Pat and David

We have all become pilgrims, if only in spirit, during our days of worldwide plague. The sign above marks a bar in Plaza del Rey, San Fernando in Burgos, Spain, named ‶The Pilgrim.″ The insignia above the name shows the scallop shell of Santiago (St. James) on a field of blue—the universal marker along all the variants of the Camino de Santiago. We say ‶variants″ because there are innumerable paths that lead finally to the cathedral in Santiago de Compestela in Galicia, just as there are a multitude of paths to any form of enlightenment. One of the most popular routes of the Camino is the French Way across northern Spain from Roncevalles (where the Basques repulsed Charlemagne's forces led by Roland in 778) west...Read More

LEON makes us happy again, this time with curries

Posted on February 17, 2020 by Pat and David

Between the ubiquitous Gordon Ramsey and ‶The Great British Baking Show″ on PBS, the long-battered reputation of British food is enjoying something of a rehabilitation. Moreover, the LEON restaurants, which launched in London in 2004, inoculated British cuisine with the idea that healthy eating and fast food were not necessarily mutually exclusive. The chain spread its gospel of ‶Naturally Fast Food″ to Washington, D.C., in 2018 and has started building more in the capital region. By our count, LEON Happy Curries (Octopus Publishing, London, $19.99) is the eighth cookbook in the LEON series showing how to replicate the restaurant's dishes and philosophy at home. But this book is a little different than the earlier ones. It represents the magnificent fusion of a homely European cuisine...Read More

Canned tomatoes from Europe recall the taste of summer

Posted on February 11, 2020February 10, 2020 by Pat and David

This time of year we really start pining for summer tomatoes. Even the best hothouse tomatoes don't measure up. They're not as sweet or as acid and even the ripe ones are usually far too firm. Mind you, we always have some homemade marinara sauce in the pantry, but cooked sauces are no substitute for fresh vegetables. We've tried using any number of U.S. canned tomato products, and they too fall short. But the same isn't true for certain European canned tomatoes—especially those grown and packed in Italy. And, more to the point, those grown and packed in southern Italy and packed without added calcium chloride or preservatives. This may not be immediately obvious, since the front of the labels don't carry the European geographical...Read More

Regal Kentucky Castle serves great humble biscuits

Posted on February 4, 2020January 19, 2020 by Pat and David

If we lived in the South, we'd probably eat biscuits warm from the oven and slathered with butter every day. A good biscuit is the transfiguration of simple ingredients. Moreover, no two biscuits are exactly alike. Every home cook seems to cherish a grandmother's special recipe and many restaurant chefs like to add their own spin to this Southern classic. A couple of years ago, we shared the recipe for black pepper biscuits from Gralehaus in Louisville https://hungrytravelers.com/biscuits-unite-louisville-southern-indiana/]. On our recent visit to Kentucky, we discovered another winning variation at the Kentucky Castle (230 Pisgah Pike, Versailles, Kentucky, 859-256-0322, thekentuckycastle.com) just outside Lexington. We expected to see gorgeous estates as we drove through horse country on a rainy morning to have breakfast at the castle....Read More

Honeywood showcases updated Kentucky cuisine

Posted on January 31, 2020January 16, 2020 by Pat and David

When we visit our friends in Lexington, Kentucky, they usually can guess our first question. “What's Ouita been up to?” we ask, referring to chef Ouita Michel. In the two decades since she and her husband Chris Michel opened Holly Hill Inn (426 N. Winter St., Midway, hollyhillinn.com) in a mid-19th century Greek Revival home, Ouita has led the dining revolution in Bluegrass Country. Ouita is fiercely committed to local growers and producers and is equally at home showcasing Kentucky products in fine and casual dining establishments. She now oversees nine restaurants and cafes, including two outlets of Smithtown Seafood (501 W. Sixth St., Lexington and 119 Marion St., Suite 160, Lexington, smithtownseafood.com). Here's the link https://hungrytravelers.com/at-smithtown-seafood-local-is-measured-in-feet-2/ to our earlier post about this unique collaboration...Read More

Toasting thoroughbreds and bourbon at Taylor Made

Posted on January 17, 2020January 14, 2020 by Pat and David

When we think of Kentucky's Bluegrass country, two things spring to mind: fast horses and smooth bourbon. So when we arrived for a VIP Stallion Experience at Taylor Made Farm (2765 Union Mill Rd., Nicholasville, KY; 859-885-3345, taylormadestallions.com) in the rolling hills just outside Lexington, we weren't surprised that the tour began in Daddy Joe's Bar & Grill. Bartender Kattie Breeden greeted us with the House Old Fashioned. The bar is named for family patriarch Joseph Taylor (1924-2003), who was once farm manager of the revered Gainesway Farm. Taylor Made, run by Joseph's four sons and one of their longtime friends, was established in 1976 to board mares that had come to Kentucky to be bred. As the farm grew from 20 acres to 1,100...Read More

Happy as a pig in … well, you know

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Pat and David

The Pig: Tales and Recipes from the Kitchen Garden and Beyond is not, strictly speaking, a cookbook, although it does contain a lot of great recipes. It's more a lifestyle book (complete with decorating advice) touting a contemporary update of English country house living. It does, of course, obsess about food and the marvels that can be extracted from the kitchen garden. And the kitchen pigpen. And the kitchen barn. The book is distributed in Canada ($44) and the U.S. ($40) by Hachette Book Group. Here's a link to Amazon. Robin Hutson, wife Judy Hutson, and David Elton opened The Pig in New Forest, Hampshire, in 2011. That was the first of the country house hotels. Now a whole litter of them are sprinkled around...Read More