Some things need to be cooked over charcoal: beef steaks, pork ribs and lamb chops to name my favorites.
We eat lamb in the winter, too, but I don’t bother to buy lamb chops. I get meat that is more suitable for braising or roasting…. Winter cooking.
But for summer cooking lamb chops are perfect food chez nous. We … Continue reading.....
Braised chicken with tarragon is a classic French dish.
But braised chicken is winter cooking.
This is summer; we don’t braise in the summer.
I do have an abundance of tarragon, though.
I love tucking things under the skin of chicken before grilling. It lets all the flavors seep into the chicken as it cooks.
I kept the ingredients simple … Continue reading.....
Did you hear about the agnostic, dyslexic, insomniac? He was awake all night pondering the existence of dog.
More about that later…..
First, another fish dish that mon mari likes, er, will eat.
If you get sushi-grade tuna you will definitely want to have this rare (it has to be graded to a higher standard so it is okay to … Continue reading.....
Lots of serious grill aficianados think of steak, particularly, a big, thick T-Bone, as the ultimate summer dinner.
Not here.
When we first moved to France we just assumed that the preference was for thin steaks as we never saw one more than 1/2" thick… And most were thinner.
Se we had a nice, thick steak cut by the butcher, … Continue reading.....
Everyone has a favorite barbecue sauce.
This is mine.
Even when I lived in the US, with all of the bottled sauces available, I made my own.
The recipe has changed over the years, based on taste and availability of ingredients.
And it varies depending on what I’m basting with it.
At first glance it seems like a lot of … Continue reading.....
I'm bored with summer cooking.
Salad season is over and the vegetable garden is dying back…. much like my creative impulses.
Summer cooking no longer produces photogenic foods.
It's either a marinade or a rub; there may or may not be a sauce and that's it!
At the beginning of the season I'm excited.
I brine and stuff and smoke, … Continue reading.....
We have a proper balcony!
And mon mari thinks it will also work as a good spot for the lawn tractor.
It doesn’t have a railing, so no puppies at the moment. Bonnie rolled off the step during her nap the other day…. Poor thing was so surprised (and a wee bit embarrassed). It might not be so funny if … Continue reading.....
A long time ago, in a place far, far away, I was married for a very short time.
My first inkling that the union was doomed was when we had a fight about me putting rice in the meatballs (known as Porcupine Balls – very good, actually, I should make them sometime).
It seems he didn't like rice.
It seems … Continue reading.....
