Here’s a quick and easy recipe for Italian peperonata, or sautéed peppers and onions with fresh plum tomatoes, garlic, and basil. This is one of those “I almost ate the whole batch” dishes, only reluctantly shared with my parents who agreed they were terrific. How to Sauté Onions and Peppers Peperonata recipes come in many versions; some get cooked a good long time, some get cooked with potatoes, or without tomatoes....
But if you’re like me, you might have picked up some peppermint extract in hopes of cooking up some holiday sweets and completely forgotten about it. So naturally, you might wonder: is that peppermint extract still good? What’s the difference between peppermint extract and peppermint oil? And what recipes can I try using peppermint extract? In this guide, I’ll walk through all of your burning questions on peppermint extract!...
Baking Pan Options: To make cheesecake, it is preferable to use a springform pan. This is a cake pan that has a removable bottom. The sides of the pan are sprung and it has a clip to adjust the sides. Springform pans are sold in various sizes, generally 4 inches, 6 to 7 inches, and 9 inches. A good standard size to have is a 9-inch pan. If you do not have a springform pan, you can always use a standard cake pan....
How do you tell if asparagus is good? Asparagus should have a bright green color. The tips should be colorful and look healthy. The spears should all be stiff and hold their shape. There should not be any unpleasant slimy texture. Asparagus is often sold standing upright in water. This is because it stays more fresh when stored this way. How do you know if asparagus has gone bad? The tips are the first to go bad when it comes to asparagus....
I love exploring different spices in order to come up with new and exciting family meals. For me, this happens through travel (overseas), but it also happens at my local spice stores. During a “trip” one afternoon, I stumbled across a piri piri spice blend, did some research on the spice, and the rest was history! As my creative juices started flowing, I came up with this piri piri fried chicken....
Stunning and simple (and stunningly simple), the 5-ingredient Pisco Sour is a drink so worthy of veneration (and indulgence) — it’s the national drink of both Peru and Chile. Like its close sibling the Whiskey Sour, it comes down to adding citrus and sweetener to a base spirit. Like most sours, both the taste and experience are vastly improved by shaking egg white with your ingredients, resulting in a frothy, velvety body that borders on decadent....
I used vegetables that I typically have on hand at home. Feel free to do the same here. Oftentimes I’ll add proteins like chorizo, prawns, or ham. This is a great weekend dish. It’s lovely to start a slow and relaxing weekend with a hearty egg breakfast or brunch. Of course, this is something that can be enjoyed midweek too, even as a lunch but bear in mind the time it will take to prep and cook....
What Is a Paloma? A “paloma” if you are unfamiliar with it, is a grapefruit version of a margarita, with lime juice, tequila, and a salt-rimmed glass. (It’s also Spanish for “dove”, which is neither here nor there when it comes to the drink.) And while I’m partial to everything grapefruit, a tequila/lime/salt combination rocks with pomegranate juice. Stir it up with a rosemary swizzle and now you have a drink that is fully decked out for the holidays in a ruby red coat with a salty white rim....
*** This recipe is part of a Christmas Special where I show you how to make 3 mains and 4 side dishes that take 1.5 hrs to prepare and can be largely made ahead. So this Christmas, you can spend less time in the kitchen and more time with your family! 🙂 *** Stuffing is not huge in Australia. We know what it is, but it isn’t at the forefront of our minds....
You may want to serve some with the mozzarella, some without. Or, try wrapping some prosciutto around the mozzarella.
This British dessert goes way back — we’re talking about a few hundred years — and it was originally made with custard and pureed fruits, most notably gooseberries. I’ve lightened it up with whipped cream instead of the custard and swapped the gooseberries for seasonal rhubarb. It’s an easy-peasy dessert for a weeknight dinner or a spring party! I like to add a little sour cream to the whipped cream in my fools — it gives the dessert some tang and also helps stabilize the cream to keep it from weeping....
My dad for example, is a potato person. He’s happiest with a side of simple boiled potatoes as his starch, for practically any meal. He can eat a plate full of them, while I will have just a quarter of one small Yukon gold. I am a rice person. Perhaps it’s the residual of scraping by on steamed broccoli and brown rice for so many years before discovering the twin joys of bacon and butter....
This is a recipe from Cooks Illustrated that we found years ago. In this recipe we are roasting green beans with onion wedges in a hot 450°F oven. About half way through the roasting, we coat the green beans with a balsamic vinegar honey thyme dressing. The natural sugar in the dressing helps the green beans and onions caramelize. So good! We then toss the green beans with chopped toasted walnuts to serve....
You can spread hummus on a sandwich, slather it over a pita, or scoop piles of it onto sliced cucumbers or colorful bell peppers. It’s the perfect dip to serve at parties for people who avoid gluten or dairy, and it keeps for weeks in the fridge. It’s loaded with fiber and protein. What’s not to love? If you’re a hummus purist, then that’s where the story ends. For this Roasted Red Pepper Hummus recipe, I’m breaking from tradition....
Maybe it was when you found yourself agreeing with Ariel’s dad in The Little Mermaid. (“Young lady, you don’t love that boy. You don’t even know him!”) Or perhaps it was when you realized you actually wanted socks for your birthday because that meant you wouldn’t have to spend your own money on them. For me, it was when I first used the thermostat after getting my first real job after college....
It can look somewhat fancy and intimidating, but I assure you, it’s crazy easy to do. The fillets basically steam in their own juices, which are all contained in the parchment pouch. Preparing these salmon fillets takes just 30 minutes, including cooking time. If you don’t have parchment paper, you can use aluminum foil. The cool thing about the paper is that it’s pretty, and you can even serve the salmon in the parchment pouches, letting the diners unwrap them on their plates....
This is the kind of comfort food that everyone loves on a cold autumn evening. I’m already planning on making it again for Bonfire night! Easy to prepare, tastes amazing, and doesn’t take anywhere near as long to make as a regular casserole. I first made this recipe a few years ago when our kitchen had been ripped out for renovation and I had a little fold-out table and a one-plate plug-in electric hob to work with....
