Archive for the 'Main Dish' Category

Oxtail Soup

A dish of oxtail soup is a thing to share with those you love. Or not. (depends how much you love them)
What’s not to like about oxtail?
It’s traditional farm fare, a simple country dish with robust complex favors - many parts of the world have perfectly succulent ways to use oxtail as a matter of [...]

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A Mess of Oysters

I love fresh oysters. When we lived in the city, we used to go to the wharf for Christmas and New Year, get fresh oysters in their shell, mud from the Chesapeake bay still clinging to them. Later that day, Keith would scrub them clean, open them and arrange them on trays of ice. A [...]

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He Likes Duck Fat

Potatoes fried in duck fat, with garlic & parsley, a very fresh green salad (with not a leaf of lettuce in sight) topped with a little bit of duck breast - a perfect lunch for this blessedly rainy Sunday.

Obviously, he thought so too (and had an intense lemon tart with coffee for dessert).
This meal [...]

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Presto Garden Buckwheat Noodles

I don’t know about you, but when I am home working and need a quick lunch, I want it QUICK. It’s often throwing together a green salad & omelet, or fajitas (or quesadillas), or - in winter - reheating some soup and making a sandwich (tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich being a favorite). Sometime, [...]

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Goodbye My Sweets!

I love ginger. Is there anybody who does not? I grew it one year and got the most amazingly tender and delicate roots where the skin was so thin that it was nonexistent. I had incredible ginger shoots and pickled ginger that year (note to self: need to grow ginger again this year). Where was [...]

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Chicken Soup With A Twist

It’s been really cold here. We have seen the minuses (Fahrenheit, that is!). Oh, I know, there are areas of the country where winter is routinely at -20 F… but not here in the Northern Piedmont… and without snow cover at that! I don’t dare checking my poor greens in the gardens, huddled under [...]

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True Coq au Vin

For those who don’t know, “coq” means “rooster” in French. Therefore, “Coq au Vin” means “Rooster cooked in wine”. The dish is a staple of French provincial cooking, a dish originally made by using extra roosters culled from the chicken yard or an old chicken (aka a stewing chicken), the local red wine and [...]

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Chayote by Any Other Name

I know. It’s not in season. But I am dreaming of it, because of a post from Elise on Simply Recipes. Chayote shoot is a taste of my childhood. Around the holidays, don’t we reminisce about good memories?
At some point I’ll post more info on the chayote, of which the young shots & leaves, the [...]

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Simple Pleasures from the Quasi-Winter Garden

The lettuce beds are looking lush and fluff – if you lift the agricultural fabric swaddled over them, that is - providing huge bowls of greens, but, with the temperature regularly dropping below freezing (at night only for now, thankfully), I am hungering for soup.
(Alas, since no picture of tonight’s soup was taken, you must [...]

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Pork Chops with Chunky Pepper Tomatillo Sauce

Friday night’s dinner often requires little thought as it often consists of homemade pizza – not much to think about: make the dough, let rise 45 minutes, flatten, spread some toppings (variations are endless). Bake for 15 minutes. Meanwhile mix a salad, set the table and voila!
Thursday night is sometimes a little more complex: it’s [...]

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