default dinners

go-to recipes, family favorites, familiar standbys. we all have them.

Not your Mother's Casserole

05/31/2011 | 6 Comments | Topics: default dinners

Sorry mom. I didn’t name the book Actually, this is not a slap against the casseroles typical of my childhood table. I actually have fond, warm-fuzzy remembrances of broccoli cheddar casserole (with brussel sprouts), and Tex-Mex surprise. Did your mom make you a pasta chicken bake and what about tuna casserole? Ring any bells? The other day, at the store I saw a ‘Mexican Layered Dip’ for… [more]

Whole Roasted Chicken with Fennel, Potatoes and Kalamata Olives

04/20/2011 | 12 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree

Sorry for the delay in posting! It is such the bane of blogging – life gets in your way (sometimes: this is a good thing, sometimes it is not). For example: last week was all about dealing with heightened allergies, hives, soccer injuries (son) and having our basement baking-soda-blasted (nasty cement walls… the clean-up alone… ugh). But: it was also about planting garden boxes (incl 6 trips to the… [more]

default dinners: my top 5 go-to recipes.

02/21/2011 | 10 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree

I am a big fan of default dinners. A concept I came up with years ago—to highlight family favorite meals, proven winners and regular dishes that appear on your/my/our weekly table. I will soon be offering a ‘Default Dinners’ cooking class and workshop. It is a 3 class series. I go to people’s homes (or they come to mine), and I teach 3-6 friends new recipes to add to… [more]

Chicken Enchilades

01/05/2011 | 11 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree

Lately I have been so distracted with extravagant menus, crates of figs and trying my hand at Mexican-laden dishes (loved the swordfish!) that I forget to share with you the entrees that top my current weeknight go-to chart. Because I am all about lining up dish after dish of family favorites—parading them tastefully across my table week after week. What are your family’s favorite dishes? What… [more]

mmmmmmm… ragu.

05/08/2010 | 10 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, Italian food

I am in love with ragu. Shall I marry it? I made this ragu recently for lunch, and my eldest son says to me: “mom, this is the only thing I am willing to eat the rest of my life.” His way of saying: make it again and again and again and again and again… in perpetuity. Now THAT is a compliment. And my fullest compliments go to Mario Batali,… [more]

chicken for wining and dining

02/28/2010 | 4 Comments | Topics: default dinners

And by wining I mean: chicken cooked in reduced red wine sauce, and by dining I mean: table worthy. By all means, make sure some of the wine makes it into a glass for you. Some for the skillet, some for me/you. Cooks deserve that. And you know I love to add recipes to my default dinners list. Our family’s list of go-to dishes… entrees that ‘make the cut.’… [more]

Mushroom Risotto

02/02/2010 | 17 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, Italian food, starch

I feel like I am making up New Year’s resolutions as a I go. I seem to have sidestepped the pressure of December 31. But the things I want to accomplish continue to hit my mental temples and I feel the need to organize. No surprise there. One of the things that keeps showing up in my mind’s eye, is my desire to teach my sons how to cook. And… [more]

wild boar sauce (cinghiale ragu)

01/23/2010 | 13 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree, Italian food

Well we did it. We found a new family favorite—fondly referred to as a default dinner. Ever since landing in Italy, I have noticed a recurring menu item in restaurants in and around Tuscany: wild boar sauce. You would have laughed—out loud—if you had been there the first time I was trying to explain to a nearby Italian butcher that I wanted to buy wild boar. Hairy pig… [more]

I can do it in 3 ingredients…

11/10/2009 | 11 Comments | Topics: default dinners, entree

I didn’t want to cook tonight. I had gone on an interview, cleaned the house, plugged away on the computer, hit the grocer, enjoyed the Florentine sunshine… and it was just ‘one of those nights.’ I am finding my rhythm includes one night a week where I like to pull a kitchen trump card. As in: tonight I want off. And here in Florence that usually means ‘lets get… [more]

default dinner: 1-2-3 steak

02/25/2009 | 3 Comments | Topics: default dinners, edible gifts

I love this new little addition to our family default dinner list. I bought a grill book last summer, and have primarily used it to compile rubs and massage steak accordingly. During summer that meant lots of last minute skewers, but now that it is chilly outside I typically throw the steak under the broiler. The best best best part of this entree is that I can: 1.… [more]