dip, sauce & syrup

because it really IS all about the sauce.

artichoke dip recipe

06/19/2012 | 4 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup, food., recipes

4 ingredients.
5 minutes to make.
30 minutes to bake.
moments to consume.

Artichoke Parmesan Dip… [more]
Serves 6.
2 jars/cans artichoke hearts, drained and left whole.
5 garlic cloves well minced
1 1/3 cups mayonnaise (preferably organic)
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
Combine, add a few grinds of black pepper if desired. Dump into fancy baking dish (less than an 8×8 in size). Bake in 375 degree oven for 30

dandelion mojito

03/15/2012 | 4 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup, edible weeds, food., libations, recipes

It is true that in the midst of everything—and there is a LOT of ‘everything’—I venture off the farm long enough to forage for urban weeds. Dandelion is one of the most pervasive weeds, and therefore easy to plunder. Did you know dandelion’s roots used to be used for a coffee-like tincture? No doubt you have heard of dandelion wine and a million other dandelion uses. You can eat the… [more]

basil simple syrup.

08/10/2011 | 10 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup, food.

It’s like neon green on your plate and screams ‘fanciful.’ Yet, as with many of my kitchen ploys: basil simple syrup is quick & easy to make. Why bother? Basil syrup is brilliant on macerated strawberries or strawberry shortcake, and with any cobbler: maybe peach or plum? My sons use it for Italian sodas. They drink Mint Italian sodas—so why not Basil?

BTW: this syrup is not super thick, so… [more]

feta blue cheese spread with sweet wine reduction and pistachios…

05/25/2011 | 5 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup, food., recipes

Got your attention? This is one of those examples where I dine out, love the flavor of something and try to get the deep dive on ingredients. Will you ask the chef please? [So I can recreate it at home… [more]]?
We have been home from our ‘year abroad’ for nearly a year. Last year, we left on May 18. Forever an anniversary of one of our greatest adventures;

Pesto Pasta Salad & Pesto Spinach Salad.

05/12/2011 | 5 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup, food., recipes, salad, starch

I hope you had a lovely Easter, Mother’s Day and my oh my: are you gearing up for graduation like we are? My son Caleb is on the cusp of exiting the 8th grade, crossing off each of these last days as ‘mission accomplished.’ It’s almost mid-May!
I think May and October might be my two favorite months. October is the thick of fall, full of crisp days and colored… [more]

Flourless Chocolate Cake.

03/16/2011 | 1 Comment | Topics: dessert, dip, sauce & syrup, food., recipes

We make this often at the cooking school, and serve it up with rum-whipped cream or just-made caramel—or even slowly simmered poached berries. A chocolate cake—a really good one—becomes a starting point for flavor plays, a brilliant stepping off point for mixing in the fruit of the season or contrasting flavors like vanilla cream anglaise or rum sauce.
Besides: who doesn’t need a good chocolate cake recipe? Then it’s just … [more]

Minted Pea Puree (topper for bruschetta)

02/24/2011 | 2 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup, food., Italian food & wine, recipes, starters

I have affection for the term ‘bruschetta plate.’ At many of the Italian restaurants we visited while living in Tuscany, bruschetta was a typical starter to any meal. And sometimes: a meal in and of itself. I paid close attention to the little oil-brushed, garlic-rubbed baguette rounds… and what was smeared on top.
Now that I offer private cooking classes—an all-Italian menu being one of them—I have the perfect excuse… [more]

cooking maniac. (plus recipe for basil oil)

02/03/2011 | 5 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup, food., recipes

I feel a certain guilt.
This week I have been cooking like a maniac. As in M-A-N-I-A-C.

I have been re-reading my cooking school binders, repeating recipes from brown stock to consumme, beurre blancs and hollandaise. I made a MEAN pear champagne vinaigrette and pasta from scratch (ravioli… [more] AND linguine… actually carbonara by the time I was done with it…). Then there was the mahi-mahi both seared and baked

Upside down… pear and caramel cake

01/27/2011 | 9 Comments | Topics: dessert, dip, sauce & syrup, food., just talk, recipes

I am cooking like a mad-woman. And baking too! Now that I teach cooking classes (some at a nearby school, some private—in your home or mine!), I feel the need to ‘practice.’ What do I mean? I guess it means this teacher is always, always a student. Some love of learning thing…
If there is one thing I learned at culinary school, it is just like any niche profession, graduate… [more]

spinach artichoke dip

01/09/2011 | 6 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup, food., recipes, starters

Have I really never made this? I made a crab dip once—and loved it. It could be one of those things… where I resist making something so addictive, to cheesy and creamy, only to avoid the inevitable: I will eat it all in one sitting. This ‘problem’ certainly applies to this dip. I knew I would love it, so instead of just making it for my family, I made it… [more]