dip, sauce & syrup

because it really IS all about the sauce.

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,… [more]

feta blue cheese spread with sweet wine reduction and pistachios…

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

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]? 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… [more]

cooking maniac. (plus recipe for basil oil)

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

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 AND linguine… actually carbonara by the time I was done with it…). Then there was the mahi-mahi both seared and… [more]

Upside down… pear and caramel cake

01/27/2011 | 8 Comments | Topics: dessert, dip, sauce & syrup, just talk

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,… [more]

Chipolte Aioli

11/19/2010 | 3 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup

Really. This little condiment deserves its own little post. A full-on shout-out. This is my new favorite condiment: homemade mayonnaise with chipolte in adobe and lime juice. So brilliant with fish cakes, fish tacos, enchiladas, crab cakes, and a myriad of other southwestern inspired dishes. Make Mayo. (Or don’t. Buy your favorite kind and use that instead). Use 1 cup. Add 2 T chopped chipolte in adobo (ask your… [more]

fish cakes… with chipolte aioli & pomegranate corn relish.

11/17/2010 | 5 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup, entree

I bought too much tilapia the other day, and made fish for dinner, then fish tacos and finally: fish cakes. We fell in love with the fish cakes. So much so, that they made my all-pomegranate ‘Girls Night In’ dinner menu. I served them with chipolte aioli and pomegranate corn relish. The worth of a dish is often proven by the fact that I make it again… and… [more]

FIVE FABULOUS, easy-to-make sauces that will ROCK your daily taco.

10/22/2010 | 14 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup

I love to cozy up to the seasons, dive into Mexican Fare, master methods behind polenta and risotto and use holidays as an excuse to whiz-bang a new cocktail. It works for me to write it all down, to canonize and archive my recipes and techniques—any little tricks I have adopted—and hope that you might get a little tickle from it all. Its not just… [more]

Voting open: help me SALSA my way to the next round.

10/04/2010 | 1 Comment | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup

Round 3 of Project Food Blog is now open for voting; put on by Foodbuzz, your votes help me get to the next round! Here is my entry post (you can also click on the widget in the right hand column). There are… [more]

Jarring: Brandied Fig Jam

09/28/2010 | 14 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup, food spotlight, preserves

Oh baby. (I had always wanted to become adept at canning, but had never taken the time). It all started when… five flats of figs landed on my doorstep. You see, the California Fig Commission contacted me and asked if I would like some figs. Yes please! I never turn down food. I fig-ured they would send me a nice little pint or two. We arranged a time,… [more]

Basic Tomato Sauce

01/15/2010 | 8 Comments | Topics: dip, sauce & syrup, Italian food

It’s official: I make my own tomato sauce. Not that I used jarred versions before, but now I seem to use A LOT of tomato sauce, making it constantly, with batches to fill my freezer and frequently—even daily—it seems I have a simmering pan full of tomatoes on the stove top. Which, if you think about the name of my blog and the country in which I currently reside…… [more]