Now that Hurricane Sandy has passed us without incident, I can catch up on posting! Thanks to everyone for praying and thinking about us out here on the East Coast.
I have been trying to expand my repertoire of fish dishes beyond just salmon and discovered a really easy way to cook halibut. Wrapping it in parchment paper with with various other ingredients and baking it leaves it moist, flaky, and flavorful. Plus the presentation is really cool!
One combination that I really liked was lemon, cherry tomatoes, artichokes, olive oil, and basil. I made this right at the end of summer with super sweet cherry tomatoes – look at those colors! (more…)
I recently returned to Rice University, my alma mater, to celebrate their centennial – 100 years since the founding! There were all kinds of events – a football game (which we won!), parties, galas, picnics, speeches, lectures, you name it!
And our first President – Edgar Odell Lovett – finally got his own statue! About time! William Marsh Rice (Willy) may have provided the money for the institution, but Lovett provided the vision for what it should be.
For something really incredible, click HERE to see a video of the Spectacle – an amazing work of art combining architecture, history, and technology into something the likes of which I have never seen before. Seriously – watch it. For real.
Ok – moving on. Most of my food was provided for me at the events, but I did have the chance to eat out one night and was fortunate enough to go to Kata Robata – a sushi restaurant and Japanese grill. Headed up by Manabu Horiuchi (aka Chef Hori), my favorite sushi chef from college, the concept is Japanese tapas and the food is AWESOME. The service is pretty incredible, too. Our server, Thai, was very knowledgeable and comfortable making suggestions. The pacing was good and we always felt like we were being taken care of. I tried to order a good balance between sushi and tapas to get a really good idea of the place. (more…)
I always see these beautiful steak pinwheels at the grocery store and was wondering if I could make them myself. It turns out that it isn’t that easy – but stuffed with boursin cheese, spinach, and artichokes these sure are tasty! I paired them with a pasta using up the last of a big batch of homemade ricotta, spinach, and golden raisins. (more…)
Continuing with the theme of fresh, homemade ricotta – I made these decadent and sophisticated figs roasted in a cinnamon honey butter and spooned over thick and creamy ricotta.
Whisk honey and cinnamon into melted butter and pour over cut figs (I used Black Mission). Roast at high heat until soft and coated in syrup.
Spoon over a fresh ricotta. The honey butter is sweet enough that you don’t have to add any sugar to the cheese, and some of the ricotta gets melty under the hot figs while the rest stays cold for a nice contrast. So good, so so good. Go make this. Now. (more…)
When I made ricotta to use for the squash galette, I made a lot of it. I had a whole series of ricotta recipes lined up to try out, and these muffins were one of them. Using up that last batch of summer berries, these muffins are creamy and dense and delicious. (more…)