A Little Extra Cheese Never Hurts You should all know my obsession with beans by now so I’ll not to bore you yet again. Soak from dry, five times cheaper, etc. etc. Here’s how I make a batch of particularly creamy pinto beans suitable for parking next to Mexican red rice. If you’ve ever been to a family-style Mexican restaurant, you’ll … Read More →
Cold Fruit For Hot Days I’m easily lured to a clearance sale in the kitchen section of my local megamarket. This was the case one November where, for a whopping $3, I grabbed a set of popsicle molds with deluxe drip-resistant handles. The perfect thing for the start of a Canadian winter, right? I promptly put them in the back … Read More →
Best not to count how many you eat in one sitting Prime grilling season has arrived again and around my kitchen that means “street” tacos cooked over charcoal. The fire is the easy part particularly once you have all the ‘extras’ sorted out. In my case those include a vat of garden-fresh salsa, some well seasoned beans, a little lime and coriander enhanced crema, and a … Read More →
Ham. Pineapple. Fresh Chiles. You Can't Go Wrong On New Year's Day. A celebration of any size on New Year’s can be difficult for the cook. Unlike the steeped-in-tradition Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts, your guests rarely sit at one table simultaneously for this event. Add in the cocktails and countdowns and managing a menu to satisfy everyone can be a challenge. With a large ham for a … Read More →
Hot Enough to Notice I get a lot of flack from fancy food types about my love of pepper jelly. That condiment forever relegated to the 1960’s poured over cream cheese and served on crackers as atomic age chic. And it’s true that the myriad insipid versions out there are about as exciting as a Nixon speech. When you … Read More →
Pow. Blam. Zing. I really do enjoy Nova Scotia despite the fact that they seem completely lost on a few major ethnic cuisines. Scottish and English food traditions are easily found as are all the delicious permutations of French, Quebecois, and Acadian but you’d hard pressed to find Japanese, authentic Chinese, or most any Southeast Asian fare you … Read More →
Not just for tortilla chips Salsa means very different things depending on where you’re standing on the planet. I’ll focus on the Americas to simplify the discussion but know that it finds its way onto tables across the rest of the globe just as often thanks to new found salsa popularity beyond its native lands. Outside the decades-old wisdom of … Read More →
