THE LADY OF SHALLOTS

I wouldn't classify myself as a huge carnivore, but when I do eat meat, I like it to be good quality meat. I buy most of our meat at our local farmer's market which a) keeps us from eating too much meat due to the expense and b) makes me much more conscious of the meat's quality, how I cook it, etc. These pork chops come from Stillman's Farm , and they were, like everything I've ever purchased from Stillman's, absolutely amazing. So, when meat is fresh and of high quality, I tend to go for minimalist recipes that enhance the meat's own flavor (sometimes a challenge with pork). I had some fresh sage that I picked up at the Farmer's Market, and so a little googling brought me to Josh Friedland's wonderful blog, The Food Section . Friedland summarized the recipe for the pork chops from Suzanne Dunaway's Rome at Home . I followed his directions with one tiny addition: white wine in addition to the lemon juice. I did need more liquid after the fi...

I currently have us on a "meat every-other-day" plan, but my low blood sugar requires protein in almost every meal. So...I am working very hard to find ways to incorporate beans into our diet. I'm not a big fan of beans (kidney, pinto, black-eyed, lima, you name it). I tend to tolerate them, and really only enjoy black beans in Mexican food. But in my quest for optimal health, it seems practical to find a way to eat them more often. This recipe comes from one of my most-used and most-loved cookbooks, The Cook's Encyclopedia of Thirty Minute Cooking by Jenni Fleetwood. I don't really care about the "thirty minute" part (usually), but I love the variety and ease of the recipes. In addition to blanched green beans (which I love), mixed canned beans (I used pintos and black beans), celery, onion (I used red), tomatoes, fresh parsley, I also tossed in a can of whole kernel corn....mostly for color, but I really liked the little bit of sweetness that it adde...

If you haven't read How to Read a French Fry and Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science by Russ Parsons, Food Editor for the Los Angeles Times , you really should. Understanding the science behind cooking is half the battle and makes it a lot easier to experiment when you have some inkling of what might happen when you cook with a certain oil at a certain temperature. Chemistry aside, Parsons also includes some VERY tasty recipes--including the White Bean crostini (p. 191). Pasta pomodoro, heirloom tomato salad & white bean crostini The white bean puree is incredibly easy, and the only "special" ingredient is white truffle oil. Parsons writes helpful hints, as in this caution about truffle oil: "Too much, and it smells like hair tonic." I haven't finished reading the whole thing, but I've used several recipes from this book and recommend it! Parsons' writing is very accessible, "user-friendly" and humorous!

Saffron Risotto-stuffed Calamari with Tri-Colored Pepper & Zebra Tomato salad I picked up this little bargain cookbook quite awhile ago, and let me just say now, for the record, I don't know how on earth Amazon sellers would justify asking $57.95, and no...wait for it.. $135.71 for a cheap, paperback 64 page Könemann cookbook. That's disgraceful. I think I paid $4 at most. At any rate, I digress. I've made several recipes from Anne Wilson's Meze: Mediterranean-Style Eating , and while many of the recipes are labor-intensive (and some are missing list ingredients, ahem), most everything I've made has turned out well, including my first try with dolmades. So tonight I decided to try the Saffron Risotto-stuffed Baby Squid, given the presence of calamari in my freezer and my great love for risotto. I left out two of the main ingredients for the risotto (leeks and fennel) and substituted a few other ingredients: Saffron risotto-stuffed calamari (adapted from Ann...