I really enjoy good food, but I don’t necessarily want to spend all day every day slaving over a hot stove. Having a Ragù di Peperoni e Pomodori sitting in the refrigerator means I can have the flavor of hours of cooking in just a few minutes.

Categories: dairy-free, gluten-free, mother recipe, pantry, sauce, vegan, vegetarian
Tagged: dairy-free, gluten-free, mother recipe, pantry, sauce, vegan, vegetarian

Back in the 80′s I was Pastry Chef at The Winchester Inn in Ashland, Oregon. Among my duties was soupmaking, and over the years I worked there I must have made more than a thousand pots of soup, including several hundred batches of a deceptively simple soup called Cultivator. I may not have remembered the [...]

Categories: dairy-free, gluten-free, soup, stock, technique, vegan, vegetarian
Tagged: dairy-free, gluten-free, soup, stock, technique, vegan, vegetarian

Holidays are a time for entertaining and cocktail parties, but not everyone wants alcoholic beverages. Cordials are a great solution. If you’ve never made a cordial, you’ll look at the recipe and say, “Hey, that’s just flavored simple syrup!” You’re right, of course. Now add seltzer (carbonated water) and you can call it a cordial. [...]

Categories: beverage, dairy-free, entertaining, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian
Tagged: beverage, dairy-free, entertaining, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian

Now that I have chickens, I’ve been thinking how good Eggs Benedict would taste with hollandaise made using really fresh eggs. Eggs Benedict requires Canadian bacon, of course, which means I needed to refer to Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn. Eventually I’ll do Eggs Benedict from scratch. But first, the Canadian Bacon, slightly [...]

Categories: charcuterie, dairy-free, gluten-free, preserving
Tagged: charcuterie, dairy-free, gluten-free, preserving

This is one of those multiple-step recipes that I really hate to post, but it’s just too good not to. Tomato Chutney 1 orange pepper (capsicum) roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped 1 Walla Walla sweet onion (or other sweet onion) chopped and caramelized 2 lbs. Roma tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded, and chopped 1 medium lemon, [...]

Categories: condiments, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian
Tagged: condiments, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian

That glistening, dark river of sauce on the ice cream is made with balsamic vinegar. Not just any balsamic, of course, but a Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar from Benessere, an oil and vinegar store in downtown Portland. Coffee and chocolate are an excellent pairing, so I also used some Espresso Sugar from The Spice and [...]

Categories: chocolate, condiments, dairy-free, dessert, gluten-free, pantry, sauce
Tagged: chocolate, condiments, dairy-free, dessert, gluten-free, pantry, sauce

Let’s be clear about one thing right from the start: store-bought bacon is not going to be satisfactory. You have to make your own. And don’t waste time with any apples called “Delicious” because they aren’t. Use Pink Lady, Fuji, Gravenstein, Braeburn, Jazz, or some other varietal with real flavor and texture, and be sure [...]

Categories: dairy-free, dessert, fruit, gluten-free
Tagged: dairy-free, dessert, fruit, gluten-free

Opening day of the Portland Farmers Market was a beautiful, warm Spring day. When I came across the Cherry Country booth I thought about how nice it would be to have venison or some other game, then remembered that I have a dinner class coming up where I’ll be serving lamb. Cherries are a classic sauce base for wild game, [...]

Categories: condiments, fruit, gluten-free, sauce, vegan, vegetarian
Tagged: condiments, dairy-free, fruit, gluten-free, preserving, vegan, vegetarian

Over the past year I’ve seen a lot of posts about macarons filled with spectacular and stylish photographs and gushy praise for the cookies. I assumed that any cookie with stores dedicated to it and books written about it must be at least as special as the chocolate chip cookie, so I decided I, too, would take [...]

Categories: baking, dairy-free, dessert, gluten-free, rant, technique, vegetarian
Tagged: baking, cookies, dairy-free, dessert, gluten-free, mother recipe, rant, technique, vegetarian

When I first learned to make chocolate truffles thirty years ago I didn’t know I was learning the recipe originally conceived, or at least credited to, Fernand Point (1897-1955), one of the greatest French chefs. He trained or mentored such giants as Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel, and Jean and Pierre Troisgros, which should give you [...]

Categories: chocolate, dessert, entertaining, gluten-free, mother recipe, vegetarian
Tagged: chocolate, dessert, entertaining, gluten-free, mother recipe, vegetarian