Tag Archives: entrée

Lobster Thermidor

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lobster thermidor

Lobster Thermidor Atop Baby Spinach Leaves with Lemon Slices

The last two weeks have been rife with activity, good news, and celebrations. Among our festivities, Corey and I  celebrated Valentine’s Day and our 2nd anniversary as a married couple. And it wouldn’t be a celebration in our house, if it didn’t include good food and this lobster thermidor fit the bill perfectly.

Lobster thermidor is an elegant meal for a truly special occasion. Cooked lobster meat is mixed with butter, melted cheese, and sherry, which is then placed into empty lobster tails. The mixture is topped with breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese and then broiled. The result is  creamy, cheesy lobster meat  that is absolutely sinful. The lobster is served atop a bed of mixed greens, alongside fresh lemon slices. The lemon adds a nice acidity to the dish. read more

Crock Pot Cuban Black Beans and Rice

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Crock Pot Cuban Black Beans and Rice

Crock Pot Cuban Black Beans and Rice

I love Cuban food: sandwiches hot off the press, sweet fried plantains, black beans and rice, and cold, refreshing mojitos! I’m sure my appreciation of this cuisine will only continue to grow as I live in Miami this summer. Dreaming of Miami beaches and sunshine is helping me weather the endless, extreme winter here in Chicago. It’s snowed so much this winter that there is talk of a road salt shortage in the Chicago area. This Cuban black beans and rice recipe is amazing; not only does it taste fantastic, but it’s incredibly easy to make! read more

Homemade Italian Spaghetti Sauce with Meatballs

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Homemade Italian Spaghetti Sauce with Meatballs

Homemade Italian Spaghetti Sauce with Meatballs

It’s important to stop and enjoy the simple pleasures of life: a glass of good wine, a homemade meal with family, an evening cooking with friends, a romantic candlelit dinner, fresh herbs from the garden, a girl’s night out. Sometimes our busy lives distract us from what matters most. A home-cooked meal is a great way to bring people together, and this homemade Italian spaghetti sauce with meatballs will do just that.

Spaghetti and meatballs is a classic comfort dish–even more so when everything is made from scratch! This recipe takes a few hours, but yields a truly remarkable meal, with robust meatballs and a delicious tomato sauce replete with garlic and herbs. You won’t be going back to the pre-prepared stuff any time soon. read more

Spicy Pork and Mustard Green Soup

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Spicy Pork and Mustard Green Soup

Spicy Pork and Mustard Green Soup

With the recent arctic blast and below-zero temperatures here in Chicago, I wanted a comforting, nutritious soup. Bon Appétit’s most recent cover recipe fit the bill: Rice Noodle Soup with Spicy Pork and Mustard Greens.

When I’m trying out a new recipe I tend to follow it almost exactly, so that I can properly decide what, if anything, needs to change. The first time around, I did reduce the amount of crushed red pepper flakes from 3/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon, as I had a friend over who doesn’t care for spicy foods. read more

Carbonara

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carbonara, Italian, panncetta, pasta

Everyone loves carbonara! It’s fast, requires fewer than ten ingredients, and is truly delicious. Pancetta adds richness, making each bite savory. If you haven’t tried pancetta yet, you really should! I used to substitute bacon for it, as I didn’t have a good local source.

I recently discovered that I can get cured meats—pancetta, prosciutto, and sopressata, for example—at my local deli for a fraction of the cost of prepackaged varieties. I immediately bought some pancetta, wondering whether it would taste noticeably different than bacon. It actually has quite a distinctive taste, less smoky than bacon, more peppery and porky. read more