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Earlier this week I had a leftover chicken breast and thighs from a roasted chicken I had cooked...I decided, given the fall weather to make a simple Mexican-tasting chicken soup. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients: 
1 onion (thinly sliced) 2 cloves of garlic1 head of cilantro 2 tablespoons of olive oil2 large tomatoes...

Our bones are designed to carry us upright for our entire lifetime.  Unfortunately, millions of Americans are suffering from osteoporosis and debilitating bone diseases.  Doctors prescribe Fosamax and other drugs to “build bone density,” but it comes with a slew of undesirable side effects; ulcers, liver damage, vision loss, renal failure, and jaw bone decay. (1)
Fosamax and “bone-building” drugs work by stopping the break-down process of old bone.  This in turn, STOPS the formation of new bone.  “Only bone loss (called resorption) can initiate healthy new bone formation (called deposition or formation). As with all things in nature, good bone health relies on a balance between this action and counteraction, like breathing out and breathing in.” (2)  Our body is wise - it won’t create new bone if old bone is not being broken down.  Fosamax and other bone drugs cause old bone tissue to pile up, making bones seem denser, but they are actually becoming more brittle.  Do not be fooled by this flim flam bone scam!  Pharmaceutical drugs do NOT create healthy bones. 
Another BIG misconception is that we need excessive amounts of calcium to create strong bones.  Bones are made up of approximately 35% latticed protein (collagen matrix), that gives bones flexibility and 65% mineralized collagen that gives bones strength (3).  Overdosing on calcium (especially calcium supplements) is not advised, and has been implicated in calcification of the arteries and soft...

This is a slight variation on a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa Family Style book, which you can buy on Amazon: http://bit.ly/1rSvyL.
Tuna Tartare
Ingredients:

¾ pound very fresh tuna steak
4 tablespoons olive oil
Grated zest of 1 lime
3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice
½ teaspoon wasabi powder
1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce
6 dashes...

 
Think of those old movies from the 30’s and 40’s and those gallant and showy sword fights, Errol Flynn maybe?
 
In any case, a boning knife is more of a sword than a...

As much as I enjoy working in my kitchen, when the dog days of summer hit, I can't stand the heat and I become obsessed with avoiding it as much as possible. I'm also always looking for ways to get more than one meal out of anything I cook. I have never been keen on what most of us think of when we hear the word "leftovers," you know, the sad, soggy repeat of last night's supper, warmed over with the Reheat button on the microwave. Yuck. Then, a few years ago, as an exhausted, pregnant, soon-to-be mother of two, I began to develop a sort of mad genius for creating what I called "leftovers by design." These days, I almost never cook just for one meal. I'm always scheming for ways I can take a little extra leftover this or that and turn it into something new. Kinda like those crafty folks who turn old wool sweaters into felt handbags.So, here's what heat intolerance and an obsession with leftovers look like at our house. When we fire up the grill, we cook enough meat and vegetables for that evening's dinner plus sandwiches and salads later in the week. Also, I can frequently be found in the cool of the morning cooking a big batch of potatoes, grains, or legumes to use as a base for salads that we'll dip into for several days. Because they generate heat and humidity, my crockpot, steamer, and dehydrator all go to work...

If you feel discouraged about the time and experience required by bread making, piadina - an Italian ancient flatbread - may change your mind. It takes less than 30 minutes to make because it is unleavened and it cooks in just 4 minutes on the stove. It makes a good twist on bread, especially during the summer, when it is too hot to turn on the oven.Piadina is the most classic specialty from the Romagna region (Forlì-Cesena, Ravenna and Rimini) along the Adriatic coast. It is usually made with wheat flour, water, salt and lard (or olive oil) to enrich it and make it fragile and more flavorful. The dough was traditionally cooked on a testo (terracotta dish) but nowadays flat pans or griddles are commonly used.Piadina is so popular along the Adriatic Coast that there are hundreds of specialized kiosks called piadinerie that sell warm piadinas filled with a variety of melted cheeses, cold cuts and vegetables. One of the most classic fillings is prosciutto, creamy cheese like...

In Japan, it is hot and humid during summer. People love to have cold meals there. Cold noodles are one of the popular meals. Japanese people make it at home while you can order it at the Japanese restaurant. There are various types of Japanese noodles. Udon, and Soba or buckwheat noodles are well known.  Several other types of noodle are used for cold noodle soup in addition to Udon and Soba noodles. Somen...

GENOISE
I used to love to watch Josephine Araldo make genoise at the restaurant. She was my teacher and mentor, certified at the Cordon Bleu in the 1920's as a Chef patissiere as well as Chef de Cuisine, a singular achievement.
She would beat the eggs and sugar for her cake in a large bowl over hot water to get them to swell. Then fold in the flour carefully. It would bake light and flavorful. When I asked her about beating the eggs in the Kitchenaid, she explained that the movement of the whip in the machine made a small uniform bubble. When she beat the eggs and sugar by hand she had long irregular bubbles.
When each was baked, the results were different. The hand beaten one, with larger bubbles, rose to a lighter, less dense, texture she described as 'plus agreable.' She made me understand that the agreeability, the final effect, is sought, attainable, and within the control of the cook. These were good lessons - look, aim high, keep control, be disciplined, go for your best.
Whenever I bake I remind myself through the ritual or preparing the ingredients that baking is like dance. You cross the stage, leap in the air. You can't be hallfway through a jump, say you forgot something, and go back. I see baking as one continuous act, like a dancer's leap. Have everything ready, the mis en place involves the pans buttered and papered; the oven at temperature; ingredients in place before you proceed.
The genoise is a type of cake know as biscuit - 'cuit' or cooked, 'bis' times, two times. So the cakes in this category are twice cooked. The first cooking happens when you beat eggs and sugar making the eggs swell to two and a half times their original volume. After...

We inch dishes along, focusing on the pieces of the whole, braise the cabbage that came from Robert's  garden, soak dry porcinis, prepare the herbs, persillade for the mushrooms, fines herbes for the berries. Prepare a stock, then strain and reduce the liquid for stock. Reduce some cream for the finished sauce. Inch the elements forward a bit at a time until it all comes together.Once the pork is cooked, let it rest before slicing. The stock is combined with the cream. The cabbage braises till tender and sweet, is seasoned with salt, and fattened with a little butter. The mushrooms are also seasoned, given persillade because we know from Josephine that "a mushroom without garlic isn't worth the fart of a rabbit." We're working on her recipes today mixing mushrooms with cabbage, and lastly blueberries and fines herbs. With that accomplished, we immediately start to plate.One of the students sits at the table and looks at the plate of pork with cream sauce, garnished with red cabbage and blueberries, he announces, "There is nowhere in town where you would get food that looks like this."I love that we can do these dishes that date back 150 years and still find them appealing and exciting. Josephine Araldo brought them to San Francisco in the 1920's from Brittany where she grew up. She was taught to make them by her grandmother, La mere Jacquette. When Josephine left Brittany, she went first to Paris where she became the student of Henri Paul Pellaprat, France's kitchen god. She...

 
In the past, summer days for children were not organized by adults. They were idle days, which is to say, kids were free to figure out what the world offered. The world was the lake, woods, house, porch, or the distance you could cover on foot or bike.
Occasionally someone would get the idea to collect the kids to pick berries. Everyone was given a bucket and shepherded to wherever an adult thought they remembered finding good berries in previous summers. The berries always seemed plentiful. I don’t have a memory...