Whole Roasted Chicken

Natalya and I are huge fans of buying whole rotisserie chickens from the grocery store, especially when we are feeling too lazy to cook.  Sometimes we will incorporate the rotisserie chicken as part of a full meal, but more often we end up just picking at it as a quick snack.  One day, we were … Continue reading

Lemon-Dill Halibut

It was a Sunday evening and Natalya and I were embarking on another complex series of recipes from Kei (Harissa Salsa with Housemade Ricotta bruschetta and preparing the brine for Roasted Chicken).  We knew it was probably going to take hours for those recipes and we would still need a main dish for dinner.  I … Continue reading

Housemade Ricotta

When I told a friend I was trying to make my own ricotta, she responded: “Leave a cup of milk in your fridge for 90 days and BOOM!  Ricotta cheese.” – Shanmei So that is not really how one makes ricotta and I highly do not recommend trying it to see what happens…  Ricotta, which … Continue reading

Poached Salmon

Jen and I have been on a greasy, MSG-ridden (yet delicious) Asian food binge for a few weeks, so we decided to cook something a little more healthy for lunch this week. Enter… poached salmon. You boil it, so how can it possibly be anything but healthy?! Jen perused poached salmon recipes on Allrecipes.com and … Continue reading

Roasted Corn Kernels with Garlic Butter

I found this recipe while searching for a quick way to roast corn kernels without using the oven, as I was simply making this as a garnish to my Chilled Corn Velouté.  Granted, roasting corn is super simple: peel the husks back from corn, baste with seasoning, and then pop them in the oven at … Continue reading

Baby Greens with a Lemon Vinaigrette

I made this as a garnish for my Seared Scallops and Corn Velouté dish, but my bowl was so small that I couldn’t really garnish this as the recipe intended.  I just ended up snacking on the salad as a side dish, and I really enjoyed the tangy simplicity of this vinaigrette. Natalya and I … Continue reading

Seared Scallops with Corn Velouté

“Seared scallops are very simple to make into a blissful crustacean eat if you follow the rules and don`t over cook it.”  Now every time Kei tells me a recipe is “simple,” he proceeds to detail at least 2 pages of instructions that will take 2 hours to prep and 2 hours to cook… his … Continue reading

Chilled Corn Velouté

When my chef friend Kei sent me this recipe, I immediately asked him: “What the %&*# are you having me cook?”  Every time Kei sends me a new recipe, I feel like I am studying a new language as I am constantly looking up the definitions of every term, dish, and technique he details.  I … Continue reading

Tuna Pasta Salad

I think of pasta salad the same way I do of fried rice; a way to get rid of random leftovers in your refrigerator.  After making a ginormous pot of chicken noodle soup (also a great way to make full use of a chicken carcass), I had some leftover vegetables and cooked pasta.  Normally, I … Continue reading

Brussels Sprouts with Mushrooms

It is unfortunate Brussels sprouts have such a stigma in popular culture; I grew up thinking “Brussels sprouts” were synonymous with “ew stinky” as that is what everyone would say while wrinkling their noses.  And by “everyone” I really mean characters from television shows.  Due to this misguided train of thought, I had never tasted … Continue reading