... a spirited celebration of regional food and culinary craft, season by season, with original recipes by Susan S. Bradley
Croque Monsieur is the ultimate ham and cheese sandwich. It’s just the kind of indulgent, comfort food you start yearning for when spring is on hiatus somewhere else and you suspect summer may never come.
And yet, for all it’s decadence, it’s a simple sandwich really—bread, ham, cheese, and the kicker—a creamy, dreamy Gruyere cheese sauce. How could it get any better?
Pesto season is upon us once again. Hallelujah! Last year, I hit the test kitchen for several days and developed a balanced, sure-fire formula and five wonderful pestos: Rosemary Hazelnut Pesto, Cilantro Ginger Pesto, Herb Garden Pesto, Basil Arugula Pesto, and Basil Olive Pesto. I thought those recipes would suffice for years. Silly me.
To set the record straight and to put my mind at rest, as near as I can determine after years of looking for the ultimate and absolute distinction between scones and shortcake, there is none.
Shortcake is a lightly sweetened cream biscuit–which is exactly what a scone is. So if you can make a perfect scone (and YOU CAN after reading The Best Scones in the Entire Universe), you can also make perfect shortcake.
There’s something about January that sends me running to Mexican, Latin American, and Southwest cookbooks. Perhaps it’s because the sun has disappeared from the Northwest, and I suspect it headed to Cabos San Lucas without me. Laughing all the way.
Just knowing that there are lots of folks basking in the sun as I huddle in front of the fireplace, firing up their charcoal grills as mine sits forlorn on the freezing deck, and swishing their lucky feet in a cool swimming pool as mine are buried in 3 layers of wonder fiber makes me want to smother everything I eat with a fiery chile sauce and pretend I’m wintering in Mexico.
This hearty, almost meaty, sauce is one of the first dishes I make each fall in the Northwest. In September, farmers markets are overflowing with eggplant, bell peppers, and ripe heirloom tomatoes. The colors and flavors are amazing together.
I created this sauce as a green chile flavor element for the Green Chile Mac & Cheese Throw Down (which will post next) and then got to thinking how useful it would be in a good number of other dishes. For instance, it would be dynamite served with grilled fish or chicken or as an adjunct to enchiladas. It could also be used as a base for a silky soup, either hot or cold. I’d love to see it spiked with lime and served as a kind of Mexican Gazpacho.
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