Quite a few years ago when we were making frequent trips to and from Chattanooga we happened upon Lugoff House Of Pizza & Subs in the town of Lugoff, South Carolina. We were very impressed with the pizza and noted that their menu offered much more than just pizza and subs. Last weekend we were … More Forty Acre Rock & Lugoff House of Pizza & Subs
In my last post I mentioned starting a batch of idli/dosa batter by washing and soaking rice, urad dal and fenugreek seeds. Here is the rest of the story: After the rice, dal and fenugreek seeds had soaked in water most of the day I blended them into a smooth consistency and combined all in … More Idli From Scratch
I generally avoid posting about more than one thing at a time, but there was a lot happening on this day. First thing in the morning I started a batch of pickled (fermented) onions. I sliced sweet onions, packed them into a jar, added kosher salt at a ratio of 2% salt per weight of … More A Break From The Cold
Earlier this week I realized that russets are my least favorite kind of potatoes. I had ordered a baked potato with all the fixings (except for bacon) at a pretty good restaurant and was struck by how dry it was even though it came with butter and sour cream. I guess that’s why there is … More Baked Potato With Mushrooms & Spinach
I got hold of some fresh looking green beans and wanted to use them in conjunction with pearl onions and black walnuts. I built on the idea throughout the morning, prepping the ingredients at odd moments between other activities as they occurred to me. Black walnuts have a strong flavor which I thought might … More Rice, Green Beans, Mushrooms & Caramelized Pearl Onions, Black Walnuts & Peppers
I love wild hickory nuts. The extremely difficult task of removing the nut meat from the shell makes the unique flavor all the more precious. The last couple of years I have invested much time and effort gathering and shelling wild hickory nuts. To extend the benefits of my labor I have used most of … More Hickory Nut, Mushroom & Rice Stuffed Anaheim Chiles
It was play day in the kitchen, when I can pursue whatever harebrained, off the wall idea that comes to mind. I am retired, so I can do that if I want to. The idea was to transform Brussels sprouts into a crunchy flavorful topping to sprinkle over anything from pizza to mashed potatoes. I … More Crunchy Shaved Brussels Sprouts Topping
This is one of those dishes that evolve from a sketchy idea into a delicious meal. I spent some time this morning shelling and lightly roasting wild hickory nuts I had gathered this past fall. Time spent with this tedious task passed quickly listening to Tuba Skinny. As I was prying the nut meats … More Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Sweet Potatoes With Orange/Hickory Nut Glaze
The Sweet Sapphire grapes had been in the refrigerator for well over a week and I didn’t want a single one of them to go to waste. I cut each one into two or three pieces and put them into a pot on the stove without any added water, or any added anything, and let … More Nothing But Grapes
A Mexican restaurant we used to frequent would bring three different salsas in carafes to the table along with the complimentary chips. All three were excellent salsas, but our favorite was the salsa verde which obviously had avocado as an ingredient. Despite being tempered with avocado it was the most picante of the three. Since … More Salsa/Guac
