I love food. I really do. I love trying new things and experiencing new flavors and textures. I love finding the limits of my palate and visiting that edge regularly. The first time I try a new food is like a little adventure that I embrace with eyes (and mouth) wide open, both feet forward, ready for whatever it brings. This is how I found myself on Friday night starting down a piece of sea urchin sushi.
Read MoreShrimp with Beurre Blanc
While I was at work today, my counterpart whipped up a beurre blanc sauce. This is another one of those things that you can do yourself at home if you know a couple of things.
Read MoreWhat to Do When the Fishmonger Won't Fillet Your Fish, and How to Prepare Fava beans
There is nothing better than fresh food, especially fresh fish. This weekend we took the drive down to the HMart in Ellicott City with a good friend to visit their seafood counter for some fresh tilapia. The fish was beautiful, as usual - plump and clear-eyed and silver. And the really nice thing about the fish counter at the HMart is that they will clean it up for you and even offer several levels of cleaning. We usually go for gutted, scaled, and filleted and end up with pristine fish. At this week's visit, we were informed that the trained professionals do not fillet tilapia. They did do a fine job of the rest of the cleaning, though, and packed our fish in ice for us for the long drive back to Harford County.
Read MoreMary Cooks: Shrimp Burritos
Here's a quick and easy summer meal that comes together fast and doesn't heat up the whole house. By keeping this burrito simple, the light flavor of the shrimp and fresh salsa come through for a satisfying dinner that doesn't leave you feeling bloated. As if the heat weren't already enough.
Read MoreMary Cooks: Shrimp Cakes with Wasabi Tartar Sauce
Last night's dinner included a potato rosti that yielded five servings. For tonight's dinner, I was looking for something that would pair well with that leftover potato. And where I come from, there are few things that go better with fried potato than fried fish. Earlier today over my morning coffee, I found a recipe for shrimp cakes on the Foodista blog and knew it was dinner.
Read MoreMary Cooks: Fish Cakes and Lily Bulb
I love fish, and I especially love fish cakes. I found a very simple recipe on AllRecipes.com . It claims to be Thai, but is also easy to follow and does not contain any ingredients I do not already have on hand. I adjusted the recipe for the two fish fillets I set out to defrost this morning, but otherwise followed this fairly closely
Read MoreMini Po'Boy Sandwiches
February is a cold and dreary month, shortness being its best quality, for who could take more than 28 days of it? As the hours of sunlight increase, we know that spring will eventually arrive if only that cold wind would just go away. I am huddled in my office looking at a crisp blue sky and a yard full of bright sunshine and am not taken in - it is hovering around the freezing mark today. Even the cat has taken refuge in my bed, having figured out how to turn on the electric blanket. Who among us can blame her?
Read MoreTraditional Bouillabaisse
One of the concepts I try to convey in my blog is that cooking is an art, and that the culinary arts are approachable. The more advanced artistry of preparing truly wonderful food can be achieved by the home cook with some planning, a sharp knife, and a little time. And one of my favorite culinary classics is bouillabaisse. I have presented this in the past in a quick form that can be done in the evening after work using items many of us have readily on hand. This is an approach that has worked for us well in the past. This weekend, however, we decided to take a more classic approach and attempted to create it as presented in the LaRousse Gastronomique.
Read MoreHow to Make Bouillabaisse Out of Common Household Items
Bouillabaisse is the quintessential fish dish. Originating in France, it has an air of sophisticated gourmet. It is a complex collection of flavors and exotic seafood that generally takes the better part of an afternoon to pull together. That is, if you can find all the ingredients.
Read MoreMary Cooks: The Easiest Fish Ever
There's been surprisingly little cooking going on at my house. It all started last Sunday. My counterpart and I were feeling industrious after taking down the shed the previous weekend and set about clearing the yard. We sprung for a professional one-handed chain saw (which I have dubbed Bruce) to help remove creeper and dead tree limbs that would otherwise be out of reach with a heavier, two-handed saw. Things overhead. One such dead limb came crashing down, bounced off the ground, and hit my beloved right in the kisser. I did what any good wife would do. I put a bag of frozen peas on his face and drove him to the ER. Luckily, there was no concussion, no infection, no lost teeth. Just teeth that were very very loose. Seven stitches, two Percacets, and a tetanus shot later, he was ready to go home. But not ready to eat anything
Read MoreHoliday Traditions: How Fried Oysters Came to Appalachia
Since moving to the Mid-Atlantic region, I have often wondered why folks from West Virginia eat oysters this time of year, oysters not being native to the Appalachian Mountains. A former Baltimorean back home in West Virginia provides the history of this tradition, as well as her own personal family history. Her family served them at Christmas, but I've also met folks who included them with Thanksgiving and New year's dinner. It's so well-written that I'm just going to copy it verbatim from the email she sent me.
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