This soup was a delicious way to start a meal. It looks deceptively simple (like any other butternut squash soup), but has a surprisingly complex flavor. The pear added an almost unnameable but distinct tangy sweetness while the peppers and assortment of spices lent an incredibly full flavored back drop to the whole experience. I didn’t want to stick with the usual assortment of “pumpkin pie spices” that seem… click to read more…

1. Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with White Beans and Sausage Aside from cinnamony apple desserts, I think there’s another dish...
2. Butternut Squash Gumbo Creole cooking is a wonderful thing–you’ve got traditional Mediterranean influences...
3. Butternut Squash and Sausage Lasagna I’m not sure what it is about baked pasta dishes,...

If you’re like I was and have never had falafel, they’re actually pretty simple: a ball/patty of coarsely ground, dried chickpeas with a mix of herbs, vegetables, and spices, all mixed and deep-fried to form a crisp, richly browned nugget with a tender, deliciously mealy interior. Falafel are typically served in a pita with a mix of vegetables, but having a ton of vegetables, I chose to turn this inside out and have a salad with falafel and a few pieces of pita. The falafel themselves were incredibly delicious (where have you been all my life!) with a great, herby/earthy flavor and a nice delicate, but… click to read more…

1. Pan Fried Grouper with Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce My ongoing quest to more regularly eat fish continues, but...
2. Orange Chicken This is one of those Asian dishes that probably isn’t...
3. Pasta with Sage Pumpkin Cream Sauce Pumpkins generally mean dessert in my mind. Its not like...

I was disappointed that, despite using 3 cups of pomegranate juice, the pomegranate flavor was nowhere to be found in the final dish. On the other end of the spectrum, I was also a bit dissatisfied with the apricots–they tasted great, but were too sharp and loud flavor-wise relative to the rest of the stew and seemed out of place. On my next attempt, I would try to incorporate a few other changes: add pomegranate molasses to the stew roughly 20 minutes before… click to read more…

1. Braised Lamb Shank with Sherry Blackberry Sauce After having enjoyed a rack of lamb and remembering how...
2. Pomegranate Glazed Stuffed Leg of Lamb Roast I love roasts–there’s something homey and comforting but classy about...
3. Blood Orange and Fig Braised Lamb Shanks My love for lamb is no secret. Aside from being...

For this version, I made a simple fig, apricot, and mint stuffing, rolling the leg roast tightly around it. Then, after giving the leg a good sear, the roast is basted with pomegranate juice to yield a delicious, tacky glaze. The tartness of the glaze is a great foil to the surprisingly complex, sweet stuffing. Plus, it just looks plain sexy.

The only downer was that the drippings from the roast weren’t suitable for sauce-making (the pomegranate juice takes on a burnt taste).

• ~4.5 lb boned leg of lamb
• salt
• pepper
• ground cardamom

… click to read more…

1. Stuffed Leg of Lamb with Port Cherry Sauce When you’re entertaining, you want a dish that will look...
2. Manchego-stuffed Lamb Burgers So after finishing the last of those deliciously braised lamb...
3. Spiced Port & Pomegranate Frozen Yogurt I’ve never actually had pomegranate ice cream or frozen yogurt...

Much to my delight, my gambit worked out better than I had expected. I infused the pomegranate juice with both fresh mint and green cardamom–enough to add a flavor of intrigue, but not… click to read more…

1. Cherry Frozen Yogurt with Chocolate Stracciatella Many wonderful fruits are available again as summer rolls around,...
2. Port & Melon Tapioca Pudding with Poached Figs I had ideas for this dessert, but the end result...
3. Stuffed Leg of Lamb with Port Cherry Sauce When you’re entertaining, you want a dish that will look...

I had a hard time quite pinning down what corner of the world this dish would represent, but given the strong blend of spices (star anise, cardamom, cloves) mixed with figs, it seemed somewhat middle eastern (you be the judge). Whatever is a suitable origin for this, it was delicious. I love lamb shank because there pretty much isn’t a slow cooked piece of meat that doesn’t feel homey and comforting. On the… click to read more…

1. Braised Lamb Shank with Sherry Blackberry Sauce After having enjoyed a rack of lamb and remembering how...
2. Herbed Rack of Lamb with Port Fig Sauce Lamb is a wonderful meat that lends itself to many...
3. Manchego-stuffed Lamb Burgers So after finishing the last of those deliciously braised lamb...

If you’re like me, the name of this dish seems a bit confusing when combined with the photo. Creamy almond sauce evokes images of a delicate, light-tannish colored, velvetty sauce. Well, it started out that way, but the end result is a lot thicker, almost to the point of adding a tacky crust to the meat (which I was… click to read more…

1. Lamb Chops with Blueberry Sauce If you’re a regular reader, you may have noticed my...
2. Braised Lamb Shank with Sherry Blackberry Sauce After having enjoyed a rack of lamb and remembering how...
3. Herbed Rack of Lamb with Port Fig Sauce Lamb is a wonderful meat that lends itself to many...

I began by breaking down a whole chicken. I strangely enjoy this and seem to get better at it every time I do it, so if this is something that intimidates you, there’s only one way to get better at it so do it! With the chicken in more manageable pieces, I then braised it in a flavorful broth of wine, balsamic, honey, leek, herbs, and figs. The result was absolutely delicious–the chicken was incredibly tender and the sauce was sweet, honeyed, with a surprisingly well-rounded, balanced, full flavor. I had some doubts when I started, but as the aromas wafted through the… click to read more…

1. Apple Chicken Curry I know this one sounds like an odd combination, but...
2. Fig, Fennel, and Prosciutto Pizza with a Shallot Cream Sauce The rampage of figgy foods continues! As I looked for...
3. Moroccan Lemon & Olive Chicken This is my second venture into the world of Moroccan...

The cardamom-honey ice cream custard-base really stole the show–it was intense, just the right creamy texture, sweet, and just out of the ordinary. Cardamom is one of my favorite spices that really is beyond my ability to describe–it works so well in savory and sweet applications, kind of like cinnamon–and in this case, it really gave the ice cream an incredible flavor backbone.

Combined with chunks of baklava, you had a great contrast visually, texturally, and flavorally (go, made up words, go!)–crunchy, cinnamon spiced nuts, delicate, flakes of buttery pastry,… click to read more…

1. Baklava Depending on where you hang your hat, baklava might mean...
2. Floral Mango Ice Cream with Pistachio My new toy is still new and exciting, so despite...
3. Vanilla Bourbon Butter Pecan Ice Cream The campaign for delicious home-made ice cream continues on! This...

As exotic as baklava might be to some (to think, some have never had it before! If you haven’t, this goes on your dessert to-do list. Really!), making baklava is easy, albeit a bit tedious. Of course, if I didn’t use store-bought premade phyllo dough, it might not have been quite so easy . At a high level, it really amounts to layering several sheets of the delicate, paper thin phyllo dough with a light brushing of butter between each with a thicker mid-section composed… click to read more…

1. Upside-down Cardamom Praline Pear Cake This is the time of year where pears are at...
2. Poached Pear Bourbon Bread Pudding w/Candied Hazelnuts I have always loved bread pudding, but I’ve found a...
3. Blueberry Maple Ice Cream w/Brazil Nuts I decided that I’m going to stop trying to make...