If you’ve never heard of green garlic before (or scapes, which are kind of similar but are in fact, different), they’re actually pretty interesting. Unfortunately, you probably won’t find them at your grocery store, but you should have better luck at a farmer’s market. Simply put, green garlic is garlic before it has fully matured into a

1. Roasted Garlic Chicken Soup Garlic isn’t one of those things that gets the spotlight...
2. Creamy garlic pasta For some of my dishes, I like to have a...
3. Chicken Saltimbocca If I have sage on hand, this is one of...

Don’t let the simplicity in preparing this dish fool you–the flavor is fantastic and it would fare well if you’re cooking for guests. The chicken is simple–nicely browned, tender on the inside–and the sauce has a rich tang, accentuated by the anisey, spicy notes you get from tarragon (a great foil to completing this sauce). Heck, I could enjoy the sauce straight and could definitely see using it in pasta dishes (if thinned out with a bit of stock). There’s a mix of smooth dijon and the gritty texture you get from coarsely stone ground mustard (which I also

1. Smoked drumsticks in Tarragon Citrus Honey Mustard sauce Sure we’re kind of late into summer, but sloppy fingerfood...
2. Veal Chops with Mustard Cream Sauce Regular readers of this site know I have a taste...
3. Creamy Mustard Pasta When I think pasta, my head usually gets stuck on...

The sauce reminded me a bit of a hearty squash soup I had made last season. It had sweet, smoky, spicy notes that warm you from the inside in the way that you just crave during the autumn months with touches of thyme and anisey flavors. The lasagna treatment for this sauce worked wonderfully and didn’t let me down in the comfort food department. The gooey,

1. Pastitsio Pastitsio is a Greek pasta dish that is both fun...
2. Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with White Beans and Sausage Aside from cinnamony apple desserts, I think there’s another dish...
3. Lasagna Bolognese I love pasta, but there’s a special place in my...

The foundation of this dish is wild mushroom agnolotti (think criminis, portabello, and cheese stuffed ravioli), tossed with butter sautéed asparagus, peas, and prosciutto, all topped with a goat cheese cream sauce to bring everyone together. The total combination was excellent and very “springy” (yay, just what I wanted). A forkful of everything yielded a complex set of flavors I would best describe as earthy,

1. Smoked Ham, Asparagus, Peas, and Swiss Chard Paella Like I’ve said before, a strongly flavored stock is key...
2. Trio of Ravioli–veal, mushrooms, and goat cheese I was very excited about making pasta from scratch and...
3. Fig, Fennel, and Prosciutto Pizza with a Shallot Cream Sauce The rampage of figgy foods continues! As I looked for...

The first major difference: tubular pasta instead of big sheets. I couldn’t find the authentic bucatini, so I used ziti. Then, the meat sauce isn’t a traditional bolognese, but a quicker-to-make tomato and meat based sauce highlighted by a very distinct spice blend that sounds odd but works beautifully: cinammon and allspice. This is all married by a very generous swim in a cheesy Bechamel sauce. The combination

1. Butternut Squash and Sausage Lasagna I’m not sure what it is about baked pasta dishes,...
2. Ragù alla Bolognese (Bolognese Sauce) When I was young, pasta came with one of two...
3. Lasagna Bolognese I love pasta, but there’s a special place in my...

Purists would argue that goulash is not a place for tomatoes or peppers and that all such flavor should come from the paprika (since if you didn’t know, unlike most others, this dish is very much about the paprika). I avoided the former but not so much the latter–I enjoy eating peppers more than I enjoy the approval of purists. I also furthered my love of squash by including some butternut squash in the stew. Then there’s the argument

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2. Soutzoukakia Smyrneika with Olives (Greek Lamb Meatballs) I discovered this dish at one of my favorite Greek...
3. Lamb and Red Pepper Paella If you’ve never had paella before, you’re probably thinking what’s...

I was inspired by the insights into the history and approaches to this sauce, and couldn’t resist throwing my hat into the ring as well.

1. Lasagna Bolognese I love pasta, but there’s a special place in my...
2. Veal Chops with an Herbed Pan Sauce This dish had everything going for it–its quick to prepare,...
3. Pastitsio Pastitsio is a Greek pasta dish that is both fun...

This seemed like a good idea, but I had no idea how good it was going to be. For how simple this seemed, the flavor really blew me away–this was awesome. The sauce was incredibly thick–bordering on macaroni & cheese style thick (granted, I did enrich it with a healthy portion of Parmigiano Reggiano)–and the flavor was surprisingly rich. If I had to describe it in just one word, I would say “autumn” (which means a lot in hot Florida at this time of year–I need all the reminders I can get). Despite the presence of other strong flavors (like sage),

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2. Pumpkin Gnocchi in brown butter herb sauce So it seems that a lot of people know that...
3. Pumpkin Pizza I love pizza and one of the best parts of...

I was originally inspired to try this after seeing some delicious looking Salmon Teriyaki over at Closet Cooking and I was almost shocked by how simple the basic teriyaki sauce was. It almost seemed too easy, but I figured why not just give it a shot. Tasting each component of the sauce individually, I dunno, I still had my doubts. But mixed all together, it was amazing–this was teriyaki! It was shockingly good for something so shockingly easy. Sweet, tangy, salty–it was just that wonderful familiar flavor. I tried to expand on

1. Teriyaki Chicken Burger Summer time is burger time, and now that I have...
2. Orange Chicken This is one of those Asian dishes that probably isn’t...
3. Indian-Inspired Barbecue Chicken Every now and then, I have odd cravings that don’t...

This dish is very largely inspired by Katie’s dish and I am very glad I tried it (not to mention beans in pasta, another new idea!)–as soon as we ran out, my wife demanded another batch be made promptly. I wanted something colorful and just full of earthy, vegetal flavors, so there’s a lot of that going on here: peppers, mushrooms, artichokes, kidney beans, pine nuts, etc. This was all tossed with bow-tie pasta (I usually don’t venture far away from linguine, so this made for a more “fun” looking dish), small pieces of chicken, and rich, thick,

1. Chicken in Tarragon Mustard Cream Sauce I don’t use mustard very often, but absolutely love it...
2. Creamy garlic pasta For some of my dishes, I like to have a...
3. Veal Chops with Mustard Cream Sauce Regular readers of this site know I have a taste...