Outpost 505

This is such a beautiful and simple meal – it just takes a little time.  It was also a really good excuse to break out our new butter-yellow enameled cast iron pot that we received as a wedding gift.  Into the pot went two chicken legs, a handful of cherry tomatoes from the garden and [...]

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I sort of feel bad about having people over for dinner these days. It’s just so damned hot in our house, and there’s no escaping it, no matter how precisely we angle the fans.  So kudos to Dave and Juli, who braved the heat to hang out with us tonight!
I had intended to make [...]

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Tonight I used up the last jar of the tomatoes I canned last summer.  The timing was just right on this, as 2nds tomatoes have been appearing at the market the last few weeks, and I suspect we’re right on the cusp of a full-on tomato explosion from both the market and our garden.  Nonetheless, [...]

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It was too hot and we were too hungry to heat up the kitchen and then wait the hours necessary to roast the chicken I picked up at Back 40 yesterday.  After some rifling through cookbooks, I hit on this recipe from Serving Up the Harvest, a pretty solid cookbook organized around the typical [...]

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When I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a couple of years ago, I was amused by the lengths that Barbara Kingsolver and her neighbors went to in order to get rid of their excess summer squashed – both because it was funny, and because I love summer squashes of all sorts and can’t imagine having excess, [...]

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Remember that pasta we had at Logan a few months ago?  Asparagus and penne in a light cream sauce?  I think that’s what I had in mind tonight, except that I wanted to use up a couple of chicken breasts as well.  I sliced the chicken breasts and the asparagus into penne-sized pieces, then browned [...]

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Carrie Anne posted earlier in the week asking for strategies for getting meals on the table – one of mine was the roast chicken used in multiple meals throughout the week.  And look!  I practice what I preach!
Tonight’s dinner used the last of Monday night’s chicken – or what would’ve been the last, had there [...]

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We were given a copy of Michael Symon’s Live to Cook, the first cookbook by the Cleveland restaurateur and Iron Chef America personality of the same name.  We keep talking about going to Symon’s two restaurants in Cleveland, but the closest we’ve gotten is tonight’s macaroni and cheese.

Yeah, yeah, I know this isn’t the most [...]

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Roasting a chicken is one of those things that just doesn’t seem possible on a weeknight.  We tend to eat dinner early – usually around 6 – which doesn’t leave much time for heating up the oven, letting the chicken come to room temperature, and then roasting for 90 minutes or more, depending on the [...]

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I don’t know what’s happening, but I just haven’t been feeling the cooking love this last week.  Maybe this is the dénouement of the exciting wedding weekend?  Maybe I’m feeling spoiled after a few weeks of eating out on trips and with visitors?  I dunno.
The net result, though, is that we plan meals and then [...]

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