I always keep a vacuum-sealed beef roast in the freezer. (Usually there's a pork roast right next to it.) With two hours notice I can have it on the table. Sure, it's better fresh, but it's an easy thing to keep for emergencies. As soon as as you decide you're going to make it, put it in the sink -- still in the vacuum pack -- and fill the sink with hot water. Don't worry that you'll cook it. The center will be so cold that the outside will barely get soft. For a really large roast you might … [Read more...]
How To Make Pasta
March 11, 2008 (Updated March 24, 2014) by
(If you think you've seen this before, you're right. It's been updated with a couple more photos.) Making fresh pasta is like renovating the kitchen before selling your house: it always pays off. And like renovating the kitchen, it takes a little work to get to the payoff. The upside is that once you've learned the technique it's so easy to do you'll keep finding excuses to make it again. The simplest version is a basic egg pasta. This is what you'll get in Italian restaurants ... and the … [Read more...]
How To Make Irish Soda Bread
February 4, 2008 (Updated March 23, 2014) by
This isn't the classic, plain bread you would eat with dinner. It's more of a dessert bread, sweet, with raisins. Feel free to leave out the raisins and the sugar on top if you want to make it as a dinner bread. … [Read more...]
Polish hot sausage hash browns
January 14, 2008 (Updated March 24, 2014) by
[NOTE: This recipe appeared in the Project Foodie Lefotever Tuesdays #11.] My wife let me sleep in Sunday morning while she made breakfast for the kids. Unfortunately, I've taught the girls to like real food, so instead of cereal they finished off all the eggs in the house. (I feel sorry in advance for the boys who will eventually date my daughters. Instead of Burger King, they'll have to take them to Hellreigel's.) I opened the fridge to see what we had. Hmm, half a baked potato left over … [Read more...]