I have a major weakness for french food. Part of the reason is I get to make fries and call them frites. But the real reason is that the food is so rich and fresh and simple. This is exactly how I fell in love with pommes frites from a street vendor in paris. The herbs were a little different, I think tarragon made an appearance, but the concept was the same. That being crispy frites with salty, buttery, herbs slightly melted on top. I think I’ll name my first born or next kitten Pommes Frites, it just rolls right of the tongue. No?

Sliced into even pieces. Cover with cold water and refrigerate while preparing butter. This extracts some of the starch and makes for the crispiest of frites.

Melt all the ingredients together, adjust salt, pour into a bowl and refrigerate while cooking frites. Fry potatos untill golden and drain onto paper towels. Serve with a delicious little bit of the parsley butter. Repeat after me: ‘frites’.

{tags pommes frites parsley butter recipe}

…found the cake to be a fire code violation. Whateves.

{tags weekend cat blogging cute kitty}

{tags happy birthday, i love you.}

I know, another soup! This is not just any old soup though. This one is about to take charge. Just you wait you, after reading this a seed will be planted, subliminally it will grow throughout the day, untill you find yourself chopping leeks at home. What, when did you even go to the store? Freaky right?

In the immortal words of Hanz or Franz “Listen to me now, hear me later”, don’t ask why or how, just make this soup. …..make the soup….make the soup….make the soup….

Before you start, know that the measurements for this are all totally up to you. I used 3 zucchini and 2 leeks but any proportion would work great. Use whatever you have and it’s impossible to mess up. Roughly chop cleaned leeks, just the white parts, and zucchini into a pan. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and pour in stock up to 1″ below the veggies. Cover and simmer untill very tender. Add milk so its about 1″ over the top of the veggies, a little more salt and pepper, and then blend with an immersion mixer or whatever blender you have. The consistency should not be totally smooth and still have bits of leek and zucchinni throughout. The flavor of the leeks come accross sweet and the milk mellows the whole thing out to a creamy perfection. Please enjoy!

{tags leek zucchinni soup recipe}

The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler which means “to blow up”. Or if you prefer, the American version of “blowed up” or “go Boom!”. This one definately went boom, I’m amazed that my first attempt at a soufflé of any kind actually worked. The flavor of the butternut comes accross so strong against the the eggs. The result is a light and fluffy, mild and savory, slightly sweet and buttery, delicious soufflé of dreams. A butternutty cloud awaits you, what are you waiting for?

**Slice squash lengthwise, scoop seeds out, drizzle with olive oil, and bake at 350°F for a little over an hour untill tender. Let cool, scoop squash out of the rinds, and mash well or puree.

Melt butter over a low heat, wisk in flour untill all lumps are gone. Add milk and simmer 2-4 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat, stir in squash puree untill smooth, and let cool. Season with salt and pepper and stir in egg yolks.

Beat eggwhites, dash vinegar, and pinch of salt until stiff. Fold the eggs and squash mixture together. Pour into lightly buttered individual or a large souffle dish and bake 40-50 minutes at 350°F. Serve immediately.

{tags butternut squash soufflé recipe}

I’m about to admit some things publicly that might make you a bit uncomfortable. First of all, every morning I listen to Ryan Seacrest’s radio show which I find highly entertaining. He seriously cracks me up. Secondly, I clip coupons. It’s part of my Sunday morning ritual. I run out for the paper, drink my coffee, and see what I can get virtually free. Yes, virtually free. Because, you see, my local grocery store has double coupons every day of the week. That means anytime I so happen to have a $1.00 off coupon for say, eggs, I get $2.00 off and pay unreasonably low prices for a dozen organic eggs! This is huge people. Sometimes, I save so much money it’s just plain crazy. I get so excited, I call Chris immediatly upon checkout and the phone call goes something like this:

The extra cream inside the coupon cupcake (mmm cupcakes) is that once you use a coupon for a single brand, you get another coupon for a competitor’s brand with your reciept. Which means, lest I spell it out for you brainiacs, that once a coupon is used for a particular item like laundry detergent, you will never pay full price for laundry detergent again. I repeat, you’ll never pay full price AGAIN!

If I say coupon one more time the word will melt away into meaningless nonsense, but I must go on. This morning Seacrest of all people was yammering on about how his grocery store was doing away with double coupons and how devastated he was because on Sundays he too goes through the paper with a penny pinching vengence. Thats not all either, there are other more embarrassing commonalities between Ryan Seacrest and me but thats beside the point right now. Or maybe thats exactly the point, who would have thought he and I to be such kindred spirits?

Please enjoy the very real Verified Total Savings Graph for a detailed analysis. Powerpoint presentation available for download upon request.

{tags extreme savings analysis}

{tags venice}

I am a long-time devotee to the custards, cremes, and puddings of the world. So much so that if one were to run for office I might even become politically conscious. But since that is unlikely to happen in this social climate, cracking the sugary glass on a fresh Creme Brulée is how I’ll continue to pledge my allegience.

This is my first attempt and the recipe is as unorthodox as it is delicious. People of the blogesphere, I give you berries and I give you cream. I ask only for your open minds!

Preheat oven to 300°F and lightly butter the dishes you are going to use. I used a mixture of white china ramekins and pretty little teacups fora total of 7. Place some berries on the bottom of each, I used 3 blueberries and 2 raspberries for each one.

In a heavy pan heat cream to luke warm, slowly add eggs whisking constantly. Continue to whisk, add sugar, vanilla, and whisk over low heat untill mixture thickens to the point where it throughly coats a spoon. Remove from heat.

Divide the custard among the buttered cups to cover the berries, place on a baking sheet, and bake for 20-25m @ 300°F. Let them cool down on the counter, cover loosly with waxpaper, and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Just before serving with coffee, spoon a thin layer of superfine sugar atop each Creme Brulée and then torch untill caramelized.

{tags creme brulée berries recipe}

Osso Buco is one of those traditional italian dishes that every once and a while I long for. It’s perfect Sunday cooking since it takes some time, but worth every minute. Furthermore, I feel it is my duty as a proper italian american to inform you perverts that the literal translation of osso buco is “bone hole”. There, I said it. Now heres the recipe:

Melt butter in a large pan, sautee onions for a few minutes. Lightly dust veal with flour, set heat to high, and arrange them in one layer in the pan. Brown on each side only turning once. Add carrots, celery, garlic, wine to deglaze the pan, and reduce. Add salt, pepper, and tomatos. Turn heat down to a simmer and gently mix sauce with a wooden spoon making sure the veal is coated. Cover and simmer for 1 – 2 hours.

Towards the end I usually turn the heat way down low and let them braise covered for an extra 30 minutes or so, which makes for a super tender Osso Buco. We eat ours with plain polenta. Creamy and delicious with the sauce, this is total Italian soul food.

{tags osso buco veal recipe}

{tags westside somewhere}