Austin Food Journal

Pan chicken is a regular dish at our place. Potatoes usually ride along. As my wife is a big fan of all things potato, I am always on the hunt to improve them. I picked up an issue of Cooks Illustrated magazine and they were testing some new masher making methods. Their recommendation was to steam the potatoes. The less contact with water, I reckon, keeps the stickiness down.

I gave it a whirl. Along with my already proven food mill processing, these were the best that I have made. The mashers had more potato taste, were lighter in texture and needed less butter and milk. A new standard has been born.

Our new tomatoes are in the ground and juiced up with compost. We picked up the new plants at the Sunshine Community Gardens annual sale. The scene was a madhouse, long lines for people to get into the greenhouses. I would have hated to be one of the last two people staring at that last tomato plant. They probably ended up Indian leg wrestling for it.

My friend Frank was coming by for dinner, so I was pondering on what to make. It is nice when you have enough supplies on hand to whip up a meal without leaving the house for ingredients. I had already made the pasta and sauce the previous weekend, some chicken was defrosted, and I still had cheese from the last round of pizza. That only spells one thing, Chicken Parmesan!

A meatloaf sandwich is a wonderful thing. I like mine room temperature with crusty bread and some homemade mayonnaise.

Soft, handmade pasta and red sauce.

You can dance around what ground meats to use all day, but I think white wine and cream are the two most important ingredients of a ragu Bolognese sauce. They add the acidity and the velvety richness.