Category Archives: Cooking At Home

Found Salad

A lot of heavy food was consumed over the holidays. Prime Rib, Roast Tenderloin, Creme Brulee. Heavy. It was all good, but I am looking forward to eating at the other end of the spectrum. A salad is about as polar opposite as you can get. This one was created after a scavenger hunt in the back of my refrigerator: Romaine, Grilled Chicken, Cherry Tomatoes, Croutons and a Lemon Vinaigrette.

Antonelli’s Hyde Park Cheese Shop

Sexy looking, huh? Well, just you wait. You are looking at the new home of Kendall and John Antonelli’s Hyde Park cheese shop. The idea started where most do, on a beach in Granada. Two years ago, on their honeymoon, John questioned his CPA career path. Since starting a Grilled Cheese Club in college, cheese has always been on his mind. The ground work for the business began with a cheese boot camp at Murray’s in New York, then Kerbey Lane in Austin and finally an internship in France.

Testing Creme Brulee Tops

Sorry, I missed you yesterday. I was on a hunger strike trying to persuade the Food Network to cancel Semi Home Cooking. The good news is it ended in a draw. The Food Network agreed to not cut Semi Home Cooking and I agreed to start eating again.

Check out these mini cast iron pots I received for Christmas! The first thing I made with them was Creme Brulee for two. A single person could eat one, but you would need to have a defibrillator handy. Creme Brulee has nothing to do with skinny: heavy cream, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla. I guess the vanilla is the ‘diet’ ingredient. It tasted great, but as you can see from the above image, the sugar shell on top left something to be desired.

Pasta with Leeks and Artichokes

Good dinner to keep your stomach warm. Fresh pasta is a gift. Dried pasta is cheap and easy. But, so was that ‘friend’ you dated sophomore year. The mix: five eggs and four cups of flour. Painfully easy, and so is the flavoring: artichokes and leeks. Simmer them, lightly, with Panko bread crumbs in butter. Once the mix has cooked down and firmed up, dump in the pasta (and a little pasta water if you need to thin it out).