I love Greek gyros, so when I saw this recipe in the Top Chef Cookbook, I knew I had to eat it.  Though completely different in flavor, gyros and these Moroccan Cubanos are similar in spirit – a spiced meat with vegetables wrapped in a warm pita.  It’s freakin’ awesome.
For Top Chef watchers, this recipe [...]

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I’d never heard of ras al-hanout until I decided to make Moroccan Cubanos (recipe coming Monday, via the Top Chef Cookbook).
Ras al-hanout is a Moroccan/North African/Middle Eastern spice blend.  Per wikipedia, the name means “head of the shop” in Arabic, which refers to it being a mixture of a shop’s best spices.
There is no single recipe, [...]

Posted in Food Profiles, Recipes 1 Comment »

I recently made chili for the first time, but instead of giving you the recipe, I’d like to discuss the components of chili to get a better understanding of what it is and how it’s made.
The recipe I followed was fairly simple (All-American Beef Chili from the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook).  I’ve also looked [...]

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(Note: Images are being difficult.  They show up sometimes but not others – very frustrating.  Click through to see – they are pretty! -andy)
One of my favorite books to cook from is Pam Andersen’s How to Cook Without a Book (oh the irony!).  Her formulas and recipes are simplified as much as possible but are [...]

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I was on the phone with my brother last week when he told me about an arrabiata tomato sauce he made.  For those unacquainted, arrabiata means “angry” in Italian – it is a spicy tomato sauce.
He told me how good it was, mentioning it had over 10 ingredients.  I’m sure the sauce was incredible, but the downside [...]

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