The Bitten Word

Asiago Potatoes

Gourmet (May 2008)

"You Asked For It" is a recurring feature in Gourmet, where readers write in and request recipes for their favorite dishes from restaurants around the country. It's a great idea for a column.  Many of us have dishes we love at our favorite restaurants.  Personally, we've never asked for a recipe in a restaurant.  It seems unseemly somehow, like asking your great-granny if that's her real hair or a wig. 

There are many recipes we'd like to request, but only two we've requested so far.  This weekend, we ate at Paolo's in Georgetown, and had their amazing Cayenne and Espresso Steak Salad -- always one of our favorites.  The other recipe we've requested is the Tempura Green Beans from The Red Cat in NYC.   

C'mon Gourmet, help us out! 

Pasta with Creamy Tomato Sauce

Cook's Illustrated (May/June 2008)

On a recent weekday night, I was home alone -- a little tired and cranky from the day.  The weather in our nation's capital was still cool. 

And I was in the mood for only one thing:  a big bowl of pasta. 

It was the perfect time to make Cook's Creamy Tomato Sauce. 

Oatmeal Snack Cake with Broiled Icing

Cook's Illustrated (May/June 2008)

We're big fans of oatmeal.  Just this year we discovered the steel cut variety (amazing).  And oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are one of our all-time favorite desserts.  (Well, in truth, only one of us loves them, and the other is always willing to humor him.)

These Southern boys had never heard of Oatmeal Snack Cake, but it sounded right up our alley. 

Salmon with Agrodolce Sauce

Gourmet (April 2008)

 

Unsurprisingly, Gourmet's April Italian issue is chock-a-block with delicious looking recipes.  There are many that we're dying to try.  For instance, we'll save Oven Crespella with Nutella Sauce for when guests come over. 

Others, like the Octopus Salad, will be amazing when we're feeling a bit adventurous (and maybe have access to fresh octopus, even though the recipe calls for frozen). 

And we've been itching to make fresh pasta.  (Confession: We bought a pasta rolling machine well over a year ago and have only used it once).

These recipes -- though I'm sure they're amazing -- are also a big commitment and not doable for us on a work night.  Enter Salmon with Agrodolce Sauce. 

Granny Ragland's Chocolate Gravy

When I was growing up in Tennessee, I loved going to visit my grandparents. Exploring the old barn in the field behind their house. Running around the cool, dark basement filled with Pa's tools and Granny's canning supplies. Horsing around with my cousins on the rope swing in the backyard.

But the best part was waking up to a house already filling with breakfast smells -- eggs, country ham -- and walking into the kitchen to find that Granny had made a batch of biscuits and her famous chocolate gravy.

Last year, when Granny asked if I wanted anything in particular for Christmas, I told her I would love it if she would just write down some of her favorite recipes. On Christmas Day, when she handed me a stack of handwritten recipe cards, I knew without looking which one would be on top -- this delicious chocolate gravy.

Mexican Pulled Pork (Carnitas) Tacos with Corn-and-Red-Onion Salsa

Cook's Illustrated (May/June 2008)

Though we had mixed results with fish tacos, the latest Cook's Illustrated inspired us to get back on the taco bandwagon.  It wasn't hard to convince us, seeing as the though the recipe uses pulled pork, made from braised pork butt.  Not sure what a pork butt is?   Neither were we.

Turns out, a pork butt -- sometimes also called a Boston butt -- is the upper part of the pork shoulder. We were surprised to find that a 4-pound pork butt at Safeway was only $.99 a pound, making this dish affordable as well as extremely tasty!

Easter: The Perfect Carrot Cake

We made this fantastically delicious carrot cake a little while back, but we're just now getting around to writing about it.

We wanted something sweet to cap off our Easter brunch, and a carrot cake seemed like just the thing. The recipe we found, from The Gourmet Cookbook, turned out to be perfect.

It's easy (especially if you have a food processor), impressive (especially if your guests are a little tipsy from a three-hour brunch) and incredibly, incredibly delicious (period).

Fish Tacos with Salsa Verde and Radish Salad

Everyday Food (April 2008)

The photo accompanying Everyday Food's recipe for Fish Tacos is -- as you can see below with the recipe -- gorgeous. The contrast of the radish salad with the salsa verde, piled on fresh tilapia in lightly toasted corn tortillas, makes for a very impressive dish. 

As it turns out, this is a dish that is looks a lot better than it tastes.

Herb-and-Lemon Roasted Chicken

Food & Wine (April 2008)

Every cook seems to have a favorite roast chicken recipe.   Ours happens to be the Barefoot Contessa's lemon and garlic version.  There are two main things we love about her recipe:  It's terribly easy (no flipping, very little prep) and the silky, meaty gravy you make from the pan juices is outstanding.  It's without a doubt our favorite Sunday night meal.

Even though we love Contessa, Food & Wine's "Perfecting Roast Chicken" feature made us excited to try a new dish.  There are four recipes included -- herb-and-lemon, moroccan, ginger-roasted, and curry-roasted -- and all sounded delicious.