Ron's favorite: Meat in a cast iron skillet

T-bone steak with some rosemary

Blueberry Crisp

Fruity desserts are my summertime favorites.  Cobblers can be kind of heavy, so I like to do a crisp with rolled oats.  Some brown sugar, spices, fresh organic sweet California grown blueberries...delicious.

Banana Bread

Everybody likes banana bread.

Kitchen Sink Turkey Soup

When you only have time for a one pot meal.  Turkey leg and breast bone-in for stock.  Bay leaves.  Carrots.  Turnips.  Leeks.  Leftover black rice.  S&P and herbs de Provence.  Voila!

FIFA BURGER

Goalllllllll.  The world cup came around and that gave us an excuse to create a new burger.  The cheese and chives bun at Viktor Benes Bakery inside Gelson were the inspiration for our burger.

Sexy, like Cristiano Ronaldo.

Corny, like one of Ronaldo's flops.

Fresh summer eats

Farmer's Market shopping list: heirloom tomatoes, basil and grapefruit.    Objective: make a colorful light seasonal meal.

Burrata and tomato salad with basil, balsamic and salt and pepper.

Lobster tail tossed in a grapefruit white vinaigrette with chives.

Sticky Morning Buns

When chicks get together, we need pastries and champagne.  Recipe for mini morning buns with walnuts courtesy of Ina Garten.

Heather, Gina and Indy are three cool chicks I met at work who live near my house.  They came over for a summer brunch.

Gina wonders if she should eat another bun.

Ricotta souffle

Hmm.  It's Sunday morning.  What do I want for breakfast? How bout a ricotta souffle I said.  Drizzle with some powdered sugar.  Damn fine morning that turned out to be.

Malaysian Curry

One spicy nose-running meal.   Tons of chili paste, fresh chili pods, ginger and onion.  

Special ingredient: kaffir lime leaves.

After it bubbles, add coconut milk and juice.

Double, double toil and trouble; 

Fire burn, and caldron bubble

Chicken Fried Steak and biscuits with country gravy

This is how us southern girls get our curves.

battered fried steak in cast iron skillet

buttered biscuits

topped with country bacon gravy and served with cheesy noodles

Chocolate bouchons

Ohaghghghghghg.  Drool good.

Parmesan Crisp

Easiest thing in the world to make.  Toss shredded parmesan with a little salt.  Spoon them into a circle.  Bake in the oven 8 minutes 350 degrees until they're just brown.  Remove from oven and cool.  They become a crisp round.  Stack the disk on a steak.  The perfect surprise for a steak diner.

Parmesan crisp saluting rib chops and wilted spinach.

Luckiest man alive.  Handsome devil.

Homemade Linguine di Mare

Everyone reading this is a sucka!  Why?  Because you were not at my house the night I made this tasty linguine seafood dish.

This is how it all went down.  It started with the clams.  I boiled a dozen clams in an inch of water.  When they opened up, I removed the clams from the shell and put the shells back into the water.  I boiled the water down to make the seafood stock.  Then add lemon and sage into the stock and let that puppy simmer down now.

In another pot, I browned the shallots, onion, garlic in olive oil. Then I added bay scallops and calamari.  That got the party started man.  Then I added peas, diced red pepper, green onions.  Toss in the Italian parsley and parmesan cheese.  Holy flavor punch.

The stock is on the left simmering while the other party is on the right.

Then add the red peppers.

Add the linguine and let the noodles soak up the stock.

Clams go in last.

Toss in the pepper and scallions last.

Transfer to bowl. Make husband happy.

Shanghai Ribs with green beans and forbidden rice

Shanghai Ribs: Marinate the ribs in orange juice and spices for at least an hour and refrigerate.  Then lather with bbq sauce of your choice.  I used an Asian short rib sauce.  I cooked them slow and low.  You wrap the ribs in foil.  Put them in the oven for an hour at 225 degrees.  Then for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Then I grilled them at high heat for three minutes on each side to get that smoky flavor.

Forbidden rice is black rice.  I like my rice like I like my husbands.  Black rice takes longer to cook than white or brown rice.  I simmered this rice with water and chicken broth.

Green beans were sauteed with garlic, a little soy, a little hoison sauce and a little oyster sauce.  Asian flavors all over.

Lamb Chops with Chinese Sausage Fried Rice

Lamb Chops: Seasoned with salt, pepper, tumeric and cumin.  Brushed with olive oil and grilled over the range.

Chinese Sausage Fried Rice:  stir fried with eggs, diced veges, diced chinese sausage.

Spinach: sauteed with garlic and a touch of oyster sauce.

Homemade crab soup

It was a cold rainy night.  I wanted soup.  Whole Foods had dungeness crabs on sale.  I bought one, broke it down, separated out the crab meat.  I made a stock with the crab shell and guts and added lemon and herbs and seasonings.  After an hour of boiling the crab stock down until it had the right taste, I added peas and the crab meat.  So tasty.  It was a totally improvised recipe and was quite a success.

Lobster Pot Pie

This lobster pot pie recipe is courtesy of Ina Garten's recipe.  I made this meal for Theresa and Mattias Larson.  They just had a baby and they came over on a cold winter night with baby Magnus.

Rolled out the dough.

Cut dough into rounds and place in ramekins.

Filling made with onion, garlic, potatoes, peas, lobster and herbs.

Stuff ramekins with filling.

Out of the oven.

More pies out of the oven.