It’s okay to eat white foods in winter; potatoes, turnips, parsnips, and cauliflower are vegetables that match the season. The only response to a dreary, gray winter sky is to make a pot of soup. This basic soup recipe gets additional depth of flavor from roasting and caramelizing the cauliflower. For a change of pace, garnish […]

Would you rather eat homemade or store-bought cookies? Which cookie will taste better and be made with ingredients you can pronounce? Which cookie is safer — a cookie made in a home kitchen or a cookie made in a factory in an unknown location with unknown workers and potentially unknown ingredients (melomine?). According to Missouri public […]

Slice a baguette into 1/4-inch slices and toast on both sides.  Rub the hot bread with a peeled clove of garlic. Top with one of the following toppings. For the tomato topping, peel, seed and chop a fresh tomato.  Season well with salt, pepper, chopped oregano and mint, and moisten with a little olive oil. […]

Beef Carpaccio 5 ounces beef tenderloin 1/2 ounces parmesan cheese 2 ounces mustard horseradish sour cream salt and black pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 cup diced red onions Pound the beef tenderloin to paper thin. Brush the plate with olive oil and put the beef on top of the plate. Brush with oil again. […]

1/2 cup toasted, ground pecans 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary 7 ounces goat cheese 1/2 teaspoon pepper Mix together the pecans, rosemary, cheese and pepper. 2 tablespoon brown sugar 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1 French baguette, sliced and toasted Heat the vinegar and sugar in a fry pan until […]

Over the transom came a recipe which I just had to try…because the first ingredient was a pound of butter. Reading further, the recipe instructs cooking the mushrooms for 6-8 hours in the said pound of butter. Wow. I did it and these mushrooms are indescribable. They are no mere fungi, but caramelized and intensely flavored. Want […]

Dear Chef, Should lace tuile cookies be really crispy and can they be frozen? Thanks!!! Tracy, St. Louis The thin, crisp crunch is the whole point of lace cookies. The name “tuile” means tile, and frequently the flat cookies are shaped (while hot) around a rolling pin so that they have a slight curve (like […]

On a snowy Sunday, the best thing to cook and eat in front of a blazing fire is caramelized popcorn. Cracker Jack was invented in 1871 and a customer gave it the slogan, “the more you eat, the more you want.” It’s true, you cannot stop eating salty-sweet popcorn. It is very worthwhile to pop […]

The most popular day of the year for a party is the first Saturday in December. Here are a few tips for successfully hosting a cocktail party: 1. Small, pre-cut morsels of easy-to-eat food are more popular than a hunk of cheese or meat that require the guests to cut and then place on a cracker. Great appetizers do not […]

Today we roasted our turkey in the Big Green Egg — a charcoal-fired ceramic oven that is big, green, and egg-shaped. I stuffed the turkey, placed it on a v-rack in an 18-inch round aluminum cake pan, which fit perfectly in the Egg. The inside temperature of the Egg is moderated by opening or closing […]