I need to take a sweet potato dish to a Thanksgiving party, but I don’t want to take my mother’s super-sweet syrupy sweet potatoes. Do you have a suggestion? Yes! Sweet potatoes are already sweet, so why do we add more sugar? How about this creamy gratin: Sweet Potato-Corn Gratin 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled […]

Stop by on Sunday, November 23 for our annual Champagne Stroll from 12 to 5 pm. We will have delicious holiday goodies and, of course, our favorite champagne punch available. Kitchen Conservatory and the other merchants on Clayton Road between Brentwood and Hanley roads all participate in a scavenger hunt. The winner gets a gift […]

Food scientist Harold McGee confessed yesterday in the New York Times that he does not brine his turkey. Neither do I. His complaint with brining is that the turkey drippings are too salty and tasteless for making a delicious pan sauce — and the gravy is the crucial component. I do not brine turkey because I find it an […]

Chef Bruce Piatek II is the executive chef of Eleven Eleven Mississippi. His wife, Anne Piatek, is also a chef. She works as a personal chef to families creating nutritious and healthy meals. Together, Bruce and Anne teach really wonderful cooking classes at Kitchen Conservatory because their different styles compliment each other so well. At their last […]

Anne Cori will be on Show Me St. Louis (KSDK, Channel 5) today (Monday, November 10, 2008) at 3:15 pm. Tune in to watch her demonstrate this recipe: Smoked Trout and Smoked Shrimp with Peach Sauce 1 trout, boned 1 pound large shrimp, shell on Salt and pepper 4 cups fresh arugula In the bottom […]

“I’d like to get my grand-daughter a sushi-making kit. Do you have one?” a customer called to ask. Yes, we have the sushi mat and rice paddle available. “I want a kit that has everything in it,” the grandmother said. To make sushi, all you really need is the wooden mat for rolling up the ingredients. […]

“Where’s the microwave? This chicken isn’t done!” I went over to help the lady who presented me with a beautiful chicken thigh — tender and succulent meat oozing with juice. There was the faintest trace of pink at the bone. Sigh. So many people are so scared of the horrors of undercooked chicken that they insist […]

It’s 6 pm and I’ve done nothing about dinner. My husband has a one-word answer: risotto. Twenty minutes later, dinner is served. Really. Risotto is our favorite fast-and-easy dinner. Sometimes we even serve it to guests, but it seems too simple. What’s the best aspect of risotto? Creaminess. It’s so creamy that I have serve it in a […]

I am not fickle over fickles; I absolutely love my new-found treat: a pickled fig. The fig season is just ending, but run to make these delectables. Why? Fickles are delicious on a roasted beet-poached egg salad or as a condiment with lamb, pork, or chicken or with any gooey cheese. I’m sure they would be fabulous […]

A longtime customer called to say, “It’s green tomato season and I can’t find your gratin of green tomato recipe. I love that dish and I really want to make it. Where is it?” Green tomatoes are not the first tomatoes of the season, but the last. The tomato plants have pooped out and the […]