Author Archives for Beth F
San Francisco Chronicle - Frittata and Croquettes
This week’s Working Cook focuses on eating breakfast for dinner, with a recipe for Artichoke Feta Frittata.
I was about to head out to the store for ingredients to test this recipe when I realized I was missing the entire point of frittata – it’s the perfect quick and easy solution for using up […]
Cook’s Illustrated - Perfect Potstickers
According to Wikipedia, a potsticker is not just any old dumpling. It is “a Northern Chinese style dumpling popular as a street food, appetizer, or side order” and the filling typically contains pork or chicken, cabbage, scallions, ginger, and sesame seed oil. “The mixed filling is sealed into a dumpling wrapper, steamed in […]
Bless My Biscuits–Do We Really Need a Hen Party?
Welcome to the fourth week of the Chronicle’s Sunday Dinner series - this week’s focus is an “Oscar-themed hen party.”
Inspired by best actress nominee Reese Witherspoon (playing Johnny Cash’s wife in Walk the Line), the party features appetizer-size portions of modified Southern favorites, all prepared on a budget. The Chronicle estimates that feeding […]
San Francisco Chronicle – Low Fat, High Flavor
Unless you’ve been hiding in your kitchen cabinets for the past week, you’ve likely heard the scandalous results of an eight year federal study on low-fat diets. The study concluded that “those assigned to a low-fat diet had the same rates of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart attacks and strokes as those who ate […]
Tastes of Argentina: Malbec and Picadillo
I just returned from a honeymoon in Argentina, so I was thrilled to find that this week’s Chronicle highlights tastes from Mendoza, including a recipe for picadillo to complement the region’s most famous export, Malbec.
After two weeks in Argentina, my veins are literally flowing with Malbec. I drank it with lunch, with dinner, and […]
Cook’s Illustrated – February 2006
Cook’s sticks with cozy comfort foods for their February 2006 issue, including biscuits, pot pie, and chocolate mousse.
The Recipes
Skillet Chicken Pot Pie
I am no expert on pot pie, but something about this recipe struck me as a little inauthentic. Shouldn’t the chicken filling be totally encased in pie, rather than just topped […]
Cook’s Illustrated – Meat Loaf
Cook’s Illustrated is a no-nonsense food magazine that prides itself on thorough testing of all its recipes in an attempt to achieve the “very best” [fill in food here] on earth. This philosophy often lends the magazine a know-it-all air, but the attention to detail far surpasses anything I’d bother with in my […]
Bon Appétit’s Top Trends of 2005
Bon Appétit picked “10 of the year’s most delicious obsessions” to feature in the January issue. One of thier picks was American caviar; my favorite meal has always been snacktime, so I decided to make myself a little batch of their potato pancakes with caviar.
American Caviar – with Crispy Yukon Gold Potato Pancakes. […]
San Francisco Chronicle - Stir Fried Garlic Lettuce
This week’s San Francisco Chronicle food section was a little light on recipes, featuring two quick and easy entrees designed to appeal to both kids and adults, Honey-Currant Lamb Chops and Cranberry Soy Chicken Strips.
Unfortunately, neither of these really appealed to me, so they didn’t make it into the test kitchen. Stir Fried […]
Best of the Best of Bon Appetit
The January Issue - Food of the Year
I’ve had just about enough of the holiday hams, mulled drinks and gingerbread houses, so I was thrilled to find Bon Appétit’s January issue – Best of the Year. Nearly cinnamon-free, this issue highlights Bon Appétit’s picks for the food superstars of 2005, including their selection for […]
