I couldn’t be content serving just the Cuban-style mini-burgers without a strong supporting side. I wanted something fried and crispy, you know, to keep with the “burger” theme. But potatoes, and hence French fries, aren’t very Cuban. Plantains, though, are. Like potatoes they are starchy, and–like potatoes–they can be fried.
Because this specific batch was to [...]
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When I was first making this, I didn’t actually have a primary application in mind. I simply had a happy coincidence of things on hand: an extra pack of sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and some basil. I thought to myself, why not blend them together into some kind of off-beat spread. A kind of not-quite-pesto. [...] I think I could put goat cheese in almost anything and enjoy it. It’s surprisingly good on pizza, so I knew I couldn’t go wrong slathering puff pastry with it then topping the whole things with roasted vegetables. A touch of balsamic vinegar, some fresh cracked black pepper, and some herbs brought the whole thing [...] This idea is heavily influenced by a Turkish food called lahmacun (or lahmajoun or lamejun). The Turkish lahmacun (I’m not sure if there is one correct spelling so I’ll just go with Wikipedia’s first entry) is much more simple than what I ended up making. Lahmacun is basically a flat bread will a some kind [...] Sometimes people can react oddly after I tell them I’m combining certain foods, usually a combination of surprise and mild apprehension. When I mentioned that I was combining pears and cheese I received more than one of these questionable looks. Then I see them preparing a cheese plate with fruit and nuts on it, or [...] Last week I fried some left over mac and cheese, this week, I give ravioli the same treatment. Toasted (or fried) cheese ravioli actually ends up being more of a fried cheese delivery mechanism than anything else. Similar to mozzarella sticks, but with a bit more breading. The pasta exterior only serves to contain the [...] |
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