Appetizers
Appetizer recipes
Crouton’s Hot Party Wings
Ditalini and I try to have a special meal on Friday night. It’s our way of marking the end of the work week, less stressful than drinking and partying all night. Sometimes we’ll bring home takeout hot wings from Hooters or…
Ditalini’s Gazpacho
Ditalini’s adaptation of a recipe from a New York Times cookbook: Note: peeling & seeding tomatoes is big, messy work, and there are probably canned alternatives. Some people (Philistines, no doubt) may be tempted to substitute tomato juice.
Not Gazpacho
. . . but close!
Crouton’s Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa
I hate grocery store and chain restaurant salsa, with its chunks of tomato and green pepper swimming in tomato-flavored water. Here in Tucson a local restaurant called El Charro makes its own salsa, thick, smooth, and … even though the main ingredient is tomato … not tomatoey. I…
Third Rule of Cooking Club
Pull your own weight. We come to cook, not just to eat. Last night we tried something different. At earlier meetings, members prepared their assigned parts of the meal at home. Once we gathered at the host’s house we sat right down to eat. Ditalini and…
Ditalini’s Scotch Eggs
Ditalini recently learned how to make Scotch eggs, the popular pub appetizer. While we were in Las Vegas with our family for Thanksgiving, she walked daughter-in-law Truffle and grandson Pesce through the process. Notes It’s a lot easier to buy…
A Birthday Dinner Photoblog
It’s been an annual tradition for several years now: Osso Bucco, our friend from Las Vegas, comes down to visit during my birthday week (his birthday is a week from now, so we celebrate together) and we all go over…
Sausage & Spinach with Fettuccini Alfredo
We went to one of our favorite Italian restaurants a few weeks ago. We were with a crowd, so we ordered appetizers. On the appetizer menu was a dish labeled Sausage & Spinach. Sounded good, so we tried it, and…
Making Peanut Brittle, Take #1
We made peanut brittle from a Food Network recipe. The idea was for Ditalini to bring some to work, and to make small gift packages of what’s left. We’re not totally happy with the results of the recipe, though, so…
deMenthe Thanksgiving 2013
We were all here for Thanksgiving: Crouton & Ditalini, our son Baguette, daughter-in-law Truffle, and grandson Pesce, along with our daughter Escargot and her boyfriend. Underfoot, of course, were Mortadella & Ubriaco, along with Baguette’s dog. Our poor old cat…