• Stews

    Crouton’s Beef & Guinness Stew

    We had the richest, beefiest stew at a friend’s home last winter. She told me it was beef & Guinness stew and that I’d find the recipe on line. I pulled a big chuck roast out of the freezer the other…

  • Appetizers,  Soups

    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.

  • Cooking Club

    Tenth Rule of Cooking Club

    Less is more. When we planned our August culinary trail, we decided on salad Niçoise and cold soups, appropriate to a hot summer in the Southwest (gazpacho, Vichyssoise, cold ramen, and so on). The menu evolved as the date approached,…

  • Miscellaneous,  Vegetables

    Ditalini’s Chiles Rellenos

    Ditalini and I recently joined a produce co-op.  Every Saturday we pick up two good-sized baskets of seasonal vegetables and fruit.  This Saturday we found eight big green chiles mixed in with our haul, and Ditalini decided to make chiles…

  • Cookblogging,  Salads

    Crouton’s Salade Niçoise

    Our State of the Union speech night dinner was a nice Niçoise, which is a really awful pun, since Niçoise basically means “Nice-style,” after the city on the French Riviera. I promise not to do it again. Ditalini and I…

  • Soups

    U.S. Senate Navy Bean Soup

    We’ve experimented with different navy bean soup recipes over the years; this time we’re trying an authentic-seeming Food Network recipe (I compared it to the actual U.S. Senate cafeteria recipe listed on Wikipedia and it’s a match in ingredients and relative…

  • Administrivia

    Remodeling Crouton’s Kitchen

    Over the next few days (weeks?) we’ll be experimenting with a new look for Crouton’s Kitchen. There’s a lot to like about the current design, but it’s time for something different. The kitchen will remain open, but there may be…