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…
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…
Remodeling Crouton’s Kitchen, Part II
Progress update: Crouton’s Kitchen is a cooking blog, so in addition to recipes, most posts contain photos and commentary on the meals Ditalini and I prepare. Now there’s an easy way to print just the part of the post you…
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…
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…
Crouton’s Better Package Cornbread
When Ditalini and I make chili, we make cornbread. When we have the time and the ingredients, we make fancy cornbread (check the recipe index for some recipes). When we don’t, we use the package recipe on the side of…
Bacon-Wrapped Venison Backstrap w/Garlic Cream Sauce
Ditalini’s sister Gina Cannoli visited over the holidays, accompanied by her husband Lengua. They brought along several frozen packs of dressed venison from a recent hunting trip. Two of the packages contained backstrap, the tenderloin of a deer, a highly-regarded cut…
Ditalini’s Dutch Baby
Later this morning I’m going to photoblog the deMenthe family’s 4th of July feasts. That, along with this entry, will (I hope) signal an end to my long absence from Crouton’s Kitchen. A long time back I promised to post Ditalini’s…
Hasenpfeffer
Hasenpfeffer is also known as braised rabbit in spiced red wine sauce, but the literal translation is “peppered hare.” We made this dish often when we were first married. That was more than 40 years ago, and rabbit was not…
Braised Beef Short Ribs w/Fingerling Potatoes & Green Beans
The deMenthes dined tonight on braised beef short ribs with fingerling potatoes and sautéed green beans. Cooking the ribs is an all-day affair, but not really all that much work. If you put the ribs in the oven first thing in…