All posts in mains

classic barbecue sauce.

by shannon on June 7, 2013 in mains, sauces with 30 Comments

greco's barbecue sauce.

It occurred to me the other day that it is, once again, summer. It’s hot and humid here, my Arizona friends and relatives are posting about near-Hades-like temperatures in the Southwest (but it’s a dry heat!), and the rabbits in my yard have eaten through chicken wire approximately 39 times already trying to lay waste to my garden. Also, Mr. Table gave up trying to fix the old barbecue grill (it was time) and bought a shiny new charcoal one. All of this means one thing.

Barbecue sauce. Continue reading →

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memorial day, part two: the recipes.

by shannon on May 28, 2013 in mains, salads, sides with 22 Comments

memorial day: the recipes.

As promised, here are some of the recipes from Memorial Day, all of which we thoroughly enjoyed. None of them requires much in the way of ingredient-purchasing or time committment, which is great when you’re putting things together on a lazy weekend. There’s a few strategies I employ for weekends like this past one, where I want to relax and not spend my entire day in the kitchen; I know some of us really enjoy hunkering down into a flurry of cooking and baking, but during the warmer months, I find myself wanting to do other things as well. It’s important to never feel trapped in the kitchen while everyone else is kicking back outside, and these tips will help you do just that. Continue reading →

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dear library: day two (also, crab + chile risotto.)

by shannon on April 16, 2013 in general information and events, mains with 17 Comments

crab + chile risotto.

Dear Library,

Let’s talk about high school. I wasn’t nearly as studious as I was in elementary school, but that didn’t dampen my love for reading. I still visited you regularly, although I mostly left behind my Nancy Drew in favor of more grown-up books. I never knew what I would find in your shelves, and I liked it that way; quite often, I would wander through your book-stacked aisles and grab what looked interesting. I found Barbara Kingsolver and Ellen Gilchrist this way, both before they were popular. I still read books by those two, and other authors I discovered purely by chance, to this day. Continue reading →

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peeled pear + winter greens salad with dill vinaigrette.

by shannon on April 8, 2013 in brunch, mains, salads with 24 Comments

peeled pear + winter greens salad with dill vinaigrette.

This post may either bring us closer or cause some unsubscribes, although I hope it doesn’t do the latter. Because it’s a post about a salad, but it’s also a post about a very polarizing public figure.

Gwyneth Paltrow.

Don’t go away; let’s just sit down and talk about this for a few minutes. She’s been getting a borderline crazy amount of flak over her new cookbook, It’s All Good: Easy Recipes that Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great. At first, a few people popped up with some mean little reviews, but now it’s everywhere; and you know what? It’s gotten pretty nasty. I’m not a huge fan of that, even when I don’t particularly like someone, especially because there’s really no call for it. This is not the latest Thomas Keller cookbook masterpiece; nor does it claim in any way to be. Do I think Gwyneth is a little crazy? She sure is, but I think lots of us are a wee bit off the deep end with things we like to do; we’re just not all famous, so no one hounds us about why we’re doing a juice diet for a few days or why we tried Bikram yoga. Because hey, guess what? Those things were considered to be tremendously weird at one time, also. Continue reading →

fresh mushroom + goat cheese tart.

by shannon on March 7, 2013 in brunch, mains with 46 Comments

mushroom + goat cheese tart.

There’s nothing like a huge mistake and utter distress to rally the troops around here, right? All of you – every single one of you – were so, so nice about me missing my Deb Perelman meet and greet the other day; to say I was touched would be an understatement. You know how in the moment everything seems to just be such an epic thing? That’s how I felt. Your sweet comments and emails made me feel better about the whole thing; I am human, these things happen, I’m not the only person to get caught in traffic on the way to do something important, for sure. I wrote her an email which was most likely too long, but we all know how I am with the wordiness; I hope she writes back, as it would make my life. Because the thing is, I did meet Deb, for a few hours at her luncheon. Sure, we only got a few seconds to talk one-one one, but listening to her talk and answer questions while eating her food for lunch was a fantastic experience, and I was all too happy to furiously type notes out for you. Here we go.

Continue reading →

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monday bites: everything bagel pizza.

by shannon on January 28, 2013 in appetizers, mains with 20 Comments

everything bagel pizza.

I owe you and ice cream sandwich; more specifically, a buttermilk raspberry ice cream sandwich with homemade graham crackers. Problem: it’s a lengthy post, and I’m still working on it.

But it’s Monday, which means you deserve a Monday Bites post, and you shall have such a post. Luckily, I had a really stellar baking/cooking weekend, and it produced, among other things, this.

An everything bagel pizza. Continue reading →

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red seasonal salad.

by shannon on November 20, 2012 in mains, salads, sides with 11 Comments

Listen: it’s the Tuesday before Thanksgiving (in America; Canadians, I realize this is just an average Tuesday for you.) Many of you have made your shopping lists, discussed where to get the best of everything, and are now getting ready to go out and procure all the food necessary to make your Thanksgiving dinner. If my markets are any indication, today is the day when things get nuts, so get out there early, use the buddy system, and don’t lose it on the multitudes of people gathered in the baking aisle standing, inevitably, right in front of what you need. It will all be okay: you’ll make it out of the store with everything you need, eventually, and you’ll probably only need to head back out 5 times for things you managed to forget. Like celery and pepper. And yams, oddly enough, because one of your best blog friends decided to pull out this amazing pumpkin pie which looks so perfect that you’ve filled out the necessary forms and submitted them to your family in the hopes that it will be allowed on the table this year. Continue reading →

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monday bites: turkey, bacon + avocado quesadillas.

by shannon on November 19, 2012 in appetizers, mains, snacks with 10 Comments

Mr. Table thinks he invented the Thanksgiving Leftover Bite. He did not. I don’t know where he saw the idea, but last year our house was filled with wonton-wrapper-encased leftovers. There were a staggering amount of combinations, people; the man isn’t normally creative with food, but within the safety net of familiar food favorites, he went wild. It was like watching Jackson Pollack paint. In fact, my kitchen resembled one of his paintings. An egg roll fever carried him to a place where anything was possible, and every exciting combination could be dipped in leftover gravy. I’ll admit it was a wee bit inspired to bake turkey leftovers into egg rolls. It was fun. It was amusing. But I need an alternative that isn’t so “I just made Thanksgiving into smaller portions and stuffed them into a thin dough pocket.”

Continue reading →

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chinatown turkey salad.

by shannon on November 9, 2012 in mains, salads with 24 Comments

I don’t know how everyone’s Thanksgiving holidays go, but ours go a little something like this. We begin with the best of intentions. We roast a giant turkey with loads of side dishes and desserts, and every time a food item gets called into question with the inevitable “but there’s four of us: do we really need all that?” it gets answered with “but it’s okay, because we’ll have leftovers!” Thanksgiving happens. wonderful piles of food are eaten, and we are thrilled. That evening, we are thrilled with our turkey sandwiches. The next day, we are happy, but not thrilled. By the following day, we’re noticably less thrilled and one of us is rifling through takeout menus to find anything – anything – which does not resemble our Thanksgiving meal.  Continue reading →

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farmers’ market monday: balsamic-glazed Brussels sprout, cheddar + bacon pizza.

by shannon on October 22, 2012 in appetizers, mains with 16 Comments

This weekend was filled with things which perplexed me. What cookies would be mood-appropriate for a very solemn, sedate gathering? Why does my love for Brussels sprouts run so deep? Why did I head to the pumpkin patch on the very same day that everyone else had the same idea? What am I going to do when basically all the farmers’ markets close down for the winter season and I’m left with “to be determined” Mondays? Big thoughts, people; big thoughts.

First, I’m happy to announce that even as the farmers’ markets close for the season, I have determined what will replace the Farmers’ Market Monday series on the blog; I hope you like it. It’s entitled “Monday Bites,” and it will be a collection of appetizers, small plates, and general munchie-ness which will get us through all sorts of holidays, parties, and football games. Certainly there will be plenty of sugar-festing throughout the next few months, so it will be nice to use Mondays as a time for a little bit of savory (and maybe sometimes sweet) snacking. Continue reading →

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