Recipes & Food-Related Ramblings
The evenings are starting to roll in earlier with a distinct chill in tow. I am equal parts depressed and elated by this shift. I am, of course, sad summer is drawing to a close. But I’m also excited to wear sweaters I forgot I owned and tuck into bowl after bowl of soup. I don’t, however, want to rush summer out the door. As a Canadian, I know what waits for me come December and it’s depressing as hell. But with this Street Corn Chowder, I can have the best of both worlds.
This past couple of weeks, I’ve been living out my summer bucket list. There have been lakeside runs, cookouts, and rounds of patio drinks. And, of course, there’s been a grunt. I simply cannot let a berry season pass without making a grunt of some stripe. But I may be getting ahead of myself because chances are the name “grunt” in the context of dessert is not familiar to you. And that’s not something you should feel the least bit bad about. If you grew up outside of the East Coast of Canada, you’re not liable to know this dish. So allow me to introduce you to my home province’s answer to the common cobbler – Blueberry Grunt.
A few weeks ago, I announced a video new series called Overthinking Classics. The premise of the series is simple, I do what I do best and overanalyze and overexplain well-loved classic dishes. Our first episode explored the magic that is Coconut Cream Pie. So for our second installment, I decided to take things to the dinner table and create a centerpiece of a meal. Roast chicken is one of those dishes every omnivorous cook should have in their arsenal. It’s a very approachable introduction to roasts and it creates a manageable amount of food. And chicken, unlike its turkey cousin, is very forgiving. But even with its forgiving nature, there are a number of things you can do to take your chicken to the next level. So let’s dive right in and overthink our way through crafting this Dry Brined Roast Chicken.
Veggie burgers can be a feat of culinary engineering. Protein powerhouses packed with every legume, lentil, and grain imaginable bound by egg or flaxseed meal or chickpea flour. But no matter how overthought and/or over-seasoned a veggie burger is, it’s still a source of stress the moment it hits the pan. Will the cooking oil interrupt its carefully thought-out structural integrity? What if it crumbles the instant I approach it with a spatula? Will I keep it together? In every instance, there’s a 50/50 chance it will and you won’t. But there are veggie burgers that are simple. Veggie burgers that stay together because of nature’s intelligent design. And these burgers are these Portobello Cheese Burgers with Grilled Radicchio.