Eggplant parmigiana is a popular item on Italian menus. But what is it? It’s basically breaded and fried eggplant that is baked with a tomato-based pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese. The end result is a total meld of flavors and a soft, gooey texture.
It’s not my favorite preparation because I prefer the individual ingredients to stand on their own. I like texture and a good degree of brightness to the taste. I guess you could say, using today’s culinary terms, that I prefer it deconsructed. Continue Reading
After a long hiatus, Our Family Food Fight is back!
The theme: Surprise (stuffed) Burgers.
The challenge: present a burger with a surprise stuffing. And, of course, it had to be thematically correct, appropriately dressed and accompanied.
The Contestants: The usual suspects (Jim, Cassie, me) plus our newest family member, Julie (Jim’s wife). We’ll have to update that photo in the sidebar one of these days.
I debated between calling mine “The Sunday Sauce Burger” or “The Italian Stallion”. It has all the components and flavors of an Italian Sunday Sauce dinner but, as I developed the idea and went with the ‘one-burger-for-all’ instead of sliders, it began to take on the personality of an ‘Italian Stallion’. Besides, I liked the rhyming. 
Mexico is our closest ‘south-of-the-border’ neighbor and the first stop on our Culinary Tour. Please join us as we eat our way through El Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico.
As they say in Mexico, “fiesta sin comida, no es fiesta cumplida“, meaning a party without food is not really a party. So, let’s go to the fiesta.
The countdown begins for 2010′s Culinary Tour. Starting January 11 and for 9 weeks thereafter, FOODalogue will be featuring the cuisines of 10 of our south-of-the-border neighbors. We begin in Mexico and move from there to El Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico.
When I did this event in early 2009, readers and participants alike had a great time. We visited 13 countries in 13 weeks. We challenged ourselves in the kitchen, behind the lens and at the keyboard. We learned about different cultures and also helped bring awareness to BloggerAid and the plight of world hunger. And, we posted about 150 recipes!
Join us this year, won’t you? Here’s how…
When we moved to Florida from New York 15 years ago, we quickly learned that cold weather and snow are not really the criteria for the holiday season…and we happily dropped that notion! Goodbye boots, hello flip-flops.
Now, it’s Christmas trees and palm trees, house lights and boat lights, and sandmen instead of a snowmen; but, most importantly, it’s family, friends, good wine…and great menus! It’s a joyous time of year wherever you are.
In celebration of the holiday season, various cities in FL that border the Intracoastal Waterway host boat parades. Led by a fireworks barge, festively-decorated boats make their way up or down the canal and residents line the docks and cheer the parade…and some, like us, use it as an excuse to party! Who doesn’t love a party? Continue Reading
Pardon me a sec while I boast. FOODalogue’s 3-Alarm Fruit Pizzette took the prize for most unique interpretation of ingredients for this month’s Royal Foodie Joust. We were challenged to come up with a dish using maple syrup, cayenne pepper and apple. Once submissions were complete, members of The Foodie Blogroll voted for best overall, best photography and most unique. I hear my trophy is the conveted ‘royal’ coffee mug.
[FOODalogue did not, however, make the cut to be nominated for the FoodBuzz Awards (boo-hoo), but I thank all of you who voted. There are a lot of awesome food bloggers out there and I will be in San Francisco to cheer when they receive their awards.]
Challenge #2…
The guests ‘may’ be sober, but the bird is definitely juiced! It arrives with a few cups of tequila and Grand Marnier in its belly.
Many of my non-food blogger readers often say to me ‘where did you come up with that idea?’ Tough question since many ingredients and potential recipes are always floating around my brain. But this time I have an answer.
Foodie Blogroll, one of the online communities I belong to, hosts a monthly challenge called the Royal Foodie Joust. The winner of each month picks 3 ingredients which participants of the following month have to include in a dish. It’s a fun competition that stokes one’s creative juices. This month’s ingredients were: apple, cayenne and maple syrup. You see where I’m going with this?
Continue Reading
What to do with small amounts of 4 different exotic dried mushrooms? I thought about a mixed saute that could be put in some puff pastry, but that seemed like a cop-out. I thought about a cream soup but I really didn’t feel like making soup. Besides, since I wanted to taste the flavor of each variety, I decided to rehydrate them and give them a quick saute separately…a little olive oil and a garlic clove in each pan. Continue Reading
I received a sample pack of Venison Sausage with Merlot and Blueberries and was asked to come up with an original recipe. Venison? With Merlot and Blueberries?
The blueberry glaze which also included a splash of merlot took care of ‘marrying’ the protein to the glaze (and the beverage).
Temporary road block. I wanted vegetables, but I’m going for a menage a trois here so how do I marry the meat and rice to the stir fry? Would the drizzle of spicy sesame oil I planned as a finishing touch do it? I thought so and, if not, I reasoned the rice and stir fry were already ‘married’ by way of their Asian origins. 
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