Back Pocket Dish

I'm often asked - What's your favorite food to cook? Honestly, I enjoy all forms of cooking + baking - especially for my family, friends + my TV viewers. But, if pressed for a specific category or recipe - which is a bit difficult, sort of like asking a parent who your favorite child is... I might lean towards dishes that I make often and consider these my back pocket dishes. Having a few of these tried-n-true recipes in your repertoire is a must. These are those recipes that you can make in a moments notice, do well + have fun with. It being a crowd pleaser is always a plus for your guests. My back pocket recipe's ingredients are practically universal, flavors easily available, and doable for the at-home chef. 

A good back pocket recipe can come from a recipe handed down within the family, a friend or maybe from your favorite TV chef. Well, wherever it comes from I encourage you to share + spread your good food.

Here's one of my favorite Back Pocket Dishes.

Linguine Pepperoncino

The Morelli Pasta Factory is a fifth generation family owned + operated company using ancient Italian pasta making techniques.  The Morellis say the secret in their pasta formula is wheat germ, the heart of the grain, which is full of beneficial vitamins A + D as well as protein. Normally, this valuable wheat germ is removed from every factory-made pasta during the semolina grinding process, for a longer shelf of product. The Morelli Pasta Factory kindly adds the wheat germ back in. How polite. 

Their Red Chili Linguine, made with pepperoncino has quite a bite + deserves a bit of seafood to balance out the flavor.

Linguine Calamari Sauce Recipe

available at specialty food shops in the USA.

Yielding From Tuscany's Own

The McEvoy Ranch in California is evidence of dreams into action. The 500+ acres of farmland, once with fields of cows for dairy is now filled with award winning Tuscan olive varietals, yielding fruits + oils. So talk about choices - would you rather grow an olive tree, create your own orchard, get some olives or some olive oil? Yes, you can have any or all of the above from The McEvoy's Ranch. And they will teach you how to raise your tree.

The McEvoy's were artisans of food before it became cool, with all the buzz words like sustainable, organic, wind powered, bee friendly farmer... and the list goes on. The McEvoy Ranch is an incredible example of ideal co-creators with mother earth. BTW, their Tuscan Table Olives live up! to their reputation.

The McEvoy Ranch in California

Community Oven

Calling all bread trucks that look like this. Baguettes, a whole mini truck filled with thick crusted bread. This is the kind of bread that was birthed from a real brick oven. This kind of baking is an art that every village should experience.

A good Idea: In Europe, communal ovens date back to the 14th-15th century, mostly owned by churches, and charged a fee to bake your families loaf. Eventually taken over by the village, the community people were then in charge of the oven + no fee. Once a week the oven would be fired up and the villagers would gather, talk + bake. Looking forward to seeing a community bread oven in a town near me soon. Unique experience that deserves the flame to fired.

image, unknown

Spice Vs Herb

Spice vs. Herb

The main difference between herbs + spices is rather subtle.  Spices tend to come from plants grown in tropical climates where as herbal plants can be grown in many climates. Most herbs come from the green parts of a plant such as the stem and leaves while most spices come from the root, seeds, bark or flowers of a plant.

A spice is the dried part of an aromatic or pungent vegetable's bark such as cinnamon, fruit such as fennel, root such as ginger, flower such as saffron (the stigma) and the seed like mustard. These substances are then dried and used for enhancing flavors in cooking + baking.

Herbs stemming from leafy greens are used mostly for finishing a dish's character in a more fresh and subtle way. Some herbs I use nearly everyday are basil, parsley + thyme.

What may first come to mind when you see the word 'spicy' is that it will burn the tongue right out of your mouth; but I assure you that is not necessarily the case. This is a topic I'm very passionate about and have written about in all my books. 

Spice mixtures, are the blending of the right amount of spices to create just the right taste sensation. This ancient culinary art has been used for centuries by numerous cultures that clearly knew that using spice blends is an ideal way to season foods beyond salt + pepper. Some good examples of blends are - a Five Spice Powder (China), Curry (Indonesian), Herbs de Provence (Southern France) + Poultry Seasoning (US).

Blending spices began for me with my passion for outdoor cooking on the grill. I found that if I used a combination of dried spices it produced an appealing enhancement to foods prior to grilling. 

Of course, not only using the right blends are important, but so is adding them well in advance of lighting the fire. In some cases a large piece of meat such as a Texas brisket would be seasoned some five days prior to meeting up with fire. Another benefit of rub blends is that they are salt free.

I am delighted that in today's times people are seeking out more flavorful foods in even the most simplest of meals.