Ich hatte mir dieses Rezept letztes Jahr ausgedacht, aber– oh wait, wrong language… This one came to me last year, but I needed the right occasion to try it–cue Dani’s birthday. It’s no surprise that I’ve grown up with a lot of German influences, but that rarely makes its way into the stuff I cook…
Category: Hard
Herb Roasted Game Hen | Red Hominy Succotash| “Wild” Green Sauté
We got really into kayaking over the summer, and started to look at the Chattahoochee River from a new angle. The river’s always been there– and I don’t mean just in our lifetime, but for countless centuries. It got us thinking about what the river would’ve been like before the golf courses, highways, or even…
Sweet Potato Gnocchi |Confit Tomato| Cardamom Butter
Full disclosure: I’ve only made pasta once before, and I assumed that gnocchi would be simpler/quicker to make since they are smaller–WRONG. It somehow ended up taking two hours to finish everything. The first challenge was my chosen main ingredient: sweet potatoes. I had two extra baked ones (we’ve been eating a lot of sweet…
Prawn Suya | Jollof Rice
Nigeria is a massive country with hundreds of distinct languages, cultures, and constantly shifting plot lines. I fell in love with my father’s home country long before I had the chance to visit, but after several trips home, and the particularly deep dive into my Yorùbá culture through our traditional engagement last summer, I am…
Mulsum-Braised Lamb | Polenta Cake
I’m no historian, but I can imagine that many of the world’s greatest ideas, alliances, and solutions were all encouraged with a “little” wine. Similarly, the idea for this dish came from the surplus of wine left in our apartment after our rehearsal dinner last year. We couldn’t finish a bottle one night, and decided…
Stuffed Almond Chicken | Smashed Rosemary Potatoes | Rum & Cider Braised Carrots
There I was, right where it all began. My wife and I planned to host my mom, older sister, and nieces for Thanksgiving this year, and I knew I had to nail it. My family definitely wasn’t the most festive group around, but we always took Thanksgiving (both the gratitude and food) seriously. It was a…
Tarragon-Apple Pork Fillet | Brazil Nut Risotto | Drunken Chili-Cranberry Relish
If I had to guess my first day in the kitchen, it was probably around Thanksgiving when I was eight years old. My mom, and older sister handled all of the everyday cooking back then, but on holidays when the meals got bigger, and more elaborate, I was conscripted as a prep cook as soon…
“Gastropub” Crab Cake | Arugula-Melon Salad | Coconut-London Fog Reduction
I made this dish last year as the second of three courses that all featured an unusual ingredient: tea. The semester was ending, and I had had to get rid of all the tea I didn’t drink during my last semester in college. I started thinking about ways to re-purpose tea into food, rather than…
Strawberry Snapper Ceviche
I was never good at art growing up. I can still remember the day in 5th grade when my teacher saw my painstaking rendition of a Garfield comic that I had drawn the night before, and turned to the class to say, “Hey look! It’s the Boogie Man!” I like to refer to that day…
Za’atar Trout | Red Lentil Hummus | Harissa-Spiced Chimichurri
I interned at a refugee resettlement agency in Nashville during my college years, and my assignments often took me to the outskirts of the city to visit family’s from all over the world. Nashville is one of the top resettlement cities in the country, and although the exploding development is jeopardizing communities just outside of…
Craving Mad 