Crispy chicken

The January 2011 issue of Martha Stewart's Living magazine included a very simple way to crisp up the skin of your chicken, which also happened to be delectably tasty.  The secrets?  Butter it and sprinkle it with cornstarch and salt.  She suggests doing it as a rub.  I preferred to dust it on using a strainer.

Tomato pesto for Brussels sprouts

Here's another fabulous sauce to use with Brussels sprouts.

Brussels Sprouts with Tomato Pesto

1 lb Brussels sprouts, halved

Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Water
1/4 c sun-dried tomatoes, reconstituted in olive oil if dried, chopped fine
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 T toasted pine nuts
1 T red-wine vinegar
1 T fresh oregano
1/4 c Parmesan cheese, shredded

Toss sprouts with oil, salt, and pepper and roast at 400 covered with foil and with a bit of water for about 20 minutes until tender.  Use an immersion blender or processor to create a coarse pesto with the sun-dried tomatoes, some olive oil and water if needed, the garlic, pine nuts, vinegar, and oregano.  Stir in the Parmesan cheese by hand.  Use as a dressing with the sprouts.  

Brussels sprouts with chile-garlic sauce

I love love love Brussels sprouts just about every way they can be prepared.  I'm going to post about nothing but Brussels sprouts until I convince you to try one of these recipes :-) 

Here's a super-simple sauce that leaves them delicious and very brown (I know they look burnt, but they don't taste that way) in just a few minutes.

Chile-Garlic Sauce for Brussels Sprouts

1 lb sprouts, halved

1 T olive oil
1 T chile-garlic sauce
1 T soy sauce

Mix the sauce ingredients in a plastic bag and add the sprouts to coat.  Roast at 450 for about 20 minutes.

Thai Roma restaurant

While we were visiting with Dani down in her new Washington DC neighborhood, we decided to try a wonderful neighborhood restaurant called Thai Roma.  How can you resist a name like that?  I don't do much Thai cooking, but I've been wanting to, so this seemed like a wonderful way to start.

The menu is extensive, and the three dishes that we ordered were all very very tasty.  We also enjoyed the atmosphere of the place...but that was a bonus to the food!  We ordered Kai Wan chicken, Green Curry with chicken, and Nua Siam beef.  We'll definitely be returning when we visit next time!

Foodie entertainment

Two Epicurious posts had me drooling recently, and they were NOT recipes, either!

The all-time 10 best films about food, including (of course) Babette's Feast and Ratatouille, and also one of my favorites, Like Water for Chocolate.

Television's all-time most influential foodies, starting with Julia Child (love her love her love her) and including the very drool-worthy Tom Colicchio.  Yum.

Roasted garbanzo beans

I found the easiest and tasiest thing to do with garbanzo beans recently...all thanks to Oil & Butter!  If you haven't visited this website, you really need to.  I mean, spicy cayenne pepper enhanced garbanzo beans?  Crazy good!  Visit the link above for the recipe.

A new way to put a person in a birthday cake

My funny little daughter came up with a new twist when her friend Mark jokingly requested having Matt in a cake at his birthday party.   She made it happen...