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This seemingly over-indulgent and altogether gorgeous dish will beguile you. You might think that you can’t possibly eat this without guilt. Believe it or not, this dish, with shaved cinnamon-crusted Toscano cheese, béchamel sauce (pronounced bay’-sha-mel), butternut squash ravioli, and passion, is but 10 points on the old Weight Watchers Points system (Points Plus and […]
I said in an earlier post that pizza’s like sex: even if it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. But one of my brothers-in-law disputed me on this, stating that bad sex can be, um, bad. I neglected to get the details of this, but I concurred that he might have a point on this, philosophically. […]
One of the best family stories I have (and it will somehow segue into a Chicken Marsala recipe) involves my dad emigrating to the U.S. from Naples, Italy. I called him to verify this, but he told me it was too far back to remember. Still, whether it’s true or not, it’s a classic story. […]
I have written a few times that Asian food is like a new frontier for me. I wasn’t raised eating much of it, and in the 70′s and 80′s, most of the Orange County, California, food scene did not have a wide array of Asian restaurants. Thankfully, an influx of Vietnamese, Lao, and Korean families […]
One of the things I miss most about tending a bar is the clientele that I got to know over the years. In the U.S., the term “bar” carries a stigma with it, almost like to frequent a bar means that you drink too much or that you haven’t quite grown up yet. I disagree [...]
The central coast of California produces some exemplary items. For example, some 75%+ of the strawberries consumed by the United States are grown right here. Santa Maria, the city in which I live, also had the honor of having the state’s worst drivers; in the last few years, there were more hit-and-run accidents per capita [...]
Being a California native, I asked myself in my head, “What the hell is Country Captain Chicken?” the first time I heard of it. During my first years of teaching, one of my colleagues, originally from West Virginia, said she was making this for her son that night because he was coming home from college [...]
Good ol’ American chili is an art-form. I quote the famous curmudgeonly sleuth, Nero Wolfe: ”Chili is one of the great peasant foods. It is one of the few contributions America has to world cuisine. Eaten with corn bread, sweet onion, sour cream, it contains all five of the elements deemed essential by the sages of [...]
One of the most embarrassing experiences I have ever had occurred because of a salad. It took place in the west of Ireland after three nights at an Irish blues festival that changed both my view of the world and my capacity for drink. My best friend Pat, I, and my boss at the time, [...]
When it comes to keeping a healthy weight, I think 95% of people have an Achilles heel that makes it difficult to maintain the ideal weight and figure (the other 5% are actresses, supermodels, men named Troy, and women invariably named Jenni, spelled with an “i”). Through the years, I’ve noticed that many people’s downfall [...]
I have mentioned many times that joining Weight Watchers yields some exemplary recipes and materials. What’s interesting, though, is that a lot of their published recipes do not seem to be made by people who cook a lot. Timing and portion sizes, particularly, are often off a bit, which is fine if you know how [...]
In one of my first posts, I shared an Israeli couscous recipe attached to a recipe for tandoori chicken pitas. The pictures were horrible and did not do the dish justice. Moreover, it was part of a very convoluted post and it was the first time I made it. Since then, I have made [...]
Often I find myself throwing hints at my wife about what I’d like to cook to see if she’s interested. When it comes down to it, she’s the final say in what I’m making on a given evening, and I’m fine with that. Every once in a while, I get bold and, pulling my belt [...]
A few years back, the wife and I decided to get healthy. We signed up for Weight Watchers, went to meetings every week, and learned how to enjoy food without a deep-fried or Doritos element at every sitting. I literally was schooled on how to eat healthy, how to read the labels on food packages, [...]
I can think of no better picture to accompany this blog post than the one above. It truly says volumes about my heritage, my blood line, my handsomeness, and the true essence of Italian food. I believe this was the first or second time Tony had eaten my sauce, and he has always done so [...]
It’s that time of year when the little birdies sing, the leaves burst forth upon the trees, mosquitoes swarm across nations infecting thousands with malaria, Canada begins to thaw (eh), environmentalists reaffirm California’s drought status, and high school seniors think it’s June already, even though that’s two months away, and plan ditch days regularly. Ah, such jocund h
This recipe is an example of an invention arising from shopping whilst being hungry. Generally, I think it’s a bad idea to shop when you want some sustenance because I, for one, will buy everything that sounds good. The next day, I will look in the fridge and cupboard like I would at the tousled [...]
I have written before about the recipe books that I inherited from my mom after she died. I cannot emphasize what a gift this is. It’s a walk through the kitchen of my youth plus a lot (and I mean A LOT) of recipes she never got around to making. But in those recipes she [...]
The five or so local grocery stores all know me on a first name basis. I go to the market six days out of the week, sometimes twice a day if I forget something. I didn’t think much about it until I ran into a former student at the nearest Vons. It’s amusing to see [...]
Last night, we set the clocks forward and, after a week of cold rain, it has been perfect weather here on California’s central coast (perfect=mostly sunny, 70°, slight breeze). This paradisaical atmosphere began this morning when I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and thought ’twas Monday. I started my morning routine of reading both the local and [...]
In an Irish accent, I said “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph” when I took a bite of this tonight. God-DAMN I love when I go with the mojo, improvise, use the knowledge I’ve gathered as well as some research and the package instructions, and just make a taint-masseuse of a dish. Such is the case with [...]
I think one of the biggest compliments I have ever received on a dish I have made was for this one. A few years ago, I made this as a side for my Baked Penne with Butternut Squash and Ricotta (http://dinnerwithjonny.com/2012/12/26/baked-penne-with-butternut-squash-and-ricotta/). I had a meeting that evening at school, and I knew that my principal [...]
Nothing says home cookin’ like a pot pie, except someone who consistently practices saying “home cookin’” and should get their ass kicked. Like many people, I went through my frozen Marie Callender’s pot pie phase in my early twenties and, yes, my nose effused sodium, I spoke thickly, for some reason, and I turned into [...]
Today, you get a two for one, and both will drop your panties, if you’re even wearing them. The recipes will follow. When I was a bartender at T.G.I. Chotchki’s, I made a drink called a Panty Dropper. In essence, it’s a raspberry lemon drop. I got more ladies buzzed on that shot than I [...]
In Santa Maria, California, where we live, the food scene flat out sucks. If you want steak, we have the best damn steakhouses around. Mexican food? Ubiquitous. We have burger joints that will make your knees shake. But beyond these types o’ places, you need to travel a bit. For example, the best Italian food, [...]
I’ve noticed a bit of a pattern when I make my comfort food. I always think that no one will like it. yet when I bring it into the English teacher workroom, everybody wants to try it, and lo and behold, they dig on it. I’ve never had anyone, and I mean anyone, not like [...]
Today’s recipe post is all about love. ’Tis Valentine’s Day, of course, so it follows that whatever I post needs to effuse passion and desire. Squash and Pasta is it for me. Out of all of the dishes with which I grew up, this is my favorite. On my birthdays, my mom would ask me [...]
I used to call this dish “Chili-killies” until I was instructed about the error in my pronunciation by some pretentious bastard, I’m sure. But my relationship with chilaquiles has been fraught with problems over the years. It wasn’t until recently that all became copacetic between me and this delectable breakfast or dinner treat. The main [...]
In one of my first posts, I mentioned that croutons are one of the items that I no longer buy. I found a recipe by Guy Fieri years ago and I haven’t messed with it much. But in those early posts, I put links instead of actual recipes. As I made some of these nuggets [...]
There’s this restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama, called Highlands Bar and Grill, and, a few years back, I had a food-gasm there. The wife and I had gone to the south to visit family and friends, and we had about 18 hours in Birmingham. Our friend Tree took us to the aforesaid restaurant. For my main [...]
My view of Super Bowl Sunday forever changed after I read Tom Robbins’ Skinny Legs and All, wherein he sets forth that, as Americans, we share one holiday, whether or not you like football, almost on a religious level. I might argue that Thanksgiving is another one, but I think he’s right about the devotion part. I’m [...]
I have a few love affairs with certain cultures, and the culture of New Orleans is one of them. Way back in the ’80′s when I was in high school, I rented a movie on VHS called The Big Easy starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin. It’s a sexy legal thriller about the mafia and corrupt [...]
Throughout the years that my wife and I have been together, I have loved the times where I’ve busted out a dish with which I grew up, only to have her give me that “Holy *****!” sort of look that one gets when tasting something unforgettable and required regularly from that point forward. What titillates [...]
I want to hate Rachael Ray, I really do. But I have to admit that I have yet to make a recipe of hers that isn’t good. For many of the “celebrity” chefs and hosts, it follows that they have to have something that makes them popular or “TV worthy.” And with few exceptions, when I [...]
Nothing says “I love you” like sauce and balls, except maybe when you say “I love you” out loud. Go figure. As I have said previously, I have a few versions of Italian sauce with meatballs. The meatballs in this recipe are mine; I winged it (I wang it? I had wung it?) based on [...]
If I served this at my house to a guest, they would never know it’s a Weight Watchers recipe unless I told them. I love when I find new WW recipes that are actually good. It’s also funny how one ingredient can fuel a search for a recipe, and the result is a dish that [...]
Crepes used to scare me. They appear so thin and dainty and vulnerable, like I was when I went to France while backpacking around Europe in my early twenties. But unlike crepes, I was a pussy back then. Through time, crepes have stayed the same, but I think I have changed, especially considering that I [...]
There are a million recipes for Spanish rice out there. The one I found in the New Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook nails it for me, with a few variations, of course. I think the best part about this recipe is that it is, indeed, idiot-proof. If you know how to chop an onion and [...]
If you’ve ever been to El Torito, especially El Torito Grill, you’ve had this beautifully sweet and savory corn cake. Speaking for myself (and countless others, I would guess), I could eat this and forego dinner, but I would have cream corn oozing from my eye sockets by the end of the night for sure. [...]
Yeah, I never heard of it either when I came across this recipe on the Weight Watchers website. When I read through it, though, I saw the spices, the chicken, and the spinach, and I thought that it had to be at least worth a shot. I was right. I have made this on a [...]
(‘Tis pronounced “boo-eel’-ya-base,” for you non-French speaking folk out there.) So while I was making my Thanksgiving turkey roulade a la Ina Garten this past holiday, I espied a recipe for Chicken Bouillabaisse on the following pages of the book (on Amazon, look for Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics. It’s a must-have book, in my opinion.). [...]
Observe. And observe yet again. With fanfare, I present to you the Torta Rustica. Some years ago, my brother gave me Glorious Italian Cooking (http://www.nickstellino.com/cookbooks_detail.asp) by Nick Stellino, and the Torta Rustica is in it. This is what Nick calls a “picnic pie,” which means that it’s made to travel, or to eat on the go, [...]
