Spaghetti with Bolognese-Style Sauce

The key to this classic dish is "low and slow." Indeed, the sauce takes a whole three hours from start to finish. Is it worth the time? Yes. Yes it is. The flavors are meaty, satisfying, and downright beautiful. With an easy ingredient list, this recipe is great to prepare all-year-round. This recipe was adapted from Mark Bittman and makes about 4 cups of sauce.

Pan-Roasted Chicken Breast with Red Potatoes and Baby Carrots

This is, amazingly, a 30 minute meal. It hails from America's Test Kitchen Best 30-Minute Recipe cookbook. That book was a wonderful find. We all have those (week)days when we feel uninspired and have no desire to cook, well, this book helped me over that hump.

Harvest Salad

The description is simple: mixed greens topped with roasted beets, diced Gala apple, grilled chicken, crumbled goat cheese, and toasted walnuts served with a rosemary-balsamic vinaigrette. This is an elegant anytime salad, and, without the chicken, could be a wonderful first course salad for Thanksgiving. As is, this recipe serves one.

French Provençal Dinner Menu

Today, I made a meal that transported me to distant, sun-drenched paradises. There is nothing that makes me think of summer more than veggie-filled mediterranean favorites. Everything seems to be at the height of its tastiness, so I urge you to seize the eggplant!

This dinner consists of: Ratatouille, Lemon Risotto with Broccoli, and, because my family needed a protein, grilled chicken. Serves 6 (or 2 with 4 "TV dinners" going into the freezer for later)

Ratatouille

The original French Provençal peasant food that makes me want to say it would not be so bad being a French peasant. Mark Bittman calls this "the original 'what do we have on hand?' recipe" and, indeed, you should go into this with such a mindset. If you'd like to throw in mushrooms or a different kind of squash, please go right ahead. The essentials are zucchini (and/or eggplant) and tomatoes, otherwise it's up to you.

Lemon Risotto With Broccoli

Today is a day for experimenting and one of those dishes I've been meaning to try is risotto. I picked up the basis for this recipe from Central Market a couple months ago. It is an understatement to say this dish was the perfect use for some extra broccoli. It was delicious, fresh, and ethereal! You must try this!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

One of the gifts of spring/early summer is fresh strawberry-rhubarb pie. It's truly magical how the well the orange tang of rhubarb and the mouthwatering sweet of sun-ripened strawberries melt into each other in the heat of the oven. Well, my recipe is based on a recipe from the classic pie bible, Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook. I highly recommend serving with a generous dollop of whipped cream.

Jim Lahey's No-Work Bread My Way

This is the now-famous bread recipe of perfectly textured french bread baked in a heated Dutch oven. There are many variations (and opportunities for variation) of this recipe. This loaf was fairly close to the original. Be aware: this recipe takes about 24 hours from start to finish, so please plan ahead.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

This is a lovely recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen. You'll notice the unusal addition of baking soda to this soup. The baking soda helps break down the broccoli—without it, the brocoli would have to cook for a good hour to be soft enough for our purposes. This hearty soup serves 6 to 8. I think this would also be really good over potatoes—baked or boiled or on grilled chicken.