Side Dish

Tartiflette – The not so traditional Alpine dish

Tartiflette

For those of you that have been skiing in the French Alps won’t have failed to notice the popular dish of the region that appears on nearly every menu in the restaurants, Tartiflette. The dish consisting of potatoes, cheese, lardons and onions, and is like a big hug of warming, deliciousness that conveys an image …

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Crock Pot Mash Potatoes, Reducing the Stress of the Holiday Meal

Mash Potatoes Kept Hot in a Crock Pot

Holiday meals are an interesting phenomenon where we prepare more side dishes then typically served for a meal. It is also one of the meals where lukewarm dishes appear to be the norm. With this being said, nothing tests the capabilities and capacity of the cook and kitchen more than preparing the holiday meal. There …

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Chiles y cebollas flambeado – Flambéed Chiles and Onions

Flambeing Peppers and Onions

This side dish is inspired by a one we regularly have at a restaurant we visit. When they serve it at the restaurant, it is flambéed at the table, but when I do this at home I use the stove, just in case. It is a very simple dish of strips of onion, peppers and …

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Will the real chili con queso please stand up

Real chili con queso

I am not a food snob, but when something is supposed to have cheese in it, then I expect real cheese. However many times I have had chili con queso it has been made with Velveeta, which is processed cheese product, but it isn’t cheese. I know it is because of convenience that people just …

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Ricotta Fritta – Fried Ricotta Antipasti

Ricotta Fritta

These ricotta fritta antipasti are a little like gnocchi, but a lot lighter and very ‘more-ish’. Ricotta is a strange cheese. It literally means ‘re-cooked’, as in that after normal cheese has been made by separating the curds from the whey, the whey is then heated to create the ricotta. Also ricotta doesn’t really melt, …

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