What can I say? I have no imagination of my own - tonight.

Ulterior Epicure has pictured and described the original dish from Tocqueville and suggested it to me - it was intriguing.

I used unbelievable fresh www.flickr.com/photos/nicknamemiket/3549923413/in/set-721... Purple Uni from CA - easily, the highest quality products I've seen, made pasta from scratch using fresh Farmer's Market eggs, and incorporated organic soy, touch of rice vinegar, sea salt and yuzu in the sauce. Just like the original - this pasta features seal lettuce in the sauce, and sprouts as a garnish.

I am at a loss for words ... this plate is in the league of it's own...

Whole Roasted Chicken

- tarragon, whole garlic, kosher salt

For a lot of people who cook - this is their "death row" meal. It really works for me too - every time.

I love elegant food, but sometimes - just like today, I crave a whole lot of hearty home-made goodness. Also, I wanted to finally introduce

Borscht - the real deal

to friends everywhere. On a personal note, I made this dish solely by my taste memories, against the grain of cookbooks and popular misconceptions. This soup tasted very good at the end.

This picture could have been taken in my Granny's kitchen well over thirty years ago, and it would look exactly the same. Traditionally, borscht is made with braised meat ( back in the days of the former CCCP it was not always available, but when it was - it would give an every day meal a certain aura of festivity), cabbage and tomatoes. Other ingredients vary greatly from region to region, and from family to family, which is why there are "Green Borscht", "Beet Borscht", "NAVY Borscht" and my personal favorite - Ukranian Borscht (pictured above). Noteworthy, my Granny would throw a few potatoes in her borscht pots, whereas her daughter (my Mom) would almost never do that - creativity of a cook is not to be disputed, I guess.

OK, so I browned beef chuck ( shoulder) with salt and pepper, and used a pretty traditional mise-en-place from that point forward. I would like to point out though, that before borscht broth is made aromatics and root vegetables should be sauteed with tomato paste, for the sake of both color and taste. The borscht simmered on the the stove for a few hours for the meat to become fork-tender, which is when I added cabbage and extra tomatoes, and left it simmering for another 20-25 minutes.

I served my borscht with sour cream, parsley and crusty bread and a few garlic cloves on the side ( garlic is typically rubbed on the bread crust and eaten with the broth).

The most amazing thing to me still - borscht I made today tasted exactly like how I remembered it. Is there anything that can beat the taste of one's childhood? I don't think so....

I love elegant food, but sometimes - just like today, I crave a whole lot of hearty home-made goodness. Also, I wanted to finally introduce

Borscht - the real deal

to friends everywhere. On a personal note, I made this dish solely by my taste memories, against the grain of cookbooks and popular misconceptions. This soup tasted very good at the end.

This picture could have been taken in my Granny's kitchen well over thirty years ago, and it would look exactly the same. Traditionally, borscht is made with braised meat ( back in the days of the former CCCP it was not always available, but when it was - it would give an every day meal a certain aura of festivity), cabbage and tomatoes. Other ingredients vary greatly from region to region, and from family to family, which is why there are "Green Borscht", "Beet Borscht", "NAVY Borscht" and my personal favorite - Ukranian Borscht (pictured above). Noteworthy, my Granny would throw a few potatoes in her borscht pots, whereas her daughter (my Mom) would almost never do that - creativity of a cook is not to be disputed, I guess.

OK, so I browned beef chuck ( shoulder) with salt and pepper, and used a pretty traditional mise-en-place from that point forward. I would like to point out though, that before borscht broth is made aromatics and root vegetables should be sauteed with tomato paste, for the sake of both color and taste. The borscht simmered on the the stove for a few hours for the meat to become fork-tender, which is when I added cabbage and extra tomatoes, and left it simmering for another 20-25 minutes.

I served my borscht with sour cream, parsley and crusty bread and a few garlic cloves on the side ( garlic is typically rubbed on the bread crust and eaten with the broth).

The most amasing thing to me still - borscht I made today tasted exactly like how I remembered it. Is there anything that can beat the taste of one's childhood? I don't think so....

Minu lemmik šokolaadikook / My favourite chocolate cake with sour cream sauce and raspberries

This is the same picture, but with a few Photoshop touches. I would like to thank lovely and talented thewanderingeater for her kind assistance with this project, as well as for her great blog.

Last week somebody told me I was butt ugly, and under the circumstances what's a bold guy to do? Make Matzo Ball Soup, of course. :-)

This is one of those dishes that looks deceptively simple, whereas it is actually extremely complex:

- Chicken Soup: made with free-range, antibiotic-free local Farmers' Market chicken ( it makes a difference when you buy something from a family, and every person contributed to the goodness of the final product, I think), carrots, parsnips, whole onion, garlic, dill, bay leaf and black peppercorns.

Does this picture look familiar to you? I hope so. LOL

"Le Bernardin" chocolate cake has been pictured on flickr many times - by lanaflickr, sundaydriver, and yours truly among others.

This is not exactly a replica of the "Le Bernardin" dish, but rather an attempt to make a better dessert in the similar style .

OK, here it goes:

Cake - Velvet Chocolate vs. Spiced Chocolate I made last time.

Advantage: Even

Ice Cream: Kumquat/Marmelade Orange vs. Sweet Potato

Advantage: Kumquat/Marmelade Orange

Presenation/Misc. :

No Caramel Sauce this time - it should be there, I think;

Crushed Candied Orange Peel, replacing Pistachios - I prefer crunchy peel;

Kumquat Marmelade, instead of Sweet Potato Pearls - toss-up;

Overall, I prefer traditional Orange-Chocolate pairing to Sweet Potato-Chocolate approach. Either way, it's a great plate!

Sea Bream "Cuit A L'Huile D'Olive"

Please look at the original plate here .

This was close to the original: they used a squirt bottle to sauce their plates, for whatever reason I decided to use a spoon, which is not ht eright thing to do her

Grilled Pepper Tapenade worked - I added a touch of shallot and a touch of Aromatic Pear, so did the Medjool Date Sauce - I added a drop of yuzu juice to control sweetness.

This was an easy dish to make, but, yet again - plating needs work.

Pennsylvania Lamb:

- broiled Pennsylvania Lamb Chop, Raisin-Caper Relish, Roasted Sweet Corn, Blue Cheese, Broccoli

This was a rehearsal dinner, of sorts - I am planning to make a Leg of Lamb for Easter.

Absolutely a free-style plate, but worked out to the point where I can put this dish on the menu anytime, anywhere.

Lamb - seasoned with S&P, Madras Curry, broiled on high;

Raisin-Caper Relish - golden raisins, salt packed capers ( 2:1 ratio), garlic, shallot, lemon juice;

- very-very nice, albeit nothing new. I may use Yuzu or Meyer Lemon on Sunday, as well as add some parsley and some blood orange zest (Yuzu rind would be too tart)

Roasted Sweet Corn - seasoned with salt, can use a touch of butter;

Blue Cheese - Valdeon, in this case, added umami;

Broccoli - I did not have any greens ( micro- or otherwise), so I used it for color - turned out it added a touch of pleasant bitterness;

All I could ask for is Steelite In.Gredienti plates - this plate is ready to debut.

Sea Bream "Cuit A L'Huile D'Olive"

Please look at the original plate here .

This was close to the original: they used a squirt bottle to sauce their plates, for whatever reason I decided to use a spoon, which is not the right thing to do here.

Grilled Pepper Tapenade worked - I added a touch of shallot and a touch of Aromatic Pear, so did the Medjool Date Sauce - I added a drop of yuzu juice to control sweetness.

This was an easy dish to make, but, yet again - plating needs work.

Spicy tom yum prawns with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and bird's eye chilli peppers. Recipe coming on my blog .

Heart shaped Turkish delight, made for Valentine's Day. Recipe here.

Last night I had one of the best meals ever - Tasting Table at Brooklyn Fare. Quite naturally, I wanted to cook something elegant today. Allow me to present:

Hanger Steak

- Aji Amarillo, collard greens.

Few things:

- hangar Steak was seasoned with sea salt, pepper, Old Bay and Annato seeds, then quickly roasted and seared on a very hot cast iron pan;

- Aji Amarillo puree was served as is ( it packs quite a bit of heat);

- collard greens were blanched to maintain color, then sauteed in EVOO with an addition of a chili pepper, pearl onion and lemon juice ;

Really, quite nice - aji amarillo could be a touch too hot for some though. Wish I had some demi-glace to sauce it, and a J.L. Coquet plate to serve it on....

OK, let's look at it:

Beef Tartare (Kitfo) with Spiced Clarified Butter (Niter Kebe), Feta Cheese (Ayib), Teff Flatbread (Injera), Spicy Sauce (Awaze) and Bird Eye Chili Spice (Mitmita )

This dish has no less than 30 different spices and aromatics, and is truly quite tasteful.

Awaze was made with garlic, ginger, honey, Seltzer water and Berbere spice mix.

Original recipe calls for Tej - Ethiopian Honey Wine, but I was not able to find it anywhere in town (I will try making it at home, though).

Berbere spice mix is well described on www.ethiopianrestaurant.com/ethiopian_spices.html :

"Berbere : A popular Ethiopian seasoning prepared from red chili peppers, garlic, & other spice. Berbere is sun-dried then mixed with more spices & used in wots. Berbere is the source of the dark red color in all the hot dishes in Ethiopia. Finely minced onions, berbere, water and seasoned butter are cooked long and slow over low heat until they become emulsified. Although red pepper is the main ingredient in berbere, its is sun dried together with almost 20 other spices and herbs before being milled extra-fine."

Tiradito

- flounder, roasted beets, Aji Amarillo, mint, pickled mustard seeds

Tiradito is a sashimi-ceviche hybrid that reflects the influence of Japanese immigrants on Peruvian cuisine. As such, I was intrigued to try it.

First, you may ask - why Peruvian food? I have never been to Peru ( not yet, anyway), I have not even been to a Peruvian restaurant, nor have I ever tried the original food, and no, I do not have a Peruviana girlfriend.

That said, there is "Cooking Secrets of the Amazon" article and photos in the July 2011 issue of Food&Wine - it was just too intriguing to miss.

This particular tiradito is my interpretation of what I saw in a close-up picture of the original dish. The latter calls for airampo cure - cactus seeds I was not able to find. However, the closest substitute was beets ( I also contemplated goji berries and annato seeds), besides I once saw a beet cured fluke dish somewhere, so I gave it a try.

This dish is a major disappointment for me: sweet flavor of the beets clashed with the delicate texture and taste of the flounder I used - I can hardly see, and will never match beets and fish again. Also, I tried making this dish twice - the first try failed miserably because of the poor quality fish I used ( it looked good frozen, but was terrible thawed). This is yet another reminder: only impeccable fish should be eaten raw.

Not all is lost, however. This plate was gorgeous to look at, pickled mustard seeds were very good, and I enjoyed the taste of Aji Amarillo, which happened to be a lot hotter than I thought it would be, but quite nice nonetheless.

I will remake this dish sometime again - hopefully with the hard to find airampo seeds.

Everything's better served in a bento!

Smoked Eel"

- Smoked Live Eel, Lapsang Souchong Tea , Pork Hock, Mung Bean Vermicelli, Chinese Celery, Soy

熏活鰻魚，正山小種紅茶，肘子，綠豆粉條，中國芹菜，大豆

The idea for this dish came from the menu of the Lung Shan restaurant (website - www.missionchinesefood.com) in San Francisco, as described and pictured in the NY Times.

I have cooked with eel on a number of occasions, but this was my first experience handling live eel.

Eel was briefly smoked with Lapsang Souchoung tea, then steamed with tea, celery and soy;

Ham Hock was braised in Chinese Superior Stock ( pork, dried scallops, garlic, ginger, orange, soy).

Very-very satisfying - I would make this dish again, although without ham hock: the taste of eel is so delicate and complex that it simply doesn't need another protein.

Also, I want to use this opportunity to highlight an important point - respect for live ingredient. I have heard a lot of criticism from some saying that handling live fish is, and I quote, "gross", and that they "don't need to see where (their) food come from". I have tremendous respect for the fish I cooked - handling it was not easy, but it couldn't have been any fresher.

The original inspiration came from Bacalao Salad at "Le Bernardin" . I was very happy about the final result, although the key here is not so much the technique, but the quality of the main ingredient: the bacalao. I found mine at the "Despana" in SoHo - the quality of that ingredient was absolutely perfect.

This is yet another replica of a dish by a great Chef - Debbie Gold/The American Restaurant in Kansas City, MO. Some meals and restaurants are close, yet the seem so far... This Chef and her restaurant are just an arm's length away, I've been told. Not sure when there is a chance, but I am enormously excited about trying the food of The American Restaurant.

Also, and as always, there are some credits due: Many Thanks to the Ulterior Epicure for sharing original Foie Pastrami pictures and his insight, as well as the entire American Restaurant photo collection.

Few details:

Foie is Hudson Valley Foie Gras, cured for 18 hours in salt/Lyle's Golden Syrup/curing mix brine with pickling spice I traditionally use to prepare Corned Kobe Beef brisket, and then flash smoked over oak and cherry sawdust.

Disclaimer: original preparation seem to be considerably more refined - my guess they separate the lobes into smaller pieces, cure those,then put them through a tamis, and reshape the liver in a terrine mold, but I may be wrong. Anyway, I want to preserve the natural shape and feel of foie gras.

Also, I went for a pretty coarse pastrami spice spice, whereas Chef Gold seem to have chosen a finer grind.

Kumquat/Pink Grapefruit marmelade was made with two principal ingredients with 4 whole cloves (ground cloves would be completely overpowering) and touch of Berbere African spice ( chilli, ginger, coriander, fenugreek, cardamom and many others, with predominance of chillies).

Chocolate Sauce - made with 70% chocolate, cream, butter and a touch of glucose for extra viscosity.

Caraway crackers - home-made crisps crisps with roasted caraway.

Overall, this is a phenomenal dish - will make again anytime.

Pasta a Picchi Pacchi

Kind of like pasta puttanesca, but minus the olives and capers and with basil instead of parsley. With the start of summer, we have been using a lot of fresh basil and tomatoes in our meals these days. I can't wait to try this with really good heirloom/farmstand tomatoes. :)

(Made using this recipe.)

Tonkotsu Ramen

- roasted pork, poached egg, fish cake, scallions, pickled bamboo, abalone mushroom

This was the centerpiece of my New Year meal. Real ramen, let alone tonkotsu broth are rarely made at home ( in Japan or otherwise), but I wanted to give it a try.

Tonkotsu broth was made with roasted pork bones, pig's feet, ginger, garlic and Tokyo scallions. Although it took 15 hours to make it ( obscene amount of time, by home cooking standards), the result was very satisfying. The broth was rich, flavorful, shiny and a touch sticky, because of the emulsified collagen. I added approximately 2 tablespoons of concentrated and clarified bacon dashi, just to add saltiness and smoke ( will add more next time though). My next attempt at the tonkotsu broth will include more smoke, a touch of miso and maybe a spoonful of dried scallop/dried shrimp essence. I would rate this broth as 8/10, with space for improvement.

I did not have time to make alkaline noodles, which would have made this ramen bowl considerable better than the plain, albeit freshly made noodles I had to use.

Most of the toppings were the usual suspects ( pork, egg, scallion, fish cake, pickled bamboo), with the abalone mushroom being a last minute substitution. The latter was unsuccessful, as it added only texture, but not much flavor and none of the umami - will absolutely use wood ear mushrooms next time.

Roasted pork absolutely worked, although I should have sliced it a lot thinner, or even served as "pulled-pork" style, just like they do at the Momofuku Noodle Bar. Also, I am toying with an idea of roasting a pork butt with the mixture of honey, five-spice powder, red fermented tofu, dark soy sauce, hoisin sauce and Shaoxing wine - i.e. traditional char siu sauce, on my next attempt. But then again, salt-sugar-pepper-coco nibs mix worked quite well this time.

My ramen remains the work-in-progress and I humbly hope to reach ramen excellence sometime in the future.

Sunday dinner was delicious. I did remember to thank the cook.

Can you beat this for breakfast?

Lobster Roll

- Maine Lobster, light mayo, celery, Old Bay, 7-spice, Meyer Lemon, black pepper.

Unreal!!! It tasted so good.

Penne with crumbled goat cheese, roasted pear, walnuts, baby arugula, baby spinach, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Blogged about here.

Just a simple snack:

New England Steamers

- galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime, chili, bay leaf, Shichimi tōgarashi

Steamed, seasoned and eaten.

******************************

オオノガイ 大野貝, 七味唐辛子

adinnerparty.blogspot.com/2009/02/chocolate-y-nightcap-wi...

IMGP6795

Fresh Morel Mushroom and Fava Bean Salad

Before anything, credits: Ulterior Epicure posted a picture and description of this salad prepared at Modern in NYC - my version is a replica.

I was not expecting much from a salad course, so I steamed fresh morels and blanched Fava beans, tossed them with fresh pea shoots in freshly made Mint Oil, and sous-vide a few scampi, mostly for garnish.

The result was arguably the best salad I've made - the combination of flavors was absolutely exquisite.

Bruschetta:

- Heirloom Tomato, Toasted Country Bread, Heirloom Tomato Sorbet, Pancetta, Young Garlic Air

This particular plate is a replica of "Pa amb tomàquet" pictured by Kathryn Yu.

(One more time: Congratulations Kathryn and Dan!)

I absolutely loved the flavor combination, my version is missing fuet, which would only make it better.

White Truffle Oil-Infused Custard, "Ragoût" of Black Winter Truffles.

Please look at the original dish here .

Few things are worth mentioning, I think:

- I used White Truffle oil to flavor the custard, just as French Laundry cookbook suggest. White Truffle Oil, however, is typically olive oil with "white truffle flavorings", which are not necessarily made from real white truffles. The ultimate way to do it would be to infuse grapeseed oil with white truffle shavings, but the cost of that exercise would be prohibitive. Still, I don't exclude a possibility of something like that being done for FL/Per Se VIP roster;

- I should have let the custard cook for a lot longer than 40-45 minutes @275C, as per Chef Keller's recipe. The flavor was outstanding, but my custard was a bit too runny to support the weight of veal stock;

- Chive Potato chips were excellent, but I was not happy about their shape - will use a metal stencil next time;

- this dish absolutely needs veal stock made as per Keller's specification, i.e. without roasting the bones. Veal stock made this dish to me, period. I flavored the stock by freeze-dried truffles, BTW.

Overall, this was a success as far as taste is concerned, presentation needs work.

Ahhh-hhh, the morning after.... I made a few things last night - there were some leftovers. :-)

Thick slice of house made brioche, European Butter, Thinly Shaved Truffles, Grey Sea Salt.

Sometimes there are no words....

King Salmon, Avocado, Crayfish, Ramp Bouillabaisse.

Yet another dish inspired by Corton , and pictured by Ulterior Epicure .

I would like to thank Chef Paul Liebrandt for his kind advice and guidance in preapring this dish, as well as his for phenomenal food.

Personally, I have not had this dish, but the flavors were intriguing to me.

Salmon was poached sous-vide at 55C for 6 minutes ans seasoned, live crawfish was cooked sous-vide with sweet cream butter @ 59.5C for about 30-45 minutes ( the flavor was phenomenal, and the texture extremely delicate), avocado made with Myer Lemon, fresh Nasturcium leaves were served raw. I omitted crispy Salmon Skin in my version, although the dish would certainly benefit from a crunchy element. The most important element on this plate is Ramp Bouillabaisse - I made mine with fresh ramps ( perhaps, the last of the season), ginger and lemongrass. Personally, I have not had the original plate, but went with the description given by Ulterior Epicure, who described the sauce having an Asian overtones.

This was an excellent dish, but look at my presentation, compared to the original - theirs looks a lot more delicate and refined.

Smoked Duck, Asian Pickles, Tomato Pearls, Hawaiian Black Salt.

This dish is meant to be a replica of Sushi Kaji plate from Renee's latest set.

I smoked duck breast over oak saw dust for just a few minutes, brushed it with marinade made with light and dark soy sauces, Xaioxing wine, Five Spice powder and a touch of Kafir lime leaves ( similar marinade sans kaffir lime, is usually used in a Chinese dish called "Smoked Fish", although fish is not smoked at all, but rather gets said flavor from five spice mixture). The duck breast was then poached Sous-Vide at 61F for about 35-45 minutes, and served with home-made Asian pickles ( carrot, turnip, shitake mushrooms, pickled in rice vinegar with Rock sugar, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns and smoked chilies - I wanted to enhance smoked flavor, without using a lot of actual smoke). Also, I added a touch of pickled eggplant , but kept in on the side - a nod to a common friend SiFu Renka and I happen to have.

Plain tomatoes would be a little boring, so I made Beefsteak Tomato Pearls for garnish, and added a touch of black salt for color contrast.

This dish would pair very well with sake, but today I opted for Belgian Kriek Cherry beer , which worked really well.

Overall, this was an outstanding plate - great flavors, texture and secondary flavors. Will do again in a hearbeat!

1-2 cloves of garlic

1 tbs. shallots minced

1 cup (cherry - but any will do) tomato, roughly chopped + handful to add at end for texture

almost 1/2 cup sun-dried tomato (lightly packed) - if not in oil, soak for 30min first

1 pinch chili flakes to taste

1 tsp. tamari (japanese soya sause)

Whatever Italian fresh herbs that you have available: oregano

flat leafed parsley and basil - to taste

black pepper + salt to taste

olive oil to taste

Put all the ingredients except the herbs, into bowl and mush it using a hand mixer to a puree. If you like slowly drizzle a little olive oil (depends on how juicy the tomatoes are) until creamy. (I usually exclude the oilve oil).

Mix in the remaining chopped tomatoes and finely chopped herbs. Season to taste.

Serve over a bed of spiralized courgette and bed of spinach.

"Quickie" Lunch - Kobe Sirloin, Uni, Veal Stock Reduction, Spices

I am a straight male, yet one wouldn't fight pornography on my computer, or in my house. I have a stack of Food&Wine, Gourmet and Bon Appetite , but no Playboy or Penthouse - some have found it ironic in the past. ;-) Yet, I will make an excuse for taking a pornographic image you see above - sweet debauchery , at it's best.

American Kobe Beef Sirloin, grilled rare, CA Purple Uni, Veal Stock Reduction, Black Pepper and Kosher Salt seasoning, touch of Yuzu juice to offset Uni sweetness - that is all.

My lunch was quite enjoyable, how was yours?

California Purple Uni - easily the best sea urchin I have ever had: it was creamy, rich, sweet, obscene...

Beet Amuse, L'Arpege style:

- baby red beet, Mayer lemon, wildflower honey, artisinal extravirgin olive oil.

First, and foremost - credits and acknowledgements: Ulterior Epicure posted pictures of his interpretation of the L'Arpege dish, as well as given me the recipe for it.

I have not have the original dish, nor have I tried U.E.'s version of it, so this is not an exact replica, but rather a recipe interpretation.

Fresh, clean flavors depend almost entirely on the quality of ingredient used , and it is a simple, yet elegant way to start a good meal.

Spicy tom yum prawns with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and bird's eye chilli peppers. Recipe on my blog .

Greek Style Potato Salad from this recipe at MediterrAsian.com.

Potatoes tossed with Greek style yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, kalamata olives, crumbled feta, sea salt, fresh ground pepper, fresh dill, scallions and capers. Just the thing for a summer barbecue or picnic.

"Surf & Turf":

Monkfish with Braised Oxtails, Oyster Mushrooms, Salsify and Oyster Mushrooms.

This is an enormously successful dish: oxtails braised in veal stock match very well with shellfish-rich taste of monkfish, and oyster-like salsify, veal stock literally ties everything together - rich, delightful, provocative taste just takes one's mouth over.

This dish was made according to the original "French Laundry" recipe, although Chef Keller serves this dish with cèpes, whereas I opted for Oyster mushrooms - fresh, albeit much cheaper ingredient.

As good as it is, this plate still can use some improvement - generally, I like my veal stock based sauces to be a lot thicker, and hold a circular shape when presented. Also, I wonder if the dish would benefit from cooking oxtails sous-vide, or even using veal shanks instead of the oxtails.

"I Made This........138"

This recipe was adapted from one I saw in Cooking Light Magazine in January. It was actually intended to be a light version of fried rice, but...well, really! What would be the point? If you want fried rice, go for it, and the next day try to eat healthier.

So, I turned it into a rice bowl. What really attracted me to this recipe was the fact it had dried cranberries in it, which is my current snack food at work. Oh, and in case you didn't get it a few photos back, I love leeks!!

You could use just about any combination of ingredients in this recipe. In fact, you could probably do a 365 cookbook of just rice bowls.

Anyway, here is the recipe for this one.

In a pot, add 4 cups chicken stock, and add some cracked pepper, sea salt, thyme and basil, either fresh or dried. Also add some chopped Italian flat leaf parsley, my current obsession. Heat to boiling, add two cups of rice, put on the lid, reduce to simmer, and let cook for about 25 minutes.

I had some shredded carrot left from the other recipe I did, so I added them to the chicken stock for color in the rice mixture.

Cook four boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and cut into small pieces. I actually used the char grill at work. You cook use a grill, bake them, cook them in a grill pan, a George Forman, saute them in a fry pan in olive oil...whatever method you choose.

Slice the whites and some of the light green of some leeks. I used about 12. Rinse very well, and saute in a pan in olive oil, with a few splashes of chicken stock added, until tender.

Put about two cups of dried cranberries in hot water and let them plump a bit.

When the rice is finished, add the chicken, leeks and cranberries, and toss to combine.

You could also use brown rice. I just didn't want to spend an hour cooking brown rice. Yeah I know, sustainable, organic, eco-friendly, locally sourced, natural grown, nutrient dense, know your food supplier....I have heard it all. A year from now, chefs will be throwing a two foot mound of cotton candy on top of your dinner and calling it the latest food trend.

The basil, thyme and leeks contain antioxidents, the cranberries are good for you in fiber, plus their natural kidney and urinary tract bennies, rice is full of nutrients, carrot contains essential beta-carotine and vitamins, and chicken is a low fat protien. Oh, and the olive oil has lots of omega-3 fatty acids to clense the bad cholestoral out of your arteries. Forgive me for shunning brown rice. LOL!!

One last note. Some people who are dieting will say, oh rice...carbs...must avoid. No way! I lost 125 pounds last year and ate plenty of rice....and pasta.....and bread...and potatoes. Carbs are essential foods for the body. Deny your body what it needs, and it will become a craving with a vengence. In a bad way.

OK, I will step down from my soapbox for a minute. Just for a minute.

Pork fillets topped with prosciutto and sage.

Jamie Oliver's tomato mac & cheese