Semiserious Chefs

I have been very excited to finally have an excuse to buy the beautiful king oyster mushrooms that are currently in season. Raw, these large mushrooms have a pleasant aroma similar to a good sourdough, but when simmered they bring incredible umami flavor to a dish. The other main ingredient, dried bean curd sticks, take […]

This super easy and very cheap salad can be served warm or cold. The recipe below makes for a mildly hot dressing. You can of-course add more chili as desired. The same goes for the sesame oil. I tend to only like a little bit in my dishes, but feel free to add more to […]

I’m not any kind of Chinese food chef – nor do I claim to really know a lot about the modern Americanized version of Chinese cuisine – but I do know a good meal when I see one. This dish isn’t anything fancy, but it has all the elements of a good meal thrown nicely […]

White Chili. It’s the title of this dish but also the key ingredient. When I created this recipe I had two things in mind. Chili needs meat, (but I also like beans in mine), and chili should taste like chilies. Keeping things white, the protein of choice, chicken, was easy, but how to have a […]

Though taken from the name of a town in Spain, Marbella is actually an American made recipe based off of the flavors of that region. All the rage among the shoulder pad clad who’s-who of the 80’s, chicken marbella was the creative genus of Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, proprietors of the very trendy Silver […]

“This is a phenomenal dish! I wish they served this at my favorite place! If you were to ever own a restaurant this would need to be on the menu!” – Real quote from a Happy Guest This recipe came about after I was given a dill herb dip blend last Christmas. Eventually I created […]

Mr. Nathan found a pasta he really wanted when we visited the charcuterie in Napa, and I was able to find the same kind (mezzi rigatoni) at our local grocery store for his Christmas stalking. He was very excited to make a cream sauce for his pasta so I asked him what kind of cheese […]

This sauce (pronounced greh-no-blue-os) originates comes from the French town of Grenoble. Very tangy by itself it pairs well with mild fish, and is perfectly rounded off with a topping of fresh parsley. Although most commonly cooked with fish or seafood it can, however, be served over a huge variety of dish choices, (see below) […]

Our little family really does not do hotdishes (or ‘casseroles’ as everyone else might call them). It probably has a direct tie to Andrew’s abundant visits to Minnesota as a young person. However, when it comes time to come up with something to bring to a larger family gathering, what we might find exciting (particularly […]

First off, always give credit where credit is due. Although there are some subtle changes that make this recipe my own, I definitely used Anthony Bourdain’s recipe as a major leaping off point. As soon as I read that he uses a two day technique with a partial fry and a freeze in the middle, […]