Semiserious Chefs

This recipe’s great because it’s quick and there’s very little mess; mainly because there’s no eggs or milk to worry about. You’ll find lots of other onion ring recipes however, that do call for those ingredients. In fact, I have other recipes right here on this sight that use eggs and milk.

This punny recipe came about with my desire to learn new uses for African and Asian yams. When I say yam, you probably think of those dark orange sweet potatoes they sell in most every US market. They are, in fact, exactly that, sweet potatoes. I know, this is where you say, “No, no, no! Sweet […]

This mashed plantain dish hails from Peru. Amazonian Peru. This is a relatively important note, as different parts of Peru produce different staple foods. For instance, in the mountainous Andes regions (Sierra) you are more likely to see crop based dishes with potatoes or quinoa, and slow roasted meats, commonly guinea pig. Along the coastline, […]

The plantain. Beloved by so many countries! And not the least of these, Puerto Rico. Mofongo (pronounce moe-phone-go) refers to a garlicy mashed plantain ball containing chicharrones, or fried pork rinds. (Bacon is an acceptable substitute.) What you choose to do with it after that offers creativity. Most often it is served with a sauce […]

Have you ever tried your hand at making hash browns from scratch, but found the results to be less than ideal? Perhaps the outside of the hash browns look okay, but on the inside it’s nothing but a starchy undercooked mess. I’ve seen this more than I’d like to admit. Fortunately, there are steps you […]

This mashed green plantain breakfast (or lunch, or dinner) goes by the unique name of Mangú. One story goes that a visiting American Marine once tried the dish and announced, “Man! Good!” leading to it to forever be called such with a local accent. Another, perhaps more likely theory, states that the original name might […]

Kelewele (pronounced kay-lay-way-lay) is a West African street food that is particularly popular in Ghana. Commonly sold as cubed bits, people also like to slice them more like fries or potato wedges, and sometimes as medallions. These spicy seasoned and fried treats are great for parties, hors d’oeuvres, side dishes, and even tossed on salad. […]

This recipe takes its roots from Ghana. The southern states in particular lean heavily on cassava and plantain as major staples, but the common culture throughout the country is to serve a meal centered around the starch of choice with a soup or stew, most often tomato based, and added protein, very often fish. Like […]

From as far back as I can remember (21 years tops) I’ve had a thing for spicy food. While I personally don’t consider Buffalo sauce to be very spicy, I still really enjoy the subtle heat and vinegary edge that comes with it. And I know it pairs amazingly well with blue cheese. So why […]

This recipe partly came about because I like breakfast food and I like cooking breakfast food – especially for dinner. We even have a special name for it around here. We call it BBFD or “big breakfast for dinner”. What’s funny however, is that I rarely if ever actually eat pancakes. I might take a […]