Semiserious Chefs

Somehow I think it is my life’s mission to discover the best way to serve cranberries. It’s like it calls me. I mean, who cares about cranberries, right? Perhaps that’s why I feel so impelled. Whatever the reason, I came pretty close last year with the Mulled Port Cranberry Sauce, but this year I stumbled […]

Gremolata is a very easy to make condiment that compliments meats, pasta, and vegetables incredibly well. It is perhaps most know for it’s use with ossobuco. Although made simply of parsley, garlic, and lemon, these three ingredients certainly add up to more than the sum of their parts. Upon first tasting you may find it […]

This sauce is a SUPER EASY staple to have in your repertoire. Perhaps you’ll measure for the first few times you make it, but soon enough you will find that you can easily toss together a rough proportion, or even experiment with some of your other favorite flavors, (try adding ginger or substituting ponzu!) for […]

As Ćwikła in Poland or tsvikli (цвіклі) in Ukraine this relish, a combination of beets and horseradish, is very commonly used as a spread on sliced bread, and is in-fact so popular that it is sometimes referred to as Ukrainian Kimchi. In Russian, hron (Хрoн) means simply horseradish, but also usually refers to this relish with both […]

At the store recently I asked Nathan what kind of vegetable he would like to go with dinner and he picked out some nice looking zucchini. I know there are a lot of people who are not really fans of zucchini. In fact, I don’t often get it myself. I am simply not a ‘Spiralizor’ […]

Sigeumchi-namul 시금치나물, from sigeumchi for spinach and namul because it is a vegetable dish, is one of the most common banchan (Korean side dish), and also one of the easiest! Best of all it isn’t spicy, so everyone can enjoy it! It’s funny to me that even as a family that isn’t particularly fond of […]

“What is the Korean name for this dish?” you ask. Well that depends on what kind of bean sprouts you use. First and foremost this dish is a namul (나물) , referring to a steamed, stir-fried, or marinated vegetable dish. However, sukju-namul is the name for bean sprouts in general. Now soy bean sprouts are […]

Oi-muchim (오이무침): oi for cucumber and muchim for mixed or tossed, this quick Korean side dish is very common as a snack and of-course a banchan for any meal or special bapsang. (Sometimes it is also written as Oi Saengche (오이생채) from the Chinese influenced Korean writing for live vegetable since it is not ‘dead’/cooked.) […]

Nopale Cactus Leaves I have tried a lot of new things this year, but finally I am trying my hand at nopale leaf. These big flat cactus leaves grow on the same plant that gives us the cactus fruit known as prickly pear. Originally nohpalli in the Nahuatl language, Opuntia cacti are now referred to as […]

Many years ago our local grocery store started marking down the produce that was beginning to age. In a place where you will NEVER pay last than a dollar and usually easily more than 2 dollars a pound for anything other than potatoes and carrots, getting 3 or 4 pieces of fruit for a dollar […]