Semiserious Chefs

This recipe was originally created as a mistake during a recent duel between Andrew and I. It wasn’t at all the right plan for a burger topping, but it was instead an incredibly delicious finger food! There is a lot of flexibility in the recipe to make these treats as spicy or not as desired. […]

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, […]

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 […]

Taken from the Arabic for an onomatopoeia-like word sounding meaning ‘all mixed up,’ this North African dish is beloved both by Muslims and Jews, as their cultures have been intermingled again and again throughout history. Often eaten at breakfast, shakshouka is also not uncommon to have for dinner. The ingredients are simple, and it only […]

Citrus Junos, known as Yuzu (ユズ) in Japanese, and yuju (유자) in Korean, is the name of a particular type of rather small, very seedy, citrus fruit. Although it is commonly used fresh, and to make ponzu in particular, you will very often find it in a fermented form combined with chilis and salt, as […]

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, […]

A little while ago I came up with a recipe for grilled salsa. It involved all the fantastic chilies and tomatillos I had been using for pozole verde, but I grilled them gently before dicing or blending. It became VERY apparent that this salsa could be used in a TON of recipes! I’ve used the […]

I made Pozole Rojo the other day, and ended up with an entire extra pint of the fiery broth left over. Part of it we planned to use for canning pork, and I had planned to use the other half for an Indian style dish of lentils over rice. It just happened that I also […]

“Grilled Salsa!?” you say ask. INDEED! I’d been playing around with all those wonderful chilies making Pozole Verde when I realized that grilling season was fast approaching. “I bet these would be really good paired with the smokiness of charcoal!” Oh was I ever right! I picked out the firmest tomatillos, and the brightest pablano, anaheim, and yellow […]