Semiserious Chefs

Armenia. It’s own nation; just barely. They are incredibly proud of their heritage and their homeland. They come from the ancient lands of the Mesopotamia and lived through the Ottoman empire. They’ve been ‘owned’ by both Turkey and Russia, over and over, and their cuisine is a mix of flavors that shows these ever waving […]

‘Ground Provisions’ was a rather obscure sounding dish when I first came across it. Interestingly it’s a pretty straight forward idea. They are simply ground-based vegetables, AKA roots, tubers, corms, and rhizomes, that are providing the carbohydrates for the meal. These are most often potatoes, sweet potatoes, African/Asian yams, taro, cassava, squash, or plantains, even […]

Ceviche is a traditional dish made using an acid, typically a citrus juice, to marinade raw fish. It is believed to date back to the Incan Empire, but with so much immigrating in and out of the area, and the basic-ness of the idea, it’s pretty unrealistic to allow one civilization full credit. There were […]

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 […]

This recipe was inspired by two things. One, the desire to cook something Peruvian with my new found favorite chili, aji amarillo, and two, the wild caught Kodiak scallops I bought at our local farmers market. True to Peruvian style, this recipe uses potatoes and ground aji amarillo. Next, I topped this creamy chowder-like dish […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

You may notice that many of my recent recipes lately have revolved around chilies. Red and green. I just find their diversity so versatile! This recipe is a take on a ‘diet’ breakfast I relied heavily on at one point. I would always eat one egg, either fried and topped with salsa or over-easy on […]