Generally speaking, anytime you find your dinner splattered on the walls, under the lamp shade and down your shirt you can bet there was something wrong with the recipe. But before you start pointing fingers, just know that I was something like 20 years old when I used fennel for the first time. Not knowing how to deal with it’s strong, liquorice flavor, I paired it with some veggies, rice and called it a day. It tasted like gasoline.

My boyfriend at the time, a generally well behaved pre-med student with a very tidy Clifton apartment, GQ magazines stacked by the wall and a giant collection of watches, had an unusual reaction. There, in the center of his dining room, he gathered his food in the palms of hands, tightened the congealed mess like a snowball and launched it clear across the room, sending it straight into the bay window where it smacked and puttered down to the floor.

[click to continue…]

2 comments

Pasta with tomato jam

January 24, 2012

I’ve got a secret, folks, and it’s born from the kind of raw emotion that divides nations, ruins presidential campaigns, sabotages relationships. I hate to admit it but my secret burns even hotter than John Edwards in a hotel room … and even though it’s so, so wrong, I hope you’ll understand.

Selfishness, greed, power. You wouldn’t know it but it’s all right here in this recipe.

[click to continue…]

3 comments

Roasted smashed potatoes

January 17, 2012

Say what you will … yes I am that girl with the messy hair and the half-wrinkled shirt who is often thinking four steps ahead without remembering to wear cute shoes. But when it comes to cooking, I’ve got priorities.

It’s late over here – or should I say really early – and that’s a nice thing because the house is still and even though the wind is loud and scary out there, I’ve got my husband and dogs tucked safely upstairs. Which means, I’m okay for now to write you a little love letter about roasted smashed potatoes.

[click to continue…]

6 comments

Margarita Cookies

January 13, 2012

A savory cook doesn’t like to measure. Prides herself on creativity, spontaneity, judging temperature by sound, flavor by taste. A pastry cook prides herself on accuracy, on regiment. She is patient and organized and finds big reward in tiny little measuring spoons. For a long time I couldn’t identify with the latter … until last week when I found sanity in a cookie.

[click to continue…]

3 comments

Cincinnati Deconstructed: Molly Wellmann

You may already know her as the heavily inked, bombshell mixologist at Japp’s – re-energizing Over-the-Rhine with every stir, shake and pour. But Molly Wellmann is more than a local celebrity … and she’s way more than tattoos and ‘tude. Get to know her here, in the pilot episode of Cincinnati Deconstructed – filmed and directed [...]

11 comments Continue Reading →

5 Minutes with Cincinnati Enquirer Food Writer, Polly Campbell

You have one day left to live. Where do you eat tonight? Well, not in a restaurant, that’s for sure. I’d be with my family and I would hope someone I love would cook me something. I’ve never been a sheer sensation-seeker; my peak food experiences have always been about the context in which I’m [...]

3 comments Continue Reading →

Something honest

Thumbnail image for Something honest

Maybe I write because it’s impossible to be what I’m not when my words are marching across the screen, crossing their arms like a pissed off teenager and demanding the truth. I write, I guess, ’cause it feels honest. I imagine, in a cross universe of vegetables, that’s how cabbage feels. Humble in presentation (unlike [...]

5 comments Continue Reading →

Chef Jose Salazar is Blowing Up, Plus Win a Meal at The Palace

Think you know Cincinnati chefs? Chances are you don’t know Jose Salazar – recently voted “People’s Best New Chef: Great Lakes” by way of FoodandWine.com. I spent some time with him in his award-winning kitchen at The Palace (in the Cincinnatian Hotel) where he’s carefully and methodically building his empire. Now, ready to win $50 [...]

21 comments Continue Reading →

Not sure why

Thumbnail image for Not sure why

One of my favorite memories is of spilling chocolate sauce all over my chef’s coat last year. I was working at Nectar as a cook – for free – with no clue why. I guess you could say I was a little lost, though at the time I felt inspired, confident that if I kept [...]

3 comments Continue Reading →

How to sear scallops with orange reduction [VIDEO]

If there were something like the culinary Olympics, I’d enter in the category of scallops. For whatever reason, they’re one of my favorite things to make – and so I thought I’d share with you a little scallop technique on this fine December day.

4 comments Continue Reading →