Since 2007, JeanMarie Brownson has been chronicling a life spent cooking in her bimonthly column for the Chicago Tribune, "Dinner at Home." The Chicago native shares with Good Eating readers the recipes she develops at home to feed her family and friends. Brownson has long experience in food; she was the test kitchen director for the Chicago Tribune from 1980 until 1996. She left the Tribune to start Frontera Foods with partners Rick Bayless and Manny Valdes. She is now culinary director of that Mexican foods company and also serves as culinary director for Frontera Media Productions, which produces the PBS TV show "Mexico -- One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless." She has co-authored three cookbooks with Bayless and wife Deann, including "Mexico -- One Plate at a Time," winner of the James Beard Foundation's International Cookbook Award.
Thanksgiving might just be the ultimate potluck. Nearly everyone we know loves this food-centric holiday. Long gone are the days of one person cooking the whole Thanksgiving dinner.
Homemade soup cures my November blues. It makes the house smell good and keeps me on track for healthful, lighter eating before the holiday calorie onslaught. I can save lunch money by taking small containers to the office. All in all, it's a win-win. Especially if I'm out of the kitchen fast.
On a recent vacation to Austria, I was bombarded with memories of my paternal grandparents. Everywhere we traveled, we encountered the bacons and sausages my grandfather cured in his smokehouse and the sweets my gram made so lovingly in their Chicago bungalow: Kuchens and strudels of all...
We could happily eat a burger once or twice a week. Burgers have it all going on: Great flavors and a stack of textures. Plus, most fall into a modest price range and are relatively easy to prepare. Weeknight fare, weekend celebration — you name the event and a good burger will shine.
Dining out inspires dinner at home. Especially when the restaurant meal features seasonal ingredients with easy to re-create preparations. After a day of bicycling in Austria, a stunning skillet of golden pork chops smothered in pfifferlings proved splendid inspiration. Ditto for the...
Every September, a small panic rises. The herb garden overflows; so do the border plantings of leafy greens. Tomatoes dominate my countertop in all manner of ripeness. One neighbor gifted me with a 51/2-pound zucchini and another dropped off a small crate of hot chilies. I feel desperate to...
Bigger birds of today require indirect heat
Grill transforms and deepens flavors, elevating sides to main event