Archives for June 2011

Lobster Rolls – A Tale of Summers Past

June 28, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

This post was originally written as a guest post for my friend Greg over at SippitySup. He had asked a number of blogger friends to write some pieces on childhood summer memories that he could post in his absence while he vacationed. I know some of you read Greg's great blog, but for those who don't I thought I'd re-post this one here for you to enjoy. Cheers – Steve

My early childhood summers were fabulously routine, but never boring. I grew up in a typical New England “beach” town, so for me, summer travel required no more than a 4 mile trek.

Each summer vacation started the same, with Mom packing coolers of food and crates full of our summer duds (really nothing more than a few bathing suits and t-shirts), and loading them all into the Jeep. A quick stop in town for a tide chart, and a brief stint in the barber’s chair for a short, summer crew-cut, and we were on our way to Saquish.

Edamame and Cilantro Purée

June 24, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

This past Sunday I attended what must have been the 5th or 6th H.S. graduation party for my oldest son Grid, and his classmates. Despite the rather frigid temps at the beach where the party was held, and the fact that some of the kids HAD to have been suffering from party fatigue (it seems that current fashion dictates that EVERY family of a graduate must host a party in order that their kids remain in good standing with their class), a great time was had by all. Calypso Hurricane rocked the house, and even pulled our young star Boris to the stage to lay down a sweet bass track for the band. Entwistle would have been proud.

Blood Orange Frozen Yogurt

June 21, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

How many of you have ever made your own ice cream? It's really easy isn't it? I mean, whether you've got a motorized "old-style" bucket ice maker, one of the cool Cuisinarts where you pre-freeze the canister insert, or a full fledged commercial monster with it's own built-in compressor (like me, he says shamefully), making home-made ice cream is one of the most rewarding things you can do in your kitchen.

And your kids….are you kidding me? Want to be their hero…….like, forever?

Make ice cream with them and bask in all the glory that is rightfully yours.

Soy Braised Chicken with Star Anise and Orange

June 18, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

Remember a few days ago when I said that I didn't believe in food rules and that if I feel like cooking a braise in warm weather then I'm going to, rules be damned.

Well, here I am walking the walk, because while this dish would seem a natural today (it is about 55 degrees and raining as I write this post), when we made it a week ago it was in the upper 70s and the sun was shining brightly, not exactly the kind of weather that makes you think of a braise. I'm here to tell you though that this dish felt spot-on as we dined al fresco, watching the sun set over the beach, enjoying the chicken's Asian flavors along with a crisp green salad, some freshly baked bread and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Ain't no rules that can corral a dish as good as this, eat it when you want, with what you want, and with whomever you want.

Bangers and Mash with Guinness Onion Gravy – Charcutepalooza #6

June 15, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

It appears as though I jumped the gun and got a bit ahead of myself for last month's Charcutepalooza challenge when I made "stuffed" sausages. Marching orders from our lovely High-Preistesses of Pork, Cathy (Mrs. Wheelbarrow) and Kim (The Yummy Mummy) were for us just to "grind" meat into sausage, we were not required at that point to "stuff" said meat into casings, that is THIS month's challenge. If I were any good at all at following directions I would have caught that subtle detail, saved us a bit of work on this end, and formed our spicy merguez into patties rather than links. Oh well….I'm not complaining because our merguez-frites sandwich was an unqualified success and the practice we gained by stuffing the casings with our kitchen-aid meant that this month's challenge was that much easier, as we are now well seasoned stuffers.

As you've no doubt gleaned from the title of this post, this month's challenge takes us to the British Isles and one of the more famous of their silly named dishes.

What is it with these folks anyway, is it just me, or have they raised the craft of concocting strange names for dishes to a high art? Let's see there's "Bubble and Squeak", "Toad in the Hole", "Cullen Skink", "Black Pudding", "Bangers and Mash", and the ever popular "Spotted Dick". Excuse me?

No Botox Required – An Anniversary Facelift for Oui, Chef

June 12, 2011 By Steve Dunn Leave a Comment

A face lift good enough to eat, not a freakish one like Cher's!

As we celebrate our 2 year anniversary here at Oui, Chef we felt a little face lift was in order. No botox for our little blog, just a spiffed up banner, a new layout, a more unified design and color scheme, an upgrade to "Discus" comments, and some new search functionality including a full recipe index. We've wanted to pretty things up around here for a while, and felt hitting the 2 year mark was a good excuse to finally pull the trigger, roll up our sleeves and get to work. We hope you like what you see!

First, some words of thanks to the awesome Laura and Colleen at TypePad. Their questions guided me through the maze of design possibilities, and helped me to realize what it was I really wanted to accomplish during this "make-over" process. Colleen exhibited infinite patience as she taught me (an HTML neophyte) the few snippets of code I would need to format my posts to take advantage of the new design. You ladies rock! Thanks also to Dina Lyons the graphic designer who came up with my original logo and banner, and is responsible for the cool evolution of the banner you see above. Finally a shout out to my brother-in-law David, who's talent at making "food faces" inspired the lovely green tomato smiler above.

Nutella Banana Bread

June 9, 2011 By Steve Dunn 7 Comments

Fate dealt me a lovely hand last week when I found a bag of chopped hazelnuts in the pantry that were getting a little long in the tooth and needed to be used. I can't remember why I had bought them in the first place, in fact, I can't remember buying them at all…..dang memory.

My first thought was to toast them and toss them into a grain and veggie based salad to have with some grilled chicken over the weekend, and as I was rifling through the grain bin to find a suitable partner for the nuts, I glanced overhead and found a half-eaten jar of Nutella in the chocolate bin above.

Radish and Basil Pesto

June 6, 2011 By Steve Dunn 4 Comments

With summer just around the corner, our attention is drawn to fresh herbs, greens and veggies, and light quick preparations that highlight their goodness. This little ditty is delicious as a sandwich spread, tossed with whole wheat pasta, as a crudité dip or bruschetta topping, or stirred into some smashed potatoes to make them pop. Heck…serve a dollop along side a juicy grilled steak, piece of fish, or chicken to add a little blast of summer to your plate.

Roasted Cod Caprese

June 2, 2011 By Steve Dunn 11 Comments

Given that we live within spitting distance of Cape Cod, you'd think finding a beautiful piece of the fish that lends it's name to this region wouldn't be too difficult a task. Sadly, most of the cod we see around here, even in the best retail fish markets, doesn't get me very excited these days. Sob….sob…sniffle…

Archives for June 2011

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