Chicken alla Margherita (adapted from Private Collection, Junior League of Palo Alto, 1980)

Chicken alla Margherita is a sophisticated-but-easy-enough-for-a-weeknight dish from Private Collection, a cookbook published by the Junior League of Palo Alto.    The recipe’s author is presented to the reader as a member of one of “Northern California’s oldest Italian families” with a “flair and elegance for entertaining”, and the author of luxurious risotto recipe in the……

Hot Cucumber Soup (Indiana, 1984, adapted)

Whoever invented the phrase “cool as a cucumber” never partied with the St. Andrew’s Parish Bingo Committee.  Hot Cucumber Soup is a straightforward weeknight recipe courtesy of a sixty-something parishioner.   It’s a creamy vegetable soup thickened with white sauce and sour cream.   The vegetable base includes the usual suspects, a mirepoix and some boiled potatoes,……

Cumin-spiced Pork Roast

Cumin-spiced Pork Roast is a simple and inexpensive way to round out your dinner plate with a ‘juicy hunk of meat’.  I’ll prepare this or something like it when the meal includes a time-consuming side dish (such as Curry Spiced Carrot Croquettes) – there’s very little active time beyond the dry rub and a quick……