Creamed Sweet Peas with Shallot Crisps

If you can get fresh, and I mean farm fresh not super-market fresh, Sweet Peas - buy all you can carry! And then use them within one or two days. The window of opportunity to get really fresh Sweet Peas in season is very small and they do not last long once they leave the farm. This recipe will shine if you can use fresh instead of frozen, but don’t let a shortage of fresh peas stop you from preparing it.

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

Potatoes and onions are a naturally perfect combination; they just fit together in so many dishes. Scalloped potatoes without onions would just be sliced potatoes in a white sauce. American Fries or Hash Browns without onions is, well... un-American! But rarely if ever do you come across the sweet, crunchy, spiciness of onions in mashed potatoes. Until now that is.

Garlicky Pork Schnitzel

This recipe was inspired by a meal my mom would make quite regularly when I was growing up. When mom said she was making pork chops for dinner, this is what she meant. She would fry the pork chops in shortening and butter until they were really, really, really browned. (No one ever cooked pork to anything less than overdone back then!) Then she would stick them in a hot, hot oven to hold while she made the gravy.

Steakhouse Creamed Spinach

This is a side dish loaded with tradition. Creamed Spinach is a steakhouse staple found virtually everywhere. This side dish is also loaded with a lot of butter fat, so it’s not a “vegetable” I would recommend as a part of your daily routine but, oh boy, is it good!

Rigatoni with Smoked Salmon Tomato Crème

This recipe is an indicator of my tenacity. It is the result of the recreation of a favorite pasta dish from a little Italian bistro we frequented nearly 30 years ago. That dish was a Rigatoni bathed in a sauce of creamy tomatoes and smoky salmon.

Linguini alla Carbonara

The original Pasta Carbonara is a simple dish traditionally made with just eggs, cheese, meat and black pepper. It’s not one of those dishes steeped in ritual and custom, handed down from generations past. In fact it’s more commonly thought that its roots in Italy are as recent as the 1940’s when the primary ingredients were made more plentiful by the presence of US troops.

Pickled Golden Beets

Growing up in the southwestern burbs of Chicago, pickled beets were everywhere. The canned variety was always included on every holiday relish tray. Every family-style restaurant had them on the menu, usually accompanied by cottage cheese and a wedge of iceberg lettuce. And most of the Bohemian restaurants served them hot as a side dish or along with sweet and sour kraut.