www.roanoke.com

www.amazon.com

I'm going to the beach for a long weekend soon and can hardly wait to see the ocean. I know it probably won't be warm yet, but summer is close enough to put on jeans and a t-shirt and make the most of some time away.

This particular group of friends is a special one. We try to meet up annually on the shores of North Carolina, and my husband always makes his specialty, filet oscar. Howard is just about the finest griller of steaks I've ever known. On top of the filet, he piles lump crab meat, freshly steamed asparagus and hollandaise sauce.

I've made dessert in the past, but usually the gut just can't take anymore.

Filet oscar season is almost upon us. I must give away a cookbook honoring the beauty of a rich chunk of meat on the grate of a roaring grill. How about "Grill It! Recipes. Techniques. Tools" by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby?

If you're interested in winning this cookbook, send in a comment describing your favorite meal off the grill. Deadline is Tuesday at 9 a.m. The winner will be randomly drawn.

Have a VERY LUCKY St. Patrick's Day weekend!

For Christmas, my aunt gave me a nifty trivia game all about food. It has four sets of cards and each set tackles a different set of terms, from ingredients to foodie lingo.

I busted it out last night while my in-laws were there because my father-in-law, Bill, is something of a foodie himself and was curious about how difficult the game would be. The very first card was a multiple choice question: What is quinoa? I was the only one who even knew how to pronounce the word, much less knew what it is (a grain).

Before they declared me a know-it-all, I held up my hand and said, "I have to tell you a story." Not long into my stint as food writer here, I interviewed a chef about whole grain cooking. And I butchered the pronunciation of "quinoa" worse than a sacrificial lamb. I think I said something like "kee-Noah," as in the guy who loaded the ark with animals. The chef paused and replied to the question using the term again and conspicuously pronouncing it the correct way: "Keen-wah." I felt like a goof. A fraud.

Read more »

I've been waiting for the perfect day to blog about this new cookbook I received called "300 Sensational Soups" by Carla Snyder and Meredith Deeds. Given the damp conditions and cool temps outside yesterday and today, this seems like as good a time as any.

Soups and stews are a favorite topic on this blog, and it's a no-brainer to dig it out on a cold day. But I think this book is worth a mention because of the sheer number of recipes that it contains, which range from stocks to chilled soups to meat stews to chowders to dessert soups. There's even a chapter called "Gilding the Lily: Toppings and Garnishes."

Soups are not only a great option for a quick weeknight meal, they're perfect for company, too. I think I've mentioned that a friend of mine recently had a big soup party with several soup varieties, crusty bread and cold beer. Do it as a potluck and you have a very low-stress gathering. Who cares what Miss Manners says about potlucks anyway?

Well, enough with the yammering. I know you all want recipes. Here are recipes for Tortellini and Mushrooms in Parmesan Stock, Chorizo Chili Soup and Salmon Chowder with Chives. Enjoy!

Read more »

Where is this day going? It's evaporating like water on a hot griddle.

I do promise you, though, that this recipe I'm about to share is worth the abbreviated blog post. Not only does it look delicious, it calls for butternut squash and apples, which are both in season now! And what better way to spice up a cool fall day than with a dash of curry?

This recipe comes from a cookbook I'm reading called "Grazing Along the Crooked Road." Stay tuned to my next Front Burner column for more information and recipes from this fascinating book.

Read more »

My beach vacation was over two months ago, but that doesn't stop me from dreaming about the coastal adventures I could have if it weren't for all those pesky obligations like work, bill-paying and gardening.

If I could be anywhere in the United States right now, I believe I'd opt for the coast of New England, somewhere way up there where the weather is perhaps a few degrees cooler and you can feel the breeze off the ocean.

I've never been farther north than New York before, so I haven't experienced authentic clam shacks or chowder houses or lobster pounds. Until I can hit the road and head north, I guess I'll have to make do with one of my favorite new cookbooks, "The New England Clam Shack Cookbook" by Brooke Dojny.

I consider myself a complete chowderhead and I love seafood, so flipping through Dojny's book made me salivate almost instantly. Not only does the book contain an awful lot of interesting history about these prized eateries (did you know the "pound" is short for "impoundment," or the gated coves where lobsters were trapped?), but it also has cooking tips and pages upon pages of delicious recipes.

I'll save a few of the good-looking chowder recipes for this fall or winter. Meanwhile, feast your eyes on this recipe for fresh clams roasted over a charcoal grill. And get ready to drool.

Read more »

I probably receive about one cookbook per week on average back here in the Features department. It's one of the perks of my job, I suppose.
I see cookbooks about fad diets, feeding diabetics or the glucose intolerant, baking, juicing, stir-frying and all other manners of creating. But not every one catches my eye the way these three did.
Perhaps it's because they offer not only a variety of doable recipes, but also some fascinating tales about the well-known people who have either cooked or eaten the foods. What did Maya Angelou's grandmother fix her to dry the tears after a traumatic day at school? What are the 30 or 40 staples that Jack Nicholson's personal chef always keeps in his trailer during a shoot? What did June and Johnny Cash's cook do with all the grapefruits they plucked from their trees in Jamaica?
Cooks of all levels of accomplishment are known to read cookbooks just as if they were novels, but cookbooks written with these kinds of personal stories are even easier to devour. They are, in some ways, the Harlequin Romance or murder mystery or Tom Clancy novel -- whichever your indulgent pleasure -- of the cookbook world.
If this sounds good to you, check out "Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes" by Maya Angelou, "Cooking for Jack" by Tommy Baratta with Marylou Baratta or "Cooking in the House of Cash" by Peggy Knight.
And by the way, if your curiosity must be sated now, Angelou's grandmother made her famous caramel cake when a teacher slapped her grandbaby at school one day. And Baratta always kept on hand tomatoes, clams, cannellini beans, baguettes, ricotta, egg substitute and a number of other healthy ingredients for Nicholson. And the Cash grapefruits went into a spinach salad, which, from the looks of the rest of the book, might have been one of the healthiest dishes the Cashes were known to eat.
You can find that recipe below.

Read more »

If you've got a little aspiring chef in the family, you might want to consider checking out this Betty Crocker book, "Kids Cook!"
I know there are lots of children's cookbooks out there, but this 2007 edition struck me as particularly well-illustrated and organized. Like many books that aim to get children involved in the kitchen, "Kids Cook!" includes simple recipes for foods like grilled cheese sandwiches, tacos, scrambled eggs and quesadillas. But with a little help from mom or dad, kids can also whip up fresh tomato salsa, mini meatloaves, fried rice or enchiladas.
I'll tell you what, any kid who puts a plate of "berrylicious pancakes" in front of this pancake nut is earning some allowance!
Find the book here.