On Your Table: An evolving Chicken Dijon with White Wine

By Cathy Branciaroli, Food Correspondent, The Times Recipes evolve.  That’s the beauty and creativity of cooking, resulting in a treat for all of us.  Sometimes the adaptation represents a great deal of change, sometimes  it’s just a little tweak.  Each cook adds his or her own particular twist, even to classic recipes. The recipe featured in this post has quite a heritage, yet I couldn’t...

On Your Table: For Thanksgiving, don’t stress, but plan ahead

By Cathy Branciaroli, Food Correspondent, The Times Turkey is central to Thanksgiving Dinner Thanksgiving is coming and the best advice I’ve heard about this is, “Take it all in stride.   Everything is going to be ok.” Executive Chef Tim Baker of The Whip Tavern in Unionville agrees.  He declares Thanksgiving to be his favorite holiday for eating with family and friends.  And it needn’t...

On Your Table: It’s National Blueberry Month — let’s eat pie!

By Cathy Branciaroli, Food Correspondent, The Times What better way to celebrate National Blueberry Month than with a mouthwatering pie. “Everybody in the car!”  On scorching hot July Ohio mornings, my mother, siblings and I headed out in our trusty station wagon to an abandoned blueberry farm near town where we filled turkey roasters with scads of perfectly ripe dusky-colored blueberries for...

On Your Table: Summer is here, so start grilling

By Cathy Branciaroli, Food Correspondent, The Times Skewered Grilled Shrimp with Black Bean and Corn Salsa in Lettuce Wraps Say hello to the heart of grilling season – those weeks after Father’s Day and into high summer when grilling seems just right for kicking back on a hot summer evening.  It’s an easy answer to the eternal question of “what’s for dinner?” But then the choice gets difficult. ...

On Your Table: Nothing beats Hatch Chiles for Cinco De Mayo

By Cathy Branciaroli, Food Correspondent, The Times The cornerstone to a good enchilada is the sauce. In this dish it’s a Hatch green chile sauce, New Mexico style. In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo marks a historical event but largely isn’t celebrated as a holiday.  In the US on the other hand, it’s become a fiesta of feasting and enjoying Mexican food.  Hardly anyone in this country knows its true...

On Your Table: Getting out of your comfort zone with mac & cheese

By Cathy Branciaroli, Food Correspondent, The Times Macaroni & Cheese can satisfy anyone’s appetite. This version takes a Mexican twist with chorizo cheese, poblanos and other tasty ingredients. Think you know macaroni and cheese?  Comes in a blue box from Kraft Foods right?  Family standby for decades?  Well, yes, but so much more. Macaroni and cheese is everything someone could want to eat...

On Your Table: Fall back for a little pasta

By Cathy Branciaroli, Food Correspondent, The Times Green vegetables add brightness to this dish and the meat makes it a substantial dish. No meal is more perfect for the onset of cold weather than a nice hearty plate of pasta.  We all love these  but you don’t need to limit yourself to the classics like spaghetti. In fact, I think greens makes some of the best inspiration for seasonal pasta dishes....

On Your Table: Nothing says ‘Fall’ like apple pie

By Cathy Branciaroli, Food Correspondent, The Times Nothing beats a great apple pie this time of year Being a Midwest girl from Northeast Ohio I am particularly drawn to apples.  Remember Johnny Appleseed?  When we were kids my father took us and our bag of dropped apples to a cider mill nearby where our apples were popped in a bin with everyone else’s and we certainly enjoyed that pungent juice...

On Your Table: Tomatoes are the bright star in your summer salad

By Cathy Branciaroli, Food Correspondent, The Times Tomato Salad with Cucumbers and Shiraz Dressing Tomato season is upon us and that means we’re about to see our favorite fruit in a whole plethora of shades, shapes and sizes. Sure, these days you can find tomatoes at the grocery store year round. But those perfectly round, usually bland, tomatoes have been genetically modified over the years to...

On Your Table: Summer is a great time for pot luck dinners

And how to get your guests to do most of the work By Cathy Branciaroli, Food Correspondent, The Times For a potluck, individual servings can often do better than large casseroles. There’s no better time of the year to gather small groups of friends or relatives for dinner on warm summer evenings. The best approach is to enlist anyone who can work the grill, and beg everyone to make his or her favorite...