Czech Foods Recipes

Cooking can be as simple or as complex as you make it. A long rambling recipe can be such a joy to read and an inspiration with scrumptious results. A quick post-market lunch of hand-made tortellini and mushrooms picked lovingly by the same elderly man who sold them to you can be so ultimately satisfying in such a different way. What we sometimes forget, however, is the tremendous impact of the people whom we are cooking for. It's almost like dating. First, you have the compatibility factors. How much salt, any dietary restrictions, and other personal preferences. But then comes something less tangible. Chemistry, I believe it is often called. It transcends the actual contents of the meal and touches a much more personal level. You can cook and eat with someone who likes the exact same things as you, but something just doesn't click. Maybe they are too critical, or not critical enough. Maybe they desire a formal presentation and you are more of a pan-to-plate kind of a cook. Wh...

Sauces can be daunting. Lately, Hollandaise has been taunting. Every so often, when eating my eggs, I can hear the soft and silky voice of Hollandaise, "C'mon, why didn't you make me? You know you wanted to. Oh, that's right. You can't." And there it is. Being taunted by a sauce that doesn't exist on my breakfast plate while nibbling a dry corner of toast is not the best start to a morning. Making a bad sauce is worse than no sauce at all. In my book, anyways. Sure, it's a bit strict, but just having moved from the Czech Republic where over half the national dishes were covered in a sauce, I've learned that a bad one, once used, makes for a hungry diner.  Hollandaise is one of the classic sauces I've been warned about. The hot butter can do a number on the egg yolk if not added slowly enough. But as vinegar pulled me out of my poaching paralysis, it came to the rescue here as well. Vinegar stabilizes eggs. I'd learned to add some to the e...

Christmas morning is the perfect time to justify a leisurely dessert-like brekkie. And it seems to me that the messiness of pavlova certainly mirrors the disarray of little ones rushing down the stairs Christmas morning. I don't know about you, but for me, Christmas mornings are as relaxed and comfortable as a holiday gets. No one minds if they don't look their best in front of mom's camera when there are gifts to unwrap and gasps of surprise to be heard. While Pavlova is usually thrown together with summer berries (as in last summer's strawberry-basil pavlova ) it can take a winter turn as well with the addition of chocolate in the meringue base. Sauteed bananas are coated in caramel and a sprinkling of nutmeg, and a mascarpone cream sweetened with maple syrup simply resounds of breakfast. And did I mention it's all spiked with a wee bit of Baileys Irish Cream? Good Christmas morning! Continue to Recipe... Recipe: Chocolate Pavlova with Caramely Bananas & Masca...