Madison Foodie

With the Farmer’s markets awash in piles of sugar snap peas, it is time to make one of our favorite pasta recipes – Sugar Snap Peas and Pasta.
We make a pesto-like sauce of the cooked peas and toss it with a short pasta – penne or rotini works well, and then add in some reserved [...]

Most people who will be grilling burgers this Memorial Day weekend won’t think much about the plastic wrapped package of pre-ground beef that they’ll make their burgers from. Others won’t think twice about tossing a couple pre-made frozen beef patties on their grills.
We’ve certainly enjoyed plenty of those burgers.  But last night we tried something [...]

One of our favorite treats at Restaurant Magnus in Madison is the chimichurri sauce that they bring out with fresh baked bread at the beginning of the meal.  The sauce is a pungent green flavor bomb, with hits of garlic, chili heat, herbs, and vinegar.
Chimichurri is a sauce that has similarities to both a pesto [...]

Flour, water, yeast, and salt.
That’s all it takes to make a loaf of bread.  But although the basic ingredients are simple, there can be a wide gap between an average loaf and something truly transcendent.
What we were looking for was a bread that you’d normally find at a boulangerie, or a local bakery that takes [...]

The first day of marketing at any Farmers Market in the northern latitudes can sometimes be a bit of a disappointment.  There is so much pent up demand for something green and fresh after a long winter, that the lack of huge assortments of different types of produce can take the wind right out of [...]

We have always tried to maintain an ideal of the Friday Night Supper, which is a meal at home that should be as simple and laid back as going out for a fish fry.
Last night, the spur of the moment decision was mussels with french fries.  With the meal lacking the sophistication of a Brasserie [...]

It’s always good to begin something new in the simplest way possible.  And there is nothing more simple than a French-style omelette.
A couple of eggs, salt, pepper, butter, a little time in a hot pan, and you have breakfast or lunch.
Or topped with finely chopped herbs, and served with a glass of Viognier and a [...]