My British Brekkie: Soldiers & Eggs
Breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day; I really could eat it any time of the day. Brunch at noon, brinner (breakfast for dinner), or sometimes at 3 AM–you name it. Like famed molecular gastronomy chef Wylie Dufresne, I seriously love eggs. It’s a borderline obsession; a breakfast without eggs is a sad one indeed. One of the greatest egg dishes of all time is arguably one of the simplest and it comes to us from our brekkie-loving friends across the pond. In Britain, soldiers and eggs refers to a runny, softly boiled egg and strips of toasted bread that are...
Read MoreA Soup for All Seasons
My love of soup is legendary. I’m a soup fanatic and I could eat it just about every day of the week. In fact, my love for the hot stuff is only rivaled by my love of ice cream. Wait. I just realized something. Maybe I just have a thing for food I can eat out of bowls. But that’s another story for another day. As usual, I recently bought way too many groceries and found myself with an abundance of asparagus, onions, and lemons which seems like a random bunch of ingredients until you consider that with the addition of butter, chicken stock, and heavy cream, you’ve got...
Read MoreKeen on Quinoa: Comfort Without Calories
If the calendar months were a reality TV show, they would be the Real Housewives. Surely, winter must be so jealous of summer—after all, summer garners most of the seasonal cooking praise. Every year, the sunshine-deprived anxiously await the first sign of warm weather to uncover idle grills and dust off forgotten tongs in preparation for the backyard barbecues to come, but counting autumn and winter as a time to slack off in your culinary pursuits is a mistake indeed. Anyone who has ever stood over a stockpot of simmering stew or tucked into a hearty root vegetable casserole on a brisk...
Read MoreMy Dinner with John Stamos
OK, so there was this one time I had dinner with John Stamos. Sort of. Well… Not really. OK, in my head I often have dinner with John Stamos. I have been totally obsessed loved him since his mullet-wearing Uncle Jesse days. So naturally, I like to think of what I’d cook for him should I ever have the chance to kidnap meet him. The meal would of course be Greek-themed (feel free to take off your toga, Mr. Stamos) and it would be super simple so it would leave plenty of time for…well, you get the drift. Want to cook for your own Greek god? All you need are a few simple...
Read MoreBreakfast of Champions: The Olympic Edition
I don’t do themed recipes. In fact, I hate them. I can’t stand it when food writers and bloggers flood the internet with red, white, and blue trifles in honor of the 4th of July. Deviled egg “eyeballs” in celebration of Halloween make my skin crawl. And don’t get me started on the ghastly food coloring-dyed atrocities people serve on St. Patrick’s Day. Blech. Unless you live under a rock, you know that the opening ceremony of the Olympics was last night and, believe me, I wasn’t planning on cooking or writing about anything remotely...
Read MoreSpicy Thai Chicken Wings
“Hi. My name is Iris and I’m addicted to buying spices, condiments, herbs, and other pantry items.” If there was some type of “Anonymous” group for people who obsessively buy exotic spices and pantry items, I would be a card-carrying member. It always happens the same way–I find myself in a store like Wegman’s or Williams-Sonoma and I make a beeline for the spice area because, really, there’s no such thing as too much harissa. I stockpile crystallized ginger, whole vanilla beans, saffron (OK, maybe not saffron–my wallet won’t...
Read MoreWho is The Palate Princess?
Iris McCarthy is a food writer and author of the popular book Food Lovers' Guide to Philadelphia. This website is where she gets to sound off on all things culinary.