Alex and Kali are all dolled up for typical shenanigans at the Gunderdome.

In my exceedingly short time spent in the desert, I came to realize that one of the keys to my happiness was earned in the kitchen. Those times that I spent with friends close at hand, chatting about randomness, sipping some boozy concoction and performing the feat of creating some sort of culinary majesty. By the time I left, there was a cohort of folks referred to as “the usual suspects” who spent many an evening at the Gunderdome chopping, rolling, stirring and feasting. My buddy Alex (whom I knew was destined to have major cool points in that we both went to Fordham University) was one of my kitchen darlings, and this recipe was created in honor of her and her partner in crime, Josh.

When I offered recipes on behalf of our fundraising for the MS society, Alex told me that her favorite feast from the past two years had been when we made chicken and waffles on a week night and then watched The New Girl. A close second was the night that we prepared four kinds of homemade gnocchi, taking most of the day to prep and assemble. It left us the evening to bask in the carb-laden coma, blissfully full and happy to have a moment to kick back with friends.

I decided that for her recipe I would merge the memory of those two nights with a composite recipe of pan fried chicken and homemade gnocchi broiled with butter and parmesan cheese. Garlicky spinach and gloriously rich marsala mushroom sauce would bring the whole dish home for one last feast to celebrate our time as cooking buddies. When I left Arizona, I purposefully didn’t say goodbye, because I don’t want to think of the prospect of never having the chance to hang with them again. Instead, I say “until next time” and hope that it’s sooner rather than later ;)

This recipe is pretty simple (especially if you are buying the gnocchi from the store) but involves a whole lot of quick cooking over high heat. Save yourself some major heartburn by prepping everything beforehand. I typically start with chicken and then right before I fry it, I prep the gnocchi for the broiler. Then I continue to cook the chicken, and keep it warm as I broil the gnocchi and saute the spinach. That way, everything comes out hot and gorgeous.

Shrooms and Dinosaurs.  For Real.

In crafting this recipe, I was reminded of the fact that the reason I love to cook is because it is one of the few tasks that allows me to both obsess over ingredients and elevate them at the same time.  The creation of this recipe started with a memory – I was in Italy for the summer on a study abroad (aka. the photography boondoggle in Europe) with my good friend Lauren.  There were easily a hundred of us living in Orvieto, all crammed into the same little hotel, each with our favorite spots in the town that we had claimed as our own.  Lauren was in love with this one haunt for lunch, and not only did she try to eat there just about every day, but she informed me over a bottle (or two) of white wine that she tended to always order the same thing – the simply dressed green salad and tagliatelle with fresh porcini mushrooms. I loved the town already, but that lunch made me weep with joy at how lucky we were to be there.

Put Jelly in the What Now?

I like to pretend that I am in the know when it comes to what makes for a delicious dish and what makes for a dish worth open-hand throwing across the room.  If someone told me that the secret to killer crockpot meatballs was a jar of grape jelly, I’d probably spit out my filet mignon and make a mental note to never trust a single recommendation that person ever made.  And yet!  And yet!  Turns out those cocktail meatballs that I swooned over at every single potluck and holiday party were made with (you guessed it) grape ‘effin jelly.  That same vile stuff that I eschewed as the evil mistress of peanut butter in the PB and J.  And yes, I hate PB and J, but that’s for another day.

After a little research on the infamous grape jelly crockpot meatball, I learned that the classic combination of the purple gelatinous action with some Heinz chili sauce was literally all that was added to the mix to make the perfect blend of sweet, spicy and savory.  Not one to mess with success, I decided to stick to the traditional mix and jelly and chili, but after a trip to the store, my mind started to wander.  What about this Thai Kitchen Chili and Ginger sauce?  And how about some Adobo seasoning?  And what about a shot of Worchestershire?  Well, my darlings, my culinary tinkering was a path to success, even though the ingredient list read like a nightmarishly gross recipe for disaster.  But I can’t be bothered with that.  I’m too busy feasting on these glorious little orbs of goodness, fully believing that every weird ingredient combo deserves a chance.

Kicking Your Muffin Top’s Ass for America

Not that I’m one for reducing, but with the weather getting warmer and bathing suit season quickly approaching (Damn! It’s here!) my tummy starts craving veggies in a manic kind of way. And when the Memorial Day barbecue gets its flare on, I want to smother my plate with a mess of farm-fresh goodies in a salad extravaganza. I figure with enough luscious tomatoes, crisp greens and light and lovely lemony vinaigrette, my stomach will have enough wholesome veg to stave off the actions of the celebratory booze sloshing around my tummy without adding to the muffin-top. Fuck a muffin top. Regardless of any sort of dietary aims, this menu is a grand celebration of the season and a good use for any produce you’ve managed to grown on your own (or with the help of the local farmer’s market).

	Chicken Paillard with Arugula Ripe tomatoes give up their garnet juiciness to form a dressing for simply grilled chicken and spicy arugula.  That’s some love right there.
	Greek Pasta Salad It’s only greek in the sense that it rocks olives and feta, but who cares.  This pasta salad is light and lemony, highlighting all the crisp veggies invited to the party.
	String Bean and Heirloom Tomato Salad You might want to leave the feta out of the pasta salad above to make room for the salty ricotta salata lending all sorts of awesomeness to this simple green bean salad.  Why?  Because it’s damn delicious.
	Watermelon Sorbet An icy take on the classic spiked watermelon, booze and cherries take this sorbet into a whole ‘nutha level of goodity.  Yeah yuh!

Chicken + Waffles + Booze = Inhalation

If you’ve not been turned on to the allure of the goodness that is chicken and waffles, now is your chance. Sweet and salty get sweaty in a tryst that goes hard through breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’m talking a slow jam of culinary perfection, with lacy spiced chicken batter playing against the buttery maple goodness of pecan waffles. It’s everything good on a plate, and well worth heating up some oil and firing up the waffle iron.

I like to get my waffle on as soon as possible, so I go with chicken tenders for faster cooking, and a syrup remix that is partially homemade and partially drunk. Yep, booze is invited to the party. You can’t be surprised. It’s my kitchen we’re talking about.

Bend Me, Shape Me, Anyway You Want Me

If I had to name one food to serve the distinguished honor as the perfect bite, it’d be the dumpling.   I’m pretty egalitarian in terms of the ingredients and format, but don’t get it twisted – my love runs deep and true and requires both quality and quantity as a means of scratching my itch for dumpling majesty.  I’ve danced with dumpling making many a time in satisfying my cravings, and I’ve been able to get my method down pat to reduce the amount of time pleating and pinching so that I can get to the stone-cold munching party a little bit sooner.  Whether I want thick-skinned jiao zi with gingery pork filling and crisped bottoms, or lacy shrimp har gow filled with bamboo shoots and sesame oil, I’m comforted by the fact that I know how to construct these babies for myself.  And knowledge is power, bitches.

In that it’s 3000 degrees here in Arizona at the moment (I’m not exaggerating – I generally know what a pot roast must feel like every time I step outside), if I’m going to go through the process of pinching dumplings until my face turns blue, I need something to cool my thirst. Preferably with a little kick from spicy ginger and tart limes. And with that, I offer you a blast from the Spice or Die past with a series of dumplings and ginger limeade to keep me blissfully high on the perfect bites and sips. Oh, and before I leave you to it, definitely share with me your favorite dumpling recipe at the bottom of the page. The world is depending on it! I’m not kidding.

 

	Pork and Chive Potstickers This one comes from my buddy Tim, an expert chef who took some time to share his technique and memories of constructing these treasures with his fam back in the day.
	Jiao Zi and Guo Tie (Steamed or Fried Pork Dumplings) Typically when I crave dumplings, these are the ones that I want, with pliantly chewy wrappers and gingery pork centers.  I love them with crisp bottoms while my hubs loves them steamed (which in this case really means boiled), and we both dunk them in this Sweet Soy Dipping Sauce.
	Spicy Chicken Potstickers A lighter alternative to pork, these chicken-filled babies can handle as much chili as you’d like.  Test their mettle and then learn the true meaning of fire in-fire out.
	Vegan Dumplings Fragrant and glorious, these little buggers are clutch for brontosauruses and T-rexes alike.  What? Dinosaurs totally love dumplings.
	Steamed Pork and Crab Dumplings (Kanom Jeeb) Quick to make and killer to eat by the dozen, lately I’ve been topping them with a thin slice of fresh jalapeno to put a little sizzle into each bite.
	Steamed Shrimp Dumplings (Har Gow) Sometimes these are called Crystal Shrimp Dumplings for their transparent wrappers made from tapioca starch.  If they’re too fiddly to make for yourself, you can grab some pre-made wrappers from your local Asian market.  And you should, because they are damn worth it.
	Ginger Limeade Peppery, tart and sweet, this one’s like a kiss from me.  Not that I’m handing out kisses, so you’d better make some ginger limeade instead.

Your Turn to Pleat and Pinch

Have you got a killer dumpling? Or maybe a filled delicacy from anywhere around the globe? Give us your ravioli, pierogie, agnolotti, pelmeni, chicken and dumplings, kreplach, momos and gyoza. We want to feast that’s globally supreme.

Melts in Your Mouth

I don’t want to play games. I want some one-on-one time with some oeey-gooey-goodness and I want it to be up close and personal. I want to get my Digable Planets on and relish in some creamy lavishness. And what better way to do so than to get my smooch on with some darling whole wheat crepes filled with melty swiss and artichokes. But you know I like my pop of color, so why not some spinach and red peppers to make things majestic. And tender shrimp to round out this party of sheer sexiness. I feel like I’m wasting time talking when I could be noshing. And I imagine that you’re feeling the same way and want to cut to the fucking chase. Let’s get it on…

I Think It’s Rad(icchio) When You Shake Your Couscous

Hi, my name is Angela and I am addicted to high drama.  And not the Bravo-flavored, housewife sassin’, backstabbing kind.  I’m talking about the cinematic moments where your life blurs into a movie and you get to pen the script and set the soundtrack all by yourself.  So it’s no surprise that I live for instances that make my heart ache from their sheer beauty, typically created by a bit of music, an inspiring ingredient, or a splash of design.  And sometimes, when I am disgustingly lucky, I’ll get all of the above in one fell swoop.  My friends know that in these moments, I’ll tend to gush and grow a little manic trying to cram in my fill, but I chalk it up as a response that makes me inherently me.  The moments between these fits is merely life pausing for me, only to resume when my next blissful obsession hits.

I fell in love with this couscous salad for being so damn beautiful – I first envisioned it as a way to work champagne grapes into a delicate salad, but then the radicchio and goat cheese came to the party and I was bowled away at the symphony of flavors.  Grilling the radicchio turned the bitter leaves into pure sweetness, with a nutty char that paired perfectly with the juicy grapes.  Plus, sweet and salty always want to get it on, so goat cheese just had to be there.  I was ecstatic over the stars in my eyes and my love at first bite.  And I immediately wanted to dance it out to a soundtrack of horns and coursing melodies.

The other day I passed my friend the cookie that came with my sandwich at lunch, telling her that I didn’t want to eat it – not because it was gross, but because it didn’t make my mouth happy.  And I didn’t want to be in the business of eating anything that made me feel nothing.  I know that that’s not really how it goes it terms of calorie consumption for mere survival, but I could give two shits.  Sure, my career as a lithe supermodel isn’t looming on the horizon, but so fucking what.  I get to hear an entire orchestra serenading me and a splay of color lighting the sky every time I dine, and that is a life well lived as far as I’m concerned.  Spice or Die, bitches.

Is That Phallic-Looking Potato a Dictator?

I’ve been wistful this week, thinking about my fam and the kinds of laughter that would only appear when all of us were together. The kind that makes you cry like a fool and wheeze, you can’t even get it out. Around the time that my little sister was first getting to know my then boyfriend-now husband, she laid some strict rules on him to be accepted into the family (all of this according to her alone, by the way). The most important one of the three (which I remember also included him doing a jump kick and possibly joining Facebook?) was to say something so ridiculously funny to her, she’d break out into silent laughter. It turned out this wasn’t much of a challenge given that my husband tends to be fucking hilarious the majority of the time, but I loved that my sister’s request was so telling of what was so very prized to her and to all of us in the fam. My husband completed a crew that has always (and will always) appreciate the times where we all get to do nothing but chill – I’m talking a backyard feast with plenty of grey goose, barbecue or blue crabs, farmer’s market produce gifted to my dad for playing music for the vendors, and an inordinate amount of stupid puns. Summer usually meant string beans and there’d typically be a potato around, along with some burn-your-fucking-nasal-passages-style French dijon, so this salad made for simple cooking with plenty of time in between for drinking. And as for the jokes, they were usually bad. I mean, completely awful. Like this one that I adore, from the hubs, which I am pretty sure was passed on from his father…

Q: What do you call a field of masturbating cows?
A: Beef Stroganoff

To this day, when I make stroganoff for him, I tell him we’re having masturbating cows, and then break into silent laughter.

Tart Lemons and Spicy Mamas

I think it’s apropos that this Tuesday following Mother’s Day (aka Dia des Las Madres), the recipe is one of my all time faves that my own resplendent mama taught me. She’s pretty majestic, and given that one day isn’t enough to honor her awesomeness, I’m extending the party to this Tuesday. My tartness is all earned honestly, but I can’t say that I didn’t get any encouragement growing up in a house with some of the sassiest fucking people to ever walk the earth. A sass factory if you will, and I was sentenced to work early on in the game. This original recipe was one of the early ones on Adesina’s Kitchen, and though it’s a clutch go-to every time I need a vinaigrette, the old picture did not sell this salad’s infinite awesomeness. I knew I had to go back and give it the glory that it deserved. Bibb lettuce. Check. Crispier croutons. Check. Snipped tarragon and chives. Check and motherfuckin’ check.

This past Sunday, we all got to honor our mamas, but if you grew up with a mom who’s wit was sharper than her knives and she managed to make you pee your pants with laughter well past diapers, give her a shoutout this Tuesday. She deserves all the goodness you can give her. And if you want to give a shoutout in salad form, leave your link below. Mama did always say to eat your greenery and I am not one to argue. I’ve left you with a few of my faves as well in case you need a little inspiration ;)

	Bibb Lettuce Salad with French Lemon Tarragon Vinaigrette and Homemade Croutons It’s the little things that make this salad a stunner – the bite of good dijon and sharp garlic, the peppery spice of tarragon and the still warm croutons gilding the tender leaves of butter lettuce. It’s fucking magical.
	Summer Salad of Fingerling Potatoes, Heirloom Tomatoes and Haricot Verts My go-to summer salad, the basil lemon dressing kicks the ass of any mayo-laden potato salad wannabe.
	Arugula Salad with Truffle Vinaigrette This salad for trust-fund babies leverages still-warm croutons and white truffle oil to make you feel like a million bucks.
	Mixed Greens with Clementines and Pecans Sweet, tart clementines are paired with spicy frisee lettuce, salty ricotta salata and crunchy pecans for a sensory explosion.  The good kind.

Get Your Green On

Have a seductive salad recipe that you want to share with us ravenous folk? Post it here posthaste!