I love a BBQ, but especially a BBQ at the end of summer because it’s as if everyone feels the sun setting earlier, the light taking on that fall-ish feeling and so, they savor lingering outside with a beer around a fire pit with a plate of good food.

Ivan is convinced that I put addictive drugs in this pasta, but I assured him that it is only bacon. But then again, maybe bacon could be considered a drug? Crowd pleasing can be made very easy with a hefty dose of pig. This much, I have learned.

For the Recipe, click here:

Pepper and Pea Pasta Salad with Bacon

Believe it or not, despite my absence from Busy As a Brie for three whole days, I have been cooking up a storm. The truth of the matter is, nothing has been worthy of a post. It irritates me to no end when I get giddy about something like Banana Peanut Butter Oat Bread and then it just turns out to be the weirdest and least satisfying baked bummer. Don’t get me wrong, I will still eat it… just slathered with cream cheese or butter… As if it needed anything else added to it.

Or, I made what I imagined would be epically delicious cornmeal crusted grouper, and I will not lie to you, it should have just stayed a whimsical thought in my food obsessed head. I managed to butcher some perfectly innocent fish.

I’m sharing this because it makes me feel very guilty when someone says “you must never make anything short of delicious.” It’s like I’m lying to them by serving something yummy. Should I confess that for every success there are three disasters? This is what happens when you make up your own baking recipes. You definitely learn that science cannot be screwed with… or at least, not that much.

But THIS is good. It is. I promise.

For the Recipe, click here:

Wild Rice with Parmesan “Croutons” and Stir Fried Veggies

This happens quite often. Ivan and I plan to venture out on Saturday morning and pop into a breakfast joint but nine times out of ten, we end up staying home. I think it’s because we are both very opinionated about our eggs and don’t enjoy shelling out oogles of cash for some under-stuffed, measly omelets. We have found that breakfast, is just better at home!

Take this Spicy Southwestern Layered Chicken Frittata. This took me no time at all and used up a bunch of ingredients that were bopping around the fridge with no destination. I even had some frilly lettuce straight from my friend Zipporah’s garden! I think we hit it on the nail. And, we got to lounge around in our bathing suits on this 107 degree day! What could be better than that?

For the Recipe, click here:

Spicy Southwestern Layered Chicken Frittata

About three years ago, when Ivan and I started dating, we visited a Bulgarian friend of his for dinner and I tasted stuffed peppers like I have never had them before. They were made with a combination of spices that spoke of the many many times he had made them. They obviously remain in my memory, so they were some powerful peppers.

I was browsing through a Bulgarian recipe book that Ivan brought home from his last trip and though I couldn’t understand a word of it, the pictures spoke a thousand words. So, I tried to come up with something that would remind Ivan a little of home and a little of here. The couscous is clearly not Bulgarian, but the flavors speak of good home cooking which is how I think of Bulgarian cuisine.

For the Recipe, click here:

Stuffed Peppers with Fennel Spiced Turkey and Couscous

I love a spur of the moment dinner party. Even more, I love friends that I can try my recipes out on. Thank goodness Jorge and Jamie enjoy being guinea pigs. A little Southern or as Jorge put it, Peruvian, this is a nice homey meal that you can prepare in under an hour.

I threw together a Flourless Chocolate Cake with Coconut Lime Sorbet (which because of the lack of freezing time, was more like a creme) for a sweet bite at the end. My mom had given me her recipe about a year ago and I’m not so sure why it took me so long to make something so perfect sounding. I’ll probably be having sorbet for breakfast. So much for limiting my sugar intake. I figure this week, with the cookie contest, I am already a lost cause…

Juiciest Chicken with Tri-Pepper Succotash

6 chicken drumsticks

6 chicken thighs (trimmed of excess fat)

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup white wine (sweet, such as Riesling)

1 red pepper, diced

1/2 orange pepper, diced

1/2 yellow pepper, diced

1/2 small onion, diced

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

2 1/2 cups frozen lima beans

1 can unsalted corn kernels

1/2 tsp paprika

1/8 cup flour

1/4 cup fresh basil, cut into ribbons

Salt

Pepper

Place a pot of hot water on the stove. Boil lima beans for 10 minutes until almost softened, but still slightly underdone. Strain.

Liberally salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Heat oil in a dutch oven. Brown the chicken on both sides, working in batches. Remove browned chicken to a plate. After all chicken has been browned, use a paper towel to soak excess chicken fat from the dutch oven by blotting. Leave some juices.

Add the onion and turn the heat to medium. Add the peppers and corn and sauté until translucent. Add lima beans, paprika, wine, and chicken stock and using a spoon, scrape up any chicken bits from the pan. Bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken back to the pot, reduce heat to low and cover. Let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. After the 30 minutes, remove chicken from the dutch oven and place in a baking dish. Cover with tinfoil and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Scoop about 1 cup of the juice from the succotash into a bowl. Add the flour and whisk well to form a roux. Add the roux back into the rest of the mixture and allow to boil, uncovered for the 15 minutes that the chicken is cooking. Garnish with basil. Serve with warmed bread.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Coconut Lime Sorbet and Ripe Mango

Adapted from Epicurious

4 oz. fine quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped (such as Ghirardelli)

1 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

powdered sugar or cocoa for sprinkling

1 ripe mango, diced

raspberries for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter 8” baking round. Line with wax paper and butter paper. Chop chocolate. In a double boiler, melt chocolate with the butter, stirring until completely melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar. Add eggs, whisk well. Sift in the cocoa powder until fully combined. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 25 minutes, until top has a thin crust. Remove from pan and allow to cool 5-10 minutes. Dust with cocoa or powdered sugar.

Coconut Lime Sorbet (or if 1/2 frozen, Creme)

15-20 oz. cream of coconut (such a Coco Lopez. This can be found in the “mixer” section in the liquor department of a supermarket)

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

Whisk together and freeze in an airtight container overnight, or 1 hour for creme.