Brigitte Thaut
Brigitte’s Recipe of the Month: Tomatoes Stuffed with Spiced Lamb and Rice
My parents are visiting from Michigan, which is a highlight of my year as I have lived 2500 miles away from them for more than ten years now. During this visit they celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary. Our tradition has never been to go out to eat or plan extravagant celebrations but rather, to make it about family. This was probably a good thing, as living in rural Michigan between farm fields did not present a whole lot of options for a special dining experience (unless we wanted to drive…
La Belle Vie à Seattle :: Bon Appétit!
I highly recommend the French restaurants in Seattle. Although it may seem odd for the Northwest, there are actually a number of them and they are quite good! The Georgian has French-inspired Northwest cuisine and is located in the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. Start the evening off in the lounge relaxing with a signature drink or glass of wine from a great selection of French and Washington wines. Then make your way into the beautiful dining room with big chandeliers and white linen tablecloths. You can pick à la carte with appetizers…
Brigitte’s Recipe of the Month: Spicy Pork Lettuce Wraps
It took me forever to decide on the recipe this month. Why? This month is National Nutrition Month and it was my aim to make a healthy recipe. However, my favorite recipes generally do not fall into that category. Don’t get me wrong–I like healthy food, particularly salads, and when at home making dinner I will take the skin off the chicken before cooking it, use olive oil instead of butter, etc. But a healthy recipe to me was not interesting enough to put on the blog. Thankfully I had…
Brigitte’s Recipe of the Month: Mini Crab Cakes with Easy Hollandaise Sauce
I’m always looking for great and easy appetizers to make for when I have a happy hour at my house with girlfriends. These crab cakes are a great option for a group and can even be made ahead. Invariably, everyone wants the recipe. A couple of tips: don’t skimp on good crab. It only calls for 6 ounces so go ahead and get the freshest you can get. I love the lump Dungeness crab we have in the Pacific Northwest. Also, I took out orange peel as in the original…
Brigitte’s Recipe of the Month: Beef Wellington
My co-worker Brady and I are huge fans of Gordon Ramsay and have been watching a video of his off and on for over a year now. We had relished the idea of making this Beef Wellington recipe for a long time. Last Friday we finally made it. This is a great special-occasion meal and really looks impressive. Now that I know that it isn’t as hard as it seems, it will be fun to share this with friends. The mustard is great in the recipe but prepared horseradish would be good…
Brigitte’s Recipe of the Month: Blackberry Brandy Crème Brûlée
I’m not a big sweets eater. I prefer savory food and cooking savory food but having a few good simple desserts is a good thing to have up your sleeve. And if you don’t like crème brûlée something may be a little wrong. Maybe it’s time to reassess your food values? It certainly should be part of the food pyramid for adding happiness and contentment to life. There are all kinds of varieties of crème brûlée and it is fun to experiment and work with different flavors depending on the mood you…
Brigitte’s Recipe of the Month: Roast Turkey with Fennel & Sausage Dressing
I love this time of year when the air smells and feels crisp, the colors change, and you need a fire to take the chill off. The cider mills are open AND the turkeys are specially priced. This is a great time of year to spread the table with comforting foods and this is a perfect meal to share with friends and family. I’ve tried turkeys many ways–even the whole brining process–but the method Ina Garten uses includes slow and steady heat and no monkeying around with the bird once…
Brigitte’s Recipe of the Month: Italian-Style Kale & Sausage Soup
I was inspired this time by watching The Pioneer Woman on the Food Network. She made this big pot of soup with kale and it seemed like just the right thing for fall, with its crisp air and changing moods. Also, half the office has been going through a wave of cold and flu so seemed like just the ticket to make us feel somewhat better. As always, I use the recipe as a loose base and make the rest my own. Garlic and basil just seemed like a must!…
Brigitte’s Recipe of the Month: Skillet Fried Chicken
This month’s recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit‘s February 2012 issue and I will always fry chicken this way now. The secret here for crispy skin is to NOT soak the chicken in buttermilk, as we see in so many recipes. Buttermilk makes the skin soft and a bit soggy whereas putting a salty rub on it overnight dries out the skin and makes it the perfect texture for crispiness when fried. Drench it in buttermilk just before frying. Personally, I keep the oven set to 350 degrees, with a…
Brigitte’s Recipe of the Month: Nicoise-Style Grilled Tuna
This grilled tuna is a very refreshing and healthy summer dish. Unfortunately, on the day I made this for the office team, our area was cloudy and cool. I felt a little rebellious and wanted to cook a comforting cold weather dish, like pot roast or hot soup. But we pretended the sun was out and enjoyed our light and refreshing dish anyways. (To salve our disappointed hearts, a few of us had homemade hot chocolate with Costa Rican chocolate. Sure, that’s a little quirky–but you have to roll with what…