Tag Archives: brie

Boeuf Bourguignon Crepes

Recipe for the Daring Kitchen
Our May 2012 Daring Cooks’ hostess was Fabi of fabsfood. Fabi challenged us to make Boeuf Bourguignon, a classic French stew originating from the Burgundy region of France.

Like Julia, But Dirtier

Boeuf Bourguignon, particularly Julia Child’s definitive recipe, reads like poetry to me. The ingredients and process seem more a love song to an art form well-worth filing in the category of works that make my heart ache in that oh-so-good kinda way. So when it was announced by our lovely hostess Fabi that this month’s Daring Kitchen was to make Julia’s boeuf, you’d expect me to be swooning. Except I wasn’t, and all because of one little detail. I’m in Phoenix. And it’s already fucking incendiary. Continue reading Boeuf Bourguignon Crepes

Dev’s Roasted Apple, Brie & Thyme Soup

Recipe for The Daring Kitchen
Peta, of the blog Peta Eats, was our lovely hostess for the Daring Cook’s September 2011 challenge, Stock to Soup to Consommé. We were taught the meaning between the three dishes, how to make a crystal clear consommé if we so chose to do so, and encouraged to share our own delicious soup recipes!
This simply stunner of a recipe is perfect when you want to impress the socks (shoes, ties, belts, you name it) off your guests. The flavors sing the praises of autumn, but upon first sip, you’ll notice that the soup is as light as air and almost reminiscent of spring. It’s the kind of ethereal taste that makes you feel as if the chef slaved for hours and hours perfectly balancing flavors and textures. And yet, as you’ll see in the steps below, you couldn’t ask for a more simple or straightforward process.

This recipe comes to us from the extraordinary Devaki Das, a fellow food blogger and lover of global cuisine. You can read more about her in this interview, and visit her site for myriad drool-worthy recipes at Weave a Thousand Flavors. Just promise me that if you cook any of her food, invite me over for dinner. She is a master of her craft! Continue reading Dev’s Roasted Apple, Brie & Thyme Soup

An Interview with Food Blogger Devaki Das

I “met” Dev (and I employ ironic quotes here because, like so many other food bloggers, we’ve yet to meet face-to-face) through the fabulous foodie network, FoodBuzz. A hive of self-proclaimed culinary nerds and cheffie mavens alike (the two go hand-in-hand), the site offered a way for folks to dish and compare techniques online.  Dev has always been a champion of what I like to call the “fearless global kitchen” – she crafts recipes that cull ingredients from all points of the globe, and the words and images on her wildly popular blog, Weave a Thousand Flavors, speak to her passion for cooking.  Though Dev is originally from India and a true globetrotter in every sense of the word, she has ties to both Phoenix, Arizona and Northern Virginia (two locales that many of you know I call home). I chuckle at the feeling of the world getting smaller and smaller, and am happy that once again, that darned kooky internet proves indispensable in allowing me access to such brilliant souls. I was truly honored to make her acquaintance a few years back, and am even more excited to introduce her to you!

Roasted Apple, Brie and Thyme Soup


Dev offers us this ultra-luxe soup to add to our culinary arsenals, light and silken enough to be served on the hottest summer day, but richly-scented with honest flavors of fall. How often do you get to serve a year-round classic? Now’s your chance! Get the Recipe

How did you decide to become a food blogger?
At the risk of sounding pretentious, I knew that there was a reason for my love and passion for food and cooking. I have been cooking since I was 9 years old and all my knowledge has been acquired through true grit experience. I am self-taught. And I believe that my knowledge is meant to be shared. If one person can cook, make a dish well that they would never have been able to accomplish previously, then the blog is doing what it has set out to do. I want to help people cook and be proud!What is your earliest memory in the kitchen?
The first dish i ever made at age 9 was a vegetable pilaf, the onions were nearly black but it was my first leap into the kitchen and I have never looked back since.

How would you describe your cooking style in three adjectives?
Honest, impulsive and organic (not in ingredients but in style) I never decide where a dish is going to go. I begin and then let each step unfold into the next.

How has cooking for your website changed the way you approach the kitchen and ingredients?
I now not only think of my hubby and 2 little boys, I think of what my unseen readers might want to eat this week….lol….

What food trends or ingredients do you currently have a crush on?
Pies….I am so glad pies are the new black. Am so over the cupcake!

What are your favorite foods to prepare just for fun?
Salmon, Asian style ceviche and baking honest, fresh fruit cakes and of course pies. I am one pie crazy girl. If only they’d love me back and the scale would stay the same after a slice!

What is your favorite food destination and why?
Thailand – Few places come close to the honest creative, incredibly fresh flavors of authentic Thai food served in street corners and in the villages. Unforgettable!

Describe your most favorite meal.
My dad’s Yakhni Pilaf with Goat Meat

What is your favorite comfort food?
Choley Bhatura – Indian style chick peas with puffy fried bread.

What is the one food or dish that you wish people would never eat again?
Shark fin – I don’t want a soul to suffer so I can enjoy a meal. I guess my 9 year old son has rubbed on me 🙂

Who inspires you in the kitchen?
All the GREAT cooks in the world – gracing humble kitchens, street corners to commercial kitchens. Talent comes in all forms and irrespective of geography and has no barriers – social or economical. There are people all over the world, many unknown, many widely known – like O’Connell, Keller, Batali, Ducasse that have enormous, God-given talents – it keeps me humble and grounded.

What is your creative process in crafting new recipes and dishes?
It begins with a hint of a concept in the corners of my mind. I then mull over it – much like a ruminant cow (smiles) and then I allow the idea to naturally come together. I always sense intuitively once the idea is ripe. I never push and struggle with an idea, just let it flow naturally and form.

What technique or skill do you believe is most important for home cooks to acquire or improve upon?
Overcome your fear! Have confidence! Rule the technique, rule that spatula – don’t let it rule you.

Turkey Panini with Brie and Fig Jam

When the Earl of Sandwich ordered his servant to bring him a bit of meat tucked into slices of bread so as to prevent his playing cards from getting greasy, he started a chain reaction that has left me a happy duck.  If I were to live my life eating soup and sandwiches from now until the very end time, I’d be absolutely fine with it all.  Chicken soup and turkey sandwiches along could keep me pleased as punch with enough variety to keep things interesting.

Continue reading Turkey Panini with Brie and Fig Jam