Bravas Sauce & Leek Tortilla Pinchos, An Altogether Different Sort of BLT

This month's Creative Culinary Crew challenge, hosted as ever by the lovely and talented Joan of Foodalogue and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks, was deceptively simple: Come up with a new version of the classic BLT sandwich. The catch? Participants were forbidden to use bacon, lettuce, or tomato to fulfill the BLT requirement.

Right, then. That's as easy as plugging in any old foodstuff that begins with a B, an L, and a T, yes? Ah, but there's the rub: such a random approach would not only (in my opinion) lead to an uninspired kitchen-sink mess of a sandwich (barnacles, liver, & turmeric, anyone?) it would result in a dish completely lacking in context.

Lisbonese Food Porn: Tiger Prawns, Barnacles, and Sundry Wiggly Things

Rooftops in Lisbon, Portugal

The iconic Lisbon funicular

As I write this, I am sick in bed on a beautiful spring day. I had planned all manner of witty bon mots and profound thoughts about the beauty of Lisbon to share with you in this post  - how I am attracted to spaces that are grand yet crumbling, redolent of faded glory and elegant decay, somewhat melancholy, or (like Iceland) severe and other-worldly.

But I am too tired and instead I will let the photos above speak for themselves, and settle for sharing some food porn with you for a much-needed distraction at the end of a truly awful week in world news.

Portugese Aletejana: A Bold Dish of Pork & Clams

As melodious food pairing names go, "pork and clams" just doesn't have the same ring as, say, "champagne and caviar," "wine and cheese," or even "peanut butter and jelly." But don't be put off.  The poetry on the plate that results when these two ingredients come together in one dish more than makes up for its slightly clunky name.

Cashew Butter & Bacon Soup {Inspired by Goober Peas & African Groundnut Stews}

This month's Creative Cooking Crew Challenge - hosted as ever by the lovely and talented Joan of Foodalogue and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks - centers around four key ingredients: green apples, bacon, nut butter, and vinegar.  Participants have been tasked with creating any dish they like, using as many or as few ingredients as they please, as long as it  incorporates some version of these four components.

For good or ill, I will cheerfully turn just about anything into soup, and this challenge has done nothing to discourage this propensity of mine. Here I took inspiration from a Southern American dish, goober pea soup, a peanut-based soup eaten by the Confederate Army during the Civil War.  The ancestor of this dish is of course West African groundnut, or peanut stew. Goober is an African word for peanut, an example of the indelible imprint that African ingredients and foods, via the slave trade, made on the cuisine of the American South.

Steak, Pepper & Goat Cheese Crustless Quiche {Brunch, a Plea}

I made a surprising discovery recently while doing some research for my monthly Style recipe column. The concept of brunch, which I had long supposed to be a uniquely American invention, was in fact first mentioned in print 1895 by British author Guy Beringer in the rather melodramatically-titled article "Brunch, A Plea."

He opined, "Instead of England's early Sunday dinner, a post-church ordeal of heavy meats and savory pies, why not a new meal, served around noon, that starts with tea or coffee, marmalade and other breakfast fixtures before moving along to the heavier fare? By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday-night carousers."

A man after my own heart, this Guy. Naturally, I heartily approve of supplanting the dreary moralizing activity of churchgoing with the life-affirming pursuit of eating, especially when it's undertaken at a civilized hour, like noon. And then there's his wholehearted approval of Saturday night carousing: no puritanical guilt or whiff of self-flagellation for an evening of indulgence here. A laudably healthy attitude.

Another Cauliflower Risotto Post {It's Just Cooking, After All}

As a professional food writer, food blogger,  and sometime paid cook, I believe people generally expect me to be obsessed with cooking shows in general, and cooking competition shows specifically. And I used to be. Sort of.

My original interest in the genre began before I could fry an egg,  back when I was living in NYC and Bobby Flay had not yet sunk his ginger claws into the Iron Chef franchise. (He was instead busy grilling things and using ancho chiles in everything with Jackie Maloof on Food Network.)

Bangers & Mash-Up: A Meat and Potatoes Challenge

Nothing will shake me out of my blogging doldrums like a good old Creative Cooking Crew challenge. This month's challenge, hosted by the fab Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks! and the lovely Joan of Foodalogue,  was as wide open as it gets: We were tasked with creating a dish around the theme of "meat and potatoes."

So. Where to begin? Well, given that I have been on something of a British television kick lately (particularly BBC Sherlock, but as this is a food blog and not a fangirl's Tumblr I will spare you the details) I decided I would look to the traditional cuisine of the U.K. for ideas.

Whiskey, Three Ways: Lovely Booze-y Cocktails for Valentine's Day ... or Anytime

When I was invited by the Four Seasons to participate in their Taste by Four Seasons Valentine's Day virtual cocktail class  it took me about thislong to say "yes!" After all, the featured ingredient was to be whiskey - in this case, Knob Creek Rye Whiskey. And you know me.

Bourbon, whiskey, Scotch ... I love it all, whether neat or in a well crafted cocktail, and given that participants would be learning recipes from three Four Seasons mixologists, I felt confident that these cocktails would be beautifully balanced. I was absolutely correct in that assumption.

Tofu "Bulgogi" and Kimchi Fried Rice {vegetarian}

This is one of those posts where I confess that I have no fascinating story to share with you that relates to the dish I am about to describe. Escapades involving rice, Korean food, tofu, and runny fried eggs neither lurk in my past nor are buried deep in my unconscious.

It's just a good dish, and that is all.

No-Egg Gnocchi with Roasted Garlic Cashew Nut "Cheese" {Vegan}

It's a new year, and the 5 Star Makeover group has undergone a transformation. We have a new logo and name:

As you can see, we're now the Creative Cooking Crew, helmed by Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks and Joan of Foodalogue. Rather than doing makeovers, our mission each month is to create original dishes inspired by a theme.

This month, the challenge was to create a vegan dish inspired by a meat or animal-product-heavy meal. I drew inspiration from one of my very favorite fattening things: gnocchi slathered with plenty of butter and Parmesan cheese.