Back when the weather started to turn cool, I made a list of the various cool-weather foods I couldn’t wait to make, my comfort foods for winter 2012-2013. I promised to post a few new recipes this season, and finally, I’ve gotten around to making a few of my favorites and documenting them. The first is this terribly simple chicken cacciatore served over a creamy, parmesan-cheese-laced polenta that screams comfort food.

Cacciatore is Italian for hunter, thus this is the hunter’s chicken. The preparation is simple, with just a few items that need chopping and sauteing before you let the chicken braise in a tomato-wine sauce. (more…)

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Comfort food, Dinner, Gluten free, Italian by Courtney

Caesar salad is the salad that turned me onto eating salads. The first time I visited La Pizzeria in Campbell (our local pizza joint), for some reason I thought, “What the heck! It’s a sunny day. Let’s eat some leaves with my pizza!”. So I did, and I liked it. Loved it, even! Couldn’t get enough. Something about the crispness of the leaves, the creamy yet minimal dressing, and the saltiness of the anchovies and parmesan really worked for me that day.

Fast forward a couple of years, and for some reason the restaurant decided to mess with my perfected salad. It tastes like they’ve taken the anchovies out of the dressing. At first I was sad, but then I took it as a challenge to recreate my favorite salad at home, which turned out to be very easy. When you add this to a homemade pizza, you’ll feel like you’re at the pizzeria! (more…)

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Dairy free, Gluten free, Italian, Salad by Courtney