Beef Stroganoff

By Mark Wieser One funny thing about my Mom—her cooking got better as she grew older. Everyone said she was a great cook and had learned that from her mother, who ran a boardinghouse and even the Central Hotel at one time where she offered a daily lunch. (She also had the contract to feed…

Sweet and Tangy Coleslaw

For your next BBQ bring this sweet and tangy coleslaw to the party!  This recipe is easily doubled.  Ingredients: 1 cup mayo2 tablespoons apple cider½ cup Fischer and Wieser Cran Razz Sauce¼ cup dried cranberries½ cup diced apple1 12 oz bag coleslaw or power slaw Directions: In a large bowl mix well the mayo, apple…

Soy Sriracha Curry Soup

Serves 4 – Easily doubled Skill level: Easy Time:  15-20 minutes Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil½ cup matchstick carrots½ cup yellow squash sliced½ zucchini squash sliced½ cup sliced mushrooms1 teaspoon curry powder or to taste½ teaspoon ginger powder or 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger. ½ cup Fischer and Wieser Soy Sriracha Glaze1 lb. shrimp deveined and…

Pineapple Mango Salad Dressing

Serving size:  1 ½ cups Skill level: Easy Time:  10 minutes Ingredients: ½ cup plain yogurt½ teaspoon minced garlic¼ cup chopped cucumber½ cup Fischer and Wieser Pineapple Coconut Mango Tequila Sauce¼ cup chopped ripe mangodash of salt or to taste Directions:In a blender combine all ingredients.  Blend until smooth.  Store refrigerated in a tightly closed…

Sassy Corn Bread

Ingredients: 1-15 oz. Krusteaz Honey Corn Bread2/3 cup milk¼ cup oil1/3 cup Fischer and Wieser Pineapple Coconut Mango Tequila Sauce1 egg beaten Directions: Mix all ingredients just until blended, do not over mix.  Spoon into greased or lined muffin tins 2/3 full.  Bake at 375 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until light and golden brown. …

The Amazing ‘Small Plates’ of Spain

Along with flamenco music, the little bites of food called tapas may well be the most “Spanish” thing about Spain. But if some long-ago bartender hadn’t been trying to keep insects away from his customers’ sweet wine from Jerez, the idea might have gone undiscovered. Jerez (which the Spaniards, unlike their Latin American progeny, manage…

The Tangled Tastes of Trinidad

With a name like Trinidad (Spanish for Trinity, as in Holy) and a capital called Port of Spain, you’d expect this Caribbean island to be the most pure-bloodedly Spanish place this side of Madrid. Yet history speaks loudly in Trinidad, filled with African slavery, south Asian immigration and pots that tend to melt. You can…

The Perfect Springtime Frittata for Mother’s Day

Sometimes taking Mom out to a restaurant for brunch on Mother’s Day is just what the doctor ordered. Or the lawyer, as the case may be. But if everybody but Mom pitches in, and especially if she enjoys the comforts of home minus the chores, making a brunch that’s worthy of a restaurant is easier…

The Beauty of a Stuffed Baked Potato 

There isn’t a lot of written history on the stuffed baked potato, so I’m pretty sure I invented it. And as usual with me, economy was the true mother of invention. There I was, many years ago when Wendy’s and I were young, pondering that the fast-foot burger chain made famous by Dave Thomas offered…

It’s Crawfish Season Down South

Like Peter Pan’s Neverland that’s not on any map, crawfish season isn’t exactly on any calendar. Crawfish don’t happen by a scheduled month, hour or minute, but, a bit like the oldtime Cajun people they’ve come to embody, they show up only when they are good and ready. And then, like right now, it’s crawfish…

The Lenten ‘Sacrifice’ of Seafood

Each year on Ash Wednesday, across New Orleans and the rest of south Louisiana, Catholics (which culturally means everybody, no matter where they go to church, or don’t) start replacing the meat in their diets with seafood. Happily, across New Orleans and the rest of South Louisiana, all the seafood is Catholic too. We’re just…

Red Velvet Cake: A Southern Legend

Red velvet cake is definitely a Southern creation, arguably even a Texas creation – unless you are one of those New Yorkers who associate it with the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, or a Canadian who thinks the recipe comes from Eaton’s department store. We call the latter two kinds of people benighted souls. Seriously now. Doesn’t red…