I grew up in New Jersey, home to a large Italian-American population. That means the air in certain residential neighborhoods and restaurant zones is perfumed with the zesty aromas of my very favorite foods, swimming in red gravy. (Yes, that’s the official I-A term for spaghetti sauce.)

I have cooked a lot of pasta over the years (and cacciatore and piccata etc.) and it’s all been darn tasty. But none of my kitchen creations has captured the essence of Jersey Italian dinnertime as well as today’s recipe for Mozzarella-Stuffed Chicken Parm, which comes from Lauren Miyashiro at Delish.

Did you know that Chicken Parmesan/Parmigiana is not authentically Italian at all? (They lay claim to the original eggplant version.) Once upon a time, an Italian-American – hungry for the flavors his family brought over from the old country but working with the ingredients on hand – created the now ubiquitous chicken, cheese and red sauce extravaganza known and loved across the USA. 

Today’s version of the recipe keeps all the good stuff, just shifts things around a bit, with ingredients showing up in unexpected places. Creamy, stretchy mozzarella inside the chicken?? Yes, please. 

I’ll be adding this recipe to the Make Again file and will adopt these changes next time:

• Evenly sized chicken breasts. The pictures show I had one gigundo breast and one normal sized. It’s easier to manage cooking time when they’re all the same size.
• Add more liquid to the red sauce as it goes into the oven. The result this time was a slightly too-thick sauce that turned quite dark, almost like tomato paste.
• Stuff more mozzarella cheese inside the breasts; also sprinkle shredded mozz on top. Too much cheese? Never! 

Are you ready for today's cook-along song, inspired by COVID-19? The band was also one of my favorites growing up back in Jersey. See how nicely the pieces all fit together? Now turn up the music and enjoy.
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The jazzy dinnertime playlist comes from New Jersey's favorite crooner, Ol' Blue Eyes himself. Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, and melted many hearts there in the Garden State and around the world. Here he collaborates with legendary pianist and bandleader, Count Basie. 

Oh, pound cake, dear pound cake, one of the more underestimated desserts. Pound cake is no chocolate cream pie, but then again, it’s not a graham cracker either.
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I hope my position is clear. 

I was searching for a dessert in which to use my nearly-full jar of lemon curd. (We used some in a fish recipe, of all things – read about it here.) Most sources speak of curd as a go-with rather than a primary ingredient, but then I found the Cookies and Cups blog and their recipe for Lemon Curd Pound Cake with Limoncello Glaze. HELLO BEAUTIFUL

The idea is to alternate spoonfuls of curd with cake batter and then swirl them together before baking. Pour the limoncello glaze over top soon after the baked loaf comes out of the oven so the flavors can sink in while the cake cools. 

I ended up using the cake recipe from America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking cookbook and the curd/glaze technique from Cookies and Cups. (ATK reserves their recipes for subscribers, but here is a reasonable facsimile found on Food.com.)

Final verdict: The curd swirl didn’t add much, either flavor-wise or in the looks department. You couldn’t tell it was there. The glaze, however, was outstanding. Will do that again, for sure.

As for lemon curd, I think “they” may be right – it’s best as a dollop on the side, whether of fruit, or ladyfingers, or even pound cake. Yes, I savored my Lemon Curd Pound Cake with Limoncello Glaze with a big spoonful of lemon curd on the side. It was heavenly. 

What is today's COVID-19 song of the day, you ask? Happy to share, and maybe you can relate if you are periodically venturing out into the world and finding it to be a different place than you left it.

The jazz playlist comes from King Pleasure. First of all, what a great name, and couldn't we all use a little more pleasure these days. He is a vocalist specializing in scat or musical improvisation. Check him out!

Black Bean Corn Salad is a familiar, favorite salad of mine, maybe you too. It has been around forever, is easy to make, and variations may be applied to suit your tastes and the ingredients on hand.

This recipe, from Once Upon a Chef, is especially interesting because it emulates the salad dressing used at Chipotle restaurants. I think they achieved that mission muy bien. The leftover dressing is great on a regular green salad too – make it as spicy (or not) as you like. 

Black Bean Corn Salad works equally well as a meatless main or a side dish. Feel free to bulk it up with chopped meat (chicken or carnitas – yum) or some cheese. Crumbled cotija cheese or a Mexican shredded blend would be nice. 

My changes:

• We are a ‘No Cilantro Ever’ household so I substituted chopped parsley.
• In a world of avocado lovers, I dare to be different. To me, they’re just meh so I served it on the side.
• Added half a chopped jalapeno (remove the seeds/ribs and taste – some peppers are hotter than others).
• Extra adobe sauce in the dressing. In hindsight, this may have been a mistake as the heat intensifies over time. (Not so much in the bean salad but when using the dressing over greens.)

Note: The recipe has you cook the corn first before cutting the kernels from the cob, and that’s what I did. But in high summer, when local corn is fresh and ripe and luscious, I will skip the cooking step. Mmm, fresh crisp sweet corn.  

The coronavirus song of the day represents my perspective toward other shoppers when I visit the grocery store, wearing my mask and gloves. Also – why is it so hard for others to understand, let alone follow, the concept of one-way aisles? Perhaps I ask too much.
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To accompany your meal, may I suggest a jazz soundtrack from Coleman Hawkins, legendary tenor sax player. Here’s the tie-in: his nickname was Bean. Okay, that’s it. Enjoy. 
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Big surprise – this fish recipe utilizes one of my favorite ingredients for baking. It uses lemon curd! Whoever heard? Curd is the word.

Do most households have a jar of lemon curd hanging out in the fridge right now? My guess is probably not. And I cannot advocate taking a trip to the store for just one ingredient, certainly not while COVID-19 continues to run rampant. But if you DO have some on hand (or if you’d like to make some from scratch) please read on.

Big bold flavors are featured in this dish. Nothing outrageous, we see lemon and mustard in fish recipes quite frequently. But the way they come together here is somewhat magical, and then when served with zesty horseradish potatoes – wow!

The very tasty recipe comes from Cooking Light. Find the recipe here. 

King Khan is a contemporary artist nearly impossible to slot into any particular niche. Except perhaps the wackadoodle niche (and I mean that in the best possible way). He and his merry crew of musical conspirators really know how to rock the house and have a good time doing it. So turn up the volume and enjoy a second helping of mashed potatoes. 
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Today, instead of our usual dinnertime jazz playlist, I invite you to open up the laptop and experience this most excellent video of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performing the Quarantine Blues while self-distancing in their homes. Amazing! 

We wanted to do something a little different with a pair of sweet potatoes found lurking in the pantry. This recipe cuts ‘em plank style and cooks them on the grill. You could just stop right there and have a tasty side dish. 

But no, Rick Browne’s cookbook, The Big Book of Barbecue Sides, went ahead and took the side dish over the top with a sweet, thick glaze of molasses, rum, and raisins. (I found no online version of the recipe, so please hover over the photos below for a brief how-to description.)

Even better, the glaze goes perfectly with grilled pork chops. This tasty meal also felt a little bit scandalous – as if we were eating candy for dinner. They say it’s nice to be naughty every so often. 

My recommended changes:

• Less sugar. 
• Thin out the glaze, maybe using a water-orange juice mix. As-is it’s quite thick and hard to serve. (Be prepared for leftovers or reduce the overall quantity.)
• The recipe calls for dark molasses. I used a ‘Robust’ version and now wonder if regular ol’ molasses might have been better. I like the strong, deep, dark flavor but am not sure everyone else will. 

My secret for delectable pork chops = brining. Find more info here. 

Are you ready for today’s cook-along song? It’s also a good message while we’re still under the stay-at-home order, at least in my state.

You know I usually enjoy a jazz soundtrack over dinner, but today we’re veering in a folk/Americana direction instead. Jake Xerxes Fussell brings us a bit of intricate finger-picking and a few vocal quirks in this down-homey tune titled Have you Ever Seen Peaches Growing on a Sweet Potato Vine? I hope you like it.
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A recent focus of this blog has been comfort food, understanding that a little extra comfort is something we could all benefit from during these crazy days. 

We’ve blogged about sharing comfort food with friends and neighbors and revisited a few favorite meals that take us back to happier times. We learned to find comfort in a full pantry.

And now we find that the mere act of cooking most days is comforting, whether it’s a multi-step, healthy meal or simply an egg on toast. 

Sounds pretty zen, right? That must be why I’m ready to share one of my failures with you. I have been trying to bake a proper batch of crackers for quite a while. After the latest go-round a few days ago I can say – nope, not yet. 
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Oh yes. We will be attempting this recipe again – from Ina Garten’s Back to Basics cookbook. And please know, it’s perfectly okay to make mistakes in the kitchen, things are never so serious that we can’t just shrug and eat the shards.  

P.S. That tasty looking cocktail in the lead photo is one of Dear Partner's creations, the Pink Hound, featuring gin and pink grapefruit juice. Refreshing! 

Speaking of making the best of things gone wrong, today's pandemic song of the day is right on point. 

For a jazzy cocktail playlist, may I recommend a little classic crooning from Kurt Elling, a Chicago-born jazz singer who puts on one heckuva live set.
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I am not a recipe developer, just a home cook trying new recipes and tweaking old favorites. I will always credit sources and note where I’ve made changes. Photos are my own; you can tell I’m a work in progress. Showing you the steps along the way is what sets us apart from the bazillion +1 other food blogs. That and the badass playlist that comes with each post. Let’s get to it. 

It was a chilly, gray day not long ago when I cooked this lovely pot roast for dinner, perfect comfort food, well-suited for ‘raw’ weather.  It’s hard to go wrong with pot roast (for meat-eaters; if you are veggie, keep on a’scrolling). 

When I began writing about the yummy pot roast meal, Spring had done a 180-degree weather flip-flop. Bright sunshine, high temps in the mid 70s – the kind of weather that calls for posts about grilled meats, salads, and drinks with tiny umbrellas. 

Not the time for ruminating on hunks of beef, slow roasted with veggies and aromatics, served over fluffy mashed potatoes. No, definitely not time for that. 

Thankfully (at least in terms of finishing this blog post) the weather has turned cool once again, the perfect time for a rich, satisfying plateful of meaty goodness. Let me hurry up and post this now, before Mother Nature brings us another surprise. 

Speaking of surprises, I had never before made a pot roast that was meant to be sliced. Only the fall-apart-while-cooking kind. This recipe from The Neelys via Food Network calls for a bottom round roast, which is a bit leaner than other pot roast cuts and requires plenty of luscious braising liquid. I like both styles, but this one looks a little nicer for serving to company. 

Cooking notes:

• Add the carrots halfway through cooking the roast. This gives them more texture at serving time. I doubled the amount of carrots cuz we like ‘em.
• After carving the roast I put the slices back into the thickened gravy with the carrots, to keep everything nice and juicy. Mmm gravy!

Deee-licious! Find the recipe from The Neelys here.

Today's COVID-19 song acknowledges a new pandemic-related trend, Zoom Happy Hours. They're a fun way to stay connected with friends -- and maybe it's just me -- but I didn't attend nearly so many real-life happy hours back in the day. Let's hear from rockabilly star Sleepy LaBeef. (Get it? I know you do.)

You know I prefer a jazz playlist during dinner. Here is a fine example from renowned drummer and bandleader Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Please enjoy, and bon appetit!