The Hungry Mouse

These individual baked pears with homemade dulce de leche are a simple, elegant way to end a festive meal.  The Bosc pears are poached until tender in a sweet syrup that's fragrant with cinnamon, ginger, clove, lemon, and black pepper.  Then, they're swaddled in strips of buttery pie crust, washed in egg, and baked until golden brown. To serve, nestle on a...

With everything that's going on in the world right now, I feel like I need to be extra prepared this winter. Here are my favorite, best recipes for cold and flu season.  I'm not a doctor, and I don't play on on TV, but these are the recipes that I personally turn to when the weather gets cold, the flakes...

These foil-baked lamb shanks are a great way to turn a fairly humble and inexpensive piece of meat into a luscious feast fit for a king.  They also make the most amazing, cold-weather carnivore comfort food.  Now, hear me out. Normally, I braise lamb shanks, like a lot of folks do. Lamb shanks are a surly cut of meat: Tough as can be....

These easy cheesy eggs are my go-to, got-home-late, totally starving, missed lunch and need food in my face STAT dinner. Ditto that with a middle of the night snack. Basically, you have fried eggs, topped with luscious, molten cheese and a hint of fiery chili flakes and spices.  It's has all the charm of an omelet, without the whisking and flipping and...

You guys. Seriously. I can't. This is the best apple streusel muffin recipe I've ever made.  We love apple and pumpkin year round at our house. (And not just because we live in Salem, har har...) And with the pandemic and winter on its way again, comfort food is very much still on the menu. These muffins are super easy to make....

This simple, 5-ingredient earl grey tea ice cream is one of my favorites. It's subtly sweet and bergamot-scented--and goes great with apple pie or shortbread cookies.  It's the perfect complement to an elegant holiday meal.   How to make ice cream using tea Making ice cream with tea is so simple, and gives you a ton of options for flavoring.  Simply infuse the cream...

You guys! Tatte Bakery & Cafe in Boston is one of my fav spots for pastry. There are more than a dozen locations in the greater Boston area. (Find one near you!) If you enjoy luscious, buttery, high-quality treats, Tatte is worth seeking out.   Here's a quick look at the location adjacent to Berklee School of Music at 160 Mass Ave.,...

Intimidated by how to roast a leg of lamb? Don't be. It's deceptively simple to do. This post will teach you how to buy a leg of lamb, guide you through the whole roasting process with step-by-step photos, and then show you how to carve it. You can do it. I'll show you how.  This post is massive, so I've included a...

What are white truffles? How do you buy them? Let's talk about how to cook white truffles. White truffles, a.k.a. tartufo bianco, are a highly prized, fragrant type of wild fungus that are only in season a few months a year, from October to December. They're not cheap by a long shot, but they're the perfect, earthy and luxurious splurge for...

Sick of roasting a huge, traditional bird with stuffing and all the trimmings for Christmas or the holidays? Try these roast turkey alternatives! Maybe you want to make something smaller because you're not having a huge crowd. Or maybe you just want to make something...different. Here are some of our favorite poultry alternatives to roasting The Big Bird this holiday season. Roast Turkey...