Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Feast.
The Summer of Stranger Things. Runner-Up in Summer Camp Challenge. Top Story - June 2022.
It was my family's equivalent of zucchini. Not that my brothers and I hadn't had our share of variations on that vegetable: zucchini bread, zucchini casserole, baked zucchini, boiled zucchini, fried zucchini—and on and on. The three of us grew to hate the very site of the indestructible plant slowly taking over my mother's garden. For years afterward I couldn't look at zucchini, never mind eat it, but that summer the speckled green vegetable was impossible to avoid.
By Lori Lamothe4 years ago in Feast
An Open Letter to the British Sunshine. Runner-Up in Summer Camp Challenge.
Dear British Sunshine, I know you're shy. I get it - I'm shy too. That's why I'm writing this letter instead of screaming at you from my backyard. But if you could challenge your shyness just long enough to stay out in the open for an entire afternoon so that we can have our annual British barbecue, I'd be ever so grateful.
By Ellie Scott4 years ago in Feast
One Cheesy Summer
In the United States of America, we celebrate our independance from the English on July Fourth every year. For some people this holiday is an excuse to participate in revelries, for others they take it more literally and use it as an excuse to put their National Pride on full display. But for an enthusiastic majority, The fourth means one thing: Fireworks. While it would be easy to wax poetic for pages about the profound alchemical beauty of pyrotechnics and jubilation, I would prefer instead to speak on a different kind of Fireworks, and no I do not mean the kind that occur between people experiencing a romantic connection, but instead the emotional journey that your mind, body, and spirit are lead on when your palate comes in contact with culinary ordinance of the highest caliber. Many I'm sure would assume this refers to the collective experience of the American Barbeque. I instead would like to introduce you, Dear Reader to an ambitious undertaking I have lovingly named "Loaded Polish Baked Macaroni and Cheese". I am also working on a Mashed Potato variant but that is for another time! If you own anything Cast Iron, or other Oven-Safe Stovetop hardware, this has the potential of being a one pan dish, otherwise expect to get messy! As we experience the dish together, I will do my best to include a walkthrough of the recipe as well. I should clarify upfront however that this recipe is Malleable and can be adjusted for both personal taste as well as quantity required, so Measurements are not concrete. For the purposes of this example we will assume you are cooking for guests, so this should feed approximately 8-10 human people. You will need: 4 pounds Macaroni of your Choice (weighed Dry) 4 Pounds of a Blend of Cheeses of your Choice (I used Cheddar, Provologne, and Mozzarrella) 2 Pounds Bacon 2 Full Links(The Horseshoe kind, you know the ones) of Polish Kielbasa chopped to preference 2 Sticks Butter 1 ½ Cup whole Milk 4 oz+ of Hot Sauce 1 Tbspn Garlic Powder ½ Tbspn Black Pepper ½ Tbspn Salt Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs First, as with any pasta dish, boil and strain your Macaroni and set it aside until you need it for incorporation. In the pot or pan you intend to combine your ingredients in, fry your Bacon until Crispy and remove it but keep the fat in, setting the bacon aside to drain. Add your kielbasa to the vessel to get a light sear on the meat. This is where it gets a little crazy, add your Macaroni back in with the sausage, and while mixing constantly, add each of the ingredients one by one, starting with your dry seasonings, saving only the Breading and the Bacon, which at this point we crush into bacon bits and mix into the breadcrumbs. Ideally you will mix a small amount of a shredded cheese of your choice into this topping mix to create a cohesive topping that will crisp nicely. Once your Macaroni is sufficiently cheesed and enhanced with protein, if you are using an oven safe pan, apply your topping and bake at 325 until golden brown. If your Stovetop Ark cannot brave the scorching bowels of the oven, transfer your concoction into an appropriate vessel, top and bake as noted above. Serve Hot but not Scalding. Upon consumption, while originally intended as a clever twist on a side dish, it becomes something more. Able to be a side or the main course, this Casserole Killer is HEAVY, only the mightiest returning for a second full plate. The Savory Meats balance out the Creamy Richness of the Macaroni, which deftly counters with its spicy secret, all coming together under a mericulousky formed crust, like a Tent Hiding a Culinary Carnival taking your tastebuds on a whirlwind adventure you wont soon forget. At the end of the day, thats what cooking should always be about. Taking a dish that you love, and putting your own spin on it! And then subjecting….I mean sharing…. Your creations with your Friends and Family.
By Daniel Hepler4 years ago in Feast
My Summer Go-to Recipe
We live in the South. It's summertime. Enough said. Did you already get a picture of the blaring heat and humidity that makes you lose your mind and want to slap somebody silly? Well, you would if you lived in north Louisiana during those long, hot summer months with absolutely no air to breathe. And who wants to eat under those conditions? Nobody! So I knew I would have to come up with something that kept my family cool on the inside, their sweet tooth satisfied, and their mouths full. (We avoid hangry to keep the slapping down to a minimum.)
By Shirley Belk4 years ago in Feast
Pasta Salad Is Summer's Best
Pasta salad is the perfect summer food. It is versatile, portable, and stands the test of time. I remember as a kid going to our neighborhood block party, back when we didn’t have access to screens or tiny computers in our pockets. Instead we’d socialize face-to-face, my friends and I would draw with chalk on the driveway even if we were the oldest of the kids doing so.
By Marina Crouse4 years ago in Feast
Summer Tastes Like Saltwater Popsicles
Temperatures hit 100℉ easily. The past few days of rain didn’t make the world any lighter. Instead, the blazing sun turned the outdoors into a giant steam pot. Looking beyond my fence line, I thought I saw air sizzling and bubbling into a distortion. On days like these, I have no motivation. The moisture steeped into my bones, and the AC continued with its frugal effort in trying to keep our three-bedroom house cool — failing regardless.
By Xiao daCunha4 years ago in Feast
Censored Fireworks
Ahh, Censored Fireworks......name of my new band. Come with me, through the tunnels of my strange memory, at least two decades ago. I belong to a middle ages re-enactment group, and we love any excuse for a party (gather) to, well, party! We'd do funky crafts, and eat and drink an unusual potluck of food and beverage - half of them modern foods, half of them period dishes we'd reconstruct from a few surviving cookbooks.
By Meredith Harmon4 years ago in Feast
An Elite Spread
Peanut butter is elite, a monarch in its category, liege of spreads and saviour of poorly seasoned dishes. In the summer of 2020 a friend and I confirmed our theories on the near magical properties of peanut butter. New to cooking vegan dishes, we were nearly undone by our chickpea curry, it was lacking in many categories; texture, colour, smell and most importantly taste, but several heaped spoons of that golden paste later and we were set. This was a summer of discoveries, experimentation is the key to development no matter the genre and we were on a warpath; peanut butter in coffee, in soup, on bread with banana (a classic to be fair), or on particularly lazy nights simply adding a scoop to boiled rice, hell we were ready to start moisturising with it at this point. Later that summer was when we found the pièce de résistance of our dishes to date, rice paper rolls. In all honesty I had been making them for years, and had loved them since my introduction to them whenever that had occurred, but the addition of peanut butter to my usual sauce had brought a wholly other love for them to light.
By Obsidian Words4 years ago in Feast
A SUPER FUN & DELICIOUS NO-BAKE SUMMER TREAT!
It is officially summertime and I’m super excited because now it’s all about spending as much quality time with the kiddos as possible before before the start of the new school year! As you guys already know… It is definitely going to be a particularly rough transition for me because the kids will be in kindergarten and will be away from home for a little longer each day so I’m going to do as much as I can to spend as much time with them as possible!
By Socialite Sande4 years ago in Feast
The Third Ingredient. Top Story - June 2022.
I am seven years old. We live in England, near Norwich. My dad’s business has exploded, and we are suddenly wealthy. He buys a proper English country house, something of a dream of his. It has a big garden, and my dad - rather optimistically, considering English weather - buys a barbeque.
By Madoka Mori4 years ago in Feast
