Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market's choicest ingredients home with them and cook up a feast.

If you've wandered around the produce section of the markets lately, then you already know it's prime season for Vidalia onions, those sweet, mild, yellow crops that have a relatively short shelf life but give food a long blast of mellow flavor. The official Georgia state vegetable, which can only be grown in a twenty-county production area in and around Vidalia, Georgia, in order to legally wear the Vidalia label, has its share of copycats, but none that rival the original. And, in fact, under Georgia's 1986 Vidalia Onion Act, abuse of the Vidalia name can amount to a fine of up to $20,000. "That's pride of place," says Barb. "I like this recipe because it sounds a little trashy, with its Ritz crust and all, but, hey, let's face it: Sometimes trashy food is delicious," she admits.

See also:
- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Stracotto
- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Coq au vin
- What's cooking? Pete Marczyk goes New Mex in the city with green chile

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All photos by Kate Gibbons.

Don't let the name mislead you: The Chocolate Nemesis may soon be your new best friend. The "oldie but goody" dessert that won fans at The Kitchen in Boulder has now been imported to The Kitchen Denver, and is winning hearts (and stomachs) across town.

The flourless chocolate cake, accompanied by crème fraiche, is a take on the Nemesis at London's River Café, where Kitchen chef/co-founder Hugo Matheson cut his teeth as a chef. The four restaurants in the Kitchen family can turn out as many as 120 slices a night.

See also:
- Happy birthday to The Kitchen Denver
- Best Snapshot of a Season 2013: The Kitchen Denver
-The Kitchen's Hugo Matheson thinks small...with a big list of starters

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Whitney Ariss

Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market's choicest ingredients home with them and cook up a feast.

There's a huge difference between instant grits and the real thing, and for the real thing, there are no better grits than Anson Mill products. Marcyk's is the only retailer in Denver that pimps Anson Mill products, because, says Barb, the company only sells wholesale. "We have to bag and labels all their products, which is a bit of a pain in the fanny but their products really are amazing," she adds. Whitney Ariss, who works at Marczyk's and "is a jack of all trades," notes Barb, came up with this recipe, which utilizes blue corn grits and shrimp, although if you prefer a vegetarian dish, you can eliminate the shrimp completely and skip those steps in the recipe. "Everything comes together in one incredibly colorful, comforting, warm bowl, and I can't think of anything that tastes more perfect on a blustery spring evening," says Ariss.

See also:
- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Stracotto
- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Coq au vin
- What's cooking? Pete Marczyk goes New Mex in the city with green chile

More »

Cast-iron cooking is an art unto itself, as any Sister on the Fly will tell you. And members of the nationwide sisterhood of adventurous women who caravan together in vintage trailers all over the U.S. spend a lot time perfecting their camp cuisine.

Local author Irene Rawlings, a Sister herself, pulled together Cast-Iron Cooking With Sisters on the Fly, a book of recipes from her fellow canned-ham travelers; she'll be signing copies at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Tattered Cover LoDo. For added atmosphere, a few sisters will be parked outside with their brightly decorated trailers, but if that's not enough impetus to get you down there, read on for a recipe preview. Be a happy camper!

See also:
- Cast-Iron Cooking With Sisters on the Fly
- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: lemon pound cake
- In the kitchen with Patxi Azpiroz, chef of Patxi's Pizza: meatballs

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Flickr

Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market's choicest ingredients home with them and cook up a feast.

It's a good day to stay home...and bake a cake, and this recipe for lemon pound cake, an adaption from a recipe on southernliving.com, will make your kitchen smell like spring, despite another dump of white powder. "As I walked through the kitchen today, someone was squeezing lemons to make our lemon pound cake, and even though it's snowing, spring will return this weekend, and this lovely lemon layer cake with lemon curd and a lemon cream cheese frosting embodies everything I love about the season" says Barb, who recommends pairing the cake with a glass of cold milk.

See also:

- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Stracotto
- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Coq au vin
- What's cooking? Pete Marczyk goes New Mex in the city with green chile

More »

Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market's choicest ingredients home with them and cook up a feast.

While the weather promises to warm up, there are plenty of lurking drifts of snow to remind us that it's still winter, and winter weather begs for hearty suppers -- in this case, stracotto, an Italian pot roast. "Although Italians don't use short ribs as we know them, they work beautifully for this treatment," says Barb, noting that the ribs "need to be cooked long and slow for everything to meld together in a delicious way." For variety, she adds, "you can pull the meat off the bone and add it to a pasta sauce, or stuff it into peppers and roast it in the oven." Barb recommends pairing the dish, brightened with gremolata, with a bottle of Sangiovese, particularly the Primaterra Sangiovese, which is currently available at Marczyk's Fine Wines for $9.99. "It's a light and bright pour at a great price," she says.

See also:
- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Stifado
- Denver Yelp reviews: Pete Marczyk reads Marczyk Fine Foods' strangest on video

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A few weeks ago, when I interviewed Patxi Axpiroz, the chef-owner of Patxi's Pizza, our conversation moved from pizza to balls -- meatballs, of course, which are popping up on menus at several local restaurants, including Cafe Bar, Gaetanos, Slotted Spoon and Spuntino. Some of those meatballs are funky and modern (look to the Slotted Spoon for proof), but the meatballs at Patxi's are nostalgically classic. "Our meatballs are rich, flavorful, satisfying and, well, amazing," says Azpiroz, who was willing to share his recipe. "Treat your sausage and beef with tender care in order to create delicate balls, and be careful not to overwork the mixture, otherwise they'll become tough when they're cooked," he advises.

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- Patxi Azpiroz, chef of Patxi's Pizza, on eating fried worms and pesto pizza proposals
- Round two with Patxi Azpiroz, exec chef of Patxi's Pizza
- First look: Patxi's Pizza will start flipping pies in Cherry Creek on Monday

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Laurie Smith

Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market's choicest ingredients home with them and cook up a feast.

Thumbprint jam cookies -- also called "Trios" -- are classics, and while they're especially popular during the holidays, Barb says that the impending arrival of spring is reason enough to dig out your baking sheet and gather a crowd of cookie cohorts. This recipe, which uses jams from Dagstani & Sons, a local company that sells their products -- fruit jams, preserves and marmalade -- at local markets, including Marczyk's, benefits from three combinations of jams: caramel apple, pear vanilla and peach cardamom. "These jams are classic with just a little bit of crazy," says Barb, adding that jams are becoming increasingly popular -- and this company, she insists, makes them right. When making the following recipe, you hold try to avoid using any large pieces of fruit. It's a bit time consuming, but "they're fun to cook and the presentation is beautiful," says Barb, noting that they pair especially well with a pot of hot tea.

See also:
- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Chocolate bundt cake
- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Preserved plum and goat cheese pissaladière
- Come to papas -- a perfect Peruvian party food

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Mark Manger

The roast chicken comes with French fries at La Polleria.

Bob and Rosario Van Diest take pride in serving a little-known but authentic Peruvian dish, pollo a la brasa, at La Polleria, which I review this week.

Here's another dish they are eager to tell people about: papas a la huancaina (potatoes huancaina style). Often served at parties with baby potatoes and toothpicks, this appetizer is also popular at home, where it's made with sliced potatoes, sans toothpicks. Although it's not on the menu, the Van Diests were happy to share their family's recipe.

See also:
- The chicken at La Polleria is a real bird in the hand
- Photos: Behind the scenes at La Polleria
- It takes pluck to open a polleria in Centennial

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Joy, the baker

Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market's choicest ingredients home with them and cook up a feast.

Despite the fact that Valentine's Day is behind is -- and you've no doubt stomached enough chocolate to last until Christmas -- Barb insists that chocolate is a year-round habit. "Just because Valentine's Day has come and gone, you'd think we'd be done with it for a while, but for me the opposite is true," she admits, adding that she "just wants more -- and mostly in the form of a cake." Pete, she notes, "doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, so it falls on me to eat most of a chocolate cake, and I do a pretty good job with it." And this recipe for chocolate bundt cake, she promises, is the perfect finale to any dinner, especially if you pair it with a cold glass of milk.

See also:
- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Stifado
- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Coconut-curried chicken soup
- Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Preserved plum and goat cheese pissaladière

More »