English Cucumber Sandwiches

"Why cucumber sandwiches? Why such reckless extravagance in one so young?"

(Hey everyone. Be sure to check out my most recent post on cucumber sandwiches for a slightly more authentic version.)

"...Hallo!  Why all these cups?  Why cucumber sandwiches?  Why such reckless extravagance in one so young?"
-Jack, from Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest

After my body had officialy rejected anything of substance thanks to my w...

"Wit What?"

An exploration of Philadelphia's quintessential greasy delicacy...the cheesesteak

With Blake off for the weekend, Nick blew the whole...

With Blake off for the weekend, Nick blew the whole Paupered Chef budget on a $20 Chinatown Bus ticket to Philadelphia in search of the city's quintessential greasy delicacy...the cheesesteak.  Armed with locals with serious appetites, he checked out some of their favorite institutions in search of the real thing...Wait, with cheez w...

Aged Goat Cheese Omelette With Thyme

This is what happens when you start cooking before you’ve put in 30 seconds to check if you actually have what you need.

When I can’t decide what I feel like cooking, I’ll often visit epicurious.com and bum around until an ingredient that sounds great pops up--then I’ll start searching for that ingredient and I always find something that sounds tasty.  In this case, my ingredient was goat cheese.  I was doing a few searches at www.jamieoliver.com --we basically follow him and his British humor around with to...

Dinner with Genghis Khan

We did our research, spared no expense, and faced the terrors of salmonella. We survived to teach you how to give this haughty dish an American makeover.

The Paupered Chef ransack their local butcher in search of the fresh meat to one of France's most risky dishes. Will they have time to cook it?

The Paupered Chefs ransack their local butcher in search of fresh meat for one of France's most risky dishes.  Will they have time to cook their steak tartare? We did our research, spared no expense, and faced the terrors of salmonella. We sur...

White Risotto with Pesto

Trust this recipe, and never lose faith: it is actually quite simple, and can be used as a launching point for lots of other inspired ideas.

I remember vividly the first time I thumbed through a cookbook with a sense of purpose. I was home on a break during my freshman year of college, and my mom had been relating to me her excitement about a book my sister sent from London.  She excitedly exclaimed that “it had even been autographed.”  I smiled and nodded approvingly, unaffected.  It was a cookbook, after all.  My sister w...

Pasta with Parmesan and Nutmeg

This is the easiest recipe this side of Dominoes, it’s pretty gourmet, and if you can boil water, you’re 83 percent there.

One thing I’ve found difficult about cooking is that it’s really hard to start when you’re hungry--you have to plan ahead.  Once you get started you get your momentum going, and there’s always ingredients to snack on, but it’s the getting started that proves difficult.  The inertia works against you at first.  Since I get lazy when I get hungry, I end up heating canned soup.

This evening, with...

Pasta Carbonara

This recipe loses the cream altogether, replacing it with white wine.

Pasta Carbonara

• 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 thin slices bacon
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 pound farfalle pasta
• 4 egg yolks
• small handful chopped Italian parsley
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup of pasta cooking water

Serves 4.

Recipe adapted from Cucina Rustica

Get a huge pot of salted water boiling...

Welcome to the Paupered Chef!

Thanks for visiting.  After encountering many difficulties, namely a deceptively complex program called Movable Type, we have since discovered its sister program, which is friendly, thoughtful, streamlined, and, most importantly, visually oriented: TypePad.  All hail TypePad.  This site took us one night to make. Feel free to check back as we will be adding recipes and changing designs through...