Michelle Leon

The freshest pickled trout.

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Homemade aquavit

Since we created a homemade variation of traditional aquavit last week (and in honor of this week's City Pages cover story on Scandinavian cuisine) we thought you might dig a Nordic appetizer that highlights those aquavit herbal notes. Starting with a basic recipe for pickled herring, we gave this a regional tweak by using sparkling fresh trout from Star Prairie Trout Farms.

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Michelle Leon

Skol!

In Latin, the phrase aqua vitae translates to the "the water of life"--hence the name aquavit, a Scandinavian spirit that is full of life and vigor, and so easy to make at home. Fragrant with caraway, spice, and citrus, this infused vodka makes a lovely digestif or a fine accompaniment to pickled or cured fish.

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Chill out! Make your own iced coffee concentrate

The hot accessory for summer is a mason jar filled with craft-brewed iced coffee. Many of our favorite coffee shops are now selling growlers of their iced brew. The only drawback is that they take the DIY satisfaction out of the brew process (not to mention, some of these options are a bit steep in price).  To learn how to make our own iced coffee, we reached out to Gordon Bellaver of Bull Run Coffee Bar. He responded with not one but two recipes. Both require a bit of specialty equipment, but the taste and self-serving satisfaction are worth the investment.

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A few of Etoll's ghastly creations

​Filmmaker Mike Etoll knows a little something about blood and guts, having made the movie Sewer Baby and videos for bands like the Meat Puppets on the tightest of budgets. Etoll, who is also the creator of The Butcher Shop House of Gore, shared a few of his most grisly Halloween recipes with items found in the kitchen (cue the scary laughter).

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Steve Neuharth

Later, you can drink your basement cider fancy, like this.

If you have ever wanted to homebrew but were afraid of the fail-factor, starting with hard cider is a swell way to ease into the game. You don't need expensive equipment, the recipes are simple, and with an extra-long season this year, the apple harvest is extra fine. And most of us will need plenty of cider to get us through the long winter.

Here's what you do:

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Can you can? Of course you can.

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As the tomato harvest reaches it zenith, many of us are asking ourselves, What am I going to do with all of these? We know canning is an intimidating prospect, but a simple hot water bath method is an ideal way to preserve your tomatoes at the peak of their goodness. Here are simple instructions for a beginning canner. More »

A.J. Olmscheid

Mastering mollusks

When we landlocked Minnesotans have a hankering for seafood, we're lucky enough to have the guys at Coastal Seafoods to consult. When I needed to learn about mussels to better judge this week's food fight, I turned to Coastal Seafoods' general manager, Tim Lauer, for a quick mollusk primer. Here's what he has to say about when mussels are in seasonal and how best to prepare them.

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photos by Michelle Leon

You know you want one.

Nothing is as good in the summer as a frozen icy treat. And when you can make your own with just a few simple ingredents, life is extra sweet. Here's how to create popsicles so home-style you won't be surprised to see bluebirds land on your fingertips.

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Steve Neuharth

How could you go wrong with bacon wrapped trout?

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There really is nothing nicer right now than grilling: lighting the coals, cracking open a beer, and hanging out on the patio. But sometimes the recipe repetoire can get a little boring, so we are here to help. Let DIY-on-the-Fly show you how to create two simple fish preparations that are not too complicated. You can also try your own variations of ingredients--especially fresh herbs you have on hand. Once you have the basics for these recipes, it is easy to get creative.

Here are two easy and impressive recipes:

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jules:stonesoup via Flickr.com

​Michael Ruhlman stirred the pot for foodies on Huffington Post, calling
"bullshit" on the idea "that we all lead such busy lives that we have no time to cook." It's easy to take Ruhlman's admonition with some cynicism--after
all, the man makes his living writing cookbooks with star chefs like Thomas Keller of the French Laundry. As the food bloggers at Married...with Dinner put it, "His bread-baking is integrated into his bread-winning in a way that few of us could manage." But they weren't writing to whine or defend all of us lazy would-be cooks; instead, they started a 12-week series called "Dinner on a Deadline" to get us all cooking.More »