This is one of those perfect weeknight entertaining dishes that looks impressive but is incredibly easy. It's a kind of cross between a chicken milanese and a latin chicken milanesa a caballo. The best part about this recipe is how make ahead friendly it is. You can bread the chicken hours before you need them and pull them out and fry them whenever.

They are exceptionally moist and the truffle salt adds such a luxurious level of flavor - even I was surprised at how well all of the flavors really meshed together. The crispy coated, moist chicken, the umami earthiness of the truffles, the acidic bite from the lemon-dressed salad, and the creamy richness of the poached egg. If you have it on hand I can't imagine that a drizzle of truffle oil would hurt the finished dish, either.

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A fresh breeze to ruffle the feathers, sun to warm them, freedom to run about and peck at whatever they should choose. Delicious vegetarian feed and a life free of antibiotics and hormones. That's how chickens should be raised.  Not in cages or factory farms where they never see the outdoors a moment of their lives. Not where they crawl with bugs and peck each other to death out of fear, anxiety, and a blind attempt at self preservation.

It's not a very appetizing thought, is it? Sadly, it's the reality of commercial farms, the predominant source of meat throughout the US.

It can be difficult to find an alternative to factory farmed meat, though, and the difficulty often outweighs one's conscious. It's so easy to just pop over to the neighborhood supermarket and pick up a pound or two of chicken for dinner and not think about where it came from.

It's an issue that's plagued me significantly since moving to North Carolina. In California it was so easy to find humanely raised meats at nearly any market, but in North Carolina it's been impossible - at least until last week.

Carolina Grown, a relatively new business in central NC, is offering an amazing new service. Produce, dairy, and meat from solely NC growers delivered directly to your door for a surprisingly reasonable flat fee.

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This has definitely become one of my favorite preparations for duck breast. I first tried it in DC over the holidays at my MiL's house, but both of us had difficulties with the prescribed cooking time. I botched it twice, and with the price of boneless duck breasts I was about to give up on the recipe entirely.

I gave it a couple more shots and I've come away from it very pleased. Turns out if you use a duck breast twice the size of the one the recipe calls for it's going to take a little longer to cook.

The five spice combination of star anise, clove, cinnamon, anise seed, and Sichuan peppercorn is the perfect accompaniment to the richness of the duck breast. The sesame noodles are flavored just enough to please, but simply enough to complement the rich, aggressive flavor of the duck.

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Something about eating quail always makes me feel like a giant. I like picking up one of the tiny little drumsticks and thinking, "Fee, fi, fo fum..." in my head.

Another great thing about quail? They're delicious. They may look like miniature chickens or a cornish game hen, but the flavor present in quail is unlike any other. It's equivalent to comparing the flavor of duck to chicken. Worlds apart.

Plus, they're incredibly impressive to serve at a dinner party and done right, just as easy to prepare.

The best way to buy quail is already deboned. This means that the only bones left in the little guy are the drumsticks and the wings. They're simple (and civilized) to eat and require no navigating around tiny little bones.

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There are few things I enjoy more than the sweet, fresh corn available each summer. I did a much more in depth post on how much I enjoyed sweet corn last year at about this time, but sadly it didn't make the transition to the new website.

Last year I tried it off the cob, sauted with butter and tossed with parmigiana reggiano. This year I've decided to implement it into a rustic soup with chicken and bacon.

Because really, what doesn't bacon make better?

I've made attempts to make this as low calorie as possible - all the better to watch our waistlines with - and managed to make each one cup serving slide in at under 150 calories per serving.

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