
If you love the taste of balsamic vinegar, get excited, this recipe is for you! Thin boneless, skinless chicken breasts are marinated in a store-bought balsamic vinaigrette. Fresh garlic and crushed red pepper flakes add a spicy punch to the marinade.

When I saw this recipe for pancetta-wrapped peaches in the July issue of
Food and Wine magazine, I knew I had to make it. The recipe takes four simple ingredients — peaches, pancetta, basil, and balsamic vinegar — and turns them into one incredibly delicious, perfectly balanced dish. The peaches are sweet and juicy, the pancetta is crisp and salty, and the basil is fresh and fragrant.

A couple weeks ago my dad surprised me with a gift of delicious Spanish chorizo. When he gave it to me, I knew exactly what dish I had to make: a crostini appetizer I saw in a recent issue of
Food & Wine magazine. In the appetizer, a thick, crisp piece of sourdough is topped with pillows of creamy ricotta, spicy sautéed chorizo, and tangy balsamic red onion slices.

One of my favorite SF brunch spots,
Foreign Cinema, has a
balsamic egg dish I've always wanted to recreate at home. Deglazing the fried egg in vinegar gives it a gentle saltiness that tastes gourmet and — I must admit — is highly suitable for hangovers. But instead of serving it with potatoes and greens like the restaurant does, I put a twist on the egg dish by making it into a
sandwich.

I recently received a copy of
Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking and have been meaning to try some of the recipes. Author Harumi Kurihara, who is often called the Japanese Martha Stewart, specializes in easy, home-cooked dishes with simple but elegant flavors. While looking for dinner ideas, I was inspired by the ease of her recipe for Chicken With Soy and Balsamic Vinegar.