
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.