I’m a lazy cook. I like recipes with fewer ingredients that aren’t too complicated, especially foods that are adaptable for different kinds of meals. This mushroom soup can be an elegant starter (wonderful for a Thanksgiving dinner if you’re already thinking about the holidays) or a substantial entree with the addition of wild rice. You might see this on a menu and think, ‘Mushroom soup – meh.’ But it’s rich and nourishing, and with the addition of caraway rye crackers […]
Brussels sprouts are still having their moment. This long-maligned veg has found its audience, with new recipes popping up on the best food blogs and cooking magazines. This recipe is an old favorite, adapted from the Cheesemonger’s Seasons, a great cookbook for putting fruits, vegetables, and cheeses together in unexpectedly delicious ways. I substituted the Podda cheese, which I had trouble finding, with manchego (sheep’s milk) cheese, but you can also use gruyere. It takes a little time to “leaf” […]
When I think of Halloween, my mind always turns to popcorn balls, those salty-sweet homespun sweets of my childhood. Our neighbor, Mrs. Snider, was a cheerful old lady with a little white bun on the back of her neck and sensible lace-up shoes that had been fashionable during World War II, and I never saw her without a cotton “farmer’s wife” apron like the ones my grandmother wore. When we showed up on her doorstep on Halloween, she would invite […]
Back in 2013 when I first saw the word “spatchcock,” I assumed it was some kinky thing I’d have to look up in the Urban Dictionary and then be sorry that I had. As it turns out, spatchcocking, said to derive from the term “dispatch the cock,” is an 18th century English or Irish word, and refers to a method of cooking a chicken by removing the backbone and flattening it. The chicken cooks more quickly, and all of the […]
Some recipes bear repeating, and this one from 2014 for pear clafoutis is so beautiful that it looks as if it belongs in a Dutch still life, with those ethereal-looking Bosc pears poking out of rich, golden custard. Emerson once said “There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.” and that’s the key to this recipe. You either need to buy perfectly ripe pears, or have the patience to wait until […]
