Tag: recipes

Fresh Sage and Onion Dressing

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Every Thanksgiving, I try a new recipe for stuffing or dressing. I’ve done it all — wild rice, pears and butternut squash, pancetta and chanterelles, sausage and fennel — and every year I’m happy, but never thrilled with the result.

In pursuit of a recipe that I can love and look forward to making every year, I decided to go very traditional this Thanksgiving: sage and onion.

I adapted this recipe from one originally published in 1975, and republished in Gourmet Magazine (RIP) in 2002. It calls for a whopping cup of butter! That’s two whole sticks! As much as I love butter, I really thought the amount was excessive; I wanted light and fluffy dressing, not greasy, leaden bread.

I also swapped the requested amounts of bread. I like cornbread stuffings, so instead of the asked for 8 cups of white bread and 4 cups of cornbread, I opted for 8 cups of cornbread and 4 cups of white bread. Don’t worry so much if it ends up being something more like 7 and 5, or 6 and 6. As long as you have a total of 12 cups of bread crumbs, it will be fine.

Gourmet’s recipe calls for you to make your own buttermilk cornbread. I suppose you could just use store-bought cornbread, but the recipe they recommend is so easy and fool-proof that I strongly urge you to try it. It makes a tremendous difference in flavor.

I think that in assembling the dressing, you could even reduce the amount of butter even more without any reduction in luxury of taste. I ended up using more stock than specified in the original recipe. I would say add a cup, and then more stock a little bit at a time, until the dressing is as moist as you would like. The recipe didn’t call for the addition of any cheese, but I think a good cup of Parmesan would go well here.

Ingredients:

8 cups of coarsely crumbled buttermilk corn bread*

4 cups of coarse fresh bread crumbs (from a small white loaf, crust removed)

1/4 cup of finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

3 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh sage

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

1 sticks (1/2 cup) of unsalted butter

2 medium onions, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 cup of chopped celery

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup of turkey or chicken stock

1/2 cup of heavy cream

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Spread all the bread crumbs out in 2 shallow baking pans and bake until dry, about 15 minutes total.

3. Briefly cool the crumbs in the pans and then transfer them to a large bowl. Stir in the parsley, sage, salt, and pepper.

4. Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat. Add the onions and cook until the onions are softened, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the celery and cook for about 5 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to the bowl with the crumbs and toss well. Add the eggs, stock, and cream and toss well. Transfer the stuffing to a buttered, shallow baking dish. Bake, covered, in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until browned, about 30 minutes more.

Note:

You can assemble the stuffing 2 days ahead. Chill it covered, unbaked. Bring it to room temperature before baking. If reheating or baking later, you might want to sprinkle some more stock over the stuffing before putting it in the oven.

Buttermilk Corn Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup of all-purpose flour

3/4 cup of yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of well-shaken buttermilk

2 large eggs

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

2. Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

3. Whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, butter, and sage in another bowl. Add this mixture to the flour mixture. Stir everything until just combined. Spread the batter evenly in a buttered 8-inch square baking pan and bake in the middle of oven until golden, about 25 minutes.

4. Cool the pan on a rack. Once cooled, coarsely crumble the bread. The corn bread can be made and crumbled up to 3 days ahead, and kept in a sealed plastic bag at room temperature.

Holiday Ham with Pomegranate Molasses, Black Pepper and Bourbon Glaze

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There was a special treat in the CSA basket last week: a beautiful ham.

Growing up, hams in my household were always honey-baked affairs, spiral-cut and gifted by friends and relatives who came to the house bearing boxes of See’s Candies. I don’t think I ever remember my parents baking a ham themselves, so this was a new experience for me.

What to do with a lovely ham? When Tina from High Point Farms suggested a glaze, something in clicked in my mind that I had filed away in my mental “To Cook” folder: pomegranate.

I have been seeing crates of pomegranates lately in the market. ‘Tis the season!

Though native to ancient Persia, the pomegranate figures prominently in the Greek myth of Persephone. Dear Persephone, minding her own business in a field, is abducted by her uncle Hades and spirited away to the underworld to be his bride. Overwrought with sorrow, her mother Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest, plunges the Earth into brutal winter. With nothing growing, Zeus sends Hermes to demand that Hades return her daughter to her. But not without caveats : Persephone can only return if nothing — no food nor drink — from the Underworld has passed her lips. Good Persephone had indeed been denying herself both, but when presented with a gorgeous pomegranate, she is unable to resist and swallows six ruby-red seeds. For this, she is allowed to be reunited with her mother for 6 months out of the year — 6 glorious months filled with sunshine and green, growing things — before returning to Hades, leaving her mother’s sadness to expand over the cold and frigid earth.

Such a story! To be seduced by a pomegranate! Certainly something to think about as the ham bakes, filling the apartment with warm, cuddly smells of sweet spice and exotic fruit. Maybe, I wondered as I basted another candy-colored layer onto the ham, it was worth it after all?

This recipe is from the terrific food blog, Food 52. It calls for pomegranate molasses, which I assume is easily available in most ethnic and specialty food markets. Actually, I wouldn’t know because I found it even easier to just make my own. You can too. The recipe is super easy and doesn’t require much attention, leaving you free to mind other things.

The glaze is spectacular. So interesting, it is tart, tangy, sweet and smoky all at once. Don’t skip reducing whatever remains into a quick pan sauce and drizzling it with abandon on top of your pearly pink slices of ham. We served it with a golden potato gratin and some blanched green beans.

Ingredients:

1 bone-in ham roast, about 3 lbs.

3/4 cups of pomegranate molasses*

1/4 cup of Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons of bourbon

1 tablespoon of freshly ground whole black pepper

1 teaspoon of ground allspice (optional)

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

How to prepare:

1. Let the ham come up to room temperature. Plan on about an hour before cooking.

2. Preheat the oven to 325 F.

3. To make the glaze, combine the pomegranate molasses, Dijon mustard, bourbon, pepper, allspice and salt in a bowl and whisk until well-blended.

4. Place the ham, fat side up, in a roasting pan. Score the fat in a cross-hatch pattern without incising the meat. Generously baste the ham with the glaze. Bake it in the oven, basting occasionally, until the internal temperature of the ham is 120°. The ham should be a deep golden brown and crusty at this time. If not, increase the heat to 450° and continue to bake for a few minutes longer, keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t burn. Remove the ham from the oven and transfer it to a cutting board. Let it rest 20 minutes before carving.

5. Transfer the remaining basting sauce to a small saucepan along with the skimmed pan juices. Simmer everything briefly to thicken it and burn off the alcohol. Slice the ham and serve with the sauce drizzled on top.

Note:

To make you own pomegranate molasses, combine 4 cups of 100% pomegranate juice (it can be from concentrate, just be sure to look at the label closely to make sure that the juice is not a blend), 1/2 a cup of sugar, and the juice of one lemon in a saucepan. Stir the mixture to dissolve the sugar and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook until everything has reduced to about a cup of liquid. You don’t really need to stir it at all. This should take about 60-70 minutes and you should end up with a thick syrup. Let the molasses rest for about 30 minutes. It should thicken a little more as it cools. Transfer the molasses to a covered container. It should keep in the fridge for about 6 months.

Maple Syrup Sweet Potatoes Topped with Tiny Marshmallows

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The first time that I ever saw Gary Vaynerchuck was on Conan O’Brien. Brought on the show to teach Conan how to taste wine, he gagged his way through a routine as slap-stick as it was slap-shtick. As I watched him swallow glugs of Sauvignon followed by mouthfuls of fresh grass, I thought to myself, “Is this guy for real?”

Vaynerchuck has since built himself a sizable empire of influence. I read somewhere that he is the most followed wine critic after Robert Parker. I can’t speak to whether or not those following him are doing it for the wine or the antics, but I can say that this recipe, adapted from one in Food and Wine’s feature on him last month, is the best that I have for the holidays. The dark maple syrup rounds out the nuttiness of the roasted sweet potatoes, and the kick of cayenne is divine.

Ingredients:

9 sweet potatoes, about 12 ounces each

1 tablespoon of vegetable oil

1 stick of butter

1/3 of a cup of dark maple syrup

3/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Salt to taste

Cayenne pepper to taste

1 1/2 – 2 cups of mini marshmallows.

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Set a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the middle rack. Rub the sweet potatoes all over with oil. Prick each one evenly on all sides with a fork. Roast the potatoes directly on top of the foil for about an hour, or until easily pierced with a paring knife. Remove the potatoes from the oven, and let them rest until they are cool enough to handle.

2. Split each potato lengthwise and peel the skin off of each half. Put the peeled potatoes in a large saucepan that can accommodate them all. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes over gentle heat. With a wooden spoon, stir in the butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt and cayenne to taste. Continue stirring until the potatoes are smooth and hot.

3. Spoon the potatoes into a 9 x 9 dish.* Top with the mini marshmallows. Bake the potatoes in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the topping is nice and browned. Alternatively, you could also place the dish under the broiler and broil the top until the marshmallows are toasted.

Note:

You can make the dish ahead too. Bring the mashed sweet potatoes up to room temperature before topping it with the mini-marshmallows. Reheat the dish in the oven until the potatoes are hot and the marshmallows are browned, about 20 minutes at 350°.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Brown-Butter Pears

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This recipe is from this month’s issue of Food and Wine magazine.

Though it seems like a lot of work, the cheesecake comes together quite quickly and has a incredibly light and refined texture. Browning the pears in butter took longer than the recipe specified (maybe I should have not been so lazy and divided up the pears into batches), but they were still a delicious topping to have.

In the future, I might experiment with some kind of Concord grape topping instead. Purple and orange can look so nice together, and the punchier grapes might be the tangy hit of acid that can turn a great dessert into something sublime.

Ingredients:

For the cheesecake:

8 ounces of gingersnap cookies

2/3 of a cup, plus 2 tablespoons of sugar

Salt

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened

12 ounces of cream cheese, softened

1 cup of canned pumpkin puree

1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1/4 cup of all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

For the brown-butter pears:

4 tablespoons of unsalted butter

3 large, ripe Bartlett pears, peeled and cored*

1 teaspoon of sugar

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. In a food processor, pulse the gingersnaps with 2 tablespoons of the sugar and a pinch of salt until fine crumbs form. Add the softened butter and process until moistened. Using your fingers, press the gingersnap crumbs into the bottom of a buttered 9-inch springform pan in an even layer. Bake the crust for about 10 minutes, until it is lightly browned. Let the crust cool slightly, then wrap the the bottom of the pan tightly in aluminum foil so it’s watertight. You might need to overlap several sheets to make sure that you have everything covered and sealed. Set the pan in a large, deep skillet or a small roasting pan.

2. Using a paper towel, wipe out the food processor bowl. Add the softened cream cheese, pumpkin puree, vanilla extract and the remaining 2/3 cup of sugar to the food processor bowl and process for about 30 seconds until smooth. Add the eggs and pulse to blend. Add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and process for about 30 seconds, or until smooth.

3. Carefully pour the pumpkin filling over the gingersnap crust. Set the skillet in the oven and carefully pour in enough hot water to reach halfway up the side of the springform pan. Bake the cheesecake for about 50-55 minutes, until the filling is barely jiggly in the center. Carefully transfer the skillet to a rack and let the cheesecake cool. Remove the aluminum foil. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the cheesecake and refrigerate the cheesecake until it is firm, at least 4 hours or overnight.

4. Cut the peeled and cored pears into thin wedges with a sharp knife. In a large skillet, cook the butter over moderately high heat until it is lightly browned and nutty-smelling, about 3 minutes. Add the pear wedges and cook, turning until they are softened and lightly browned. Add the sugar and cook, turning until the pears are more browned and glazed, about 1 minute longer.

5. To serve, remove the springform ring. Cut the pumpkin cheesecake into wedges and serve with the warm pears.

Tips:

To easily core a pear, cut the pear in half and use a melon baller to remover the core.

This cheesecake can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Warm the pears up on the stove before serving.

Cranberry Sauce with Grand Marnier and Candied Orange Peel

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Cranberry sauce from scratch is so easy to make, and tastes so much better, that I have always wondered why anyone bothers with the sauce out of a can.

People do love the canned stuff though.

Shopping for Thanksgiving dinner with my boyfriend became an exercise in Abbott & Costello-esque absurdity as he kept putting a can of jellied cranberry sauce in the cart, and I kept removing it and putting it back.

“But it has rings that show you where to slice it!” he whined as I removed the can one last time.

Now, I must admit a fondness for tubular food: sausages, Boston Brown Bread, cannolis. Even the occasional Twinkie finds its way down my gullet about once a year.

But if you have ever had whole berry, home-made cranberry sauce, you know how really wonderful this condiment can be. No longer an afterthought plopped out of metal cylinder, real cranberry sauce can bring just the right hit of acid to the richness of the assembled dinner plate. Done right, it smells like the holidays: candied citrus, cloves, cinnamon. All warmth, sugar, spice, and everything nice.

The very basic recipe involves just three ingredients: cranberries, water, and sugar. It is essentially jam, which sounds intimidating to make but really isn’t.

To that, there are nearly endless variations. Feel free to play with it. No Grand Marnier? How about some rum? Or brandy? Try O.J. No orange peel? Got a lemon? Nope? No problems. Apples? Why not! Raisins? Throw in a handful for fun. Just feel your way through it. It will taste marvelous, I assure you.

And the other beauty? It can be made days before dinner, leaving you free to worry about something else. Even better, as the flavors meld together, it will be much yummier on day 3 than day 1.

Ingredients:

12 ounces of fresh cranberries

1 cup of water

1 cup of sugar

The zest from 1 untreated, organic orange*

1/4 cup of Grand Marnier or Cointreau, plus 1 tablespoon

3-4 whole cloves

1 cinnamon stick

A pinch of salt

Special equipment:

A citrus zester

How to prepare:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine all the ingredients. Bring everything to a boil, stirring continuously to dissolve the sugar. Once the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat so that it is at a slow, constant simmer. Continue to stir so that it doesn’t burn. As the sauce comes together, you might notice some foam or scum that appears on the surface. Don’t worry about skimming it off as it will dissipate as the sauce thickens.

2. Continue to simmer and stir until the mixture begins to jell. If you are slightly unsure what this means, you can put a small plate in the fridge and periodically test the thickness of your sauce by putting a dime-sized drop on the cold plate. If you drag your finger through it and the sauce doesn’t run back into the void you have created, it has nicely jelled and you are done. This whole process can take up to ten minutes or so.

3. Pour the sauce into a container, cover, and place it in the fridge. It will become more solid as it cools. Before serving, stir in 1 tablespoon of whatever alcohol you used if you would like extra boozy sauce — and who doesn’t?

Note:

Most citrus fruits (oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, lemons) are coated in a food-grade wax to preserve and protect the fruit. It also makes them really shiny. If you are cooking with the rind or peel of any citrus, try to look for fruit that has not be spray-treated with wax. Most fruit labeled “organic” should be untreated. How can you tell for sure?  Just scratch the surface of the fruit. If you see some clear wax on your finger nail, move on.

Homemade Hamburger Helper, Cheeseburger Macaroni

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Feeding my brothers and myself must have been a challenge for my mother. Raised in Hong Kong, she grew up with a keen taste for fried dace and chicken feet — something that she failed to pass on to her Americanized kids. Consequently, she found convenience foods to be, well, really convenient!

One of those was Hamburger Helper. You remember it: the prepackaged sodium-bomb, like macaroni and powdered cheese mix but with meat that you had to add. When I started cooking for myself, it was foods like this that I rebelled against, forsaking as well store-bought salad dressings and mayonnaise in favor of making them from scratch like a good little French bonne femme.

Over time, I’ve found that hard feelings against certain foods does soften, and when contemplating what to do with a lone pound of CSA ground beef, I decided to recreate that fresh-from-the-box flavor without the box.

This recipe is a variation on one that appeared on Eating Well’s site called “Hamburger Buddy.” Clearly, that recipe was designed to surreptitiously feed fussy children vegetables by processing their suggested daily servings into indistinguishable purée.

While this might fool kids, it did not fool my boyfriend (“What is this? CARROTS?!).

I actually didn’t mind the carrots, but as adults feeding adults, I don’t think that you need to be so sneaky. Upon reflection, the dish would probably taste closer to the “real” thing if the carrots were omitted. It is quite tasty nevertheless. Betty Crocker be damned!

Ingredients:

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces (optional, see post above)

10 ounces of white mushrooms, sliced

1 large onion, cut into 2-inch pieces

1 pound of very lean ground beef

2 teaspoons of dried thyme

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups of water

2 cups of chicken stock

8 ounces of elbow macaroni

2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce

8 ounces of sour cream

1 cup of shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or chives

How to prepare:

1. Fit a food processor with the steel blade attachment. With the motor running, drop in the garlic cloves through the feed tube and process until minced. Add the carrots to the minced garlic and process until finely chopped. Add the onion and pulse until it is roughly chopped.

2. Cook the beef in a large straight-sided skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon until it is no longer pink. This should take about 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms, chopped vegetables, and thyme. Stirring often, cook until the vegetables begin to soften and the mushrooms release their juices, about 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Stir in the water, chicken stock, macaroni and Worcestershire sauce. Bring everything to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, about 8 to 10 minutes.

4. Stir in the sour cream and the shredded cheese. Adjust seasoning. Simmer, stirring often, until the sauce has thickened, about 2 minutes. Toss in the parsley or chives right before serving, stirring in order to distribute the fresh herbs evenly throughout the pasta.

Jonathan Waxman’s Roast Chicken with Melted Herb Butter

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Recently, I had dinner at Jonathan Waxman’s Barbuto — home to “supposedly” one of the best roast chickens in the city. I say “supposedly” because there are a lot of good chickens to be had in this town — including, ahem, my own.

Needless to say, I was skeptical. I just had to order it to see if it deserved its reputation.

From the first bite, nay from the first whiff, I was a goner. Juicy dribble slopped down my chin. My fingers were sticky and slick from the luscious melted compound butter dotting the surface. The skin itself was thin and crispy, popping in my mouth as I chewed.

Oh, swoon.

Before I realized it, half a chicken’s worth of bones lay in clean pile on the side of my plate. I knew I had to try to make this at home.

Waxman’s recipe has been easily available for a while. When I first looked it over, the old skepticism resurfaced: A warm water bath for the raw chicken? Cooked only under the broiler? Olive oil, no butter?

This negative thinking persisted as I fished slimy, raw chicken pieces out of warm, greasy water, trying with seemingly no success to dry them off with an excessive amount of paper towels. Due to my East Village broiler’s inadequacy, I could only start the chicken under the broiler and had to finish the pieces in the oven.

How did it turn out? The flesh was amazingly tender, juicy, and flavorful. The seasoned skin sang with succulence. Oh, swoon once more.

It was really, really fantastic.

Jonathan Waxman, I will never doubt you again.

Ingredients:

1 3-4 pound chicken (preferably free-range, naturally raised, no antibiotics, no hormone, possibly kosher), cut into 8 pieces

2 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, and parsley — whatever you have available

How to prepare:

1. Preheat your oven to 425°.

2. Relax the flesh by soaking the chicken for 5 minutes in a large bowl filled with enough warm water to cover it. Drain and dry the pieces thoroughly with paper towels.

3. Heat the broiler. Arrange the chicken pieces in a single layer in a large cast-iron pan, skin side up. Rub the chicken with olive oil, season well with salt and pepper

4. Place the pan under the broiler, about 2 inches from the heat source, and cook until the skin is perfectly golden brown. Move the pan to the oven and continue to cook, roasting the chicken until the skin is really crispy and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees. Remove the pan from the oven and let the chicken rest while you make the herb butter sauce.

5. While the chicken is resting, melt the butter in a small skillet over low heat. When melted, stir in the chopped herbs, along with a little salt and pepper. Continue to slowly and gently heat the herbs until the butter has become infused with their flavors.

6. To serve, drizzle a spoonful of broken herb butter sauce over each piece of chicken. Serve right away.

Tuscan Kale “Caesar” Salad

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I have a cook’s confession to make: I don’t really like small, salty, oily fish, particularly when there are a lot of little bones to contend with. Mackerel has always made me feel slightly ill. Herring, sardines, or any other fish needing to be either canned or pickled before eating leaves me a little bit nauseous.

And let’s not even talk about anchovies.

I know. What kind of self-proclaimed gourmand doesn’t like anchovies? But I just can’t do it. It’s those little needle-like skeletons that so many people claim “dissolve,” but really don’t. And it is that persistent fishiness that sticks and clings, making me swear that I can smell it on my hands, clothes, and in my hair for hours afterwards.

So it is very ironic that I love Caesar salad.

It is just about the only dish with anchovies that I can abide by, so long as someone else does the dressing dirty work.

An abundance of lovely kale in the markets has had me thinking about kale salads. Kale is the kind of leafy green that cries out for strong flavors and tastes. Because it is so fibrous, you can dress it about an hour before dinner and let the acids in the dressing soften and relax the leaves into luscious, cruciferous ribbons.

Ever since reading about this Tuscan kale “Caesar” salad in the New York Times, I have been anxious to try it. Of course, some changes were made to suit my mood and what I had in the kitchen. For Pecorino, we were lucky and fortunate to have a fabulously savory and sharp wedge of Locatelli. Instead of croutons for crunch, I substituted some of Andrew Carmellini’s “Crumbs Yo!” One last Meyer lemon too. The result? A salad that was both tangy and delicate, mouthwateringly delectable and incredibly flavorful. I just want to eat it every day.

No anchovies required.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of Tuscan kale, stems removed and leaves cut into 1/2-wide ribbons

1/2 cup of “Crumbs Yo!” (1/2 cup of Panko bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste)

1 fat, minced clove of garlic

1/3 cup of freshly grated Pecorino Romano, plus more for serving

3 1/2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

The freshly squeezed juice of one lemon

1/8 of a teaspoon of red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

Special Equipment:

A hand-held immersion blender

How to prepare:

1. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, Pecorino, olive oil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Using a hand-held immersion blender, whizz everything together until it forms a nice emulsion, just about 15 seconds or so. Let stand for 5 minutes or more to let the flavors meld together.

2. Meanwhile, make the “Crumbs Yo!” In a small sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs, salt, and pepper to the warmed oil, tossing gently to evenly coat all of the crumbs. Continue to toast the bread crumbs until they are golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the bread crumbs from the heat, and transfer them to a cool plate or bowl. Let them cool for about 4-5 minutes.

3. Using your hands, toss the kale with the dressing in a large salad bowl until all the leaves are evenly coated. Let sit for at least 5 minutes (but you can let it sit for longer) before adding the bread crumbs and tossing again. By adding the bread crumbs near the end, you can preserve their crunch. Shower the salad with some more freshly grated Pecorino right before serving.

White Bean and Tuscan Kale Soup

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Argh! What to make for dinner when you have nothing in the fridge except for a bunch of Tuscan kale? After scouring the cupboards, I came up with a lone, forgotten can of cannellini beans. Immediately I thought of a thick white bean and kale soup that I once had. It was warming, creamy, and rustic — perfect for a chilly fall evening. But could I come up with an equally tasty result with so few ingredients?

More digging around unearthed a couple of single-serving Tetra-packs of organic chicken stock. I also had some lovely organic garlic left, as well as about a cup of grated Parmesan from last week’s macaroni and cheese.

Now, I thought, we’re in delicious business.

The soup came together quickly, and although it was a little thinner in consistency than the soup I remembered, it was still a wonderfully satisfying supper.

And can you believe it, Readers, I even managed to make some croutons.

Ingredients:

For the soup:

1 bunch of Tuscan kale, stems removed and leaves roughly chopped

1 can of cannellini beans, drained

2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

2 cups of chicken stock

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup of grated Parmesan, plus 1/4 cup

For the croutons:

About 1 cup of bread cut into 1-inch cubes

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/4 cup of grated Parmesan

Special equipment:

A hand-held immersion blender

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.

2. To make the croutons, toss the cubes of bread, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, grated Parmesan, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Once the bread cubes are evenly coated, spread them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake the bread cubes, turning them occasionally, until they are golden.

3. For the soup, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium casserole over medium-high heat. Add the sliced garlic. When the garlic begins to sizzle, add the canned beans. Toss the beans in the garlicky oil. When the beans are warmed through, about 2-3 minutes, add the chicken stock. Partially cover the pot and bring the beans and stock to a boil. When the soup starts to boil, turn the heat down to medium and simmer for about 5-7 minutes.

4. Using an immersion blender, partially blend the soup, leaving some of the beans whole. Continue simmering until the soup has thickened up a little bit.

5. Stir the kale leaves into the soup. When the leaves are wilted, partially cover the pot and simmer for about 10 minutes more. Turn off the heat and stir in 1/2 a cup of Parmesan.

6. Spoon the soup into warmed bowls. Top the soup with a few croutons and the remaining Parmesan cheese. If you want, you can even drizzle a little bit of olive oil on top before serving.

Tips:

Tuscan kale is also known as Lacinato kale, black kale, and dinosaur kale.

You can easily remove the stems from the kale leaves by folding the leaf lengthwise along the stem and pulling the leaf away from it.

For the croutons, use good crusty bread if you have it — I didn’t have any, but I wish I did!

Macaroni and Cheese

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Home for the holidays a few years ago, I decided to make macaroni and cheese from scratch: roux, béchamel, freshly-grated nutmeg, 5 kinds of cheeses (smoked and unsmoked), 3 different pasta shapes, bread crumbs, the whole shebang.

The reception? After poking the golden pile and perfectly crunchy top with suspicion, my brother declared that he preferred the stuff out of the box.

My heart immediately sank. It was like someone telling you that they liked Tang more than fresh-squeezed. My inner cook shook her useless, cheese-stinking fists at the sky and wailed, “Why?!”

Looking back, I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food, and as comfort food it should be instantly familiar, recognizable, and convenient. Warm, soothing, and uncomplicated.

For myself, my first “real” mac and cheese was a revelation. Having grown up with the boxed stuff, I found the fussier version so much more satisfying and have never gone back — even if it means I eat it at home a lot less frequently.

In truth, to make it from scratch really isn’t so much fussier; like anything else we cook, there are complex ways to make something as well as simpler ways. My absolute favorite macaroni and cheese recipe comes from Deborah Madison’s cookbook The Savory Way. That recipe is decidedly a lot of work, but it is so worth it. This recipe from sadly defunct Gourmet Magazine is not nearly as complicated, but it is still delicious. Four cups of whole milk from Milk Thistle Dairy made the sauce exceptionally rich and creamy. For the cheese, we had one last scrumptious wedge of Bier Meck from our CSA that we shredded along with a good chunk of raw milk Colby.

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons of unsalted butter

1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

4 cups of whole milk

1 1/2 teaspoons of dry mustard

1/8 teaspoon of cayenne

1 pound rotini

3 cups coarsely grated “melty” cheese (about 12 ounces of different cheeses is always best)

1 1/3 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 4 ounces)

1 cup bread crumbs

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 3- to 4-quart gratin dish or another shallow baking dish.

2. In a kettle of salted boiling water, cook macaroni until just al dente. Drain well.

3. In a heavy saucepan, melt just 6 tablespoons butter over moderately low heat. Add the flour and cook the roux, whisking, for about 3 minutes. Add the milk in a stream, whisking while bringing to a boil. Continue to whisk the sauce. Add the mustard powder, cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer sauce, whisking occasionally, until thickened, about 2 minutes.

4. In a large bowl, stir together the macaroni, the sauce, the grated cheeses, and one cup of Parmesan. Transfer the macaroni mixture to the prepared dish and spread it out evenly.

5. Melt the remaining two tablespoons of butter in the microwave. In a small bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, the remaining 1/3 cup Parmesan, and the melted butter. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the macaroni.

6. Bake the macaroni in the middle of oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.