Kimchi jjigae means kimchi stew in Korean. It’s a dish made in Korean homes and restaurants to use up surplus kimchi. While the stew can be made mild, it’s meant to be as spicy as it is vibrant red. Thick slabs of firm tofu are gently bathed atop a stew infused with gochujang (Korean chili paste) and gochugaru (Korean chili flakes) then finished sliced scallions. Though not traditional, I like to garnish the stew with sesame oil and sesame seeds just before serving....

You don’t need to invite an entire soccer team over to have a reason to make this cheesy lasagna with chunky sausage and a rustic tomato sauce. I’ve downsized the mega-version of lasagna, thanks to my new best friend: the loaf pan! This Loaf Plan Lasagna is the perfect small-batch size to feed one, two, or three people. We all know lasagna is comfort food that comes with a hefty time and labor price tag and a big pan to wash....

The tea was lovely — light, lemony, minty. After we finished it, my curiosity got the best of me and I started fishing out the leaves from the pot, wondering what was in this tea anyway? Our server noticed this odd behavior and quickly came to the table offering to provide us with fresh leaves. “These leaves here are mint, but what are these long green ones?” I asked. “Lemon verbena,” was the answer and she happily addressed my battery of questions about this herb....

Stir it with a little yogurt and rice vinegar for a quick and lovely salad dressing, or mix it with sake and toss it with stir-fried vegetables. This recipe of salmon fillets with a miso glaze couldn’t be easier. The strong flavor of the salmon holds up beautifully with the sweet and salty miso glaze. How To Make Miso Glazed Salmon To make, you just mix miso, some sake and soy sauce into a marinade, coat the fillets, and let the salmon marinate while working on the rest of the meal....

The Incredible Hulk of molasses cookies. Highly spiced with cinnamon, allspice, cloves, vanilla, and of course ginger, and sweetened with sugar and rich molasses, these are the best crinkle cookies, for holidays or anytime of the year. This recipe for these cookies is barely adapted from Cook’s Illustrated’s Best Recipe Cookbook, and is one of our favorites! Here’s a hint on preparation - don’t reduce the amount of sugar, the cookies won’t be chewy if you do (I found this out the hard way and had to make a second batch)....

How To Make Risotto It takes about 25 minutes of careful stirring, and every few minutes adding a half cup of hot stock to the rice, as the rice slowly absorbs the liquid it’s in. For this mushroom risotto, mushrooms are sautéed first, then cooked in brandy (or vermouth). Arborio (or any other kind of risotto rice) is cooked slowly with stock and when done, you stir in some freshly grated Parmesan cheese....

The utensils I reach for most are often made of bamboo or wooden utensils, but when I was given an Earlywood Tera scraper a couple of years ago, it quickly became my new favorite cooking tool! Why Earlywood’s Wooden Utensils Are the Best All the Earlywood wooden utensils are beautiful to look at, and highly practical. In fact, I use mine for everything! The Tera scraper ($18) tends to be the utensil I reach for most when I’m stir frying or sautéing....

Back then they were considered a specialty item, one that only professional bakers use, the kind of gift you get for your “foodie” friend who has “everything” in the kitchen. But subsequently, they’ve become a rather common kitchen tool for folks who love to bake. What is a Silpat? Silpat is the maker (and name) of the original silicone baking mat. It’s made with woven fiberglass, which helps strengthen it and conduct heat evenly throughout the mat, and food-grade silicone, which makes it nonstick and gives it a high heat resistance of 480°F....

Pasta fagioli, aka pasta fazool (which is Neapolitan dialect for the standard Italian word for “beans”), is a peasant dish, a simple soup of pasta and beans and veggies. Variations of Pasta Fagioli It’s also a dish of a thousand variations. Some cooks make a pasta e fagioli that’s so thick, it’s basically a pasta dish. Some people use so much tomato the fazool looks like a tomato soup with pasta and beans....

This is the recipe, with lots of changes from the original which called for three times as much cheese. We found with smoked mozzarella that, unlike regular mozzarella which is quite mild in flavor, a little goes a long way. We’ve made this several times; it now makes a regular appearance in my parent’s home because it’s quick, filling, and tasty. It also makes terrific leftovers! More Easy Pasta Dinners Fettuccine with Creamy Tomato Italian Sausage Easy Italian Sausage Spaghetti Creamy Ziti Florentine Shrimp with Olives, Tomatoes, and Orzo Shrimp Pasta alla Vodka Add the sausage and red pepper flakes....

A Big Batch or Half a Batch of Jam This recipe makes a big batch of jam—it yields ten (8-ounce) jars. Scale the recipe in half for a smaller batch. This may be necessary if you don’t have a heavy-bottomed pot that’s large enough to hold the fruit and sugar. I like to use either a jam pot—known as a maslin pan—or a 9-quart Dutch oven. An 8-quart stock pot will also work, if it is heavy-bottomed....

This peach smoothie celebrates summer’s favorite fruit and pairs it with a perfect partner—almonds. They’re both from the prunus genus of plants, which also includes apricots, plums, and cherries. I use both almond extract and almond butter to enhance the natural sweetness of the peaches and add healthy fats to keep you full until your next meal. A little ripe banana adds natural sweetness and creaminess without overpowering the smoothie with banana-ness....

This recipe uses a no knead pizza dough that can be prepared up to 2 days in advance and kept in the fridge or up to 3 months in advance and frozen. Calzones are also great way to use up that leftover jar of pasta sauce sitting in the back of your fridge because you only need about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of sauce. For this version, I start with an easy and simple no-knead pizza dough then stuff it with pepperoni, creamy ricotta, and gooey mozzarella....

We almost always have extra pumpkin sitting around this time of year, either puréed and in cans, or fresh. Two of my favorite sweet quick breads are pumpkin bread and gingerbread. This recipe started as an experiment to combine the two. The result? A tender, richly flavored loaf—spicy, molasses-y, and pumpkin-y. It’s easy to make too. You can make your own pumpkin purée from scratch or just use canned pumpkin purée....

This roast chicken recipe takes little time to prep and then into the oven it goes. Stuff the chicken with lemon, garlic, and thyme. If you want, truss it for a more attractive presentation. Put the chicken in an oven-proof skillet (a cast iron pan works well for this) surrounded by carrots and garlic. Roast the chicken at high heat, basting every 15 minutes or so with the pan juices....

Perfect, yes, as long as your notion of a romantic meal includes eating with your hands and gnawing on bones as if you were in King Henry VIII’s court! Unless you are as skillful with dinner knife as a surgeon is with a scalpel, the easiest way to eat a small bird such as a quail is with your fingers. It is a messy affair, unless you can get your quail already “tunnel boned” in which the main body bones have already been removed....

Ever since Garrett gave me some of his rhubarb rosemary jelly a few weeks ago, I’ve been experimenting with rhubarb and rosemary. The combination really is outrageously good, though sadly, I seriously doubt that I can convince you of it, without actually feeding it to you myself. If you are adventurous, like rhubarb, and like rosemary, I urge you to try this concoction. Garrett thought we should call it a “rhuby slipper”, which I like, or perhaps a “pink princess” would be fitting?...