There is a tradition in New England, and some parts of the midwest, to serve a slice of cheese, usually sharp cheddar, alongside a piece of apple pie, or even melted on top. For those of us who didn’t grow up with this tradition, even though we may love eating apple slices with cheese, the whole idea of cheddar cheese with a pie is well, just wrong. As in, “are you kidding?...
To aid me in achieving maximum nut consumption, I love the Norpro Nut Chopper. It’s a smart upgrade to an old-fashioned gadget you may very well have seen in your grandmother’s kitchen. Why the Norpro Nut Chopper Is the Best I am usually not a big fan of single-use tools; that this nut chopper has earned a nook in my cabinets for years is a mark of its handiness. The Norpro Nut Chopper is the spitting image of an old relic I found at a thrift store when I was in my 20s that I still use out of stubborn sentimentality....
This simple pasta with cauliflower, tomato, and Parmesan is a great example. I’ve adapted the recipe from a Sicilian recipe by Vincent Schiavelli that appeared years ago in Saveur. It’s outrageously good; I’ve been eating the leftovers for days, which just seem to get better as the flavors have more time to meld. The secret ingredient? Anchovies. Okay, so I’m weird. I’m one of those people to whom you can say “cauliflower” and “anchovies” and I’ll start salivating....
Being a “Nuyorican” (a Puerto Rican from New York), I found this to be true when my husband and I came together over our first dish of pastelón. As a native Puerto Rican, he argued that my version “wasn’t the real deal.” It was as real to me as his attitude, so I defended my version tooth and nail! According to him, and many other mainland Puerto Ricans, pastelón has no cheese....
Variations abound in both the cooking method—the potatoes are fried, boiled or roasted—and the sauce, which usually has hot chiles, tomato and vinegar. The name of the recipe roughly translates into “fierce” or “angry” potatoes. But these potatoes are as spicy or “fierce” as you make them. We’ve made ours with some tomato sauce, quite a bit of Tabasco, and some smoked paprika. The potatoes absorb a lot of heat, so they’re not as hot as you would think, given the amount of hot sauce....
These rich, chocolatey brownies with enticing swirls of peanut butter throughout send my taste buds into a tizzy with every bite. (And it doesn’t hurt that they’re so visually appealing.) No More Box Mix! The base of this recipe, of course, is the brownie. As a kid, I grew up on boxed mixes and loved them (especially the corner piece), but it took some time for me to develop a homemade version that I liked....
Sometimes I like to introduce flexibility and creativity to mealtimes by preparing familiar flavors but in a different format—such as this Pepperoni Pizza Penne! What kid doesn’t love pepperoni pizza, right? And this has all the normal flavors of a classic, simple, kid-friendly pepperoni pizza, but with pasta instead. Believe it or not, getting kids used to seeing foods in unexpected meals is a big step toward getting them to be adventurous eaters....
This delicious recipe comes from a Simply Recipes reader, Lou Grubaugh, who shares her favorite old family recipe for plum conserve. A Riff on a Reader Favorite We didn’t quite have the 3 pounds of tart plums that the recipe called for, so I substituted a few not-quite-ripe pluots, and some perfectly ripe plums too. Naturally tart Santa Rosa plums work best for this conserve, but if you don’t have them, a combination of tart plums and pluots will do fine....
My favorite kind is a potato and onion knish with a heavy seasoning of black pepper. They appear at luncheons, Friday night dinners, brunches, or on the go with a dollop of deli mustard. No matter the filling, knishes taste like comfort and remind me of sharing a meal with my grandparents. A Rich History Knishes have been quintessential New York street food for nearly 100 years, appearing on the menus of every Jewish deli and stacked high on street carts dotting the city....
A Dijon vinaigrette is tossed with the cut potatoes when they are still warm, to help the dressing get absorbed. Capers, shallots, garlic, and parsley are tossed in as well. The salad is best if allowed to sit for several hours, as is just as good two days out as one. So it’s perfect for a make ahead get together. The secret ingredient of the dressing is the anchovy paste....
It’s one of my favorite things to make. Even though it’s actually a seed, it behaves like a grain, and can easily take the place of rice in many recipes, including a classic pilaf. Like rice it’s gluten-free, but since it is actually a seed, it’s high protein. Perfect for those wanting to cut back a bit on carbs. This quinoa pilaf is prepared in much the same way as rice pilaf....
Here’s one idea: a light, but satisfying salad full of buttery green olives, nutty chickpeas, salty Parmesan cheese, and a sweet balsamic vinaigrette. All these flavors and textures balance the radicchio, making a colorful, elegant – and quick! – seasonal salad for your dinner table. Radicchio is a member of the chicory family along with endive, escarole, and puntarelle. It looks similar to a small head of purple cabbage and can range from fist-sized to soft-ball-sized....
So there’s this trend going around for cooking things in mason jars that I didn’t quite understand until now. I mean, why would you want to eat a fancy dessert out of a jar? Think of it this way, mason jars are like see-through ramekins with lids! So if you have a particularly pretty layered dessert, it will look even lovelier in a mason jar, and if you want to give it as a gift, it comes with a convenient lid for easy transporting....
Here, I’ll walk you through selecting your stalk, prepping it for guests, and how to make three easy dips—spicy peanut sauce, Dijon aioli, and roasted red pepper feta—that can be whipped up while the Brussels are roasting. Why You Roast Brussels Sprouts on the Stalk The better question is, why shouldn’t you? For starters, they’ll stay fresh for longer, so you can purchase them further in advance. Treat the stalk like cut flowers: trim off the end and put it in water or wrap it with damp paper towels, then store in a cool place....
It’s a double-duty red bell pepper dip with both roasted and fresh bell peppers, mayonnaise, balsamic vinegar, and a little garlic. Plenty of zing, and so bright and festive! This dip was the hit of our neighborhood holiday party last week. It’s perfect with crudités (veggie on veggie) or with breadsticks or chips. Keeps for days. Serve with strips of fresh jicama, celery, and carrots, or with bread sticks or tortilla chips....
How Turn Leftover Salmon and Rice Into a Meal If you also happen to have some leftover cooked salmon (I know, it’s a stretch, but you might, right?) This salmon fried rice is one of the best possible things you could make with it. We grilled up some fresh salmon the other day and had just enough leftover to toss into this fried rice dish. With the egg, peas, onions, ginger, garlic, and bell pepper, it’s a meal in and of itself!...
This recipe is so easy, it’s surprising how good it is! Use Jarred or Homemade Salsa Verde If it’s not the season for fresh tomatillos to make the salsa verde from scratch, it is easily available jarred (look for it in the salsa section, or Mexican food section, of your grocery store). Thankfully with our ginormous tomatillo harvest this summer, we have plenty home canned in the pantry. Many thanks to my dear friend Bruce, who came up with this recipe and urged me to give it a try....
Stella and I have been friends for years, but I had to be honest with her. “How come your snickerdoodle recipe uses baking powder? For me, classic snickerdoodles have baking soda and cream of tartar!” Get the book! BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts by Stella Parks Stella actually had a great answer for this, and she even addresses it in the book: The original recipe for snickerdoodles was distributed through various baking powder companies, including a national advertising campaign for Cleveland Baking Powder Company....
This meatloaf is superb — flavored with classic Moroccan spices with speckles of cilantro and mint. You can top it with a simple pomegranate molasses sauce, or skip the topping all together. This recipe is an adaptation of a recipe for Moroccan Meatloaf in the Niman Ranch Cookbook from Chef Monica Pope, of T’Afia in Houston, Texas. I’ve made it a few times over the years and have recently changed up the spice mix and the topping a bit from the original recipe....
Persian Cucumbers are Best Use Persian cucumbers because they have a crisp center and tend to be less watery than other varieties. They are also petite, matching the size of the jalapeños. There is no need to peel them or remove their seeds. The Mandoline is Your Friend Although a sharp chef’s knife and a cutting board is all you need to cut the cucumbers and jalapeños into very thin slices—about 1/16-inch—a mandoline is a great kitchen tool to lean on....
