Over the years, I’ve auditioned a variety of recipes for stuffing, pie, mashed potatoes, turkey, and cranberry sauce. The one constant at my Thanksgiving table: this hearty cornbread, which makes an appearance both as a side and as the backbone of cornbread stuffing. Sour-cream-enriched, and lightly-sweetened with honey, it is a decidedly Northern take on the cornmeal quick bread, akin to a dressed-up, homemade take on Jiffy cornbread.
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Sweet Potato Pie Bars
When I learned that one of my all-time favorite cookbook authors would be writing a book all about cookies (one of my absolute favorite things to bake), I could hardly contain my excitement. Fast forward many, many months, and it’s here: Dorie’s Cookies. Since it hit shelves a few weeks back, I’ve been plowing through butter and sugar at an alarming rate, testing recipes from it, and — no shocker here — it is excellent, filled with a wide range of well-written recipes, many of which I’ve bookmarked.
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Miso Carrot Soup
With the possible exception of this rosemary-garlic chickpea recipe, there’s no soup that I’ve made more frequently than this miso carrot number. Velvety-smooth, savory, and slightly-sweet (from the carrots and onion), it’s just the sort of good-for-you comfort food that this week calls for.
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Braised Pearl Onions With Pancetta
With their papery skins and mini-me size, pearl onions are some of the most darling vegetables at the market. That said, I can pretty much guarantee that I’ll never buy them fresh, and wouldn’t suggest you do so either. Why? Because I like you, and because I suspect you have far better things to do with your time than to painstakingly peel a pound plus of these teeny-tiny alliums, when a perfectly good substitute is in the freezer aisle. Thawed and drained, frozen pearl onions work like a charm in this and many other cooked applications.
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Molasses Spice Cookies
It might seem a bit premature to share a recipe for molasses spice cookies, a treat that many associate with Christmas, but I can’t wait any longer. Last winter, I set upon a quest to find the best recipes for molasses spice cookies and gingersnaps, and have been waiting to tell you all about these cookies since. I’m still on the hunt for the latter — if you have a favorite gingersnap recipe, let me know in the comments — but after testing and tasting my way through a handful of contenders, I feel pretty darn confident that these molasses spice cookies are a real winner.
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Italian Brisket With Tomatoes and Onions
As anyone well-acquainted with their dutch oven or slow-cooker can attest to, braised (or in this case, simmered) meaty things make for ideal weeknight fodder. No, they’re not quick-cooking like skirt steak or chicken thighs; instead, they’re of the make-ahead variety (another practical weeknight dinner strategy). Long-cooked and tender, this particular recipe is even better on day two or three as leftovers and freezes wonderfully, making it a meal preppers dream.
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Spicy Breakfast Tacos
Breakfast tacos aren’t anything new, but they’re new to me, and a supremely-comforting breakfast to boot (two solid reasons to celebrate them here, I’d say).
This is a case of inspiration coming from an unexpected place; my first taste of this Tex-Mex staple was at an airport. If you’re scratching your head, let me rewind a bit. This past August I was in Austin for my dear friend Maggie’s bachelorette party. Because I booked my ticket late in the game, I ended up on the early flight back home Sunday AM. Combine an early wake-up with a night of drinking, and it’s hardly a shocker that I needed some solid sustenance before boarding the plane. Thankfully, I was on the same flight as Maggie’s lovely friend Kayla, who steered us to Maudie’s, where we sunk our teeth into some A-plus, hangover-killing breakfast tacos.
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Arugula, Endive, and Radicchio Salad With Parmesan
Nearly a year after our cross-country move, I’m still loving living in New York. It certainly has it’s trying moments, but at least for the foreseeable future, it’s where I most want to be. That said, there are certain things I miss dearly about San Francisco: primarily my friends and family, but also the incredible farm-fresh produce, and the superb restaurants. One of the spots that I yearn for most might surprise those who aren’t from the Bay Area. While I’m hardly wanting for killer pizza in New York, I often find myself dreaming about San Francisco’s Pizzeria Delfina. Yes, the pizza is on point (I’m particularly fond of the salsciccia and broccoli raab pies), but what I really crave is the insalata tricolore, a lemony chicory salad that (at least for me) is a non-negotiable order.
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Pumpkin Chai Baked Oatmeal
Pumpkin spice — typically a blend of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg — might get the lion’s share of attention, but it’s not the only way to add a little something-something to pumpkin-based sweets. Here, I spiced up pumpkin-pecan baked oatmeal with powdered chai (unsweetened — not a ready-made chai concentrate with sweetener and milk), which adds a similarly-warm-and-cozy feeling, plus a subtle bitter edge from the tea itself. Rounded out with a bit of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and maple syrup for sweetness, it makes for a super-cozy breakfast, ideal for the season.
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Garam Masala Chicken
While in Paris, Andrew and I were fortunate to be staying in an apartment with a fabulous kitchen; so while we ate out often — if our trip had a hashtag it would’ve been #getfatgobroke — I was able to take advantage of the beautiful markets as well. During our time there, I fell deeply in love with La Grande Épicerie, a specialty foods store of epic proportions (think Eataly, without the Italian food focus). For the most part, the experience of grocery shopping wasn’t much different from shopping stateside — an apple is an apple, no matter that the sign reads “pomme” — but I had a few misunderstandings along the way. A few takeaways: kale is ridiculously, stupid expensive in Paris; ordering meat at the butcher counter can be a very funny experience when your language skills are limited; and that biologique (French for organic) chicken might just be a crazy-looking black chicken if you don’t pay attention to the packaging.
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