When I first cracked open my copy of America’s Test Kitchen’s newish cookbook How to Roast Everything, my instinct was to flip past seemingly-basic recipes like weeknight roast chicken, roasted thick-cut pork chops, baked sweet potatoes, and this, a gussied-up twist on roasted broccoli, but that would have been a mistake. Sure, I know my way around the kitchen, but with cooking (and many things in life), it’s often small lessons and tweaks to technique that make the biggest impact.
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winter
Deep Immune Soup With Turmeric-Ginger Broth
Every once in a while, the stars align and a recipe comes to me just when I need it most. In this case, I was flipping through Laura Wright’s The First Mess Cookbook, tabbing recipes to try, on the same day that Andrew came down with a nasty head cold. Boosted with a generous dose of ginger, turmeric, black pepper, and chili flakes, this golden broth would have caught my eye, sick patient or no, but under these circumstances it quickly jumped to the top of my to-try list. Steamy, spicy, and sinus-clearing, it does it’s advertised job well, and since the solid ingredients are classic noodle soup additions (orzo and the tried and true trio of onion, carrot, and celery) it’s also quite comforting.
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Spicy Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Turnips, and Onion With Bacon
Try as I do to resist my urges, I tend to be a bit of a backseat driver when Andrew is cooking. While a desire (or really, an impulse) to tweak and refine are useful qualities to have when testing or developing recipes, it’s hard, verging on impossible to shut off, and is perhaps less of an endearing quality when directed towards one’s significant other. (Sorry, Andrew!) Still, every once in a while, when he hasn’t banished me from our kitchen, our minds and palates come together to create something quite wonderful, like this spicy brussels sprouts, turnip, bacon, and onion situation.
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Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie
Power to those of you that feel otherwise, but I’m not a big reality TV fan*. So, when the publicist for Marissa Hermer’s An American Girl in London reached out offering to send a copy of her book for review, I was a bit skeptical. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with Bravo’s Ladies of London, Hermer is one of the stars.) Still, some things from the pitch captured my attention: the book focuses on British fare through an American’s eye (some recipes are lightened up a bit), and in addition to being a reality TV star, Hermer is the owner of three London restaurants. So, I said yes, flipped through its pages, and tried out a recipe or two.
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Slow-Cooker Sicilian Chickpea and Escarole Soup
When you think of Sicilian food, I’d wager pasta alla Norma, bottles of Mount Etna rosso, gelato-stuffed brioche buns, juicy blood oranges, and deep-fried treasures like arancini and panelle are some of the first things to come to mind. All delightful, no doubt, but it’s the humble bean- and lentil-based soups, stews, and pasta dishes from the region that I anticipate making the most now that I’m home.
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Skirt Steak With Spicy Broccolini and Lemon Mayo
Blood oranges, bitter greens, olives, zippy Etna wines, and marzipan: these are a few of the things I expected to devour in Sicily (check, check, check, check, and check!). What I (perhaps foolishly) didn’t quite foresee was how different my day to day eating would be. With a landscape dominated by wheat, many meals are anchored around pasta and bread. (Pastries, cakes, and cookies are also omnipresent.) A delicious shock, but still, a shock, to the system for someone who typically eats a very-vegetable-centric, lower-carb, high-fat diet.
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Sicilian Blood Orange, Onion, and Olive Salad
Apologies for going dark here recently, but I promise it has been for a good reason. I’m currently writing from Valledolmo, a small village in central Sicily, about an hour and a half away from Palermo, where I arrived a little over three weeks ago to attend Cook the Farm, a 9-week culinary and horticulture program at the Anna Tasca Lanza cooking school. These past few weeks I’ve been busy settling in, cooking, gardening, eating, and learning all about this wonderfully-crazy island and its culture. Though I took a bit of an (unintentional) break from blogging, I have lots of good things coming your way. In the weeks before I left, I was in my kitchen near-round-the-clock testing, tasting, and photographing recipes to share while I’m gone, and will also be updating my Instagram with my adventures.
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Roasted Acorn Squash With Yogurt-Tahini Sauce
Earlier this fall, Andrew and I ended our Euro adventures with a few days in Germany’s capital. To say that Berlin surprised us would be a great understatement. We had heard about its burgeoning food scene, the tradition of kaffee und kuchen (afternoon coffee and cake), and the abundance of top-notch Turkish food, and yet, it still managed to blow our expectations out of the water. Perhaps we got lucky, or perhaps my restaurant research paid off, but I’d wager there’s more to it than that.
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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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