For this tart, you can use either forced rhubarb in the early part of the year, which is pink, tender and sweet, or the typical garden rhubarb from late spring onwards, although you may need to add a little more sugar when marinating the stems. For me, both are delicious.
We wanted to step back for a second and think about the transformation of tteokbokki over the past decade. While so much of Korean cooking got spicier and more extreme, the classic, all-day utility dish made of rice cakes, fish cakes, and fiery gochujang went . . . pink. Enter rose tteokbokki, a gentle, creamy version that has grown in popularity in Korea. Begin with frozen rice cakes. They’re better for this dish than fresh ones, which tend to break down easily and lose their shape. The key to adding flavor to the rice cakes is to simmer them gently in a light bath of salt and sugar in advance. Deuki spotted this technique at a market in Seoul and hasn’t looked back.
Another twist here is the addition of apple preserves or syrup. Layering in subtle sweetness is a good way to counter the heat of the chile paste. Some home cooks like to add ketchup, but the preference here is for apple, a more natural form of sweetness. The final step is the addition of cream, which gives the dish its namesake hue. Use as much or as little as you want, or skip the step fully if fire-engine red is your favorite shade for sautéed rice cakes
In 2017, when we were visiting our daughter-in-law Liv's family in Copenhagen, Eva, her mother, made a delicious meringue torte for us, similar to the schaumtorte of my childhood, a dessert the German part of my family served at Passover, but one that I always thought was too sweet. I loved that the hazelnuts and the dark bitter chocolate of Eva's recipe cut the sweetness of the meringue. Now it is part of our Passover Seder menu, though it also works beautifully throughout the year, especially for gluten-free friends. During the pandemic, when I was in New Orleans, I substituted local pecans for hazelnuts.
This is a remake of my mama’s recipe. The southern way, the traditional way, the way my mama made hers is with sour cream, and then she would cut blocks of cheese into it and add lotsa pepper plus paprika for color.
One reason this recipe here is so sopped up is it’s layered with a rich egg custard and lots and lots of cheese. It’s the cheese that has the !ava, hunny! And it doesn’t matter what cheese you use. Grate up what’s in the fridge and mix ’em together for a pasta party! Cheddar, sharp cheddar, Gruyère, Swiss, Parmesan . . . they all like to play together!
While I make my mac in a big, deep cast-iron skillet, you can use a big casserole dish or a couple smaller ones to bake yours. Just know that your cookin’ time will be different and depend on how deep you’ve got yours layered.
When I first saw references to this all-in-one method of making pasta, I was sceptical. Surely it couldn’t be possible to cook the sauce and the pasta all at once in the same pan? It seemed to violate every rule in Italian cooking. But then I realized that the method is not really so far from a risotto. The bonus of this technique—aside from incredible speed and ease and minimal washing up—is that the pasta is seasoned by the sauce as it cooks and becomes deeply flavored with wine, aromatics, stock—whatever you choose to add. It works with any shape of pasta—but a good quality brand makes a big difference here—and almost any combination of vegetables and other flavorings such as anchovies or cured meats. You just have to be careful to measure the ratio of pasta to water accurately, use a wide shallow frying pan or sauté pan (it won’t work in a tall narrow saucepan) and be generous with your seasoning.
Starting out, I was always so scared to try out a Yule Log recipe – they always look so intimidating! But I encourage you to give it a go. Even if it ends up looking like a mess, it’ll still taste delicious! I tried something a little different with this Yule Log and added a line of frozen chocolate cremeux. It’s totally optional but it really elevates the dessert and helps you advance your skills.
This recipe is so light, not overly sweet or heavy. It’s a real showstopper for the Christmas table – the ultimate festive dessert.
I love classic chiles rellenos—I make them a lot in the summer, when poblanos are in season—but the traditional method of dipping them in batter and frying just a couple at a time makes them hard to cook for a crowd. This casserole solves that problem. It has all the fresh flavors I love, but I can make it ahead of time and then put it in the oven just before my guests show up. It even makes a great brunch dish; just assemble it the day before and throw it in the fridge overnight so it’s ready to bake the next morning.
Cake
With its incredibly rich, nuanced, bittersweet flavor, from-scratch butterscotch pudding is worlds away from the dull, sweet kind you get from an instant mix. But making butterscotch pudding can be temperamental: A custard is combined with homemade caramel, and the usual approach of boiling it from start to finish is tricky in a blink-and-you've-burned-it way. Our method is forgiving: Boil the caramel to jump-start it, then reduce the heat and gently simmer it until it reaches the right temperature. Most recipes have you temper the yolks and cornstarch, add everything to the dairy in the pot, and stir away. We swapped this fussy method in favor of pouring the boiling caramel directly over the thickening agents. When taking the temperature of the caramel in step 1, tilt the saucepan and move the thermometer back and forth to equalize hot and cool spots.
When I started dating my now husband, I didn’t cook him anything for like three months besides scrambled eggs and some toast. And so one day I was like, I really like him. I'm gonna show him that I like him and I decided to make him shrimp and grits and collard greens. This recipe for grits is simple and perfect when you want to have good, deeply savory grit. And please, I'm not even wading into the savory versus sweet grit conversation.