Chocolate Tahini Brownies

yields 1, 9in x 13in baking dish

240g (1/2C) butter

240g (or 2.25 chocolate bars) bittersweet chocolate

4 eggs

300g (1.5C + 2TBS) sugar

120g (1C) flour

30g (1/4C) cocoa powder

10g (2 tsp) salt

150g (3/4C) tahini

Method

Butter your pan and line it with parchment paper.

Melt the butter and chocolate over a double boiler.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, and salt.

Whisk eggs and sugar with a hand mixer or standing mixer until pale. Slowly drizzle in the chocolate butter mixture.

Fold in flour until just incorporated.

Pour the batter into prepared pan. Spoon the tahini over the top of the batter, by dolloping across the surface of the brownies. Take a fork and drag it through the tahini/brownie batter to make it appear marbled.

Bake at 375 for 50 minutes or until set and no longer wobbly.

Additionally, these three books have kept me company during this insane week.

1. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, Robin Wall Kimmerer

2. Re-Enchanting The World:Feminism and the Politics of the Commons, Silvia Federici

3. The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self, Martha Beck

Sending you a lot of love.

At the end of the meal - I don’t mean to toot my own horn, what pulls focus is more about the landscape of my psyche - I got a standing ovation from my family. I particularly remember my cousin Emma fawning so sincerely over a version of the salad shared below that I thought, something is off here. I was so happy, really I was, to have made a beautiful meal for them. Yet as we walked across Central Park, from the Upper West back to our apartment on the East, I began to spiral. Suspicion descended. The amount of adulation I received seemed incongruous to the quality of what I had produced. Though it was decidedly delicious, it was literally, just dinner. I was convinced there was something wrong with me. Perhaps a handicap of sorts which had been intentionally hidden from me for the past two decades of my life. Now their overblown reaction blew their cover and the genie was out of the bottle.

I remember pulling my sister aside as we walked West to East and said something like “you would tell me right? If there was something wrong with me that I didn’t know?“ I don’t recall much of her response, other than laughter. Which is telling… I have always been suspicious that I am in some way defective - don’t we all think this to a certain extent? I’ve since put that fear to bed for many reasons, mostly because of the understanding that there is usually someone profiting off of whatever it is you believe you need to fix about yourself. That’s for another time though, today is for salad.

I can’t guarantee this salad will elicit an ovation or an existential crisis, but it will add a nice bitter balance to a meal that trends towards flat, sweet, and rich.

candied pumpkin seed

Thanksgiving Salad

serves 6-10, depending on how many other sides you’ve got going on

Greens

1 1/2 lbs of chicories (approximately), Castelfranco, Treviso or Radicchio

1 bunch watercress, washed and trimmed

1 bunch parsley, picked and washed

1/2 bunch dill, picked and washed

Pumkin Seed Vinaigrette

1 cup (145g) pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup (110g) sugar

1/3 cup (80g) Banyuls, or red wine vinegar

1/4 cup (30g) Grapeseed oil

1/4 cup (60g) water, or more

salt and pepper to taste

Squash

2 Delicata Squash, washed, de-seeded and cut into 1/4 inch slices

To taste; olive oil, maple syrup, salt, pepper, and cayenne

Optional

1/2 cup (a handful) maple pecans, chopped

1 cup celery, sliced

1 cup apple, sliced

1 cup fennel, sliced

1 cup blue cheese, crumbled - Stilton or Withersbrook Blue

Step 1: process your greens

Chicories tend to be quite clean, so cut off the root end and start peeling off the leaves. I like to tear them to make it more manageable to eat and looks more rustic than slicing.

Clean your parsley and dill by picking the leaves off their stems and then washing as you would any green. Watercress tends to be quite varied so if you get a bunch that is attached to long stems, pinch it off where the leaves start to gather, in little pluches. This is a term I thought I made up but has been corroborated is french cooking slang for little bouquets of herbs. All leftover stems can be used to make a salsa verde for another day.

*If doing this the day ahead of Thanksgiving, toss all the greens together and place either in plastic bags with a damp towel inside, or cover in a bin with a damp towel. This will help keep it fresh.

Step 2: roast your squash

Preheat oven to 425°F. In a bowl, season squash with a drizzle of olive oil, a drizzle of maple syrup, a pinch of cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste. Spread in an even layer on a baking tray and roast for approximately 15 minutes or until tender. Set aside.

*This can be done 2 days ahead of time.

Step 3: make your pumpkin seed praline vinaigrette

Set up your landing zone for your pumpkin seed praline by lining a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Add your sugar into a sauté pan. Place over medium heat and do not agitate with a utensil.1 Let the sugar melt and caramelize. You can then move the pan itself to incorporate the melted sugar. When its sufficiently melted, turn off the heat, pour in your pumpkin seeds and stir rapidly with a rubber spatula to coat. It will turn into a glob of candied seeds. Place onto your parchment lined baking sheet and using the backs of two forks, press it so it lays as flat as possible. If your seeds are unsalted, sprinkle the praline with salt and let cool.

Crack up the praline either by cutting it or snapping it like a candy bar. Set aside one cup. In a blender, add the remaining praline and blend until it forms a powder of sorts. While the blender is going on low, add the vinegar, oil, water, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust to your liking. If the dressing thickens up when it sits in the fridge, add a touch more water or vinegar to loosen it up before dressing your salad.

*This vinaigrette can be done 2 days ahead of time.

Step 4: process optional ingredients and assemble

If adding any of the additional ingredients, process now. If slicing fennel and celery ahead of time, squeeze lemon over to prevent oxidation.

Assemble

In a large bowl toss together the greens, squash, any optional ingredients, and half of the pumpkin seed vinaigrette. Taste and add more vinaigrette as you prefer. Season with salt and pepper. Plate on a large platter and top with the reserved candied pumpkin seeds.

One thing I believe strongly in, as it relates to soup, is that you must make some extra and freeze it. There is no more secure a feeling than a freezer stocked with soup.

Green Minestrone

Serves 8 approximately

1 large onion, diced or sliced

5 garlic cloves, smashed then chopped

1 bunch kale, ribs and leaves separated

1 tsp, red pepper flakes

3 quarts broth, vegetable or chicken stock, homemade or store bought

2 cups cooked beans, canned or cooked

2 cobs corn, kernels removed, cobs used to infuse stock

2 cups farro, cooked per package instructions

1 cup green sauce, zhug or pesto or something of the like

To taste, salt and pepper

1 lemon, zest and juice

Créme fraíche or sour cream never hurt anyone if you’ve got it lying around

A note on substitutions

Don’t have onions, but have shallots or leeks? Great, any allium will do.

No kale? Chard, spinach or collard greens work well too. I usually reach for whatever is available and looks the best at the farmers market.

I’m still finding corn at the market but if it’s unavailable or the grocery store corn doesn’t look great, feel free to omit.

I had my zhug on hand this past week while making the minestrone, so I used that to finish off the soup, but store bought pesto works great too!

The Method

Process your kale by slicing the leaves into thin ribbons, and roughly slicing the ribs of kale, so that they are approximately the size of sliced scallions. Keep separate.

Sauté your onions, garlic, kale ribs, red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt in olive oil until soft and sweet, but not too much color. Add in kale leaves and cook until softened. Season with a pinch of salt. Add in the stock and bring to a low simmer. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Add in the beans, farro, and the corn. Bring back to a simmer. You can add more water or stock if necessary. Remove from heat and add in your green sauce of choice, lemon zest and juice. Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream or créme fraíche.

A note on stocks

I cooked my beans from dry, so I had a quart and a half of bean liquid left over. I used this as my stock base, then added two carrots (roughly chopped), the whole cobs of the corn, a leftover rind of parmigiana (always save the rind!), and a vegetable bouillon cube. I let that simmer together for thirty minutes or so and then used that as the stock for the soup.

Any stock you have on hand will work. However, a store bought stock can always benefit from a boost. If you are buying store bought but have some carrots about to go off in your fridge and a half cut onion sitting in a Tupperware container, add it all to the stock pot and simmer until ready to use.

Deep in zhug process. Thank you Chase Anderson!

Last Saturday morning I woke up early to go canvassing in Upstate New York for a handful of local races. I rushed out the door without eating, just a black coffee in hand. Nothing I love much more than a solo car ride with a cup of coffee, but by the end of the two hour stretch my blood sugar was dipping and I was ravenous. There is a farm stand off of route 9H that I stop into whenever I drive by. It’s a great farm, with particularly nice stone fruit, but I’m only there for the apple sticks. I’ve been eating these since I was very young. Objectively they are not that good. They are underbaked, reaching only a pale blond color, as though they were pulled out of the oven five minutes too soon. The pastry tastes like it’s made me Crisco, not butter. For some reason, none of this matters to me. I adore them and they bring me immense comfort. I suspect others feel the same as they are always sold out. But not on this early Saturday morning. I was greeted by an overflowing tray of them, fresh out of the oven. So I got six, of which I ate five and a half (over the course of the weekend), giving only one half to my mother. Not because I was hogging them, but because no one else seems to like them like I do. Hard to express the feeling of contentedness I felt sitting in the back of a barn with my warm bag of strudels, watching the canvassers assemble.

When I was a kid, in the fall after school, my mom would often make a baked apple snack of some kind. Either sautéed apples and walnuts with yogurt or whole roasted apples with cold cream. In high school, I could count on either my boyfriend or my best friend to bring me a apple strudel from Le Pain Quotidien once or twice a week for breakfast. Today, when I overlap with my dad in the city, he will usually greet me with an apple turnover. It is true comfort food for me, and in this nail-biting fall, with only 52 days remaining in this election cycle, seeking out comfort is a high priority. Though you can make the classic turnover triangles from this recipe, I prefer to make one large format turnover. It requires less work yet feels more impressive.

If you don’t have it in you to make puff pastry, buy it from the store!

Puff Pastry

You want to work quickly with this recipe in order to keep the butter cold. What makes puff pastry flaky is the distinct layers of butter striated throughout the dough. We don’t want a totally homogenous and dense dough, a result of warm butter, so we work quickly with cold butter to avoid this. You don’t need to rush, just don’t dilly dally.

500g flour

500g butter, cubed and cold

12g sugar

12g salt

1/2 C ice water, approximately

In a bowl, mix to combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Add in the cold butter, coating in flour first then pinching the chunks of butter between your fingers to incorporate into the flour. Drizzle in 1/4 cup of ice water and begin to combine the dough with your hands. Add more water if necessary. Press the dough into two discs. It’s ok if the dough feels a little dry it will hydrate more in the fridge. Using a rolling pin, flatten out the dough then wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour.

Remove the dough from the fridge and lightly flour your work surface. Roll out each dough round into as much of a rectangle as possible (this does not need to be precise). What we are going for is for the length of the dough to be longer than the width. Fold the dough like a trifold pamphlet. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rest in the fridge for another hour. Repeat this process one-two more times, depending on the level of flakiness you’re after. The more folds you do, the more layers you’ll get (though there is a point of diminishing return), but honestly I’ve done it both ways many times and they are both delicious. Once you’ve done all your folds, you can roll the dough out to your desired tart shape. See mine above, a rustic rectangle. After you roll out your dough, place it back in the fridge (covered) for 30 minutes or so. At this point, you can use this dough like you would the pastry dough you buy from the store.

Apple Mix

This is a very loose recipe. Feel free to taste and adjust as you go, depending on your preferences.

4 apples, small diced

60g (4T) butter

100g (1/2C) maple syrup or organic sugar cane

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cardamom

pinch of salt

1 egg

1 T organic cane sugar or Demerera sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Melt butter in a sauté pan. Add in diced apples and salt. Sauté until the apples begin to soften. Add in the maple syrup, cinnamon, and cardamom and continue to cook until apples are tender but still have a bite to them.

Remove apple mixture from heat. Make your egg wash by whisking one egg with a small splash of water, and combining until it until it reaches a homogenous mixture.

Roll out your puff pastry sheet into a large rectangle. Using a brush (or a folded up paper towel corner if you don’t have a brush) paint the border of the bottom half of the puff pastry. Place apple mixture in the middle of the pastry, and then spread out so it lays evenly, making sure to keep the outer border where you just put the egg-wash free of apple mixture.

Close the puff pastry like you’re closing the lid of a box, pulling the pastry from back to front over the apple mixture. Using the back of the tines of a fork, press along the outer rim of the apple strudel to seal the puff. Then, make at least three slits in the top of the strudel to allow hot air to escape when baking. Brush the top of the turnover with egg wash and sprinkle with Demerera sugar.

Bake for 20-25 minutes (all ovens are different so pay attention), or until golden brown on top and bottom. If the turnover browns on the top before the bottom, place it on the bottom rack to speed up bottom browning.

I can’t believe I’ve never written about jam. Making jam, eating jam, sharing jam - a pillar of my identity. Jam is one of those products that if you use it, adore it, and have opinions about it, I would recommend making it yourself. It’s time consuming but easy, and is a sweet gift to give yourself, that keeps giving, throughout the year. It’s also a beautiful way to mark the shape of the season. I make my jam now, in late Autumn. It’s a moment when you get to harness the sun’s energy, cook it down, and encapsulate it. On toasts, in jelly rolls, or beside a ripe cheese. We no longer need to store our food for the winter to survive, but there is a sort of archetypal experience of gathering the harvest and transforming it into a product that will sustain you throughout winter, that promotes a sense of competency and care.

I usually make one big batch of plum jam a year. Always plum. I like red plums; Santa Rosa, Elephant Heart, or common plums, because they contain a good amount of pectin naturally which assists the jam in setting up well. They also have a lovely balance of acid that provides sourness to counteract the necessary sweetness of a jam.

Plum Jam

Some things to keep in mind:

• I like a looser jam, the texture between a compote and a set jelly. That means I test my jam, using the finger test, and tend to take it off when it reaches 221°F. If you like a thicker jam, keep going and cooking off some of the liquid until it reaches your desired consistency. Keep it mind, once it cools down it will set up much stiffer than when hot.

• The best part about making your own jam is you get to control it. Add aromatics like ginger, rosemary, or cardamom if that’s something you desire. You can do this by putting your aromatics in a cheesecloth pouch and infusing them in the jam when it comes off the heat for 30 minutes or so. I always like to keep my big batch jam simple so it can be used in many different applications. For that reason, I usually don’t add aromatics.

• This recipe has a ratio of sugar that I prefer for ripe plums with a good amount of acidity. You can change the ratio a bit if you think you are working with a more sugary fruit, like strawberries or raspberries by adding a bit less sugar.

• The method for getting a good seal on your jars so that the jam can be shelf stable, is called hot canning. Your jam must be hot and your jars must be hot. If you are worried that any of your jars didn’t seal, simply refrigerate those jars or freeze them and use them first.

• I like to make jam over the course of two days. First, I process the fruit and let it macerate overnight in sugar and lemon juice. This helps to begin the process of breaking down the fruit. The following day I cook it down and jar it. To make 20 jars of jam, in total it took me around 3.5 hours.

• Safety disclaimer: jam is like molten lava! Be careful when making it. If you have rubber lined gardening gloves, those are helpful for the canning process. Stirring frequently will help to avoid sticking spots, which, when agitated, often burst and bubble and can burn you. Proceed with caution and confidence!

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  Ingredients

  yields around 12, pint jars of jam

  3,000g processed fruit (purchase approximately 7 lbs of fruit)

  1,800g organic cane sugar

  120g lemon juice, around 2 lemons

  10g salt

  *Of course, you can scale this up or down depending on the amount of fruit you have. Get the weight of the fruit first then divide it by 1.66 to get the amount of sugar you’ll need.

  Equipment

  large heavy bottomed pot (I use a copper Mauviel pot, a dutch oven works well too!)

  rubber spatula

  scale

  strainer

  heat proof receptacle, like a metal bowl or pyrex measuring cup

  jars, approximately 12

  wide mouth canning funnel

  ladle

  thermapen (not required, but helpful!)

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  Method

  1. Purchase your fruit. If you have access to a farmer’s market or a farm, ask your local farmer if they have any seconds of fruits. These are fruits that are blemished, or somehow deemed not good enough for sale at the normal price. They are usually cheaper and perfect for jam.

  2. Rinse the fruit and process. For plums cut in half, remove pit, then cut into quarters.

  3. Weigh your fruit and then the corresponding amount of sugar, salt, and lemon juice. Mix to combine. Cover and let sit overnight in a container with a lid.

4. Make sure your jars are sterilized by running them through the dishwasher. If you are lazy like me, I buy fresh jars and sterilize them in a 200°F oven, separating the jars from the lids. Whatever you do, make sure your lids are new, this will ensure a proper seal. Whether they have been run through the dishwasher or not, place your jars in the 200°F oven, and keep warm until ready to jar. I place them in the oven before I start the cooking process. I turn on the oven when I am at the big bubble stage. See below.

5. Place a small plate in the freezer. We’ll use this to test if our jam is done.

6. Begin: place fruit, sugar, lemon, salt mixture in pot. Turn on heat to high. Bring fruit mixture to a boil.

   

7. Small bubble/skim stage: you’ll see small bubbles forming alongside foam. Skim off as much of the foam as possible, with a strainer and a heat resistant receptacle, then discard. I usually do this three or four times.

6. Cook it down: keep cooking, using your spatula to scrap along the bottom every 3 or 4 minutes, trying to avoid the jam burning.

7. Large bubble/test stage: once the jam reaches 218°F, the bubbles will be larger, more volcanic rather than foaming. Keep cooking and stirring frequently until the jam reaches 220°F. Remove the plate from the freezer, spoon a dollop of jam on top, and place back in the freezer for a minute. Once cooled a bit, streak your finger through it. If your finger divides the jam and it stays separated for a moment, basically if it appears to be the proper jam texture, you’re done. Remove from heat.

8. Jar: set up your jarring station. Remove your jars from the oven. Ladle your jam into the jars with the assistance of the jamming funnel. Wipe each jar rim with a paper cloth dipped in white vinegar, then screw on the lid. This can be a messy affair. Take your time and wipe down the jars if they get sticky. Let them sit upright until they have all sealed properly. You’ll know they’ve made an airtight seal if the dimple of the jar is concave and doesn’t bounce back when you press on it.

9. Store them somewhere you can see them! They are very beautiful…

It’s tomato season - the uncontested best time of year. I’m writing this from the third floor of a townhouse, in our apartment that locks in heat so greedily. Though I’m perspiring from the act of typing, I still believe that when tomatoes are abundant, there is something quite right with the universe.1 Below are four ways to employ the joyful tomato glut. To eat now or to stow away for the colder months. Tomatoes are full of water, so the trick is using either salt or heat to remove the excess and concentrate their flavor. Salt will coerce the tomato to release some of its liquid, while heat - through boiling, roasting, or dehydrating - will encourage it to evaporate.

Burst Sungold Cherry Tomato Sauce

Sungold Tomato Sauce, Poached Sablefish, Basil, Cornflower

Peel 6 garlic cloves and slice thin. In a dutch oven, or deep rimmed sauté pan, add 1/2 cup of good olive oil. Warm the oil over medium heat and add garlic. Let it soften for a few minutes. Add in 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper or red chili flakes. Once the garlic starts to just barely get golden, add in a pint of washed Sungold tomatoes. They will start to sputter and spit. Put a lid on it for a minute or two. Add in a splash of dry white wine (1/2 cup approximately) and put the lid back on. Remove the lid after many of the tomatoes have burst. With the back of a wooden spoon, press on the remaining whole tomatoes to help them release their juices. Season with salt. Let it all cook down and concentrate for 3-5 minutes, then remove from heat.

I like to spoon this sauce over oven poached Sablefish or grilled Branzino. Of course, it is also delicious over spaghetti with grated Parmigiano and basil.

Tomato Toast

I average five tomato toasts a week during peak season. This current iteration, with butter and anchovies is on repeat.

Slice an heirloom tomato thinly and sprinkle with crunchy sea salt. Place on a paper or kitchen towel to soak up the moisture that the salt pulls out while you’re making the toast. Cut a thick slice of sourdough bread and toast it. Remove from toaster and rub it thoroughly with a garlic clove. Spread a generous amount of butter on toast, or drizzle with olive oil if that’s your preference. Spread three, high quality anchovies across the top. Place your tomatoes over the anchovies and garnish with torn basil leaves.

Preserved Tomatoes

Every year, I go to a farm and purchase a box of their “seconds” tomatoes (I bet you could inquire with your favorite farmer’s market vendor too). Seconds are produce that don’t meet the standard of quality or appearance to be sold at the normal price. They are cheaper and are perfect for canning tomatoes. I like to can my tomatoes by adding as little as possible to them, so that when it comes time to use them in the fall, winter, and spring, they are versatile. Make sure the lids of your jars have never been used before, or else they will not seal properly.

Step 1: Turn your over to 210℉. Sanitize the jars and lids separately, either washing by hand or sending them through a dishwasher cycle. Once sanitized, place the jars and lids in the oven as you prepare the tomatoes.

Step 2: Place a large put of water on to boil. Make an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water.

Step 3: Score your tomatoes. With a pairing or birds beak knife, score a shallow x on the side of the tomato that was not attached to the vine. Remove the stem end side as well by holding your knife at an acute angle to the tomato and moving it circularly around the stem.

Step 4: Drop tomatoes one by one in boiling water. Remove with a spider or strainer when you see the skin begin to pull back or wrinkle. Drop into the ice bath. You can work in batches depending on how many tomatoes you are blanching, but once they are cool to the touch, peel off their skin and place in a pot on the stove.

Step 5: Once all tomatoes are in the pot on the stove, use either a potato masher or simply squeeze them with your hands to break them up. Add a generous amount of salt and begin cooking down. Keep cooking until the preserved tomatoes are at least 135℉. You can continue cooking to your desired viscosity.

Step 6: Remove jars from the oven. Using a wide mouth jar filter and a ladle, portion out your tomato “sauce“ into the jars. Everything is hot in this moment, so be careful. It helps to wear gardening gloves if you have them on hand! Wipe down each jar rim with a wet paper towel or rag dipped in white vinegar, and then close with the lid. Let cool entirely. Once fully cooled the dimple of the jar lid should be sunken in, and not flexible to the touch. If the jar bounces back at you, either attempt to reseal by putting the whole jar back in the oven until you hear the ping of it sealing, or simply place it in your fridge and use it first. Place the sealed jars somewhere where people can see them! They are very beautiful.

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Tomato Tart

yields 1 fully assembled tart (which serves 6-8 for a snack)

+ 1 sheet of puff and 1 cup of béchamel for another day

This is the same recipe I shared a few months back for the caramelized leek tart, but with tomatoes. It is the same process, but easier, because the tomatoes require much less prep than the leeks. This is truly a stunner of a tart, if you make it once, you’ll never stop.

Puff Pastry

You want to work quickly with this recipe in order to keep the butter cold. What makes puff pastry flaky is the distinct layers of butter striated throughout the dough. We don’t want a totally homogenous and dense dough, a result of warm butter, so we work quickly and with cold butter to avoid this. You don’t need to rush, just don’t dilly dally.

500g flour

500g butter, cubed and cold

12g sugar

12g salt

1/2 C ice water, approximately

In a bowl, mix to combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Add in the cold butter, coating in flour first then pinching the chunks of butter between your fingers to incorporate into the flour. Drizzle in 1/4 cup of ice water and begin to combine the dough with your hands. Add more water if necessary. Press the dough into two discs. It’s ok if the dough feels a little dry it will hydrate more in the fridge. Using a rolling pin, flatten out the dough then wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour.

Remove the dough from the fridge and lightly flour your work surface. Roll out each dough round into as much of a rectangle as possible (this does not need to be precise). What we are going for is for the length of the dough to be longer than the width. Fold the dough like a trifold pamphlet. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rest in the fridge for another hour. Repeat this process one-two more times, depending on the level of flakiness you’re after. The more folds you do, the more layers you’ll get (though there is a point of diminishing return), but honestly I’ve done it both ways many times and they are both delicious. Once you’ve done all your folds, you can roll the dough out to your desired tart shape. See mine above, a rustic rectangle. After you roll out your dough, place it back in the fridge (covered) for 30 minutes or so. At this point, you can use this dough like you would the pastry dough you buy from the store. Make a tarte tatin, a pot pie, cinnamon sticks, whatever! Or continue on to make a leek tart.

Béchamel

500g milk

30g flour

30g butter

2 garlic cloves, peeled

Big pinch salt

1 tsp peppercorns

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Sprig or two of thyme

Put your milk in a pot and place on the stove over medium heat. Add in garlic cloves, a pinch of salt, peppercorns, nutmeg, and a spring of thyme. Bring to a simmer then turn off heat. Let steep on the stove for 15 minutes. Strain and then return to medium heat.

In another sauce pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add in flour and begin to whisk. Cook for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Ladle in warm milk bit by bit, whisking as you go until all the milk is incorporated. Taste. Season with salt and pepper. Divide in half between two pint containers. Keep one out, label the other and freeze once it has cooled.

Tomatoes

approximately 5 beefsteak/heirloom tomatoes per tart

Slice tomato rounds from the bottom to the stem side and lay out on a rack or over paper/kitchen towels. Season each side with salt and let sit for 20 minutes to release water. This will make it so that when you go to bake the tart, you don’t end up with a soupy-doughy mess.

Assembly

We have our pastry dough, béchamel, and salted tomatoes. Now we assemble. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Remove dough from fridge. Make a shallow indentation around the perimeter of the tart, almost like you are outlining a frame. I use a bench scraper for this, but you can also use a butter knife. Be careful not to cut down all the way through to the baking tray. You can see in the picture up top, how the leeks and béchamel are framed by pastry dough. Brush the perimeter of the dough with an egg wash (1 egg + a dash of water/milk/or cream, whisked thoroughly until homogenous).

Spread the béchamel within the frame of the dough. You’ll probably use a bit over a cup and a half of béchamel for this. Whatever you don’t use, you can add to what you have already set aside to freeze.

Organize the salted tomatoes on top of the béchamel however you’d like (see examples above and below). Finish with crunchy sea salt and cracked pepper. Bake for 20-30 minutes. At 20 minutes, start keeping an eye on the tart. Check both the bottom of the tart and the top to see how the browning is going. If you feel it needs more color on the bottom, move the tart to a lower rack. Vice versa if you feel it needs more coloring on its top. When it is golden to your liking, remove from the oven and let cool on a rack until ready to eat. Before slicing into it, add a handful of fresh oregano or basil over top.

You can make it large format like the one pictured above, or make individual sized tarts, but using a cookie cutter or tracing the perimeter of a pint container with a knife and cutting out large circles.

We all know that the the main reason to seek out a life partner is so that you can split a sweet and savory breakfast at a diner on Sundays in perpetuity. This breakfast solves that dilemma and protects your solitude while delivering that indescribable marriage between unctious, salty eggs, and syrupy sweetness. There is some sort of sorcery that occurs when the date is warmed through, fudge like, accompanied by the burst of nutrient dense yolk. So comforting and benevolent. You've got to try it. And if you don’t want to make zhug, it is still delicious without it, or with the hot sauce that is already sitting in your fridge. Haleh served hers with Lavash. Our neighborhood is covered in Mexican grocers so I lean tortillas, quickly warmed over an open flame, which work just as well.

Dates and Eggs

Get a non-stick or seasoned cast-iron hot. Add a bit of oil, ghee or butter to the pan. Crack two eggs per person. Each egg gets a date and a half split and fanned out. Season the dates and eggs with salt and pepper (I like Aleppo pepper),and briefly cover with a lid just to let the eggs set for 1-2 minutes. Once cooked to your preference remove from heat and drizzle with zhug. Either toast tortillas on the stove or reheat lavash in the oven.

On Purchasing Dates

When shopping for dates, look for them in the produce aisle, not the dried fruit and nut section. I find that these tend to be juicier, taste more of brown sugar, and have more life to them than the ones that are overly dried and saccharine and don’t require refrigeration. If you find dates in the produce aisle, refrigerate them at home too.

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This is an important recipe for you to have in your repertoire. Firstly, it employs brown butter in a really lovely way. If brown butter isn’t an item you use often, it will be now.1 Secondly, it’s gluten free and sometimes it’s necessary that we make a gluten free dessert in this day in age. This financier is the perfect canvas for spring and summer fruits of any kind. I’m partial to strawberries. Something about the warmth of a roasted strawberry works quite well with the toasted flavor of buckwheat and brown butter. If strawberries aren’t available, I'll reach for some plums. The one drawback, if you could call it as such, is that you’ll be left with a few egg yolks to work with. The nice thing about this particular dilemma, is that you’re already on your way to a quick mayo for tomorrow’s sandwiches. Other uses for egg yolks; lemon curd, boosted omelette, or a créme Anglaise.

This recipe is inspired by Jennifer Koslow’s Hazelnut and Buckwheat Financiers with Figs, from the cookbook Everything I Want to Eat.

Roasted Strawberry Financier

yields 1, 9in x 13in baking dish sized financier

Financier

240g (2.5 C) almond flour

400g (2 3/4 C) powdered sugar

120g (1 C) buckwheat flour

285g (approx 2.5 sticks)brown butter

300g (approx 10-11 eggs) egg whites

big pinch of salt

100g (1/2 C) Demerara sugar (or brown sugar/raw sugar/table sugar)

Method

Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare your baking dish by buttering it and lining with parchment paper. Alternatively, you can make these in a muffin tin, using muffin liners.

To brown butter, place the butter in a sauce pan on the stove. Turn to high heat. It will melt and then foam. Once foaming whisk vigorously until it starts to brown and smell nutty. Remove from heat. If you think you burned it, that’s okay. It will still taste delicious. Let cool.

Combine almond flour, powdered sugar, buckwheat flour and salt. Mix to combine.

Whisk egg whites until frothy. Whisk in brown butter, then whisk in your dry ingredients.

Pour into the prepared baking dish and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. I have also baked it directly after mixing and it works just fine.

Scatter cleaned and de-stemmed berries all over the financier. If the batter is cold from the fridge, they will just rest on top. Sprinkle with Demerara sugar and place in oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes. The financier is done when the edges are browned and the center of the cake has no more wobble. This is a very moist cake though, particularly around the berries, so don’t be worried if a cake tester does not come out perfectly clean.

Let cool and then cut into squares, or simply spoon out of the baking dish.

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Everyday Mayonnaise

3 egg yolks

1 spoonful mustard

2 cloves garlic, grated

To taste, salt and pepper

1 lemon, juiced, or apple cider vinegar

325g (1 1/3rd C) olive oil, cold

325g (1 1/3rd C) grapeseed oil, cold

Method

In a food processor, combine yolks, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper, and lemon juice. Once combined, keep the food processor on and start to slowly drizzle in the oils. After about a 1/3rd of the way through it should start to thicken and resemble mayonnaise. Once all the oil has been added, turn processor off. Taste. Adjust seasoning if needed.

Garlic Mayo front and center. A key component to a well-stocked fridge.

Good ricotta is easy to make, but takes a subtle and gentle touch to get it right. You have to pay attention. Move slowly. Don’t rush the curds. The milk is heated to 194°F, and at that point the acid forces a coagulation of the milk proteins, resulting in the separation of whey and curds, giving you ricotta. Which is so interesting! But as is often the case, I’m guided more by touch, smell, and intuition rather than exact temperatures and scientific models, to the chagrin of those around me that have a vested interest in my replicating recipes verbatim.

There is nothing I despise more than looking up a simple recipe and needing to scroll past the SEO induced introduction that seem to increasingly take the form and length of a novella. So, recipe first. Context and thoughts to follow.

Important note: the fattier and fresher the milk, the better. No skim milk or 2% welcome here. Avoid ultra-pasteurized as well.

“Ricotta”

Method 1

4 parts milk

1 part buttermilk

Method 2

However much milk you have, any amount over 2 cups (less than that won’t yield enough ricotta to make it worthwhile)

Acid, like lemon juice or white vinegar

To season

Savory: salt and pepper

Sweet: salt and honey

Method 1

In a pot over medium-high heat, combine milk and buttermilk. Stir every few minutes. Keep a close eye and continue stirring, making sure to run the spoon along the bottom of the pot. If the milk is left undisturbed to settle on the bottom of the pot, it will likely burn. This is not the end of the world but should be avoided if possible.1 You’ll start to see clumps of milk solids forming at around 15-20 minutes. Keep stirring, very gently, to help move it along. The whey will be translucent and yellowish (depending on your milk, these varies) and the curds, white and clumping. At this point, turn the heat off and let the ricotta rest.

Set up a bowl with a colander resting on top of it, leaving room for the ricotta to drain. Line the colander with two layers of cheesecloth. If you don’t have cheesecloth, you can use a fine sieve or chinois. Once the ricotta has cooled for ten minutes or so, remove the curds from the whey with a slotted spoon or strainer and place in the cheesecloth lined colander. Reserve whey for whey caramel or save to add to your smoothies (high in protein and probiotics). You can also freeze it for another time.

Season as you like, either savory or sweet. I always like to tread gently when seasoning ricotta. Start small, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper, taste, and continue to adjust until the ricotta sings. It will sing at a certain point!

Method 2

This second method is a bit less rich, but you likely already have everything you need in your fridge to give it a try.

Place milk in a pot, turn the heat to medium-high and stir every few minutes. Keep a close eye and continue stirring, making sure to run the spoon along the bottom of the pot, because the milk can burn. Once you see steam starting to rise off the milk, and it starts to appear frothy on the top layer, add your acid (I prefer lemon juice) and stir to incorporate. You will see the whey and curds beginning to separate. If you don’t after a minute or so, add a bit more acid until you see the separation occur. Like method 1, the whey will be translucent and yellowish (depending on your milk, this can vary) and the curds, white and clumping. At this point, turn the heat off and let the ricotta rest.

Strain using same directions as method 1.

Season as you like!

I made a lot of ricotta when I was working at Blue Hill at Stone Barns awhile back. There was where I learned to use buttermilk as the acid to transform the homogenous milky mixture into disparate whey and curds. You may notice the word “ricotta” is in quotations. The actual translation of ricotta in Italian is “re-cooked”. Ricotta was originally the byproduct of making other cheeses. The residual milk solids could be coagulated through the reheating of the whey and the addition of acid, to form ricotta. So, this version with whole milk and buttermilk is pretty decadent. It may be more aptly named fresh cheese, or farmer’s cheese, or quark, but I’ve been calling it ricotta for too long to change now.

I feel like knowing how to make your own ricotta is a bit of an unlock in life, a realization of your own agency. Cheese is an elusive and mysterious creature. There is a sense of power that comes from understanding it, even just a little.

At the end of winter, I often end up questioning my decisions in life. How did I get here? I simply can’t make another root vegetable soup, slow braised meat, or 24 hour bone broth. No, you can’t make me. And then spring arrives with its waxy peas, astringent rhubarb, and elegant asparagus and I am reminded. Oh right, I love this. Once again there is brightness, levity, fresh chlorophyll. Ricotta is a good companion for the herbaceous, grassy, and sweet tastes of spring. Below are some of my favorite ways to employ her.

These recipes are meant to inspire, not necessarily to be followed methodically. Imagine we’re having a coffee, and you ask me how to make something and I tell you. That’s the energy. If you are curious for more detailed measurements or have any questions, please comment, and let me know!

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Just Eat It

Warm, as is, on sourdough.

Whipped Ricotta

Place your fresh ricotta in a food processor, add a touch of heavy cream, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Spread on the bottom of a plate and top with grilled spring onions.

Whipped ricotta is also great as a sandwich spread. I’m thinking with grilled ramps and broccolini, ham or prosciutto, and a drizzle of hot honey.  

Spring Green Spanakopita

I tend to make spanakopita at the end of a week, when I have turnip greens, ends of bags of spinach, and carrot tops lying around. That being said, I don’t subscribe to a specific amount of greens. You’ll need a lot! Around 8-12 cups would be my guess. Sauté a bunch of spring greens, whatever you can get your hands on. Young spinach, turnip tops, parsley, chard…season with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon. Remove from heat, and with a strainer or just by squeezing with your hands, press out as much liquid as possible. Rough chop your squeezed greens. In the same pan, sauté 1 onion (chopped), 2 garlic cloves (chopped), in olive oil with red pepper flakes. Combine greens, onion-garlic mix, 3 eggs, 1 cup ricotta and 1 cup feta, zest of 1 lemon. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a baking dish. Lay out 4 layers of phyllo. No need to be precious about this. If it rips, add more! Add the spring green spanakopita and spread into a flat layer. Cover with another 4 layers of phyllo and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle crunchy salt. Bake in a 400°F oven until golden brown.

Spring Green Cannelloni

Either use store bought or make a quick tomato sauce. My usual tomato sauce is 6 cloves garlic, sliced and softened in generous amount of good olive oil, around ¼ cup. Add red pepper flakes and then a 28 oz can of Bianco Di Napoli tomatoes. I add a pinch of sugar. I feel like it brightens the whole thing up. May be sacrilegious. Cook down until the color is a bit ruddier, the flavor matured.

Sauté spring greens, like young (or overwintered) spinach, spring onions, and leeks. In a Cuisinart, add the sautéed greens, some ricotta, parmigiana, lemon zest, nutmeg, salt and pepper, and a bit of heavy cream to combine. Blanch pre-made (or homemade if you’re going for it) pasta sheets. Spoon a generous dollop of the filling into the pasta sheets and roll up. In the bottom of a baking dish, spread a layer of the tomato sauce. Line your cannelloni in the baking dish. When they are all tucked in, top with another layer of tomato sauce. If you have extra ricotta, dollop it around the cannelloni and grate parmigiana. Bake in a 400°F oven, covered for 20 minutes. Remove cover and bake for another 15-20 minutes until its bubbly and the edges start to crisp.

Whey-Caramel

*This is not for the faint of heart. There is sputtering whey and hot sugar. Be safe. If you have a grease splatter screen, use it.*

The amounts in this recipe are assuming that you used a gallon of milk to make the original ricotta, but you can adjust the ratio to fit the amount you have. After you remove your ricotta from the whey, keep cooking the whey, reducing it over medium-high heat. If your whey liquid has a lot of curd bits still in it, you’ll want to strain it and add to your ricotta. Reduce the whey until it starts to turn a light caramel color hue. This will take a while. The whey will be sputtering, sticking to the surfaces around your kitchen. Again, grease splatter screen highly recommended.

Once it reaches that light-caramel hue and has reduced by half, add approximately 3 cups of sugar. Turn the heat down to medium and continue cooking. Continue cooking, anywhere from 20-35 minutes. Once the caramel starts to look gloss and coat the back of the spoon, remove from heat. Add in 2 tablespoons of butter and ½ cup crème fraiche.

Use in any way you would use caramel. In a salted chocolate caramel tart, over ice cream, to dip apple slices into.

Chocolate Whey-Caramel Tarts

The perpetual need to feed and be fed is relentless! Feed Yourself is here to ease the burden and help you find the sacred in sustenance.

Winter storage apples are still plentiful at the farmer’s market, but if you’re lucky, you’ll start to see some rhubarb popping up. This cake is perfect for the shoulder season that we’re in on the East Coast. Not yet total spring bloom, the sun withholding, berries still a distant wish. It comes together in one bowl, and bakes in under an hour. It’s easy, elegant, and gentle. The addition of whip cream, yogurt, or ice cream has never hurt anyone.1

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Apple Rhubarb Pistachio Cake

Ingredients

C = cup

T = tablespoon

t = teaspoon

115g, (1/2 C), butter, room temperature 2

200g, (1 C) sugar + a little more for sprinkling

3 eggs, room temperature

240g, (1 C), whole milk

120g, (1 C) all-purpose flour

90g, (3/4 C) whole wheat flour

5g, (1 t) baking powder

6g, (1 t) salt

2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

4 stalks rhubarb, 2 sliced width wise and 2 sliced length wise

1 lemon, zested and juiced

60g (1/2 C) chopped pistachios or whole pine nuts

Line a ten inch baking round with parchment paper or coat it in butter and dust with flour. Preheat oven to 350°F.

Zest your lemon and set aside. Slice apples and rhubarb (the 2 width wise!) and set aside in a bowl, squeeze over lemon juice and toss. Slice the other 2 rhubarb stalks length wise and set aside to use later.

In a bowl with a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until lighter in color and fluffy, around three minutes. Add in the eggs, incorporating them one by one. Pour in the milk and combine.

Add in flours gradually and mix until just combined. If you think your flour is clumpy, sift it prior to adding with a strainer or sieve over a bowl. Add baking power. Mix to combine.

Fold in the apple, rhubarb and lemon mixture. Scoop batter into prepared baking tin. Use the long cut rhubarb like you would to make a lattice top for a pie. Five rows of rhubarb across by five rows of rhubarb top to bottom. (I only had enough for five across pictured above if you’re a close reader!) Sprinkle nuts on top. Finish with a dusting of Demerara sugar, cane sugar or whatever sugar you’ve got!

Bake for 45-60 minutes or so, until cooked all the way through. If unsure you can always take the internal temp, which should read around 200°F. Let cool.

This batter takes well to almost any fruit and nut combo.Throw in blueberries, plums, apricots, hazelnuts, almonds, pecans; she can handle it!

I think it’s time you learned how to make puff pastry. For no other reason than the experience is life affirming. I know, I know. Gluten and dairy intolerances abound. If you abstain, I really am happy for you. No better feeling than feeling well. And yet. Sometimes one is called to enfold cold butter into flour, with a pinch of sugar and salt, all encouraged to coalesce into a dough with a drizzle of ice water, resulting in one of humanity’s greatest creations. Puff pastry.1

This past weekend, I made a leek tart composed of four parts. Puff pastry, béchamel, caramelized leeks, and thyme. Very simple. I made enough pastry and béchamel for two tarts so that I could freeze half of each, ready to be made into another tart with ease in the future. This is a good habit to get into: whenever you’re making something that requires effort, double the recipe and freeze half. This is a gift you get to give to your future self.

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Leek Tart

yields 1 fully assembled tart (which serves 6-8 for a snack)

+ 1 sheet of puff and 1 cup of béchamel for another day

Puff Pastry

You want to work quickly in this recipe in order to keep the butter cold. What makes puff pastry flaky is the distinct layers of butter throughout the dough. We don’t want a totally homogenous and dense dough, a result of warm butter, so we work quickly and with cold butter to avoid this. You don’t need to rush, just don’t dilly dally.

500g flour

500g butter, cubed and cold

12g sugar

12g salt

1/2 C ice water, approximately

In a bowl, mix to combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Add in the cold butter, coating in flour first then pinching the chunks of butter between your fingers to incorporate into the flour. Drizzle in 1/4 cup of ice water and begin to combine the dough with your hands. Add more water if necessary. Press the dough into two discs. It’s ok if the dough feels a little dry it will hydrate more in the fridge. Using a rolling pin, flatten out the dough then wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour.

Remove the dough from the fridge and lightly flour your work surface. Roll out each dough round into as much of a rectangle as possible (this does not need to be precise). What we are going for is for the length of the dough to be longer than the width. Fold the dough like a trifold pamphlet. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rest in the fridge for another hour. Repeat this process one-two more times, depending on the level of flakiness you’re after. The more folds you do, the more layers you’ll get (though there is a point of diminishing return), but honestly I’ve done it both ways many times and they are both delicious. Once you’ve done all your folds, you can roll the dough out to your desired tart shape. See mine above, a rustic rectangle. After you roll out your dough, place it back in the fridge (covered) for 30 minutes or so. At this point, you can use this dough like you would the pastry dough you buy from the store. Make a tarte tatin, a pot pie, cinnamon sticks, whatever! Or continue on to make a leek tart.

Béchamel

500g milk

30g flour

30g butter

2 garlic cloves, peeled

Big pinch salt

1 tsp peppercorns

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Sprig or two of thyme

Put your milk in a pot and place on the stove over medium heat. Add in garlic cloves, a pinch of salt, peppercorns, nutmeg, and a spring of thyme. Bring to a simmer then turn off heat. Let steep on the stove for 15 minutes. Strain and then return to medium heat.

In another sauce pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add in flour and begin to whisk. Cook for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Ladle in warm milk bit by bit, whisking as you go until all the milk is incorporated. Taste. Season with salt and pepper. Divide in half between two pint containers. Keep one out, label the other and freeze once it has cooled.

Caramelized Leeks

8 leeks, only the white and light green part (you can reserve the greens for veg stock), sliced in 1/2 inch coins

4 Tbs butter, approximately

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a pan, melt butter. Arrange leek slices cut side down in the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with lid, but leave it ajar to allow for the steam to escape, while helping the leeks cook through. Alternatively, you can cover the leeks with a cartouche of parchment paper with a hole in the middle. Here’s a good video that explains what a cartouche is and how to make it. I did two rounds of caramelizing. You never want to overcrowd your pan when you are trying to get good caramelization on something. You want the moisture in the vegetables to have room to release their steam, not have it trapped and create an almost blanch-like effect.

Cook until leeks are nicely colored on one side. Remove from pan and let cool. Taste.

Assembly

We have our pastry dough, béchamel, and caramelized leeks. Now we assemble. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Remove dough from fridge. Make a shallow indentation around the perimeter of the tart, almost like you are outlining a frame. I use a bench scraper for this, but you can also use a butter knife. Be careful not to cut down all the way through to the baking tray. You can see in the picture up top, how the leeks and béchamel are framed by pastry dough. Brush the perimeter of the dough with an egg wash (1 egg + a dash of water/milk/or cream, whisked thoroughly until homogenous).

Spread the béchamel within the frame of the dough. You’ll probably use a bit over a cup and a half of béchamel for this. Whatever you don’t use, you can add to what you have already set aside to freeze.

Organize the leeks on top of the béchamel however you’d like. I scattered mine. Pick thyme and sprinkle it over top, trying to make certain every area of the tart gets some. Finish with sea salt and cracked pepper. Back for 20-30 minutes. At 20 minutes, start keeping an eye on the tart. Check both the bottom of the tart and the top to see how it is browning. If you feel it needs more color on the bottom, move the tart to a lower rack. Vice versa if you feel it needs more coloring on its top. When it is browned to your liking, remove from the oven and let cool on a rack until ready to eat.

This tart takes well to so many different vegetables. My favorite is with heirloom tomatoes in the summer. Roasted mushrooms and charred cabbage are also very delicious.

Individual tomato tarts.

The perpetual need to feed and be fed is relentless! Feed Yourself is here to ease the burden and help you find the sacred in sustenance.

She had warned me. My sister had called before I began the journey upstate to let me know that the house was plagued. Her daughters, husband, and my mother had all fallen ill. Likely by the hand of the Noravirus. She and my father were the last ones standing (not for long). Should I accept the challenge, there was an infirm group of my immediate relatives that could use my assistance.

I, rather pridefully, decided to journey onwards. I’ve been feeling healthy, vital even and knew I could be of use. I was certain that by obsessively hand washing, swallowing whole garlic cloves, sucking on vitamin c and zinc lozenges, and keeping my distance, I could stay well. I was, of course, very wrong. I succumbed by Monday evening. Prior to, I had the wherewithal to make chicken in a pot, aka chicken soup. I’m not sure when this happened but my dad began referring to chicken soup as chicken in a pot in recent years and I think that’s sweet, so that’s what we’re calling it.  

What follows is a recipe for easy chicken soup. Easy in that it doesn’t require any extraordinary techniques, but does require some finesse and attention. This soup needs to be gentle, clarifying, brightening, and of course nourishing. For these reasons, I prefer to have all the ingredients in the soup be as organic and intentionally sourced as possible, if possible. If you turn to this soup for its restorative properties, your body is already contending with a foreign invader. Better to help it along with a soup that doesn’t add to its burden.  

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Chicken in a Pot

Yields 6-8 servings of soup.

Ingredients

Whatever chicken bone or vegetable scraps you have lying around (if any, not required)

1, whole chicken

6, carrots

8, stalks of celery

2, yellow onions

1, garlic head

1 T, peppercorns

6, jujubes (optional)

1, 2 inch nub of ginger (optional, approximate)

1.5 C, dried pasta (campanelle, ditalini, stellini)

If you plan ahead, you can salt your whole chicken a day prior to cooking, and leave it in the fridge. More often than not, a piece of meat will benefit from being salted a day before cooking it. If not, carry on…

Place your whole chicken on a cutting board. Remove the legs from the body. You’ll be left with the chicken body as a whole (crown and back) and two legs.1 Season all with salt. Alternatively, you can put the whole chicken in the pot and once the chicken is cooked through, remove the legs from the breasts. I prefer to handle the chicken when it is raw, not steaming hot. Breasts cook more quickly and dry out if overdone, whereas the legs get more tender with a longer cook time. That’s why we go to the trouble of separating the legs from the breasts.

Take the chicken and put it in a pot and add in two large carrots (rough chop), four stalks of celery (rough chop), one head of garlic (cut in half), and two yellow onions (cut in half) to the pot. Cover all with water, around 12-14 cups. Season with a generous amount of salt and a sprinkling of whole peppercorns. If you have any herbs in your fridge, like parsley or thyme, feel free to toss that in. Optional here to add in six jujubes and a nub of sliced ginger. Ginger, jujubes and chicken are a surprisingly delicious combination and have added health benefits like Vitamin C (jujubes)2 and decreased nausea (ginger).34 This combination of jujube, ginger, and chicken is a typical Chinese healing soup.5 You can find jujubes in Asian grocery stores or most health food stores. Bring it all to a gentle simmer. I am paying close attention this whole time to staying at a consistent simmer, not a boil. This is to keep the stock clear. A boiled stock will result in a cloudy stock. There is something very healing to me about a clear consommé, so that’s what I’m aiming for. If it boils, it’s not a big deal. Continue on!

Remove the chicken breasts when they are cooked through. You can use a meat thermometer, checking for when the internal temp reaches 165°F, or you can go by touch. It should feel firm, like the feeling of your thumb muscle when your fist is clenched. Remove the legs 45 minutes after. Place chicken breasts in a strainer over a bowl and let cool. While the legs continue to cook, slice four carrots and four stalks of celery, both the thickness of two quarters stacked. Set aside.

Remove the chicken thighs from the stock. Place in the strainer with the chicken breasts and let cool (any liquid that is released you can add back into the pot). Once meat is cooled enough to handle, shred it and set aside.

Strain the stock into a bowl, discarding the onion, garlic, celery, carrots and peppercorns (and ginger and jujube if you used them). Place stock back on medium high heat. Now, we are looking for a boil. Once stock is boiling add in the pasta. I really enjoyed the Campanelle shaped pasta I used, but really any pasta will do (other than angel hair, there is almost never a place for angel hair if you ask me). Once the pasta is halfway cooked (either check the cook time on the box or taste), add in your sliced celery, carrot and chicken. Once the pasta is al dente, turn off the heat. It and the vegetables will continue to cook through as it sits in the hot liquid. Finely chop a whole bunch of dill, stems and all (if the stems are too woody, discard them), and toss in the soup. Season with salt and cracked pepper.

Leave it on the stove so the sick amongst you can serve themselves, while you go hideaway, hoping to not catch whatever ails them.

But make sure to set aside some for you, for when the inevitable occurs, and you too, need soup support.

A smoked chicken stock from awhile back.

If you prefer a vegetarian soup to fortify you…

When I got back to our apartment, I was still feeling a little tender so decided to make some mushroom stock to sip on for the next few days. I had cleaned white button mushrooms earlier, so had some stems and skins at hand. I gave that a quick rinse and put it in a pot, covered with 8 cups of water. I added some reishi mushrooms (a gift from an acupuncturist friend, you can use shitake, oyster, whatever you’ve got!), some dulse (you can use seaweed or kelp), sliced ginger, and salt. I’m letting it all steep now and will strain it in an hour or so. Once strained, I’ll add two tablespoons of miso and whisk to incorporate. I’ll use this mineral rich broth to drink like a tea, as a base for ramen noodles, or as the start of a mushroom soup.

I first started making these waffles for my sister when she was newly postpartum. An easy morning breakfast to help boost her nutrient intake. These waffles are delicious and healthful, but be warned, they are a far cry from classic.

Boosted Waffles

Yields 12-16 waffles. Eat immediately or let cool completely and then freeze.

Ingredients

C = cup

T = tablespoon

t = teaspoon

DRY

1 C (96g), almond flour

1 C (125g), ground sunflower seeds (or pumpkin seeds, hemp, or add more almond flour!)

1/2 C (60g), whole wheat flour (or AP flour, or GF flour of your choice)

2 T (32g), psyllium husk

1 T (24g), sugar (or coconut sugar, honey, maple syrup)

1 t (3g), baking powder

1 t (3g), ground turmeric

1 t (3g), cinnamon

*If postpartum and breastfeeding add 3 T (45g) of brewer’s yeast.1

WET

2 C (500g), dairy (I like to do combo half milk half yogurt. You could do almond milk, oat milk, kefir, buttermilk etc…)

4, eggs

1 t (4g), vanilla

4 T (55g), melted butter

Method

Preheat your waffle iron.

Whisk all dry ingredients together. Make a well in the center. Pour all wet ingredients in the well and whisk until homogenous. As though making pasta dough, start incorporating the flour by whisking in circles, gathering flour from the sides of the bowl until all is mixed and you have a smooth batter.

Make your waffles as per your waffle iron instructions. I butter mine on both sides, and dollop 1/2 cup of batter in the center of the iron. You’re going to need to make them immediately, don't let the batter sit. If it sits for a long time, the addition of the psyllium husk will make it unpleasantly thick to work with.

This recipe is deeply flexible. Get rid of all the healthy stuff (by replacing almond flour, sunflower, and WW flour with all AP flour) and you have your average waffles. Add in more weird shit like ashwagandah or shatavari and become your best, balanced cliché (me)!2 Whatever direction you want to take it, this batter can handle it.

I made the pictured waffle above last Saturday. Just for myself. My toppings of choice; blueberries, blackberries, generous butter, maple syrup and bee pollen. I stacked my waffles three stories high, with a nub of butter between each layer (required). I realize that many people have the responsibility to cook for, care, and be around other humans almost all of the time. Which is a blessing! And also hard! So if you can sneak a window of time to make yourself waffles, just for you, it is a lovely thing to do. Rather than be the last to sit down and receive a room temperature pancake or waffle, you get to eat them hot off the press. Whether it be waffle or a cup of tea this week, if you get a window to imbibe solo, take a minute, notice the experience. What sounds surround you, what does the fork feel like in your hand, the temperature of the syrup, the sensation of the food as it travels from taste buds to stomach. Then if you’re me, after you’ve taken that mindful moment, press play on your favorite show. The ideal Saturday morning.

It’s Valentine’s Day and you have no plan. That’s ok! This day is weird! But also, very sweet. I have a plan for you. Make sexy sweet potatoes for your someone(s), be they friend or lover.

A beloved of mine reached out asking for help planning a V-day menu for her new boyfriend. An honor! The first thought that popped into my mind was sexy sweet potatoes. They are the perfect combination of low effort, a bit creative, and slightly luxurious.

A S.S.P. from a few summer’s back, it appears. Trout roe, chili paste, guindillas, sour cream, cilantro, yellow tomato, zucchini, red onion salsa.

S.S.P’S (Sexy Sweet Potatoes)

Ingredients

Murasaki sweet potatoes, (I do 1.5 per person. Of course you can use your more common yams, orange fleshed sweet potatoes)

Dairy, (créme fraiche, sour cream, or yogurt)

Trout roe, (or caviar if you are really doing it!)

Cilantro, washed and picked

Scallions, sliced

Chili crisp, (your chili sauce of choice, salsa macha is mine)

Maldon salt, (or any flaky salt)

Other potential add-ons:

Pancetta, small diced and crisped in a pan

Tahini, if you are no-dairy, sub in a tahini sauce (2 T tahini, 2T water, big squeeze of lemon, pinch cumin, salt, whisk to incorporate, add more water or tahini as you need to get your preferred texture!)

Pickled red onions

Furikake

Black garlic

Crispy shallots

Really, whatever feels right to you!

Method

Preheat oven to 425°F. Put whole Murasakis in a large bowl and season with olive oil, salt and pepper. Wrap each potato in individual aluminum foil, adding a dash of water. This will help them cook more quickly. Cook anywhere from 40 min to 1 hour depending on your oven. Start checking after 40min for doneness. The fear is undercooking not overcooking.

Everything else is assembly! Put your trout roe/caviar on ice. Gather all your pretty little bowls and fill them with all the yummy things. Make it pretty! I would be very happy to come home to this on Valentine’s Day.

xoxo,

G

Though an odd combination, a shrub and a scone, they both served a similar purpose for me this past week. As receptacles for an overflow of cranberries that I hadn’t yet dealt with since November.

We did a major freezer clear out and stock up this weekend. Since Thanksgiving, when there was a last-minute dish switch between family members who were vying to make the cranberry sauce, we got stuck with a few too many frozen cranberries. They were taking up valuable freezer real estate and their time had come. It was raining and cold out in NYC this past Sunday. Running to the grocery store was not an option, which is how the cranberry lime flavor combination came to pass in not one, but two recipes. Astringent cranberries benefit from the buoyancy of citrus. You typically see orange deployed for this reason, but lime does the job just as well.  

A well-stocked freezer leaves you with the euphoric feeling that you have the capacity to meet your own needs, specifically your hunger. In our country where health care is not guaranteed, democracy is on the ballot, and there are more guns than people, a well-stocked freezer gets you a semblance of security. When you have a stocked freezer, there is a certain peace of mind. We will take peace of mind wherever we can get it these days.

I’ll have to do a whole Feed Yourself on freezer stocking one day, but for now I’ll just mention four things to have in your freezer that can add to one’s overall sense of well-being.

• Lots of butter

  • my preferred brand is Kerrygold

• Sourdough bread

  • pre-sliced, for ease of toasting

• Soup

  • homemade is best, soup is so easy

• Something sweet, like scones or cookie dough

  • pre-portioned, to bake off at a moment’s notice

Butter. A few months ago my friend and I were buttering our bread beside each other and she mentioned the Danish word tandsmør.  Translated as “tooth butter”; when you spread your butter so thick, it leaves toothmarks when you bite into it. I believe in this. Never be caught without ample amounts of butter.

Bread. We are big bread people. When there isn’t bread in the house, something is wrong. When there is sliced bread in the freezer you are never more than five minutes away from a snack. You can tell that we are in a good place in life right now because we not only have two boules of sourdough, but also two baguettes. This is true abundance.

Soup. One often needs soup. For comfort, for nourishment, for an easy dinner.

Sweet. We usually have cookie dough, rolled into balls, ready to be baked off whenever the mood strikes, which can be every other night. Having something sweet on hand is good for an instant boost of morale or the unexpected guest.

Excuse the freezer digression, we were here to talk about shrubs and scones!

Both of the following recipes are great containers for when you have either fruit or dairy that is about to expire.

Cranberry-Lime Shrub

Yields approximately one liter of shrub.

The origin of the modern day shrub has its roots in England and 17th century North America. Known as drinking vinegars, these fruit infused vinegars were used to preserve the harvest, particularly the fruits that were about to rot or were unable to be sold or traded. I love a shrub. It’s like a natural Gatorade.1 I used our frozen cranberries for this recipe, but you can use apple skins, whole citrus after it’s been juiced, mushy berries, and many other fruits. One of my favorite ways to make a shrub is with hibiscus petals. Shrubs are the perfect conduit for so many flavors.

Ingredients

1 qt, cranberries

1.5 cups, sugar (or honey)

1 cup, apple cider vinegar

1 liter, water

1 lime, rind and juice

Pinch, salt

8, cardamom pods

8, clove

15, black peppercorns

Method

Calling this a recipe is a bit of a stretch. There is really no way to go wrong here unless you add way too much water and over dilute the syrup.

Bring cranberries, water, sugar, lime rinds and aromatics to a boil. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep, anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour. Strain the liquid from the solids using a colander or strainer, then add your vinegar and lime juice. Taste.

I always spend a minute or two adjusting the ratios at the end, because all fruit is different. Taste and add additional, sugar, honey, vinegar, and salt as you see fit. Whisk it together until the mixture sings. When I say sing, I mean that it tastes both punchy and vinegar forward but with a smoothness on the back end of the palate.

Let cool and jar it up. Put one 500ml jar in the fridge to enjoy now, and another in the freezer for later.

To drink, pour over ice and top with tonic or sparkling water.

Cranberry-Lime Scones

Yields 12 large triangular, or 25 small square scones

This is a basic scone recipe that is very forgiving. If you add a little more dairy, a little less fruit, a little more zest, it will always come out yummy. I’ve altered it a bit, but the original shape of this recipe was taken from Zuni Café, in San Francisco.

Ingredients

3 cups (260g), flour, half all-purpose, half whole-wheat

1 teaspoon (4g), baking Soda

2.5 teaspoons(15g), Baking Powder

1 teaspoon (4g), Salt

1/2 cup, (100g), Sugar

1, lime, zested

2 cups (200g), frozen cranberries, or other dried fruit

14 tablespoons (200g), Butter, cold, cut into small cubes

1, egg

1 cup (240g), cream, milk, buttermilk

Splash, Vanilla

Egg Wash

Whisk one egg with a splash of milk or water, until homogenous.

Method

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar and lime zest. Coat the butter cubes in the flour mixture, squeezing the pieces of butter in between your fingertips, until the mixture looks shaggy but still has bits of whole butter. Toss in the fruit. Mix so that the fruit is covered in the flour-butter mixture. In a separate bowl combine the dairy, vanilla, and egg. Pour the dairy mixture into flour-butter mix and incorporate with a spatula. Don’t be afraid to use your hands to help coax it into a dough ball.

Line a 10x10 baking tray with parchment. Press the dough into the tray. With a knife or bench scraper, cut five lines across in each direction, making 2x2 squares. Freeze or refrigerate for at least one hour. Alternatively, make two balls out of the dough. Cover in plastic wrap and using a rolling pin, flatten it into the shape of a thick circle. Chill for at least one hour.

Whichever shape you choose, remove from the fridge or freezer. If using the rounds method, cut each scone circle into 6 triangular scones, like a pizza pie. Whether triangle or square scone, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Bake for 15 minutes or so, or until internal temp of scones is around 205°F, and the scones have browned on both the bottom and the top. Baking from frozen versus refrigerated will change the cooking time, extending it by 5 minutes or so if frozen. Keep an eye on it!

Rancho Gordo Flageolet Bean

What follows is how I make my beans most of the time. This is a simple, basic approach. There is no one recipe for beans, as each bean is different. Beans don’t require much of you other than patience. Let them simmer away in a well-seasoned broth. If you are questioning their done-ness, keep cooking them. A hard bean is much worse than a soft one, to my mind. I favor Rancho Gordo beans because they are beautiful, thoughtfully sourced and grown, delicious and cook evenly. If you don’t have access to Rancho’s, any dried bean will do.

Beans

Ingredients

1 pepper, cut into quarters and de-seeded

1 onion, cut in half

1 carrot, cut in half

2 cups dried beans, soaked overnight

2 quarts (8 cups) stock or water, or 2 bouillon cubes for 2 qts water

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional aromatic add ins: sliced lemon, garlic, thyme, rosemary, star anise, coriander seed, fennel, pink peppercorn, whatever!

Method

The night before you want to cook your beans, soak them in water. If you have 2 cups of beans add 6 cups of water. You can add more or less beans, just keep it approximately a 1:3 ratio with water. It doesn’t matter if you put more water than you need, you just don’t want to put less. We are trying to avoid not having enough water for all of the beans to thoroughly and evenly hydrate. The soaked beans can be left out at room temperature.

Place a dutch oven on the stove on medium-high heat. Let it get very hot. Add a tablespoon of grapeseed (or olive) oil to the pot. Add your vegetables to the pot, cut side down. Season with salt and don’t touch the vegetables again until you start to smell or see some browning. You are going to want them to get very darkened, almost charred.

Strain your beans from the liquid they sat in overnight. Add the beans to the dutch oven or pot. Pour over an ample amount of fresh water or stock. Around 2 quarts. Again the fear is not too much liquid, it is too little. Add in any optional aromatics now. Season with salt, but not too much. I always make my beans a little too salty. The liquid will cook down and concentrate, so you want to air on the side of under seasoning. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium low and allow the beans to simmer for as long as it takes for them to become totally cooked through and creamy on the inside. Add more liquid as is necessary. You can strain off the liquid or keep it at the end. If you strain the liquid, reserve it as a base for a soup another day.

Ways to eat your beans:

With a fried egg and chili crisp.

While still in their warm liquid, stir some greens (kale, spinach, escarole) into them. Finish with a squeeze of lemon, grated Parmigiano and lots of fresh cracked pepper.

Make Pasta e Fagioli.

Let them cool, strain them from their cooking liquid (reserve for future soup), then dress with lemon, olive oil, tarragon, parsley and lots of cracked pepper. Beans love pepper.

Mash them up, add grated garlic, spread over toast with a drizzle of good olive oil.

What I’ve Been Feeding Myself Recently

Red Lentil Stew

Made with coconut milk, ginger, tomato paste, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, cardamom and more. I made this stew and jarred it up, intended as my backbone meal for the duration of a little vacation/writing retreat that I’m currently on.

Roasted Vegetables

Delicata and Murasaki sweet potato, in similar warming spices. Nice with seasoned yogurt (salt, lemon, pepper) and cilantro. My body is so chilled to the bone this time of year. I am doing anything I can to help it warm from the inside out.

Maple Yogurt, Roasted Apples, Granola, Chia Seeds

What I’ve Been Fed Recently

Roast Chicken, Beans + Kale

This was the welcome meal at the aforementioned vacation/writing retreat that I’m currently in the middle of. The roast chicken and kale was from their farm. I brought apple cider doughnuts. A perfect meal. How nice. To receive.

Lumaconi Pasta with Tomato and Anchovy

Henry made this for us. We ate it while watching Arrested Development because I was so tired that day. That shape of pasta has such a great bite to it. Very delicious.

Seafood from Cervos

Cold Oysters

Mussels Escabeche

Clams in Vinho Verde

My Mom’s Granola

Is the best granola.

Easy Cabbage Wedge

One can philosophize about questions of meaning and feeding all day long, but a question that I keep getting asked these days is more corporeal. How does one afford to eat well?

I don’t have the complete answer to this, but I do believe that there is no getting around cooking. Taking raw ingredients; vegetables, legumes, flours, grains, meats and making them into whole meals is the healthiest and most affordable way to feed yourself, to my mind. I often think that a lot of the ailments that the billion dollar wellness business is purporting to solve, could be fixed if more people cooked their own food and sat down for meals together.

But cooking can be exhausting. There are many barriers to entry, like going grocery shopping, cleaning produce, having the energy to cook, having the time and the skillset… The humble cabbage can help with all of this. It can stay for weeks in your fridge and doesn’t require much, if any preparation. If you have a cabbage laying around you are well on your way to a yummy dinner.

Reasons to Believe in Cabbage

1. Basically does not go bad if it is refrigerated.

2. Caramelizes beautifully.

3. It takes on most flavors very well and works with most cuisines.

4. You can slowly cut away, portioning it for your own needs, rather than needing to cook it all at once, like a whole squash for example.

5. It works both raw and cooked.

6. Affordable!

7. According to the EWG1 cabbage is one of the Clean 15 vegetables; meaning it is one of the vegetables that has a low level of pesticide contamination. So, if you don’t buy it organic, you don’t have to worry too much.

8. Easily morphs into a soup with texture and we are all looking for soups with textures these days, are we not?

9. You sort of…don’t need to wash it. (This may be a personal opinion.) Just pull off the outer few leaves and you’re good to go.

10. Cabbage, and brassicas generally, thrive in colder weather. So if you get your hands on a locally grown cabbage, it is likely to be incredibly sweet after dealing with some cold snaps, where it is forced to convert its starches to sugars to avoid freezing.

4 Ways to Prepare Cabbage

You’ll notice there are no exact measurements. These are more like guides rather than rigid recipes. Take inspiration from them, scale it up or down, make it work for you!

1. Salads

Cabbage “Papaya” Salad: You can use cabbage in the place of green papaya as a “Cabbage Papaya Salad”. In a bowl, combine cabbage, toasted peanuts, chopped cilantro and mint, sliced radishes and toss with Nước chấm.

Cabbage Wedge: Use a wedge of cabbage like you would a wedge of Iceberg and douse with homemade ranch dressing. You may need to employ a steak knife for eating the cabbage wedge, as it is quite dense compared to Iceberg lettuce.

Preferred Cabbage Variety for Salads: Napa or Savoy

2. Sear then Roast

If you are feeling ambivalent towards cabbage, this preparation will change your mind. When chatting with Henry (my partner and the Chef behind the pictured wedge salad) about the virtues of cabbage, he said something that is very accurate. Good cabbage preparation and cookery is all about controlling its water content. Meaning that you want to slowly roast it to extricate its water. Or, if using it raw like in a salad, you want to salt it later rather than earlier, for fear of drawing out too much liquid, resulting in a soupy salad mess.

The Sear/Roast Technique: Preheat an oven to 375ºF. Slice a plank of cabbage (if cooking for one portion, multiple planks if for multiples), pictured below. Get a cast iron or sauté pan very hot. Drizzle some grapeseed or olive oil on to the pan and sear the cabbage plank on both sides, weighing them down with cooking weights or another pan placed on top. Cook until caramelized on one side and then flip, adding more oil when necessary. When the other side is caramelized place pan into the oven and cook until totally tender. Around 20-25. An additional knob of butter in the pan never hurt anyone. Put cabbage on plate and top with anything or nothing! Chopped nuts and herbs, chili crisp, or a big squeeze of lemon and cracked pepper to finish are all welcome.

Preferred Cabbage Variety for Searing: Green/White or Caraflex

3. Soup

Kielbasa Cabbage Soup: if you have onion, garlic, and cabbage lying around you are on your way to a delicious cabbage soup. Cabbage and Kielbasa is one of those God-given combos in my opinion. Made for one another. Kenji has a lovely recipe for Kapusniak (cabbage Kielbasa soup). One thing about cabbage is that she loves pepper. So do not skimp on pepper for this soup. In fact, maybe even go a little overboard. Shock the senses!

Preferred Cabbage Variety for Soups: Green/White, Savoy, Caraflex

4. Stir Up

Sausage, Cabbage, Barley Bowl: I love this very much and crave it often in the winter. This is something I whip up if it’s 7pm and I haven’t thought about dinner but am suddenly starving. Boil 1 cup of barley in salted water like you would pasta until cooked through but still chewy. Reserve cooking water. In a sauté pan over high heat, cook 2 cups of chopped cabbage until softened but still has a bite to it.  Season with salt, pepper, and a little white wine vinegar. Remove a sausage from its casing and cook in the same pan, until just cooked through. Add in barley and a bit of the reserved cooking water. Grate parmigiana on top and a lot of cracked pepper. Add a knob of butter and mix until it has a bit of a glossy saucy sheen. You can always add a bit more barley water to make it saucier.

Preferred Cabbage Variety for Stir: Purple, Green/White, Savoy, Caraflex

I hope cabbage enters your orbit this week!

Xx,

Gracie

The Sear and Roast Method: with cilantro lime oil and salsa macha

The Plank and Press method, part 1 of the Sear and Roast method

3. The Stir Up: with purple cabbage, scallions, and hot Italian sausage

I have this instinct when I am going to be alone for a few days, or if I’m going to be around a lot of people, or if I’m wading through tricky territory in life, to make a cake. What I’m saying is, there is never a wrong time to make yourself a cake companion. I can’t say that having a cake by your side helps solve any larger issues at play, but it does take the edge off whatever one may be going through. Knowing you have a cake you can continue to slice into (so often don’t even worry about putting the knife away) is like a security blanket. I can’t speak to the health effects of this choice, but if we’re going off personal experience, the glucose spikes seem well worth the emotional stabilization.

I like to call them companion cakes. You’ll recognize them also as counter cakes, tea cakes, snacking cakes, or table cakes. All nomenclature points to the same object, it’s a cake that you leave out on your counter to keep you company. To return to for a little nibble, repeatedly. We are sandwiched within holiday season currently, with family members and friends passing through our homes more than is typical. It always helps to have a cake at the ready, should an impromptu tea party coalesce. Or, if you spy someone feeling irritable and peckish, suggesting they enjoy a slice in solitude can quickly ameliorate the situation.

We’ve had carrots in our fridge going limp for over a week now (you too?), so something had to be done. I made my version of carrot cake with a tahini frosting. We happened to have turmeric root laying around as well so I grated some in along with the carrots. Not necessary, but lovely and fragrant. This cake can hold its own as both dessert and breakfast, which is a main requirement of a companion cake. I like to dollop some yogurt on top if I’m having it in the AM.

Turmeric Carrot Cake with Tahini Frosting

Yields 2 9” inch spring form cake rounds

You can halve this recipe if you prefer a single layer cake or keep it as is for a double decker. You can also freeze one round to pull out on a rainy day.

If you need help along the way, feel free to write me a note!

Ingredients

Cake

Dry

300g (2 ½ C) flour, can be a mix of AP and Whole Wheat

6g (2 tsp) dried turmeric

6g (2 tsp) cinnamon

3g (1 tsp) ground ginger

6g (1 tsp) salt

10g (2 tsp) baking powder

4g (3/4 tsp) baking soda

Wet

4 eggs, room temp

200g (1 C) sugar

150g (3/4 C) brown sugar or coconut sugar

Splash of vanilla

150g (3/4 C) vegetable or olive oil

100g (2/3 C) tangy dairy, like yogurt, crème fraiche, or buttermilk

150g (1 C) tahini

Solids

50g (¼ C) chopped dried fruit, I used chopped jujubes

115g (1 C) chopped nuts, I prefer pecans

500g (approx. 5 C or 5-6 carrots) grated carrots

1 knob of turmeric, grated

Frosting

240g (1 C) tempered butter, 2 sticks

160g (1 C) tempered tahini

224g (2 C) powdered sugar

Big splash vanilla

Big pinch salt

Garnish

Sesame seeds

Maldon salt

1.

Line your spring form cake tins with parchment and grease the sides of the pan with oil or butter. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2.

Combine your dry ingredients; flour, dried turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, salt, baking powder, baking soda in a bowl and set aside.

3.

Grate carrots. I recommend using the grater attachment on a Cuisinart, it makes this recipe much easier! Grate the turmeric in there as well and set aside.

4.

Using an electric mixer begin beating the eggs. Add the sugars and vanilla and beat until pale and fluffy. Drizzle in oil slowly. Add in dairy and tahini and combine until smooth. Add in dry ingredients gradually. Fold in grated carrots, dried fruit, and pecans. Pour batter into prepared cake tins.

5.

Bake for 40 minutes or so. Cakes are done when cake tester comes out clean or when the internal temp of the cake is 200°F -210°F.

Frosting

1.

Beat butter with electric mixer until whipped and soft. Add vanilla and tahini and incorporate well. Stream in powdered sugar until frosting is thick and light. Add salt to taste.

2.

Make sure cake is totally cooled before you frost! Place half the frosting in a big dollop in the center of one cake. Using a large offset or spoon, push the frosting out to the sides, while turning the cake. Finish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and Maldon salt.

A few other counter cake recipes that I turn to when in need.

Claire Saffitz, Lemon Olive Oil Cake

This cake is really great and gets better the longer it sits on your counter. I usually add almost triple the amount of lemon juice and zest. The sugary crust is something special, be generous with it. The crunchier the sugar you can get, like raw turbinado or demerara sugar, the better.

Clare De Boer, Salted Chocolate and Mascarpone Frosting Cake

There are particular moments in life that call for having a rich chocolate cake by your bedside. This one is perfect.

Ina Garten, Classic Lemon Yogurt Cake

I feel like I made this cake for the first time when I was ten or so and it never disappoints. The tang that makes you want to come back is in the glaze though, so don’t skip it!

David Lebovitz, Pain D’Epice

This is a very mature counter cake. Typical to the region of Alsace, it is heavily spiced rye honey cake with both sweet and savory spices. I love it with an excess amount of butter, honey and crunchy salt. It’s typically enjoyed with a slab of foie gras which feels like a very festive thing to do at this time of year.

This week is all about feeding others. As it should be! I myself can’t wait for my family’s very traditional spread tomorrow. The internet is replete with guides helping you through Thanksgiving prep, so I won’t add to that here. What I will offer is a soup equation.

I find that holidays and extended time with family can lead to a change in routine, which often results in a shift to one’s eating schedule. To guard against hanger, incompatible eating schedules, and to help you spend as little time as possible rummaging through a relatives messy kitchen, I recommend having soup on hand.

This is a flexible equation. You can swap or shift ingredients in and out of it. There are no real amounts here. It’s a loose guide that always ends in the same simple sum; soup.

There are two ways to finish this soup. You can purée it or you can leave it as is, parts suspended in their own atmosphere. If the latter, you'll want to keep that in mind when cutting your vegetables. Choose one size of cut and stick to it. This makes for a pleasant eating experience.

Read more

Henry spreading Zhug on what appears to be a prosciutto and tomato sandwich back when we were on Salt Spring and had our catering company Nellie’s!

The thing about feeding yourself, is it’s got to taste good. If it doesn’t, you’re going to stop being interested in doing it, and that's the last thing we need. This zhug makes everything yummy.

In professional cooking, or maybe just cooking in general, we often have what I call a “crutch“. Something you return to over and over again because you know it's delicious. It’s like a safety net. If all else fails, at least we’ll have good zhug.

Zhug is a hot sauce from Yemen. Similar to chimichurri, it’s an uncooked, unfermented chili-herb-spiced sauce. It is grassy, perfumed, hot, salty and sweet. It does something to me this sauce. Depending on your preferred spice level, it can open up your sinuses, remind you of a bright summer day, and give you a dose of all vitamins and minerals that your body is begging for.1 It is the perfect condiment to have in your fridge at all times. I recently shared it in the current volume of Folklife, a beautiful semi-annual print publication which is focused on the Gulf Islands B.C. You can buy yourself a copy here if you’re interested in what it means to live close to the earth, with intention and creativity.2

Things I would do with zhug:

• Put it on eggs

• Fully loaded sweet potato with yogurt, zhug, crispy shallots

• Add it to any sandwich

• Spread it over steak

• Add it to a pot of white beans after they’re done cooking

• And on and on…

A couple of notes on the recipe.

Folklife is a vegan publication, thus the addition of agave. When I make zhug I use honey. Use whichever you would prefer.

This sauce can stay in your fridge for a long time, at least two weeks.

The real secret to great zhug is how you season it. Here’s my approach. You’re on step five, see below. You want to add salt, honey, and lemon until it sings for you. There will be a moment where it hits the right pitch, and you’re like…yes that is correct. I think of seasoning like a precipice, depending on the dish of course. Many things don’t call for heavy handed seasoning, but this does. You want to take it to the edge, but don’t fall off.

One last thing. I have never made this recipe the same time twice. My spice mix always has a slightly different ratio. Sometimes I have more cilantro than parsley. Occasionally I don’t have lemons so I add white vinegar. For me, recipes are guides not doctrines. I would love for you to feel free when you cook.