Category: By Technique

Roasted Squash

A brief version of this recipe appears in Autumn Salad with Roasted Squash, but this vegetable is so delicious I figured it was worth calling out separately. Purchase a medium or large butternut squash. Set the oven to 400-425°. Set out a large baking tray or roasting pan, optionally lined with a piece of baking parchment.

Garlic-Balsamic Mushrooms

[I rarely serve mushrooms on their own, but this preparation is worth making an exception for. — Matthew] Start with at least a pound of mushrooms, remembering that they will shrink substantially when cooked. Any common type of fresh mushroom can be used; most recently I used a mix of cremini, portobello, and shiitakes. Cut

Roasted Brassicas

Roasting is an easy way to prepare any of the stalky brassica varieties, including broccoli, cauliflower, broccoflower, broccolini, and so forth. Preheat an oven to 400° or so. Prepare a baking sheet or shallow metal roasting pan. (Optionally lining it with foil or parchment simplifies cleanup.) Cut the brassicas into florets. (Broccolini stalks are so

Grilled Cheese

Step by step: heat pan, then turn it down to low-med. put butter in pan. add sandwich, rub it around in the melty butter. cover. wait 1 minute. check inside for melt, bottom for color. 30 more seconds if needed. remove sandwich, add butter, flip sandwich back into pan, rub around in melty butter. cover.

Barley porridge

Simmer 1/2 cup barley in 2 cups of almond milk. Use the lowest possible heat; almond milk boils over if you look at it sideways. In about 45 minutes, the grains will have absorbed all the almond milk. Options: add a couple of eggs to the hot pot, spoon hot barley on top, put the

Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients: Potatoes, onion, butter, cream, flour, Parmesan, pepper, salt. Options: ham, garlic. Method: Cast-iron skillet; medium hot (350ºF) oven for over an hour. Pre-heat oven (and pan, while you are collecting your ingredients). Butter bottom of skillet. Slice onion, cover bottom. Slice potatoes (mandoline if you have one), layer. Sprinkle with flour, parmesan, salt, pepper,

Basic Hot Sauce

Heat a knob of butter in a skillet on medium-high heat. Slice and sauté a large purple onion and a large handful of fresh chili peppers along with their seeds (washing your hands afterwards). When those are soft, clear a space in the middle of the pan and add a whole head’s worth of garlic

Ginger Jubilee Cookies

This was the surprise winner of this year’s Christmas baking: a dense cookie with a rich flavor, suitable for dunking in coffee or nibbling with your after-dinner adult beverage. Adapted from Joy of Cooking. In a double boiler, over simmering water, mix 2/3 c honey, 1 c sugar, and 2 oz butter. When combined, thoroughly

Focaccia

I wish I had known twenty years ago that we could have home-made focaccia as often as we wanted and with just fifteen minutes of effort. Start by making a basic no-knead bread dough: this step takes less than ten minutes. In a large bowl, mix three cups of all-purpose flour, a teaspoon and a

No-Knead Bread

I tried to bake bread one or two times in my twenties, failed horribly, and then didn’t try again for twenty years. I might have waited another decade if it wasn’t for the disruption of the Covid lockdown, when getting a fifty pound bag of flour delivered seemed like a more sensible choice than going