Sorry, I’m too busy licking frosting off of my fingers to post right now, but to quote Dan, “oh my god…”

Whiskey and gourmet chocolates…classic.

This is yet another excellent recipe pulled from America’s Test Kitchen 30-Minute Suppers, a quarterly compilation from the same brilliant minds behind Cook’s Illustrated. Though the recipe calls for grilling the salmon, we have been learning lately that our beloved toaster oven is a great stand-in for a grill when set on “broil” (I can only assume the actual broiler attached to the oven would work equally well). Paired with some simple soba noodles, this is a delicious and surprisingly simple dinner.

Dan loves cold soba noodles, so when he found this recipe for Sesame Noodles, of all places, on the Pioneer Woman blog, we decided to make it with soba. I can’t say that I love the format of her blog, but she does have some pretty great recipes. She just uses spaghetti noodles, as there were no soba noodles available in her “pioneer” grocery store, but most grocery stores now have soba noodles and I highly recommend trying them out if you haven’t yet. For those unfamiliar, soba noodles are Japanese buckwheat noodles that are often served either in soups or chilled with dipping sauce.

(Side note: these are not like Chinese sesame noodles. They are more similar to cold soba noodles with dipping sauce, though traditional zaro soba uses mirin and dashi.)

These recipes are fairly flexible and you can easily adjust them based on how many people you have. We cut the salmon recipe in half and had plenty of sauce for our two filets. The noodles make great leftovers though, so I wouldn’t necessarily alter that one too much.

Broiled Salmon, serves 4

1/4 cup lime juice (approx. 2 limes)
3 tbsp Thai fish sauce
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sambal oelek or chili garlic sauce
4 salmon fillets, 6-8 ounces each
salt and pepper

Turn on your broiler and heat to “high” temperature. If your salmon has skin, check for scales and scrape them off with a knife. Create a foil liner for your baking pan (metal recommended), and rub with a little bit of oil to keep the salmon from sticking.

Whisk together all sauce ingredients and adjust to your taste. Place salmon on the pan, skin down, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour some sauce over, then flip and pour on more sauce. You don’t want it to be drowning in liquid, but use enough to add flavor (about half).

Broil 8 minutes with skin side up, then flip and cook approximately 2-3 minutes longer. Let rest a few minutes, then serve with remaining sauce.

Sesame Soba Noodles, serves approx. 4

9 oz soba noodles (approx. one standard package)
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced (~2 tsp)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1-2 tsp chili garlic sauce (to your liking)
optional: 2-3 tbsp canola oil

garnishes:
chopped green onions
toasted sesame seeds

Cook noodles according to package and rinse in cool water when finished. Drain and set aside. Mix together all remaining ingredients and toss with noodles. If you want an emulsified sauce, drizzle in the oil last while stirring to combine. Garnish and serve!

Note: We did not use any canola oil, since the noodles seemed saucy enough without. Taste the sauce before adding to the noodles to adjust proportions to your liking.

As I stirred my bubbling pot of turkey chili yesterday, it occurred to me that this is the third straight year I have made chili for the Super Bowl, and a different type of chili each year at that. Two years ago it was a veggie chili, to accommodate a vegan friend but enjoyed by all (and topped with cheese by most). Last year it was my dad’s beef chili, a classic meaty chili filled with onions and kidney beans. This year I wasn’t feeling the beef, so I hit up the internet to find a turkey chili recipe…

There are, it turns out, a lot of ways to make turkey chili. One big decision to make is whether you want to use cooked, pulled turkey (a la Thanksgiving leftovers) or if you want to emulate traditional beef chili by using ground turkey. Trust me, if I had some cooked turkey leftovers sitting around, and an army to feed, I would definitely try making this recipe. However, I did not have either of those things, so I decided to use a well-rated recipe on Epicurious…with my own tweaks, of course.

(Side note: I have always wanted to try a “white” turkey chili recipe, but this being the Super Bowl and all I decided to stick with a traditional-ish recipe. If you have a favorite white chili recipe, send it my way!)

If you’ve never made chili before you might be shocked at how easy it is. As I’ve said before, soups are all just a matter of chopping vegetables and adding things more or less in the right order. They’re a great place to start if you don’t cook much, don’t have a lot of fancy equipment, and/or find yourself feeding a crowd. Chili, in particular, is hearty and easy — and pairs perfectly with a box of Jiffy corn bread. (Open, stir, bake, eat!)

(The iPhone fails to capture the true beauty of chili)

(Okay, yes, I took this one after we finished eating…)

Turkey and White Bean Chili, serves approx. 6-8 people

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped (Spanish or white)
1 large red bell pepper
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
1/4 cup chili powder (=4 tbsp)
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 28-ounce box or can chopped tomatoes (whole or crushed work, too)
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
3 cups beef stock (I like “Better than Bullion”; you can also use chicken or veg stock)
1 15-ounce can black beans
2 15-ounce cans cannellini beans

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and bell pepper and saute until soft, about 10 minutes. Add oregano and cumin, stirring for about a minute. Increase heat to medium-high and add ground turkey, stirring and breaking up large chunks. Cook until meat is no longer pink, then stir in remaining seasonings.

Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and beef stock, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes before adding in beans. Continue cooking at a simmer for at least 30 minutes or longer (I let mine cook about an hour before digging in). If you can, try to pull out the bay leaves before serving.

Serve with garnishes of your choosing — cheddar cheese, sour cream, diced red onions, fresh cilantro, corn bread…

After so many posts about sweets (yikes!), I bring you some recipes that are not only wintery and delicious, but they are fairly easy and much healthier. On Saturday afternoon my roommate, Elena, and I trudged through the first snow of winter to pick up our January CSA box. As we carried home bags of apples, cider, winter greens, and root vegetables, we considered our dinner options. Should we buy meat? Could we make a potato pizza? Do we have any bourbon?? Over glasses of (unadulterated) cider, we decided on a simple root vegetable soup and a side of greens.

I love to make soup. It’s one of my favorite winter meals, and generally the most complicated part of making it is chopping up vegetables. On a day of fresh snow, dreary skies, and below-freezing temperatures, soup was also a pretty obvious choice. As we inventoried the fridge, we lined up carrots, potatoes, rutabaga, squash, and celery root (aka celeriac). Unfortunately, the mystery squash was a relic of last month’s CSA box –lost in the fridge for weeks– and it ended up becoming compost-pile fodder when we realized it had actually gone bad. Ah well. Root vegetables it would be! (Aren’t rutabagas beautiful?)

This recipe is loosely inspired by a recipe I absolutely adore from Zaleski & Horvath in Chicago, where I spent two long years slingin’ lattes and throwin’ down gourmet sandwiches. They make a killer coconut carrot ginger soup, which sprung to mind as soon as I taste-tested our gingery, carroty root vegetable soup. At that point, I tossed in a little more ginger and ran to the store for a can of coconut milk. One of the great things about coconut milk in soup is that you can make a creamy, delicious soup without using any dairy. Even if you do like dairy, coconut milk is much healthier (and tastier!) option than heavy cream.

We decided on a kale salad because Red Russian kale, as it turns out, does not survive well in our fridge. Last month we made the mistake of letting it sit a couple of days (“What is this stuff?” “Why is it so wilty?” “What can we do with it?”), and it became completely inedible. Of course, we had to google search each green listed in the CSA box before we figured out that it even was kale, but at that point Elena remembered a very simple preparation she had learned from a friend. And thus our supper was born…

Lemon-Kale Salad, serves 2

1 bunch kale
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

Rinse and dry kale, place in serving bowl. Toss with lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Adjust to your preferred taste. Done!

We topped our salad with ginger-spiced beets, which I had purchased at a “pickle fest” in the fall. Other ideas for toppings include avocado, cherry tomatoes, almonds, berries…whatever sounds good to you!

Coconut-ginger Root Vegetable Soup, serves lots! (approx. 6-8)

2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 small or 1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 inches of ginger, chopped (approx. 2-3 tbsp)
1 tbsp turmeric
salt & pepper to taste

12 cups of water
2-3 tbsp loose vegetable or chicken bullion (or 2-3 cubes)
5 large carrots, scrubbed and chopped
2 rutabagas, peeled and cubed
1 celeriac / celery root, peeled and cubed
4 cups of potatoes, scrubbed and cubed (approx. 10 small)

1 can of coconut milk

optional garnishes:
croutons
chopped scallions
sriracha or other hot sauce

In a large soup pot, saute onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic, ginger and spices, and continue to cook a few minutes longer. Add water and bring to a boil. Once the water has boiled, add bullion and stir well to combine.

Vegetables could all be added at once, but carrots and rutabaga take longer to cook. I recommend allowing them to boil about 10 minutes before adding in the potatoes and celeriac. Cook soup until vegetables are soft, then allow to cool a bit on the stove with the heat turned off. If you want the soup to be somewhat chunky, reserve about 2 cups of vegetables before proceeding.

At this point, if you have an immersion blender, go to town on it. If, like me, you do not have an immersion blender, you have two options: either mash everything a bit with a potato masher and mix until smooth-ish, or pull out your food processor. I opted for the food processor, since we wanted a pretty creamy soup. Blend vegetables with some broth in batches, setting aside in a separate bowl as you go. It will probably take about three batches.

Once you have made your soup as blended or mashed as you would like, return everything to the pot and pour in your coconut milk. Simmer for 10-15 minutes and taste seasonings. Serve with optional garnishes & enjoy!

I will preface this post by saying that if you eat at Clinton Street you will wait in line. You will probably wait a long time. You will get annoyed and think about giving up (we did the first time, that’s another story). However, the food will be worth the wait. The long, long wait. Luckily for us, our friend and dining companion happens to be friends with the chef. And what do you know? We still waited (okay, fine, we only waited about 1/4 the time most people do for brunch at noon on a Saturday).

Dan continued his search for the best bloody mary in the city, and was not disappointed. The top spots still belong to an unsuspecting “bro-spot” in the financial district and a brunch spot in Evanston, IL, but this one earned a respectable “7 out of 10.” One of the really great things about a place like Clinton Street is that they know they’re good, but they also know they have to work for it. Specials are interesting, portions are huge, and coffee and water are refilled before you realize you need them (but not so often that it becomes obnoxious). Once you’re in the door, you’re happy.

Of course, choosing one thing off of their menu is a task in itself (thank god for sharing!). My wonderful gluten-free former roommate, Beckie, was in town for the weekend and opted for the Spanish Scramble, sans toast. Dan and I split a giant stack of blueberry pancakes and the omelet special, which was filled with caramelized onions, Gruyere, bacon, and home fries. Trudy went for the drool-and-jealousy-inducing fried chicken sandwich and a side of cheese grits.

I know it sounds ridiculous to say so, but everything we had was delicious. The pancakes. The omelets. The hash browns. The grits (who knew grits could be so good??). Even the jam, to accompany the toast that people usually forget is served with their food, was amazing. House-made raspberry jam, far better than it needed to be, that rivaled even my dad’s homemade jam…I wanted to put it on everything. The one critique I had, but held my tongue about while we were there, was the maple butter served with the pancakes. It sounded so good! But it was just too much buttery-sweet for me. I’ve always preferred jam or blueberries or applesauce to real maple syrup on my pancakes, so it makes sense that this was just too much maple-y sweet for me, and luckily the pancakes shined on their own (packed with blueberries and slathered in blueberry sauce).

And guess what? You can wait in that line on a Saturday morning, when the mood is right and the sun is shining down Clinton Street, but you can also go any day or time. That’s right, Clinton Street Baking Co. offers their famous brunch specials all day, every day (and a killer looking dinner menu, too).

The first recipe, for Peanut Blossoms, can actually be found on the blog of my dear friend Meghan. They are a pretty forgiving cookie, so you don’t have to be too worried about process, but I will add a couple of recommendations. Using a mixer, cream the sugars and butter first (build up speed to 3 or 4, blend until creamy). Then add in your other wet ingredients, including peanut butter, blending until well combined. Finally, mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda, then slowly add to the wet ingredients while the mixer is running.

This is a process that is fairly standard for all cookies — butter and sugar are ‘creamed’ first, then wet ingredients, then dry. Dry ingredients are mixed together ahead of time, so that things in small quantities like salt or baking soda get spread evenly through the flour mixture, and thus the cookie dough. Cookies will generally be fine if you can’t or don’t follow this process…they’ll just be better if you do.

I also made Alton Brown’s Ginger Snaps, which use three different kinds of ginger: fresh, powdered, and crystallized. They have lots of ginger flavor, a dense, chewy center, and can be more or less crispy depending on how long you choose to bake them. I will warn you ahead of time that his recipe (found here) uses weights for most measures rather than cups. This is a good thing, because it means better accuracy, but it’s also a bad thing if you don’t have a kitchen scale. You can find basic conversions online, but I would definitely recommend using a scale if you have access to one.

Finally, I made what is now a new favorite of mine: Bon Appetit’s Lemony Slice-and-Bakes (recipe here). These are delicate, buttery cookies with a great lemon zing, both in the cookie itself and in the glaze. I skipped the food coloring and sanding sugar, though I do love the way the sugar looks in their photo. You can make these without baking them on parchment paper, if you can’t find any, but it will require much more attentiveness while they are baking to make sure the bottoms don’t get overly browned. When making the glaze I recommend slowly adding lemon juice to the powdered sugar until you reach a good consistency. The proportions in the recipe end up a little thin, even when the glaze is chilled before using.

Again, apologies for the delay on posting this…hopefully you enjoy them anyway!

More often than not, weekend mornings find me craving brunch. Omelets, home fries, someone keeping my coffee full and hot…there’s nothing better, especially if the night before was a late one and involved more than a drink or two. Last night was one of those nights, but this morning was not one of those mornings. I wanted pancakes. My dad’s pancakes.

You may have figured out by now that my dad is a really good cook. He likes trying new, often complicated, recipes, but the things he makes best and most often are made more by memory than by recipe. When I ask him for recipes, they are usually more a series of guidelines than actual specific quantities or processes — he recently told me he “couldn’t” give me his bread recipe, because he wouldn’t know how. He makes this bread at least once a month, but it’s a process, not a list of ingredients. His pancake recipe was no different. Some flour, some buttermilk, an egg or two…it took me a long time to nail down a specific recipe.

Luckily for me, and now you, I eventually got it. The recipe below is the “classic” version, passed down to my dad from his grandmother. As a child (okay, until college) I ate these pancakes almost weekly, topped with butter and homemade raspberry jam (they’re also great with syrup, obviously). I like to add a teaspoon or so of vanilla to the batter, and maybe some cinnamon. If you’re feeling more ambitious, they make really good blueberry pancakes (frozen berries work better than fresh), or you can chop up an apple or banana and mix it in with some cinnamon.

The real trick to these pancakes is cooking them in what is essentially a pool of oil. I realize it’s not exactly healthy, but it creates unique, crispy edges, while the inside of the pancakes stay light and fluffy. There is really nothing like it, and though it may seem strange while you’re cooking them, I promise you will love the result. To keep them slightly less unhealthy, I use Smart Balance blended oil.

(As promised, I updated the post with some new photos. This time I made them with frozen blueberries — and chicken breakfast sausages, yum! Just be sure to cook the pancakes thoroughly, since the frozen berries slow down the process a bit.)

Dad’s Buttermilk Pancakes, serves 2-4, depending on your appetite!

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk (or milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice, stir and let sit 10 minutes)
1 egg

Mix dry ingredients, sifting if you can. Whisk egg into buttermilk (and vanilla, if using), then combine with dry ingredients. If you are adding any fruit, gently stir it into the composed batter. In either case, combine wet and dry ingredients well but do not over mix — the batter should bubble naturally. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Pour enough vegetable oil into a frying pan to completely coat the bottom of the pan (approx. 3 tbsp), heat to medium high. Spoon batter into the pan and cook until the top side of the pancake is covered with air bubbles and the bottom has browned. Flip, being careful not to splash the oil, and cook a minute or two longer until browned.

Serve with butter and syrup, jam, or applesauce. Enjoy!

Peanut Blossoms and Lemon “slice-and-bakes,” and off to a holiday party! Don’t worry, recipes will follow shortly…

Over the years I’ve had quite a few friends with dietary restrictions (who, coincidentally, often happened to be my roommates). As someone who can and will eat just about anything, this was initially a bit of a road block for my love of baking. How can you make delicious treats without gluten? Without dairy??

Luckily, it’s really not too hard, and it’s also a lot of fun to bake for people who aren’t used to being able to eat cookies or brownies or, in this case, super-moist, insanely delicious cupcakes. What might be even more satisfying is the reaction of non-dietary-restricted people when they find out that what they’re eating is gluten- or dairy-free — generally some incredulous variation of “No way! But it’s so good!” The happy occasion for this particular round of cupcakes was a housewarming party for myself and my lovely, lactose-intolerant roommate.

Thanks to some bananas and coconut milk, these cupcakes are moist, rich, and far more delicious than any of that Magnolia Bakery or Robicelli’s crap (yeah, I said it). Save yourself the $5-per-cupcake and buy a bag of flour, some cocoa powder, and a bottle of good vanilla.

Although, while we’re on the subject of cupcakes, there is something I cannot ignore. Molly’s Cupcakes has expanded to NYC!! Molly’s is the one and only place I have ever bought expensive cupcakes that were not only better than Betty Crocker, and better than my own, but they make me swoon. I would seriously do bad things to get my hands on a Ron Bennington (who is that, anyway?), and the red velvet is just…perfect. Plus, because they’re originally from Chicago, they sell Intelligentsia coffee. (They also have a few vegan options, and a Sprinkle Station!)

But back to my cupcakes. The ones you can make for cheap in your very own kitchen. They’re easy, they’re delicious, they’ll win you brownie (haha) points with your vegan friends, and they’ll even impress your most stodgy non-vegan friends and family. It’s a win-win-win-win situation! It’s hard not to get excited.

Vegan Chocolate-Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
Makes 12 cupcakes

3/4 cup sugar
5 T Earth Balance, or other non-hydrogenized vegan butter, softened
1 t vanilla
1 banana, mushed well (the riper the better)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup soy or almond milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin with paper liners.

Combine sugar, butter and vanilla in a large bowl or mixer and blend well. Add banana, being sure to break up all chunks. In a small bowl, blend flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to sugar/butter mixture alternately with soymilk, either while the mixer is running or stirring well after each addition.

Spoon the batter into 12 lined muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes or until cupcakes spring back easily when touched lightly in the center. Allow to cool well before frosting.

Peanut Butter Fudge Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup plain soy or almond milk
1/4 cup dairy-free butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 t vanilla
dash of salt

Blend wet ingredients and salt, either in a mixer or using a whisk. Gradually add in powdered sugar until thick*. You may need a little more than 2 cups of sugar, but also remember that chilling the frosting will help it firm up. Recommended: Spoon frosting into plastic zip-top bag before chilling. When you’re ready to frost, cut a bottom corner off of the bag and pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. (Also recommended: Eating leftover frosting on graham crackers…)

Vegan Coconut Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shredded coconut, plus extra for topping
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 cup coconut milk (save the rest of the can for the frosting)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 t vanilla extract
1 t white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl or mixer, combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, and salt. Add in the remaining ingredients, adding the vinegar last. Mix until well combined.

Pour into cupcake liners and bake 25 minutes or until a tester in the center comes clean. While the oven is still on, spread about 1/2 cup of coconut on a baking sheet and toast until brown, stirring once or twice for even toasting. Allow both cupcakes and coconut to cool.

Vegan Buttercream Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar
2 T coconut milk
2 T dairy-free butter
1 t vanilla

Blend wet ingredients, either in a mixer or using a whisk. Gradually add in powdered sugar until thick*. You may need a little more than 2 cups of sugar, but, again, chilling the frosting will help it firm up. Immediately after frosting, sprinkle with toasted coconut — or dip/roll the tops in a bowl filled with coconut.

*You will notice my frosting is not what one might call “thick.” Sadly, I had procrastinated and was impatient, so not only was there not enough powdered sugar, but I also didn’t allow the cupcakes to cool fully or the frosting to chill. Luckily, they were still delicious.