The New Kitchen Cookbook (HTML)

This is an old HTML export of my recipe book from Penflip. The table of contents may look linked, but it's not.

About The New Kitchen Cookbook

My recipes were living in SpringPad when I discovered Penflip. I thought they needed a bit more organization than SpringPad was giving them (and I wanted my recipe descriptions back that SpringPad had dropped for no reason), so I decided to turn them into a real book. This is that book. The title refers to my new kitchen(s): the one I moved into when I got married and its upcoming new incarnation once our renovations are done.

I have made all the recipes in the cookbook, most of them more than once. These are all the recipes that I make frequently now; a few old recipes haven’t made it into the cookbook because it’s been so long: some Latin recipes from Cato, which are of mainly historical interest, my collection of ricotta pie and rice pudding recipes, and even my favorite recipe, Dobrada com Grão, long neglected due to the difficulty of obtaining tripe (not to mention the lack of general interest).

Using the Cookbook

Some notes about the cookbook: the recipes are all kosher, and many are non-dairy that would otherwise be dairy; they have been altered for reasons of kashrut and/or lactose intolerance. No recipes have been altered to avoid salt, fat, trans fat, white flour, or sugar. I do have a tendency to omit black pepper and to fail to peel tomatoes even when instructed to do so. (Or I comply and then eat the peels raw.) There is one intentionally gluten-free recipe; it requires a pizzelle iron.

Most of my recipes use olive oil instead of butter or other oils. When I say olive oil in a recipe, I mean extra virgin olive oil unless specified otherwise. (Some cookie recipes use pure olive oil.)

Measurements are in American, temperatures are in Fahrenheit, and spoons and cups are all level. Tablespoons are generally abbreviated T., teaspoons tsp, and cups c. Flour is fluffed (I shake up the jar), scooped, and leveled but not sifted.

Dried spices are assumed unless fresh is specified; to substitute dry for fresh, use 1/3 of the fresh amount; triple the dry amount to use fresh. I have seen advice for substituting ground spice for dried leafy spice: use half the dried amount–but usually I have both around so I don’t know how well that goes. For cardamom, the equivalence I use is 1/6 tsp ground cardamom per cardamom pod.

A few measurements are omitted, usually because of cookbooks that just said to salt or pepper to taste.

Appetizers and Snacks

Freak Out for Frico!

I saw a couple of contestants making frico out of aged cheddar on Chopped and decided to make a sampler of Parmesan, Romano, and aged cheddar fricos. They didn’t last long enough to photograph.

Directions

Grate cheese. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Arrange cheese in several piles on paper. Bake six to eight minutes at 350°.

Devilled Eggs with Capers

I spotted these at a party and thought they were much yummier with the capers. Directions: make deviled eggs; top with a few capers each.

Roasted Chickpeas

Below is the recipe I got my Moroccan Spice Mix from (see the Veggies chapter). More chickpea links: 15 More Ways to Flavor Roasted Chickpeas, a spicy chickpea recipe from Martha Stewart, and a Thanksgiving version: Roasted Chickpeas with Sage

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
  
• 1 T olive oil
  
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. Moroccan Spice Mix
  
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Rinse and dry chickpeas. Toss with other ingredients. Roast in one layer on a cookie sheet for 40 minutes.

Soup

I used to make more soup than I do now. I should get back to it since soup goes so well with winter and bread.

Most of my soup recipes are (continental) Portuguese.

Vegetarian Portuguese Kale Soup

Yet another Recipezaar recipe, #149098. Portuguese kale soup usually includes chouriço and morcela (blood pudding).

Ingredients

• 1 T. olive oil
  
• 1 T. finely chopped garlic
  
• 1/2 c. diced onion
  
• 1/2 c. diced turnip
  
• 1/2 c. diced carrot
  
• 1 bunch curly or dinosaur kale, stemmed and roughly chopped
  
• 6 ounces soy chorizo, chopped
  
• 3 bay leaves
  
• 3 T. chopped fresh parsley leaves
  
• 2 T. chopped fresh thyme leaves
  
• 6 c. vegetable stock
  
• 1 c. kidney bean
  
• 3/4 c. diced tomato (6 ounces)
  
• 2 medium potatoes, diced

Directions

In a large stockpot, fry the garlic, onions, turnips and carrots in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the kale, chorizo, bay leaves, parsley and thyme and mix well. Add the stock, beans and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. You can cook the potatose separately or with the soup.

Remove the bay leaves to serve.

Fresh Potato and Cilantro Soup

This is another Portuguese recipe (Sopa de Coentro), from Soupsong.

Ingredients

• 4 onions, chopped
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 4 T. olive oil
  
• 4 potatoes, peeled and chopped
  
• 6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  
• salt to taste
  
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
  
• 3/4 c. chopped cilantro

Directions

In a large saucepan, saute the onions and garlic in 3 T. of the oil for 5 minutes, until limp. Add the remaining oil and the potatoes. Fry for a minute. Add the stock, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and (optionally) puree.

Return the soup to the pot, season with salt and cayenne, and add the cilantro. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours. You can serve the soup cold–or reheat. Top with cilantro or chives.

Sopa de Grao

This is a recipe for Portuguese Spinach & Chickpea Soup from Recipezaar (#189046). It’s likely I made it with vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.

Ingredients

• 4 c. chickpeas (2 cans or about 1 pound of dried if you are using them)
  
• 3 or more large garlic cloves, chopped
  
• 3 large yellow onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
  
• 5 T. olive oil
  
• 2 potatoes, peeled and coparsely chopped (Yukon gold)
  
• 2 T. fresh parsley, minced
  
• 2 T. fresh cilantro, minced
  
• 1 tsp dried marjoram, crumbled
  
• 4 c. chicken or vegetable broth
  
• 3/4 lb spinach, chopped (fresh or frozen)
  
• up to 2 T. fresh lemon juice
  
• 1 1/2 tsp coarse salt (or to taste)
  
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper (or to taste)

Directions

Fry the garlic and onions in 3 tablespoons of oil at the bottom of your stockpot until translucent. Add the potatoes and fry 2 to 3 minutes. Add the herbs and cook a bit at low.

Add the broth and bring to a simmer. Add the chickpeas, cover and cook slowly for about one hour or until everything is soft.

If you like your soup to have texture, ladle out a cup or so of chick peas and set aside.
Using an immersion blender, puree the remaining soup to taste.
Add in the spinach and any reserved chickpeas and simmer 20-30 minutes.

Lastly, stir in lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and serve, hot, with crusty bread.

Bread

I’ve made many breads and bread-like things, but my favorite is no-knead bread. Why knead when you don’t have to? My no-knead source is Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. You can find the basic recipe online in the book’s blog: Master Recipe. Most of the variants I make involve substituting a cup of something else for a cup of white flour in the basic recipe: a cup of rye flour (and some caraway seed) for rye bread; half a cup of rye flour and half a cup of white flour for “peasant” bread.

Extras

Some things you may need for your bread.

Cornstarch Wash

I’m always digging for the page that has this (51), so I put it here.

Mix 1/2 tsp. cornstarch with a little water. Add 1/2 c. water and microwave 60 seconds or boil until glassy.

Caramel Coloring for Pumpernickel Bread

I understand that you can get caramel color from the King Arthur store in Vermont, but I haven’t yet. Instead, I resorted to the dangerous procedure explained below by the 5-minute bread folks, which I got from their blog. The conflicting messages about whether to decrease the liquid or increase the flour were in the original.

Directions

“Yes, caramel color can be made at home, but not as a powder—what you make will be a liquid that is added to recipes; you should decrease the liquid a bit to account for the extra. Here’s what I’ve done at home (it won’t be quite as dark a result as powdered caramel color):

“Put 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon water into a saucepan. Melt the sugar over a low flame, then increase heat to medium-high, cover, and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Add a pinch of cream of tartar and continue to boil uncovered until the mixture becomes very dark. Remove from heat and allow to cool partially.

“Very carefully, add a quarter cup of boiling water to the pan (it may sputter and water may jump out of the pan so wear gloves and keep your face away from it). Dissolve the caramelized sugar and cool to room temp. Use about a quarter-cup of this mixture in place of commercial caramel color powder in our Pumpernickel recipe on page 67.

“If you use liquid caramel coloring like this, you need to add extra flour to make up for it– about twice the volume of flour as liquid. Otherwise the dough will be too loose.”

My Variants

Semi-semolina Bread

The semolina recipe in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day warned against using non-durum semolina, but that was all I had, so I substituted 1 1/2 cups white flour for half the semolina in the recipe.

Rosemary Boule with Kalamata Olives

This is just the standard 5-minute bread recipe (see link below) using both the herb and olive bread variants. I only rolled olives into my last loaf (out of the batch of four), since I was too busy for that step with the other three. The herb variant called for 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary or 1 tsp fresh. I had extra fresh rosemary (which I chopped a bit) so I cut back on the dried thyme (from 1 tsp dried or 2 tsp fresh).

To add olives, roll the dough out, spread 1/4 cup halved olives around, and roll it back up. Use cornstarch wash instead of flour to decorate the loaf. To keep the olives from popping out of the crust, I left a big oliveless space in the rolled-out dough and folded that over the top of the rolled-up section. This did not keep them from popping out of individual slices.

Marbled Rye

I made marbled rye made from two different batches of 5-minute rye bread. I had one loaf worth of pumpernickel dough left, so I decided to make a batch of deli rye and marble them. This was complicated by the wetness of the dough and the different oven temperatures specified in the two recipes. I omitted the caraway from the deli rye dough because I thought it would be weird marbled. I omitted them from the outside of one loaf to tell it apart from an all-deli loaf I made the same day. I found some marbling advice online.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb pumpernickel dough
  
• 1/2 lb deli rye dough (without caraway seed)
  
• flour for dusting
  
• water for brushing
  
• cornstarch wash
  
• caraway seeds for sprinkling (optional)

Directions

Make two batches of five-minute bread: pumpernickel (p. 67 in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day) and deli rye (p. 58). You only need half a loaf from each (about 1/2 lb or 1/2 grapefruit). I’d recommend refrigerating the pumpernickel overnight, if not both of them.

Cut each half-loaf in half again. Roll out on a pastry board using plenty of flour.

Starting with a deli-rye piece at the bottom, wet its top with a pastry brush and stack them up, alternating colors and wetting each top, including the last pumpernickel.

Roll up. Roll the roll, connecting its ends. Keeping the ends on the bottom, shape the loaf into an oval. Place on a piece of parchment paper. Let rise for an hour.

Preheat the oven (with the bread stone and steam pan) for 20 minutes at 425°. Brush the loaf with cornstarch wash (p. 51). Optionally, sprinkle with caraway seeds. Slash the loaf crosswise (see picture).

Place in oven and add 1 c. hot water to the steam pan. Bake 40 minutes, removing the parchment paper halfway through. Cool on a wire rack.

Since your remaining dough is now missing half a loaf, you may want to do this all again.

Master Healthy Recipe

I don’t have the sequel, Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, but I did have some vital wheat gluten so I found the healthy Master Recipe online (not to mention their chocolate whole wheat “cupcake” recipe). It turned out I didn’t have as much wheat flour as I thought around, so I only made half the recipe. I also corrected the salt back to pre-healthy levels, and the water back to cornstarch wash (since I still had some around from my last batch of rye). The directions are for a normal free-form loaf; there are some vague instructions in the comments and elsewhere for baking in a loaf pan.

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
  
• 1 c. white flour
  
• 3/4 T. granulated yeast
  
• 3/4 T. Kosher salt
  
• 2 T. vital wheat gluten (flour)
  
• 2 c. lukewarm water
  
• 1 T. mixed seeds for crust: sesame, caraway or anise, poppy, etc.

Directions

Making healthy bread is slightly different from the original 5-minute version. The authors recommend mixing all the dry ingredients together before adding the water, cutting the dough chunk off with a serrated knife instead of ripping, letting the loaf sit for 90 minutes under plastic wrap before baking (40 minutes for unrefrigerated loaves), and preheating the stone in the oven for 30 minutes. Otherwise, the process is just like unhealthy 5-minute bread: brush the rested loaf with cornstarch wash (or water), sprinkle with seeds, slash, and bake with steam for 30 minutes at 450°.

Makes two loaves; the dough keeps in the refrigerator for two weeks.

Yes-Knead Challah

I’ve made the challah no-knead recipe, and I’ve also made the challah recipe in The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden. I usually cut them both down to 2 loaves for convenience. In the latter I also altered the flour (for reasons that were not penciled in) and found an actual poppy measurement, as follows.

Ingredients

• 1 T. yeast
  
• 1 1/8 c. bread-temperature water
  
• 1/4 c. sugar or honey
  
• 2 eggs plus half an egg for the top
  
• 1/2 T. salt
  

• 1/4 c. oil

• 4 c. flour
  
• 3/4 c. raisins (optional)
  

• 1/2 T. poppy or sesame seeds (optional)

Directions

Mix everything but the flour, raisins, and seeds well. Add flour gradually. Knead 15 minutes. Put in an oiled bowl and flip. Cover with plastic wrap. Let double (2-3 hours), punch down, add optional raisins, knead, divide into two, and shape. To shape, form into one or three ropes and coil up (one) from the end or braid (three) from the middle. Let rise another hour on an oiled cookie sheet or on parchment paper. Brush with the half egg and sprinkle with optional seeds. Bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes.

Artisan Bread Index

The original version of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day didn’t have a useful index of which breads could be made from which doughs, and I couldn’t find one online either, so I compiled my own. The page numbers are in parentheses. The variants must be mixed up separately. I’ve left out the non-bread recipes for now, since I usually ignore them. (I don’t know what changed in the revised version; I haven’t seen it in person.)

BOULE (26)

baguette (32), batard (36), ciabatta (37), couronne (39), crusty white sandwich loaf (43), olive bread (51), caramelized onion and herb dinner rolls (108), sun-dried tomato and parmesan bread (112), pizzas (135, 137, 138), spinach and cheese calzone (142), Philadelphia Stromboli with sausage (144), pissaladière (148), focaccia with onion and rosemary (150), olive fougasse (152), fougasse stuffed with roasted red pepper (154), za’atar flatbread (161), pita (163), lavash (168), naan (173), sticky pecan caramel rolls (187)

Variants: herb bread (31), pain d’epi (41), soft American-style white bread (204)

EUROPEAN PEASANT BREAD (46)

olive bread (51), caramelized onion and herb dinner rolls (108), sun-dried tomato and parmesan bread (112), pizzas (135, 137, 138), spinach and cheese calzone (142), Philadelphia Stromboli with sausage (144), pissaladière (148), focaccia with onion and rosemary (150), olive fougasse (152), fougasse stuffed with roasted red pepper (154), za’atar flatbread (161), pita (163), lavash (168), naan (173)

Variants: bran-enriched white bread (72), English granary-style bread (91), oat flour bread (104), Aunt Melissa’s granola bread (114)

Rye

DELI-STYLE RYE (58): caraway swirl rye (61), onion rye (63)
PUMPERNICKEL (67): onion rye (63), pumpernickel date and walnut bread (70)

Variants: limpa (65), Eastern European potato rye bread (120), flatbrød (176)

LIGHT WHITE WHOLE WHEAT (74)

olive bread (51), sun-dried tomato and parmesan bread (112), pizzas (135, 137, 138), spinach and cheese calzone (142), Philadelphia Stromboli with sausage (144), pissaladière (148), focaccia with onion and rosemary (150), olive fougasse (152), fougasse stuffed with roasted red pepper (154), za’atar flatbread (161), pita (163), lavash (168), naan (173)

Variants: 100% whole wheat sandwich bread (76), whole wheat sandwich bread inspired by Chris Kimball (78)

Other Grains

ITALIAN SEMOLINA (80): olive bread (51), sun-dried tomato and parmesan bread (112), pizzas (135, 137, 138), spinach and cheese calzone (142), Philadelphia Stromboli with sausage (144), pissaladière (148), focaccia with onion and rosemary (150), olive fougasse (152), fougasse stuffed with roasted red pepper (154), za’atar flatbread (161), pita (163), lavash (168), naan (173)

BROA (82): yeasted Thanksgiving corn bread with cranberries (86), spicy pork buns (88)

OATMEAL BREAD (94): raisin-walnut oatmeal bread (98), apricot-walnut oatmeal bread (99)
OATMEAL PUMPKIN BREAD (100): oatmeal pumpkin seed bread (102)

VERMONT CHEDDAR BREAD (106): caramelized onion and herb dinner rolls (108)
Variants: spinach feta bread (110)

ROASTED GARLIC POTATO BREAD (118)
Variants: Eastern European potato rye bread (120)

Bagels and pretzels

BAGELS (122): bialys (125), soft pretzels (127)
Variants: Montreal bagels (129)

OLIVE OIL (134)

olive bread (51), sun-dried tomato and parmesan bread (112), pizzas (135, 137, 138), spinach and cheese calzone (142), Philadelphia Stromboli with sausage (144), prosciutto and olive oil flatbread (146), pissaladière (148), focaccia with onion and rosemary (150), olive fougasse (152), fougasse stuffed with roasted red pepper (154), za’atar flatbread (161), lavash (168)

Variants: tapenade bread (55), sweet Provençal flatbread with anise seeds (157), pine nut-studded polenta flatbread (159), Moroccan anise and barley flatbread (170)

Sweet breads

(Sweet breads yet to come…)

Toppings and insides

Cornstarch wash (51), tapenade (55), granola (116)

Quick Breads

Pancakes & Crepes

Blueberry Yogurt Pancakes

This is the recipe we came up with after not finding anything particularly helpful online about substituting yogurt for buttermilk. (The Internet did tell me that yogurt juice is actually whey; I kept it for the tartness, but it’s also good for you.) We started from the Buttermilk Pancakes recipe in The Joy of Cooking, and used Stonyfield Farms whole milk French Vanilla yogurt, and a few too many frozen blueberries, defrosted.

Ingredients

• 1 c. flour
  
• 1 tsp. sugar
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1 c. yogurt milk or buttermilk
  
• 1/2 T. (1 1/2 tsp.) oil
  
• 1/2 c. blueberries

Directions

To make yogurt milk: pour any whey off the top of the yogurt into a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Add yogurt until you reach about 1/2 c. (If you’re using whole fat yogurt, avoid any separated fat.) Stir. Add rice milk (or other milk) to get up to 1 cup at buttermilk consistency.

To use instant buttermilk: add the powder with the dry ingredients and the water with the wet ingredients.

Mix dry ingredients. Butter and heat griddle. Beat egg. Add egg and oil to yogurt milk. Mix wet mixture into dry slightly. Mix in blueberries until just mixed. Scoop batter into pancakes of about 3 1/2" diameter and cook on both sides. Bubbling may not happen. Try to keep the griddle from overheating between batches.

Non-dairy Pancakes

This is another Recipezaar recipe (#35161) that I used to make, but that has mostly been supplanted by the dairy pancakes above. I cut it down to two-person size and switched from margarine to oil.

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. cornmeal
  
• 1/2 c. soymilk or rice milk
  
• 1 egg
  
• 2 T. oil
  
• 1/3 tsp. salt
  
• 2 T. sugar
  
• 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
  
• 1/2 c. white flour
  
• 2 tsp baking powder

Directions

Soften the cornmeal in some of the liquid. Preheat the griddle.

Beat together the eggs, remaining liquid, oil, and salt.
Mix in the cornmeal mixture and dry ingredients. If not pourable, adjust as needed by adding liquid.

Grease the griddle. Use 1/4 c. batter per pancake. Cook until bubbly with an edge, then flip.

Crepes

I used to make a lot of crepes, back when I kept milk in the house and had a couple of good pans for them.

Ingredients

• 1 c. unbleached flour
  
• 1 T. sugar
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 1 c. milk
  
• 1/3 c. water
  
• 3 eggs
  
• 3 T. butter, melted

Directions

Mix dry ingredients. Blend in wet ingredients.

Heat ungreased non-stick 7 inch skillet. Pour in batter 3 T. at a time. Tilt pan. Cook until light brown (30-45 seconds) then flip and cook 15 seconds more.

Cooked crepes may be refrigerated up to 2 days.

Loaves

Non-dairy Cornbread

I got this recipe from The Joy of Kosher site. I’m guessing I substituted oil for the margarine when I made it, but I may have used Crisco. I never have margarine around.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cornmeal
  
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
  
• 1/2 tsp Salt
  
• 1/4–1/3 cup sugar
  
• 1 Egg
  
• 1 cup soymilk
  
• 1/4 cup margarine

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°. Mix dry ingredients. Add in remaining ingredients. Don’t overmix. Pour into a greased 8 inch square pan. Bake 20-25 minutes.

Muffins

Bran Muffins for Mom

This is a slight alteration of “Raisin Bran Muffins That Work,” Recipezaar recipe #73061, that my mother likes. I made it non-dairy. I’ve only made the blueberry version once or twice. I also made a diced pear version once.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
  
• 1 c. soy milk
  
• 1/2 c. canola oil
  
• 1/4 c. molasses
  
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
  
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  
• 1 1/2 c. wheat bran
  
• 1 1/2 c. flour
  
• 3/4 tsp. salt
  
• 2 tsp. baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  
• 1 c. raisins (or blueberries, diced pear, etc.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400° F. Beat wet ingredients and sugar. Add bran and let sit 5 minutes. Dust raisins with rye or white flour. Mix other dry ingredients in separate bowl. Add flour mixture to bran mixture and stir gently. Add raisins. Fill 12 muffin cups. Bake 20 minutes.

Banana Cranberry Muffins

This one is from allrecipes, also cut down to about 9 muffins.

Ingredients

1 c. fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. water

1/3 c. sugar
1/6 c. shortening
1 eggs
7/8 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 c. mashed ripe banana
1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Directions

Boil cranberries in water with 1/2 c. sugar. Simmer uncovered 5-7 minutes or until berries start to pop. Drain and set aside.

Cream shortening and remaining sugar. Add egg and beat. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; add to mixture along with banana.

Fold in cranberries and nuts.

Bake muffins at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until the toothpick test. Cool in pan 5 minutes then on wire racks.

Carrot Spice Muffins

This is another Recipezaar recipe, #98447, cut down and otherwise adapted for my purposes.

Ingredients

• 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
  
• 1/4 c. white flour
  
• 2/3 tsp baking soda
  
• 2/3 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/3 tsp salt (optional)
  
• 1/3 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  
• 1/4 tsp ground clove
  
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
  
• 1/8 tsp allspice
  
• 3 1/2 T. honey or brown sugar
  
• 2/3 egg
  
• 1/3 c. buttermilk, yogurt, or soy milk with lemon juice
  
• 3 1/2 T. oil, melted butter, or applesauce
  
• 1/3 tsp vanilla
  
• 1 c. grated carrot
  
• 1/3 c. raisins
  
• 1/3 c. chopped nuts or coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°.
Mix flour, leavening, and spices.
Separately, mix remaining ingredients. Stir the mixtures together until just moistened.
Bake about 15 minutes, or to the toothpick test.

Savory Zucchini Muffins

This recipe is derived from Lucini’s Savory Zucchini Bread, a 9x5 loaf, but I’ve only made it as muffins. I also added currants, non-white flour, and some extra spices, but never the Parmesan.

When I’m making savory muffins I don’t usually use muffin cups; I have a non-stick muffin tin.

Ingredients

• 1 c. chopped walnuts
  
• 1/2 c. currants
  
• 3 eggs
  
• 1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 tsp for oiling the muffin pan
  
• 1/3 c. soy milk with vinegar or buttermilk
  
• 2-3 medium zucchini, shredded (about 1 1/2 c. or 12 oz.)
  
• 1 1/2 c. total mixed white, whole wheat, and rye flour
  
• 1/3 c. dark brown sugar
  
• 1/2 T. (1 1/2 tsp) baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
  
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  
• 1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease muffin tin. Toast nuts 6-8 minutes.

Whisk together eggs, oil and milk. Mix in zucchini and currants. Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt and spices in large bowl. Add wet mixture to dry, stirring to just dampen. Add optional Parmesan.

Spoon into muffin tin. Bake in middle of oven 25-35 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then remove and cool on wire rack. The original recipe suggests refrigerating overnight.

Vegetables

The best thing to do with vegetables is to fry them in olive oil and lots of garlic. If for some reason that won’t do, I’ve included some other things you can do with them.

Fresh Green Vegetables

Broccolini

This recipe is from Mann’s.

Ingredients

• 2 bunches broccolini, trimmed to 4 inch stalks
  
• 1/4 c. sultanas or golden raisins
  
• 1/2 c. white wine
  
• 1/4 c. pine nuts, toasted
  
• chili flakes
  
• olive oil
  
• salt & pepper

Directions

Blanch broccolini and set aside. Plump sultanas in white wine.

In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil and add broccolini, pine nuts, sultanas and chili flakes. Sauté until heated through. Salt & pepper to taste.

Serves 4.

Broccoli Rabe or Rapini

Chop, separate into stems and tops/leaves. Cook the stems partway in garlic and olive oil, then add the rest.

Fiddleheads

Ignore the warnings and just fry these puppies in oil or butter. (Wash them first.)

Spinach

Ingredients

• handful pine nuts (optional)
  
• olive oil
  
• 3-5 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
  
• balsamic, wine, rice, or cider vinegar
  
• lots of fresh spinach
  
• raisins or currants (optional)

Directions

Optionally, toast the pine nuts in a dry saute pan. Set aside.

Fry the garlic in the olive oil. Add vinegar (less if you had to wash the spinach or it was frozen). Cook the spinach, adding it in batches if necessary. Add more vinegar as necessary.

Mix in optional pine nuts and/or raisins.

Roasted Vegetables

Roasted Cauliflower

This started as an Epicurious recipe from back when roasting cauliflower was all the rage. I made a few additions and changed the temperature and times beyond recognition.

Ingredients

• 1 medium cauliflower head cut into florets (2 1/2 to 3 pounds or 8 cups chopped)
  
• 2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
  
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed, and/or some sliced shallots
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• turmeric to taste

Directions

Toss all ingredients in a large bowl. Spread in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan.
Roast at 425°, stirring occasionally, for about an hour or until golden brown.

Winter Squash

These are here so I don’t have to google the directions every time I make them. Cut them all in half first.

Acorn Squash

Bake cut side up, filled with butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, etc., at 375° for 1 hour.

Butternut Squash

Bake cut side down at 375° for 1 hour.

Spaghetti Squash

Bake cut side down at 375° for 30-40 minutes.

Moroccan Spice Mix

This is good for putting on frozen vegetables or roasted chickpeas.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. ground cumin
  
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
  
• 1/2 tsp. chile powder
  
• 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika
  
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  
• 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
  
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
  
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
  
• a pinch ground cloves

Salads

Chickpea Salad with Fennel, Tomatoes and Olives

I got this recipe from my sister, who annotated it. Further dialog is from her, with some edits for capitalization and the like.

Dressing

(I usually double the dressing.)

• 1 T red wine vinegar
  
• 1 clove minced garlic
  
• 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
  
• pepper (yeah, right)
  
• 3 T olive oil

Add first four ingredients to bowl, whisk then whisk in olive oil. (I throw all in a small jar and shake.)

Salad

• 2 c. cooked or canned chickpeas - rinsed (I use one can - the small chickpeas if you can find them)
  
• 1 small fennel bulb, halved vertically (remove hard core at bottom of bulb) then thinly sliced. Reserve sprigs for garnish. (I skip the garnish.)
  
• 2 ripe tomatoes, diced
  
• 10 black olives (pitted and halved)
  
• 1/2 c. thinly sliced red onion
  
• 1/3 c. chopped fresh parsley (I skip this too; I have issues with parsley)

Toss all (except sprigs) in dressing; cover and let marinate in refrigerator 4 hours.

Serve with french bread and goat cheese or
with tuna or salmon (but not both ’cause that would be nasty).

Cucumber Salad

This is Peter’s recipe that we brought to a potluck. Quantities are approximate.

Directions

Mix 3 sliced cucumbers, 2/3 lb sour cream, and 4 T. wine vinegar.

Tomato and Watermelon Salad

This is a yummy Epicurious recipe.

Ingredients

• 3-4 small to medium colorful heirloom tomatoes, cored and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
  
• 1 small English or regular cucumber, peeled, and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
  
• 1 cup 3/4-inch-cubed yellow or red seedless watermelon
  
• 1 Hass avocado, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
  
• 1 T. chopped mixed fresh herbs: basil, tarragon, chives, and/or cilantro
  
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander (seed)
  
• 3 T. extra virgin olive oil
  
• 3 T. aged balsamic vinegar
  
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Whisk the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Mix other ingredients together, then dress with the mixture.

Grape Tomato and Avocado Salad

This is a Recipezaar recipe (#262142) similar to the previous one but simpler.

Ingredients

• 3 T. olive oil
  
• 1 1/2 tsp white vinegar
  
• kosher salt
  
• fresh ground black pepper
  
• 2 ripe avocados, cut into chunks
  
• 12 ounces grape tomatoes, halved
  
• 1/4 c. very thinly sliced red onion
  
• 1 sprig fresh thyme leaves

Directions

Whisk together oil and vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss with remaining ingredients. Season to taste.

Rice

Rice Salad

This is one of my favorite recipes, but I don’t make it very often because of the variety of cans of stuff required. I adapted it from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden, mainly by upping my favorite ingredients and making others optional.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. long-grain rice
  
• 6 T. olive oil
  
• 4 T. white wine vinegar
  
• 16 black olives
  
• 3 T. capers
  
• a small or medium jar of quartered marinated artichoke hearts
  
• 1 or 2 2 oz. cans of anchovies, chopped
  
• 1 or 2 small cans of tuna, preferably preserved in oil, flaked (optional)
  
• 16 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved if large
  
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Make the rice as usual but in extra water, then drain. Dress with liquids and spices while hot. Mix in remaining ingredients. Serve hot or cold.

Stuffed Peppers

This one is also adapted from The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden.

Ingredients

• 6 bell peppers

• 1 large onion, diced
  
• 6 T. olive oil, divided
  
• 1 1/4 c. Arborio rice
  
• 2 c. water
  
• 1 tsp. sugar
  
• 1 tsp. salt
  
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
  
• 1/4 tsp. allspice (optional)
  
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
  

• 1/4 tsp. ground clove (optional)

• 3 T. pine nuts
  
• 1/4 c. raisins or currants
  
• 1 large tomato, chopped, or 1 T. tomato paste
  
• 2 tsp. mint
  
• 3 T. fresh dill or parsley, chopped
  

• 2-3 T. lemon juice

Directions

Fry the onion in half the oil. Add the rice and fry to transparency as in risotto. Add water, sugar, and dried spices (except mint). Cook covered for 15 minutes. (Rice will be underdone.) Meanwhile, cut the caps off the bell peppers (keeping them) and clean out the peppers. Set peppers aside.

Take the rice off the heat and mix in the remaining ingredients. Fill the peppers with the stuffing, replace the caps, and arrange them upright in a baking dish. Put a scant inch of water in the bottom of the dish and bake at 375° for 45-55 minutes.

Roz bil Shaghria

This is an Arab recipe from Claudia Roden; it’s just rice dressed up with some toasted vermicelli. American vermicelli is about halfway between spaghetti and capellini (angel hair); Italian vermicelli is thicker than spaghetti. I have no idea what size shaghria (a.k.a. she’reya) is, but it’s a forgiving recipe so just use whatever you have around. Onion is a common additions, but I don’t use it here.

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. vermicelli
  
• 2 T. sunflower or canola oil
  
• 1 1/4 c. basmati or other long-grain rice
  
• 3 c. water
  
• 1 tsp. salt
  
• 1/4 tsp. saffron or turmeric (technically optional)

Directions

Break up the vermicelli to desired size. (It’s supposed to be an inch but I prefer them longer.) Toast them in a dry frying pan or in the oven, stirring frequently. Set aside.

Fry the rice in the oil as for risotto. Add the toasted vermicelli and remaining ingredients, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest five minutes. Serve hot.

Risotto

Risotto is more a style than a recipe; I have a favorite risotto style that I made up myself. If you don’t know what you’re doing, though, I suggest starting with a basic mushroom & cheese risotto recipe (not included), instead of the no-cheese options below. Do not substitute anything American for the rice unless you know it works; use Italian arborio rice.

You also need a good pan: either enameled cast iron or a heavy-bottomed stainless steel pan works best. If you don’t have one, you had better know what you’re doing. My risotto pan is a somewhat wok-shaped enameled pan from Mario Batali that works well (but that I don’t think they make anymore)–you can see it in some of the pasta pictures.

You don’t have to use fresh stock; I have used cubes as well as some nice organic powdered stocks. Better Than Boullion is also good.

Saffron Risotto

This is a basic no-cheese risotto from Claudia Roden, which I cut down by a third.

Ingredients

• 1 c. Arborio rice
  
• 2 T. olive oil
  
• 2 2/3 c. chicken stock
  
• 1/3 c. white wine
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 1/3 tsp. saffron (powder or threads)
  
• extras: mushrooms fried in some garlic

Directions

Start the stock boiling in a small pot on another burner.

In your good risotto pan, fry the rice in the oil until (somewhat) transparent. Rather than the eternal night of the risotto (see the next recipe), you can cheat and add all the liquid at once. Simmer for 20-25 minutes, adding the saffron (and optional mushrooms) late but while there’s still liquid to dissolve it.

Tempeh Risotto

I like this one because it can be anything you want it to be: vegan, fowly, cheesy, etc. Tempeh holds up to cooking the whole time (most risotto ingredients need to be added late in the process), and if it happens to fall apart then it looks just like the rest of the risotto and nobody knows. You can toss extra stuff into this recipe, too.

Ingredients

• olive oil
  
• 1 large leek, medium shallot, or small onion, chopped
  
• 1-3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced (optional)
  
• 1/2 slab tempeh (LightLife or Trader Joe’s organic tempeh are the right size)
  
• 1 c. arborio, carnaroli, or vialone nano rice
  
• 1/4 c. white wine (optional)
  
• 2 c. or more chicken or vegetable stock
  
• water to supplement the broth–if you need to soak or blanch an extra, use that water.
  
• 1/3 c. grated parmesan or romano cheese (optional)
  
• extras: peas, chopped asparagus, mushrooms, basil, etc. (optional)

Directions

Start the stock and water (at least 3 cups total) boiling in a small pot on another burner.

If you are using an extra like mushrooms that needs some cooking outside of the risotto, fry them in the risotto pan first, then remove. (Leave any juices behind for the risotto.)

In your good risotto pan, fry the onion-like thing in olive oil at medium heat until (somewhat) transparent.
Add garlic and fry briefly.
Chop tempeh into small cubes and add to onions. Fry as patients permits; I have occasionally gotten them to look crispy.

Add more oil if it’s disappeared.
Add rice and fry a few minutes until transparent.
Optionally, add wine and fry away.

Now begins the eternal night of the risotto. Add a small amount of broth to the rice and cook it off. Keep doing this until the rice is done. This will take about half an hour; you should add your extras in time for them to get enough cooking or warming up on this schedule.

If you run low on broth and the rice is still too hard, add more broth or water to the broth pot. Chicken stock can take some dilution; vegetable stock should probably be supplemented with more vegetable stock, which is simple to do with the powdered stuff or concentrate.

Leave a little broth in the rice at the end to keep it fairly loose. If you have leftover broth, save it for reheating any leftover risotto.

Pasta

Pasta sides and one-pot pasta meals. Meat sauces can be found in the Meat chapter.

Orzo

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp. olive oil
  
• 1/2 lb. orzo
  
• 2 cups chicken broth
  
• handful of pine nuts (optional)

Directions

1. Heat broth in a small pot.
   
2. Toast pine nuts in dry sauce pan. Remove.
   
3. Add oil to the pan and toast orzo in it.
   
4. Add broth gradually, as with risotto.

Orecchiette with Anchovy Sauce

This recipe is derived from Bigoli in Salsa all’Ebraica con Acciuga from The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Rodin. I cut back on the anchovies (by half), but it’s still a lot of anchovies for non-Italians. I usually forget or skip the pepper. I have never chopped the capers as instructed in the original recipe; maybe capers are bigger in Italy.

Ingredients

• 1 lb orecchiette, preferably whole wheat
  
• 3 T. extra virgin olive oil
  
• 2-3 2 oz. cans anchovy fillets in oil
  
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 1 bunch Italian (flat-leafed) parsley, chopped
  
• a handful of capers
  
• pepper to taste

Directions

Boil pasta with a dash of salt and drain. In a saucepan, heat garlic in oil just until the aroma rises. Add anchovies with their oil and stir until they dissolve a bit. Freshen pasta and mix with the sauce in a large bowl (or in the sauce pan, if it’s large enough). Add parsley, pepper, and capers. Serve hot or cold.

Puttanesca

This recipe is from Wikibooks, and so licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Ingredients

Full Recipe

• 6 T. olive oil
  
• 2 medium onions
  
• 4 cloves garlic
  
• 4 oz anchovy fillets
  
• 1 T. capers
  
• 1-3 fresh or dried hot peppers, deseeded and finely chopped
  
• 16 large pitted black olives
  
• 2 lbs plum tomatoes, diced
  
• 1 tsp salt (plus more for pasta water)
  
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  
• 2 T. finely chopped parsley
  
• 1 box spaghetti or linguine

Half Recipe

• 3 T. olive oil
  
• 1 medium onion
  
• 2 cloves garlic
  
• 2 oz anchovy fillets
  
• 1/2 T. capers
  
• 1 fresh or dried hot pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
  
• 8 large pitted black olives
  
• 1 lbs plum tomatoes, diced
  
• 1/2 tsp salt (plus more for pasta water)
  
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  
• 2 T. finely chopped parsley
  
• half a box of spaghetti or linguine

Directions

Boil water for pasta.

Dice onions and garlic. Quarter olives. Rinse capers.

Fry onions in half the oil in skillet for 8-10 minutes. Add garlic and anchovies. Cook for one minute maximum, stirring to break up the anchovies.

Add capers, chili peppers, olives, diced tomatoes, pepper and salt to skillet. Bring to a boil then simmer uncovered 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Also boil the pasta.

Taste the sauce. Add more salt if necessary, then drain pasta and add to skillet. Toss on low with remaining olive oil. Top with parsley and serve hot.

Italian chop suey

This is another recipe for Peter; I still believe that ground beef belongs in meatballs.

Ingredients

• 1 onion
  
• 1 bell pepper
  
• 6 cloves garlic
  
• 1 lb ground beef
  
• 1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
  
• some tomato sauce or tomato paste
  
• 1/4 cup cooking wine
  
• 1 lb curly pasta
  
• salt
  
• pepper
  
• sugar
  
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
  
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
  
• 1 tsp cumin
  
• 1 tsp paprika
  
• oregano
  
• basil

Directions

Sauté the onion, green pepper, and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add the beef and remaining spices and brown. Add the tomatoes and wine. Simmer to taste. Parboil the pasta and add to the meat. Simmer al dente.

Meat

Beef

Fake Bolognese Sauce

I’ve never been a fan of Bolognese sauce (ground beef belongs in meatballs) but Peter likes it so we threw some together. It turned out to be easy and pretty yummy.

Ingredients

• 2 T. olive oil
  
• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 3-5 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 1 lb ground beef
  
• 2 cubes frozen basil (2 tsp.)
  
• red pepper flakes to taste
  
• 1 jar mild commercial sauce (or equivalent amount of canned tomato sauce)

Directions

Fry onions in olive oil in a cast iron pan. Add garlic. Add ground beef and brown. Drain off some fat, if you’re that sort of person. Add basil and red pepper. Add sauce and heat through. Serve over pasta.

Meatballs

This was once the family meatball recipe. It may have been through some telephone or dumbing down before it came to me. In addition, I removed some ground pork and Romano cheese, and added onion and an extra egg.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
  
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• 1 tsp dried parsley
  
• 2 eggs, beaten
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 1/4 tsp pepper
  
• olive oil

Directions

Brown the onion about 8 minutes in olive oil. Add the garlic for another minute. Remove onion and garlic from oil and put in a bowl with remaining ingredients. (Leave the pan on the heat.) Mix well. Roll into meatballs about 1 inch in diameter.

Brown on all sides in pan.

Finish cooking meatballs either in oil or in sauce.

Meat Sauce

This is the sauce that goes with the meatballs. More than a pound of meat can overwhelm the sauce, but it will still cook and be yummy. Served with rigatoni in the picture.

Ingredients

• olive oil
  
• 1 lb Italian sausage, meatballs, and/or chicken pieces
  
• 1/2 c. chopped onion
  
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 1 large (2 lb 3 oz) can tomatoes
  
• 2/3 of a small (6 oz) can of tomato paste
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1 tsp oregano or to taste

Directions

Brown the meat in the oil (or continue in the pan from my meatball recipe). Remove the meat and brown the onions in the remaining fat. Add the garlic. Return the meat to the pan. Add tomatoes. If you drained whole tomatoes, make up for the liquid with 1/2 c. water. Mix in the tomato paste. Add seasonings. Cook for at least one hour.

Meatloaf for Passover

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. ground beef or ground turkey
  
• 1 onion
  
• 1 clove garlic
  
• 1/2 green bell pepper
  
• 2 matzot crushed or 1 c. matzah farfel
  
• 1 tsp. salt
  
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
  
• 1 egg, beaten
  
• 3 T. water

spices to taste: basil, cumin, coriander, mustard, paprika, cayenne pepper

Directions

Mix all of the above together. Put into either a Teflon or glass meatloaf pan. Cook for 1 hour in a preheated 350° - 375° oven.

Beef and Bean Chili

I cut this recipe roughly in half with my cupboard in mind, so I waffled on the water and ended up leaving it out. I used pinto beans, stewed tomatoes, and a mix of hot peppers I had around the house (2 hot peppers, 2 pepperoncini and one dried chili piquin). I also added a dash of Morrocan spice mix. I tossed in the salt when it was convenient; there’s no reason to delay it for canned beans. I made corn bread (this time with all white flour) to replace the corn chips.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
  
• 1 large onion, chopped (1 c.)
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1-2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped
  
• 1 T. chili powder
  
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
  
• 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
  
• 1/4 c. water, optional
  
• 1 15-16 ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  
• 2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
  
• 1/2 ounce semisweet chocolate, chopped
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 2 cups corn chips

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven brown beef over medium heat; drain off fat. Add onions, garlic, and peppers to pan; cook about 5 minutes or until almost tender. Add the chili powder and cumin; cook for 1 minute, until fragrant. Add tomato sauce and water; bring to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.
   
2. Mash one-third of the beans. Stir all beans into chili. Return to simmering; cook about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the chopped cilantro, chocolate and salt until chocolate is melted. Serve topped with corn chips.

Poultry

Chicken

Chicken is good base on which to express my cooking principle that everything is better with coriander.

Roasted Whole Chicken

I roast chicken according to the 1942 Good Housekeeping Cookbook: 50 minutes per pound at 325°, covered with a greased cheesecloth (or just a bit of oil, if you don’t mind spattering the whole oven with chicken grease). Cut out 7 minutes per pound for chickens over 4 lbs., and 14 per pound for chickens over 5 lbs.

You’re supposed to use a wire rack in the roasting pan; if I ever acquire one I’ll try it that way.

Chicken Cacciatore

I got this recipe from Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen, by Joyce Goldstein, but it’s also available online. The changes I tend to make are using whole, unpitted oil-cured olives in place of the chopped pitted ones (from a similar recipe in another cookbook), onions, and/or random quantities of dried spices in place of the fresh ones.

Ingredients

• 3-to-4-pound fryer chicken, cut into serving pieces
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste [nooooo!]
  
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1/3 cup pitted black olives, coarsely chopped
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage, plus extra for garnish (optional)
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, plus extra for garnish (optional)
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil, plus extra for garnish (optional)
  
• 1/2 cup dry red wine

Directions

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Warm the olive oil in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the chicken pieces and saute until golden on all sides. Add the olives, garlic, tomatoes and sage, rosemary and basil (if using). Cover, reduce heat to low and cook until the chicken is tender, about 25 minutes. Uncover the pan and add the red wine. Raise the heat to high and cook rapidly to reduce the pan juices. Adjust the seasonings. Transfer to a large warmed platter and sprinkle with more fresh herbs, if desired. Serve at once.

Turkey Chicken

“Turkey Chicken” a.k.a. “Fake Turkey” is a turkey drumstick recipe that I make with chicken drumsticks instead. The original recipe was “Pot-Roasted Turkey Drumsticks” from The Italian Jewish Kitchen by Edda Servi Machlin. Other alterations to the recipe involve drastic shortening of the marinating period, significantly less oil, and boiling during the simmering step. I usually cut the recipe in half. Once, I served it with spaghetti squash.

Directions

Roll 3 1/2 to 4 pounds of chicken legs in a mixture of 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1 teaspoon dried sage, a dash of nutmeg, and 1-3 crushed garlic cloves. I do this all in a big tupperware container, then pour on about a third of a cup of olive oil. Marinate until you’re hungry or out of time, then brown them.

Cook at medium heat, stirring frequently, for 20 more minutes. Add half a cup of white cooking wine. Reduce until you’re really hungry, then serve.

Turkey Chicken for a Crowd

I multiplied my turkey chicken recipe by three for a big Seder and baked it instead of frying.

Ingredients

• 10-12 lbs. small chicken pieces (legs, thighs, etc.)
  
• olive oil
  
• 3 T salt
  
• 1 T dried rosemary
  
• 1 T dried sage
  
• 1 T dried marjoram
  
• 3-6 chopped garlic cloves
  
• 1/2 c. white vermouth

Directions

Mix the salt, garlic, and spices. Roll the chicken in the mixture. Pack well in a container or plastic bag and coat with olive oil. Marinate for an hour or more in the fridge. Brown in a frying pan. Bake in large baking dish at 475 degrees until done–about 45 minutes.

Roasted Chicken Quarters with Butternut Squash

This is the first recipe I entered directly into Penflip. It’s a combination of various baked chicken/squash recipies Google spit out, along with a Moroccan chicken and squash stew. It was inspired by a two pound package of diced butternut squash from Costco.

Ingredients

• 3 chicken back quarters
  
• 1 lb diced butternut squash
  
• 8 cloves garlic, unpeeled
  
• 1/2 c. walnuts (optional)
  
• olive oil
  
• 3/4 tsp salt
  
• 1 tsp cumin
  
• 1 tsp coriander (or 1 T. fresh cilantro)
  
• 1/2 tsp paprika
  
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
  
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/4 tsp ginger
  
• 1/4 tsp ground clove
  
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions

1. Mix spices. Rub chicken with oil and some of the spice. Lay out in a baking dish skin side up.
   
2. Coat squash with oil and remaining spice, and mix in walnuts. Scatter squash-walnut mixture among chicken.
   
3. Optionally, cover and refrigerate until dinnertime.
   
4. Bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes or until done.

Turkey

Turkey Scaloppini

This recipe was adapted from Scaloppini di Tacchino Rebecca in Cucina Ebraica by Joyce Goldstein. I cut back on the wine and added specific measurements for the flour mixture. The recipe allows chicken breast meat instead, but I haven’t tried that yet. I tossed in some leftover flour mixture rather than thickening the sauce longer, but it’s still more liquid than you’d expect.

Ingredients

• 1 lb turkey tenders scant
  
• 1/4 c. flour
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
  
• other spices to taste
  
• 2 T. olive oil scant
  
• 1/4 c. chopped parsley
  
• scant 1/4 c. chopped scallion
  
• 2/3 c. white wine
  
• scant 2 T. lemon juice

Directions

If turkey tenders are much more than 2/3" thick, slice to 2/3" thickness. Place between sheets of plastic wrap and beat with a meat tenderizer to 1/3" thickness. Dredge lightly in a mixture of the flour, salt, and spices. Fry in oil for 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and keep warm. Add wine to pan and cook down somewhat. Add remaining ingredients and cook for 3 minutes. Pour over turkey and serve.

Crockpot Bourbon Turkey Tenders

Adapted from this crockpot chicken recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 lb turkey tenders cut into strips
  
• 1/3 c. tomato sauce
  
• 1/3 c. bourbon
  
• 1/3 c. honey
  
• 1/3 c. soy sauce
  
• 3 T. oil
  
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 1/2 onion, diced
  
• 1/4 tsp. brown mustard seed
  
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

Directions

Combine all ingredients in crockpot. Cook on low 4 hours. Serve with rice. Top with sesame seeds.

Turkey Meatballs

This is another Recipezaar recipe, #33944. Feel free to toss them into pasta sauce afterwards.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1/4 c. onion, diced
  
• 1/4 c. parsley, chopped
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 tsp pepper
  
• 1/2 tsp oregano
  
• 1 egg, beaten
  
• 1/2 c. breadcrumbs
  
• olive oil

Directions

Mix all ingredients except oil. Form into meatballs 1 inch in diameter. Fry in oil 5 minutes or until browned.

Fish

Costco Salmon

Costco has big bags of single portions of frozen boneless, skinless salmon. The instructions on the back say to defrost in running cold water for 20 minutes, but I defrost in still cold water for 30 minutes.

I coat the salmon in a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt, dill, thyme, and tarragon. The instructions say to cook 15-20 minutes at 350°, but I find that even 15 minutes is consistently too much. I haven’t determined the correct cooking time, though.

Baked Mackerel

We got some frozen whole mackerel from Market Basket, but cleaning them was too much work for Peter.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 lbs bag frozen whole mackerel
  
• salt
  
• garlic powder
  
• paprika
  
• powdered safflower (a Portuguese spice)
  
• thyme or mustard powder

Directions

Clean mackerel. Oil fillets and spice flesh side. Place on parchment paper (on baking sheet) skin side up. Bake 10-12 minutes at 400°.

Fish Kuku

Fish quiche. This is a variant recipe from the New Food of Life cookbook (Meat Kuku, p. 102), also adjusted in size to fit the amount of fish I had. The original recipe called for the equivalent of 1 1/2 c. fresh parsley, 2/3 c. fresh chives, 2/3 c. of oil, and yogurt on the side, but since I didn’t have it with me at the store I didn’t grab those. (It’s always parsley; I should have known.)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb whitefish fillets (haddock)
  
• 3 onions, sliced thin
  
• handful of freeze-dried parsley
  
• handful of freeze-dried chives
  
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 1/3 tsp. black pepper
  
• 7 eggs
  
• 1/3 tsp. salt
  
• 1/3 tsp. cinnamon
  
• 1 1/2 tsp. curry powder
  
• olive oil for the pans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Brown onions. Chop and brown fish. Mix both with the next three ingredients (or just mix all the cold ingredients together). Mix the eggs and remaining ingredients (except oil) in a separate bowl. Pour some oil into the bottom of a 10 inch pan and heat in the oven briefly. Mix fish and egg mixtures together and pour into the heated pan.

Bake 30 minutes. Add more oil to the top. Bake 20 more minutes or until brown.

Sweets

Here begins the sweet stuff.

Tapioca Pudding

This is a coconut milk tapioca pudding from one of those giant Indian cookbooks. I have increased it from the original recipe up to one can of coconut milk.

Ingredients

• 1 1/9 c. tapioca
  
• water for soaking
  
• 3 1/3 c. water for cooking
  
• 1 1/4 c. sugar
  
• pinch salt
  
• 1 2/3 c. (1 can) coconut milk
  
• tropical fruits (optional)
  
• rind of 1 lime (optional)

Directions

Soak tapioca in water for 1 hour. Drain. Boil cooking water. Stir in sugar and salt. Add tapioca and coconut milk. Simmer 10 minutes. Serve warm or cold, decorated with optional ingredients.

Easy Mints

This recipe came off a bag of Domino’s sugar.

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. butter or margarine
  
• 2 T. water
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
  
• 3 1/2 - 3 3/4 c. confectioner’s sugar
  
• food coloring (optional)

Directions

Melt butter with water over low heat. Remove from heat, add salt and extract. Gradually add sugar.

If using food coloring, separate mixture for coloring and color each part with “several drops.”

Knead until smooth. Mold with molds or roll and slice. (I just rolled into balls instead.)

Yield is 1 lb. The directions are vague about whether they keep.

Candied Grapefruit Peels

You can do this with (four) oranges, but I prefer grapefruit.

Ingredients

• 3 whole grapefruit peels (presumably halved)
  
• 1 c. sugar
  
• 1/2 c. water

Directions

Boil peels in cold water whole and drain them, twice. Cut them into strips. Boil the strips six more times, starting with cold water each time.

Dissolve sugar in 1/2 c. water on heat. Cook peels slowly in the water until only 2 T. syrup remains.

Roll in sugar and cool on a greased cookie sheet.

C is for Cookie

It’s not really a cookie unless it’s made with anise, so let’s start there.

Italian Cookies

Pizzelles

This is close to the recipe that came with my original iron (which has long since burned out), except for using oil in place of butter. I found the oil version on the Villaware web site back when they made pizzelle irons. My current iron is from Palmer. Virginia Dare makes anise oil. Two teaspoons is a LOT of anise oil. You may want to cut back when serving non-Italians.

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
  
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
  
• 1 c. pure olive oil
  
• 2 tsp. anise oil (or 2 T. anise extract)
  
• 3 1/2 c. flour
  
• 4 tsp. baking powder

Directions

Plug in pizzelle iron. Grease and heat according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Beat eggs. Beat in sugar. Add oil and anise. Mix baking powder in with the flour and gradually add it all to the dough. Bake in a pizzelle iron 30 seconds each or until the steam stops.

If dough squeezes out the sides of the iron, you’ve used too much. Be sure to scrape it off (because it doesn’t get cooked). Too little dough will make seasonal snowflakey edges; it won’t harm the cookie any.

Pizzelles by the Egg; Chocolate Pizzelles, Eggnog Pizzelles, etc.

I sometimes go up to 8 eggs or experiment with a couple, so I broke down the pizzelle recipe to a single egg. Peter is responsible for the eggnog variant.

I tried a different chocolate pizzelle recipe from King Arthur Flour, but it was too liquidy for my iron. The two-toned pizzelles did work out, though.

Ingredients

• 1 egg
  
• 1/4 c. sugar
  
• 1/6 c. pure olive oil (2 T. + 2 tsp)
  
• 1 tsp. extract (or 1/4 tsp. flavor oil)
  
• scant 2/3 c. flour
  
• 2/3 tsp. baking powder

For real pizzelles use anise extract or oil.

For chocolate pizzelles use vanilla extract and add 1 T. cocoa and 1 T. sugar.

For almond pizzelles use 1 tsp. almond extract.

For eggnog pizzelles use half the vanilla extract and add 1/4 tsp. nutmeg and 1/3 tsp. ground clove .

For cinnamon pizzelles use 1 tsp. vanilla extract and 1 tsp. cinnamon.

For other flavors use extract or oil.

For gluten-free pizzelles, use buckwheat flour.

To color pizzelles, use a few drops of food coloring. The baked color will be lighter than the dough color.

For two-toned pizzelles, use half a scoop each of two different colors (or chocolate and uncolored). Put them side by side on the iron.

Directions

See full pizzelle recipe for directions.

Authentic Biscotti

As I mentioned, I burned out my first pizzelle iron. On the day that it gasped its last gasp, I had already made the cookie dough, so I had to find something else to do with it. I got out my Italian cookbook and discovered that biscotti had almost the same ingredients, so I adjusted the flour and learned to make biscotti.

I still have that cookbook, but the recipes I use now are from Recipezaar. “Authentic” biscotti is half of Recipe #300513, by Summerlea; it uses anise seed and almonds.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
  
• 1/2 c. pure olive oil
  
• 1 c. sugar
  
• 2 T. anise seed
  
• 3 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
  
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 3/4 c. almonds, chopped or sliced

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Grind the anise seed with a mortar and pestle. Beat eggs, then add the oil, sugar and anise.

Mix in the remaining ingredients. Lightly flour and roll the dough into one or two logs 2 inches in diameter.

Place on a greased baking sheet or parchment paper. Bake 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven, slice diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices. Bake 10 minutes on sliced side, then flip and bake until slightly browned.

To harden further, dry in the oven at 250°.

Pistachio Biscotti

This recipe is for non-dairy pistachio biscotti. The yield depends on how you form and cut the logs. I’ve never gotten as few as the 18 the original recipe alleged. These are my friend Sarah’s favorite of my rather small cookie repertoire. Based on Recipe #44360 on the now-defunct Recipezaar, which included butter, lemon zest, and an almond option.

Ingredients

• 3 c. all-purpose flour
  
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 3 large eggs
  
• 1 c. sugar
  
• 1/2 c. pure olive oil (or vegetable oil, but NOT extra virgin olive oil)
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 tsp almont extract
  
• a few drops lemon extract (optional)
  
• 1 cup chopped pistachios

Directions

Heat oven to 325°. Combine flour and baking powder and set aside. Whisk together eggs, sugar, oil, extracts, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in flour combination. Stir in nuts.

Form dough into one or two long narrow logs on parchment paper on an insulated cookie sheet. Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes.

Cut log(s) on an angle into 1/2 inch slices using a very sharp or serrated knife.

Lay slices flat on an uninsulated cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until golden on each side. (The recipe inconveniently makes about 1 1/4 toasting batches.) Cool on wire rack.

Anise Cookies

I cut this down from another recipe, Auntie Mella’s Italian Cookies, because I only had two eggs. I also made it non-dairy and switched to anise oil. Note that you can use a cake ball pan for these–the only use I’ve found yet for my cake-ball pan.

Ingredients

Cookies:
* 2 eggs
* 2 2/3 tsp. baking powder
* 1/4 tsp. anise oil
* 1/2 c. sugar
* 2 2/3 c. flour
* 1/2 c. pure olive oil
* 1/3 c. soy milk

Icing:
* 1 1/3 c. powdered sugar
* 4 tsp.-2 T. soy milk
* 1/8 tsp. anise oil

Directions

Mix eggs, sugar, and anise. Add oil and milk. Add flour and baking powder. Roll out walnut-sized and place on parchment-paper lined cookie sheets (or drop into cake ball pan). Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Mix icing. Dip and sprinkle.

Anginetti

Anginetti are Italian lemon drop cookies; this is Recipe #104852 from Recipezaar. It uses lemon extract, which I like because I don’t tend to have lemons around unless Peter has bought them for toddy.

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. sugar
  
• 1/4 c. vegetable shortening
  
• 3 large eggs
  
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon extract
  
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
  
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/8 tsp salt

Frosting:

• 3 c. confectioners’ sugar
  
• 1/4 c. water
  
• 1 tsp lemon extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs and lemon extract and beat well. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt.

Scoop onto a greased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12-15 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

To frost, mix frosting ingredients until smooth. Frost tops with a metal spatula. Allow frosting to dry before stacking.

Store airtight.

American Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I tend to make the Classic Crunchy Chocolate Chip cookies from the King Arthur Cookie book; they also have a recipe online which is not either recipe from the book. I replace the butter with more shortening. Sometimes I cut down the recipe from the full 4 1/2 dozen to 3 dozen, thus:

Ingredients

• 2/3 c. shortening
  
• 2/3 c. brown sugar
  
• 1/3 c. white sugar
  
• 1 1/3 tsp. vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 2 tsp. cider vinegar
  
• 2/3 of an egg
  
• 2/3 tsp. baking soda
  
• 1 1/3 c. flour
  
• 2 c. chocolate chips

Directions

Cream together all but the last four ingredients. Add egg. Add baking soda with flour. Add chocolate chips.

Bake 1 T. per cookie on a greased baking sheet at 350° for 12-14 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Almond Butter Cutouts

These are non-dairy almond butter cookie-cutter cookies I made for a solstice/Armageddon party. I cut them out with a sun-shaped cookie cutter from Tags. I started with the Peanut Butter Cutouts recipe from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion because I meant to make peanut butter cookies, but my jar of peanut butter was crunchy and the almond butter was smooth. I had the non-dairy almond cream hanging around. I tried to make the Vanilla Glaze from the cookie book using almond cream as well, but it came out too runny.

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. Crisco (shortening) + 1 T. water
  
• 1/2 c. smooth almond butter
  
• 1 c. sugar
  
• 3/4 tsp. salt
  
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/4 cup almond cream
  
• 3 T. cornstarch
  
• 3 c. all-purpose flour

Directions

Beat together first seven ingredients (up to the egg). Beat in egg. Beat in cornstarch, half the flour, and half the cream. Mix in remaining cream and flour. Divide dough and refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out between two sheets of parchment paper to 1/4 to 1/8 inches thickness, depending on desired crunchiness. Cut out a dozen cookies and place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on a rack. Repeat as necessary. Taste for almondy goodness and frost with almond-extract flavored icing if needed.

Other Cookie Nationalities

Nan Berenji

This is my classic rice flour cookie recipe that I’ve been making for years. It’s from Sephardic Cooking by Copeland Marks (p. 186). I also experimented with a Nan Berenji recipe in the New Food of Life cookbook, but that one failed.

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter or margarine
  
• 2/3 c. sugar
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 T. water
  
• 2 c. rice flour
  
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
  
• 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
  
• 2 tsp. poppy seeds.

Directions

Cream butter and sugar. Mix in eggs and water. Add dry ingredients (except poppy seed). Roll 1 heaping tsp. at a time and press down onto greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with poppy seed. Bake 20 minutes at 350°.

Red Bean Paste Hamantaschen

Peter had made red bean paste hamantaschen once before. I’m not a big fan of hamantaschen, but I am of red bean paste, so I tried it out. We also made a couple of refrigerator surprise hamantaschen; those are best left undocumented.

Directions

I followed the chunky recipe (1 c. dried beans and 1 c. white sugar) for red bean paste, but stuck my blender stick in it to smooth it out quite a bit.

I tried to follow the hamantaschen recipe from my King Arthur cookie cookbook, but it came out too dry so I had to gradually add water like for pastry. I’ll try a different recipe next year.

I cut these out with hexagon cookie cutters (about 3 1/4 inch across), folded them up in the middle of 3 sides of the hexagon, and glued them with egg yolk as the recipe recommended. The outcome was more like tiny red bean paste pies than regular hamantaschen, but we liked them that way.

Pie!

Yes, pie is its own chapter.

Crust

First, the crust. My crusts all started from the basic piecrust recipe in my old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (which my sister said to use), but have been adjusted so I don’t have to keep doing the math.

I usually make a 9" pie with the 9" recipe, but if you’re bad at rolling out dough (or you want leftovers), you should up it to the 10" recipe.

Ingredients

Single-crust pie shell

(This is half of the 10" double-crust pie recipe.)

• 1 c. flour
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1/3 c. butter-flavored Crisco (or other shortening)
  
• 2 1/2 - 3 T. cold water

Double-crust pie shell (8“)

• 1 1/2 c. flour
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 1/2 c. butter-flavored Crisco (non-dairy)
  
• 3 to 4 T. cold water

Double-crust pie shell (9“)

(This should do for a 9" pie.)

• 1 3/4 c. flour
  
• 1/2 c. + 1 T. + 1 tsp. butter flavored Crisco (non-dairy)
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 4-5 T. cold water

Double-crust pie shell (10“)

• 2 c. flour
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 2/3 c. butter-flavored Crisco (or other shortening)
  
• 5-6 T. cold water

Directions (All Crusts)

Mix flour & salt. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter. When pieces are pea-sized, add water gradually until just damp. Squeeze into a ball. For a double crust, divide in half. Chill for about an hour.

Roll out bottom crust between parchment paper and plastic wrap. (If making a double crust, use the larger half for the bottom crust.) Peel off the parchment first (or don’t, if using only parchment) and flip into pie plate. Adjust carefully if necessary, then peel off the plastic wrap. Fill with desired filling.

For a top crust, roll out the remaining dough. Prep the seam by rubbing shortening on the top edge of the bottom crust. Peel off one sheet and center the top over the pie, then peel the other sheet off carefully and trim and/or roll overlap under as desired.

Pinch edge of crust to seal/decorate as desired. (I do the fork thing.) Cut vents into top crust. Bake as directed.

Pies

Apple Pie

This started out as the Apple Pie recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book (revised edition, 1951, ch. 15, p. 11). I reduced the water in the pastry dough, and Peter removed some filling ingredients he didn’t approve of. Unfortunately, he didn’t mention that the pie would need more time in the oven for the no-apple-gravy approach, so my first attempt came out a bit soggy. (Cooking times have been adjusted.)

Ingredients

• 1 8" or 9" double-crust pie shell (uncooked)
  
• 6 Cortland apples
  
• 3/4 c. sugar
  
• 2 tsp. Vietnamese cinnamon
  
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Directions

Slice apples thin. Toss with remaining ingredients. Preheat oven to 450 F. Fill bottom pie crust with apples, top, and seal. Cut vents into top crust. Optionally, sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake 10 minutes at 450. Bake 45-50 more minutes at 350. Cool.

Blueberry Pie

This is a mix of the Better Homes and Gardens Blueberry Pie recipe and the Joy of Cooking Berry or Cherry Pie with Frozen Fruit recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 9" double-crust pie shell (uncooked)
  
• 20 oz. frozen blueberries
  
• 1 scant c. sugar
  
• 1/4 c. flour
  
• 1/8 tsp. salt
  
• 1 T. lemon juice
  
• 2 T. butter or butter flavored Crisco

Directions

Defrost blueberries. Make and chill crust.
Mix non-crust ingredients. Preheat oven to 450 F. Roll out and fill crust. Bake 10 minutes at 450, then bake 35-40 more minutes at 350. Cool.

Pear Pie

I make pear pie with somewhat underripe pears from our backyard pear tree. This recipe is from Tennis Maynard via my friend Tom Franczak. I added the clove, and I’m usually too lazy for the egg white.

Ingredients

• 1 9" double-crust pie shell (uncooked)
  
• about 6 cups peeled, cored and sliced pears
  
• 1/2 c. sugar
  
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  
• 1.5 tsp ground ginger
  
• 1 tsp vanilla (I use vanilla bean paste)
  
• dash ground clove
  
• 4 TBS flour
  
• 1 egg white for crust (optional)

Directions

Mix thoroughly, then pour into pie crust and proceed as normally. You do brush your crust with a partially beaten egg white, don’t you? Browns nicely. Also of course the usual 3-4 slits for steam. Bake at 425 degrees 10-15 minutes, then turn down to 350 degrees and bake another 30-35 minutes until done. Of course cool before cutting. I always put in enough fruit to make a ‘dome’ under the crust. Cooks down a little, makes a better pie.

Pecan Pie

Peter likes lots of pecans in his pie, so I found a simple recipe with more pecans than most. This one is from Martha Stewart.

Ingredients

• 1 9" single-crust pie shell (uncooked)
  
• 4 large eggs
  
• 1 cup light corn syrup
  
• 1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
  
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 3 cups pecan halves
  
• Lightly sweetened whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. with rack set in lowest position.
   
2. Using kitchen shears or a paring knife, trim dough to a 1-inch overhang. With floured fingers, fold overhang under itself to form a rim; pinch between thumb and forefinger to form a uniform edge around rim of pie plate. Crimp with fingertips. Transfer dough-lined pie plate to refrigerator.
   
3. Make filling: In a large bowl, whisk eggs, corn syrup, sugars, butter, vanilla, and salt until smooth; mix in pecans. Pour mixture into chilled pie crust; place pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until filling jiggles slightly in the center when gently shaken, 50 to 60 minutes.
   
4. Cool pie completely in plate, 5 to 6 hours. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

Drinks

Hot Toddy

This is Peter’s recipe for hot toddies. Measurements are approximate and may be revised later.

Ingredients

• 1 quart water
  
• 5 cinnamon sticks
  
• 11 cardamom pods
  
• 15 whole cloves
  
• 12 whole allspice
  
• 1/2 T. sliced fresh ginger
  
• 1 lemon, sliced
  
• 1 lime, sliced
  
• 2 T. honey
  
• whiskey (optional)

Directions

Simmer dry spices 15 minutes. Add ginger and fruit. Simmer 15 more minutes. Squish fruit through strainer and discard rind. Strain out spices and discard. Add honey and whiskey (1/2 shot per 6 oz). Serve hot. Note: the timings are by no means precise, but avoid cooking the citrus too long or the result will be bitter.

Pitúies

Pitú is a brand of cachaça, a Brazilian “rum” made of sugar cane instead of molasses. The name of the drink and the recipe are from my sister.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lime
  
• 1 T. powdered sugar
  
• 1 oz. Pitú

Directions

Squeeze lime and mix.