Buttermilk-Marinated and Herbed Roast Chicken

Buttermilk is amazing for fried chicken and makes it tender and juicy, and it's also awesome for roasted chicken. The meat is tender and juicy and the skin as this amazing tang. It's super simple. I used the recipe from The Times this week, but added the herbs because I had them. You're welcome to omit the herbs, or stuff the chicken with onion or lemon or some combo of aromatics. Yum! The buttermilk also gives the chicken a really rich, dark brown skin. You just need to start the night before. 

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

1 3-pound chicken

1 pint buttermilk

3 tablespoons kosher salt

handful sage and rosemary

Dragon Fruit Rum Cocktails

This would be great for Valentine's Day! The color is so bright, fuchsia pink that it looks totally fake, but it's all from the dragon fruit. You chop it up and infuse the rum with it (dragon fruit has almost no flavor so it's really just for the color). It's super tasty and beautiful.

Makes 4
Ingredients:
1 cup white rum
1 dragon fruit, 3/4 chopped up and 1/4 reserved for garnish
1 tbsp superfine sugar
1 tsp honey
juice of 2 limes
juice of 2 tangerines
tonic water

Directions:
Mix the rum and the chopped dragon fruit in a bowl or measuring cup and let it sit at room temperature for an hour or two. It should turn a bright fuchsia.

Cacio e Pepe Spaghetti Squash

You can make pretty much anything delicious by making it "cacio e pepe" and this was no exception. Yum! It's so, so tasty. Sort of like a spicy macaroni and cheese. It's a little decadent, but only a little (no carbs, after all). I can't wait to make it again. It's so warm and cheesy and delicious!

Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 medium-sized spaghetti squash
1 1/2 cups loosely packed, freshly grated pecorino cheese
1/2 tbsp whole black peppercorns
1 1/2 tbsp butter
salt
olive oil

Brutti Ma Buoni Cookies (Ugly but Good)

These are so good. If you like meringues and Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, these are for you. (If you don't like those, you're nuts, but you won't like these.) These are Italian cookies that mean ugly but good, and oh man, they live up to the name, at least the latter half. Mmmm. I brought them into the office and they're a big success. Also, they don't have any butter or flour so are healthier than most other cookie options - but there is a lot of sugar, so not that healthy. This is perfect for if you make cinnamon rolls or ice cream or other egg yolk-heavy recipes and have some extra whites to use! I used the Smitten Kitchen recipe but made it a little bigger and cut back on the chocolate a little.

Makes About 40 cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups hazelnuts
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1/3 tsp salt
6 egg whites
8oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

I love Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. When my mom makes them it is a trial in willpower to stop myself at two. I'd never made them from scratch because it's something you have to start the night before (not that morning trying to decide what to make). As long as you know in advance you want to make them, it's not a lot of work and they're delicious. They're not quite as sweet as the Pillsbury variety and they're so doughy and warm and wonderful. This makes 12 and I don't think you'll have trouble finishing them off. I used this recipe from Alton Brown.

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks, room temp
1 egg, room temp
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted
6oz buttermilk, room temp
4 cups flour
1 package instant dry yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt

Kale, Sausage, and White Bean Soup

A weekend of overindulging combined with the first chilly fall day inspired this soup. We had some sausage on hand and I wanted to eat some kale. This is super tasty and warming - great with some crust bread and butter. Feel free to scale down, this makes A LOT. (Lots of future lunches...)

Roasted Purple Cauliflower

Cauliflower is just more fun when it's bright purple, right? This is such an each and delicious way to prepare it, and the color looks awesome on your plate. I couldn't stop eating it.

Ingredients:

1 head purple cauliflower (white works too, just not as pretty)

a few glugs of olive oil

pinch herbs de Provence

plenty of salt and pepper

pecorino

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Each fall, Jamie and I throw a Sausage Fest down in Brooklyn Bridge Park. We invite all of our friends and grill up tons of sausages. Starting last year, I've also made fresh soft pretzels. They are so. good. Not as hard as you'd think to make, and people love them - big hit. They're glossy and brown on the outside and warm and soft on the inside. I made half of them just plain with salt, and the other half I played around with some flavors. Feel free to do your own thing, but the actual consensus was that the original salt were the favorites. 

Makes 16 pretzels (feel free to halve)

Ingredients:

3 cups warm water

2 packets active dry yeast

2 tbsp sugar

4 tsp kosher salt

9 cups white flour

1 stick butter, melted

1 1/3 cup baking soda

egg yolk

salt (big salt like Maldon or rock)

Apple Pie Crust

Jamie's favorite pie is apple, and it's definitely apple pie season. Usually apple pies have a top crust that's either solid or sometimes latticed, but there have been all of these beautiful top crust options floating around the internet lately and I wanted to try something more fun. I rolled out the top crust dough as big as I could and cut out a whole bunch of hearts. 

Roasted Butternut Squash Puree

This is so good! I couldn't stop "tasting" it to make sure it was seasoned correctly. Yum! Often butternut squash gets a sweet treatment with brown sugar or maple syrup, or the classic pairing with sage and brown butter. This pairing with roasted garlic, thyme, and a hint of spice is just awesome. Roasting everything gives a great, deep flavor. Can't wait to make it again!

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" cubes

2 garlic cloves (skin on)

a few springs of thyme

pinch of smoked paprika

pinch of cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1/4-1/2 cup whole milk, warm

Directions:

Fresh Falafel

Homemade falafel is awesome! I've always wanted to try it, but I never got around to soaking chickpeas overnight. (Canned chickpeas don't work - too soft.) As long as you have the forsite to start this a day in advance, and prep at least an hour before you want to eat them, it's not very difficult. They are crispy on the outside and fluffy and flavorful on the inside and they're great in a pita or on top of a salad. They also freeze really well, so next time I'm doubling the recipe and freezing half. I used Ottolenghi's recipe as a starting point.

Feel free to boost the onion, garlic, herbs and spices if you want a stronger flavor.

Collard Wraps

Has anyone tried collard wraps? Seems to be the new thing! I had my first one from Bare Burger when I was deep into gestational diabetes and had a moratorium on carbs. It's kind of genius. You can use a big, sturdy collard leaf to wrap up anything that you would normally use a tortilla to wrap. You can do burritos, wraps, sandwiches, etc. I tried it for a desk lunch and it was quick and delicious, and of course, healthier than a couple big slices of bread or a big tortilla. Will definitely be doing this more! I stuffed the wrap with some sriracha chicken salad.

You just wash and dry a big collard leaf, put it vein-side-up and shave the vein down to be the same level with the leaf (to make it more pliable), then use the leaf as you would use a tortilla or wrap. 

Vegetable Garden Week 28 - September 17

Even though I've been MIA on the garden, it has done well! We have gotten SO many peppers! I think it's because it was such a hot summer. We had habaneros (the orange peppers), Scotch Bonnets (the red), Thai Birds Eye (the little red and green), and jalapenos (the green). The habaneros and Scotch Bonnets are super hot so I've been making hot sauce. This Jean-Georges Scotch Bonnet hot sauce is amazing! It's no spicier than tobasco so don't be scared. I highly recommend it - it's a beautiful orange color and the flavor is addicting. 

The garden is dwindling, but we're still getting peppers and tomatoes so that's great. I'm definitely getting the end of summer blues, but hoping this lovely warm, September weather continues! 

Tomatoes

It's peak tomato season! Go out to the farmers market or farm stand and buy them and eat them before tomato season ends! With a little mozzarella, basil, balsamic, and olive oil you can have the most amazing salad. I <3 p="" tomatoes="">

And these are from our garden, which did really well this year! We had tomoatoes, snap peas, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, strawberries, eggplant, and more hot peppers than ever. Keep an eye out for a Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce - coming to the blog soon and it's incredible. 

Thai Style Grilled Corn

First off, I apologize for my very long absence! I had an amazing summer home with baby, and while I was still cooking, I was not good about taking pictures and documenting. Promise to get better! We have the world's most adorable and sweet baby and now that she is a wonderful little sleeper, I have plenty of time to make dinner once she's down. 

Jamie got me a the amazing cook book of one of my favorite restaurants, Pokpok, and I've loved everything I've made so far. Some of the recipes involve a whole slew of impossible to find ingredients (although anything can be found on the internet!), but some are very simple, like this corn recipe. We love, love, love summer corn and usually just eat it on the cob with butter because it's so good that way. If you're looking for a change of pace with your later-summer corn consumption, this is the way to go. The coconut milk with sugar and salt is so simple but amazingly tasty (I want to put it on everything) and the squeeze of lime give it a little zip. We had it one night with spicy Thai cucumber salad and Thai-style skirt steak, and another night with grilled veggies. Yum!

Saltine Toffee Chocolate Peanut Ice Cream Sandwich

This is such a treat - a fancy, grown up ice cream sandwich. They're incredible messy (especially if you don't let them firm up enough) but oh my goodness, they are so good! I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and had to try it. Yum! The saltine/toffee/chocolate/peanut combo is amazing and so crunchy. If you want want to go through the trouble of making the sandwiches, you could also just crack it up and sprinkle it liberally over vanilla ice cream. It's addicting. I recommend making these the day before you want to eat them so they have a lot of time to firm up in the freezer - makes them a lot easier to eat. 

Ingredients:

36 saltines

1/2 cup butter cut into chunks

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

sea salt (or kosher salt if you don't have sea salt)

2 cups vanilla ice cream, slightly softened

Big handful roasted peanuts (or any other nut of your choice)

Grilled Mozzarella and Prosciutto Balls

These are inspired by a recipe by South African chef Reuben Riffel (his "Buffalo Bomb" from his cookbook Braai). Yum! They're very easy to make and are a nice, salty, and creamy side. Feel free to use store bought pesto. I just made a teeny portion of pesto by chopping up some basil, garlic, almonds, and pecorino and mixing in some olive oil. You could also get smaller mozzarella balls and make these hors d'oeuvres size, too. 

Strawberry Blueberry Crumble

Yum! This is a delicious and easy summer dessert. We used strawberries and blueberries, but it would be great with any mix of fruit. The crumble topping is delicious and it's so easy because you don't have to make crust - the whole thing takes about an hour start to finish. The baking soda in the crumble is from Smitten Kitchen. It really makes it puff up and get nice and crunchy. Will definitely make this again, maybe in individual ramekins. 

Juice Press-Style Raw Oatmeal

Baby is here! Little Billie arrived on May 21 and we're so thrilled. She is the sweetest little thing and Jamie and I are over the moon. 

My cousin Dorrit brought us all of these great Juice Press goodies when we were in the hospital and it was so nice to have some healthy food and juice. The raw oatmeal was amazing. I tried to recreate it this week and I think I got pretty close. The steel cut oats are quite chewy so feel free to use rolled oats if you want a smoother texture. It's rich and hearty and it's cold which is good for this hot weather. 

Makes about 3 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup steel cut oats

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup water

5 pitted dates

A handful of raw cashews

2 tbsp vanilla

Pinch of kosher salt

Directions:

Purée everything except the oatmeal in the blender for a few minutes until very smooth. Pour it into a bowl or some Tupperware with the oatmeal, stir well, and let it sit, covered, overnight. 

Tricolore Salad with Eggplant, Peppers, Tomatoes, and Mozzarella

This is another delicious recipe from Plenty. It's a really great, light side dish. The mix of textures is really nice - the soft eggplant and mozzarella and the crispy peppers. It seems like a lot of capers, but they get mixed in and it's just right. The cilantro adds a nice, fresh flavor on top. Can't wait to eat the leftovers for lunch!

Ingredients:

4 small eggplants, sliced into 1/2" circles

olive oil

salt and pepper

1 yellow pepper, in about a 1/2" dice

15 grape tomatoes, quartered

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 1/2 tbsp capers, plus 1 tbsp of the brine

5oz fresh mozzarella

1 cup roughly chopped cilantro