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)

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.

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

Grilled Feta

I wanted to make grilled halloumi but couldn't find any, so I bought some feta and found that you can grill it as long as it's in a little tinfoil packet. This is a great appetizer or accompaniment to a light dinner of Greek salad and chicken souvlaki. You can really add in whatever you want for seasoning. I kept it pretty simple with grape tomatoes, herbs de provence, lemon, and garlic, but you could add cooked tomatoes, capers, chilies, olives... The cheese gets hot and melty and it's super tasty, and couldn't be easier.

Chia Seed Meatballs and Meatball Gratin

These were delicious! With the gestational diabetes, I can't have carbs so I gave chia seed meatballs a try (using chia seeds instead of breadcrumbs). It worked really well. They were super flavorful and you don't really notice the chia seeds, but they bind the meatballs together, and are apparently super good for you. The fennel seeds give them a bit of a sausage flavor and the sundried tomatoes give them some umami and richness. I topped them with marinara sauce, fontina, and pecorino and threw it under the broiler - so tasty! For Jamie, I made a meatball sub. 

Zucchini Noodles with Ham and Peas

My mom got me a spiralizer for Christmas and I've been having fun trying out new recipes with it. We had some leftover ham so I made a ham and pea pasta with zucchini noodles - really tasty, and a lot lighter than a big bowl of pasta. (Get ready for more recipes like this - I just found out I have gestational diabetes so goodbye carbs for the next two months.)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 zucchinis, ends trimmed

1/4 cup chopped up ham (feel free to use bacon if you don't have ham)

1 cup of frozen peas

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1 pinch red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

Pecorino or parmesan cheese for grating

optional: basil leaves for garnish

Mini Berry Tarts

This is a great, quick little dessert. If you can't find speculoos (delicious French/Belgian cookies that taste like a mix between a graham cracker and a ginger snap) you can use graham crackers, or ginger snaps. The crust with the speculoos and browned butter is delicious, and perfect with the tart berries and slightly sweet whipped cream. 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Berries

About 1 cup mixed berries

3/4 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

squeeze of lemon

Tart

6 speculoos cookies

1 tbsp butter

1/4 tsp sugar

Whipped Cream

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp powdered sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla