As a restaurant employee, let me just say this. Please don't go out to dinner on Valentine's Day. In fact, please stay home the week before and after. I beg of you. I won't elaborate, but why fight for a reservation when you can cook up a delicious, romantic meal in the privacy of your own home.

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A taste of Momofuku at home? I'm game. More

Winter has finally dipped its pinky toe down South, y'all, and we've been celebrating with nightly fire pits and lots of extra calories. To heck with New Year's resolutions when its cold outside, right! More

Radicchio is a champion in the line-up of winter leaf vegetables. While it looks like a small cabbage, it's actually a chicory with a slightly bitter, crisp taste. It's colorful, readily available, and boasts a unique spicy taste that is tough to match. For that reason, it's popular chopped and used raw in salads and slaws. But what if you want to tone down that bitterness?

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It's winter, it's cold, time is short. That's the litany of January, right? This is the time of year when braised dishes will save your supper. Braising (cooking low and slow, in a bit of liquid) is an easy method for cooking inexpensive cuts of meat and some vegetables too, and one side benefit to braised dishes is that they usually reheat very well. So make a big pot of pork shank or ragu, or cook up a big mess of Greek-style green beans or collards; they'll feed you all week long.

Here's a look at 15 favorite dishes — some with meat, and some without — that are braised to perfection. More

I'm fairly convinced that everything from lamb to Brussels sprouts is better when braised. Give it some low heat and an afternoon to baste in its own juices, and food takes on never before seen levels of flavor and tenderness. Dinner win. More

With December finally here, I can't seem to find enough hours to get through each day. Between Christmas shopping, holiday parties, and work projects, life on Monday through Saturday is hurried and I'm sprinting just to keep up. But then, just in the nick of time, there is Sunday. More

'Tis the season for braises, slow-cooked meat that falls apart into tender chunks. Here's a new favorite cut of meat for me: The inexpensive, incredibly delicious crosscut beef shank. More

Collard greens are one vegetable I just can't resist. Their thick, meaty leaves, propped up by huge center ribs, are monsters in the world of leafy greens. I love their beauty, so big and elephantine, leathery and deep blue-green. I cut away those middle ribs and slice the leaves into ribbons, and braise them until they are tender and juicy. More

'Tis the season for slow-cooking! I've heard a lot about clay bakers, like the Romertopf, and how effective they are at making any slow-cooked dish emerge from the oven tender and flavorful. Do you have one? More