Make Ahead
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Easy Dessert Recipe: Crisp Meringues with Whipped Cream
When I was in Switzerland last autumn, our hosts served us a very simple dessert that nevertheless made me sit up and take notice. They told us that it is a favorite dessert in that region: Large, crisp meringues purchased from the grocery store, served with barely-sweetened whipped cream. Together the crisp meringue and soft cream melted together into one sweet yet simple, rich yet light dessert. This is just about the simplest dessert imaginable.
May 13, 2011
Brunch Recipe: Lemon Brioche French Toast & Raspberries
My ideal Mother’s Day brunch includes one my very favorite breakfast casseroles: A simple strata of brioche bread, layered with lemon zest and custard, and baked until puffy, golden, and silky smooth inside. This recipe is lightly adapted from one in my recent book, Not Your Mother’s Casseroles. • Not Your Mother’s Casseroles, Harvard Common Press. $11.15 at Amazon. It is so incredibly simple. Just slice any rich, eggy bread, such as brioche or challah.
May 5, 2011
Quick & Easy: Desserts with Three Ingredients or Less
Many desserts can be fussy and time-consuming but I tend to love the simple ones that come together quickly and allow me to linger around the table with my guests. In many cases, this kind of dessert is more about shopping than cooking, so having the right ingredients on hand is key. Read on for a pantry list and some delicious (but lightning quick!) recipe ideas. And leave us your favorite quick and simple dessert ideas in the comments!
Apr 29, 2011
Classic Dessert Recipe: Lemon Honeycomb Mould, in the Style of Jane Grigson & Laurie Colwin
The writing of essayist and novelist Laurie ColwinIn More Home Cooking, one of Colwin’s collections of essays on food and cooking, she writes about Jell-O and other commercial gelatin desserts, and how she was disappointed by their artificial flavorings and taste. But her small daughter yearned for wobbly, brightly-colored gelatin desserts, and so Colwin started making them from fruit juice and plain, unflavored gelatin.
Apr 27, 2011
Recipe: Rolled Grilled Sandwiches With Pork, Green Beans & Goat Cheese
Since we’ve been without the use of our stove for awhile now, Spring is a much welcomed season. We’ve been able to bust out the grill and have used it for almost all of our cooking needs. One of our favorite lunch snacks has become these rolled sandwiches are self contained making them easy to eat at work or on the go and are perfect for a lunch or dinner party. Plus — come on, look at those grill marks! My husband and I are just as busy as most of you.
Apr 12, 2011
Recipe: Basil Ricotta Tortelloni with a Rustic Tomato Sauce
I had the privilege of learning this recipe from a very seasoned chef in Italy during a cooking class at his family restaurant. It was no surprise that he made creating this dish from scratch look simple. But after a few attempts (and mishaps) in my own kitchen, what surprises me now is that it’s something I can put together without looking at instructions.
Mar 23, 2011
Best Way To Bring Potsticker Dumplings To a Party?
Q: I’ve recently become absolutely obsessed with making potstickers at home. I’m wild about them!I’m going to a potluck next weekend and I’ve been designated to bring a savory appetizer.I’d like to know if there is a practical way to bring potstickers. If I steam them ahead of time, will they get soggy within a couple of hours? Or can they be enjoyed at room temperature? I’d love to know your thoughts!
Mar 9, 2011
Recipe: Asian Cabbage Rolls with Spicy Pork
As the snow started dumping down on us yesterday morning, I scanned the kitchen for ingredients, knowing I wanted to finally settle in and cook something from the just-released Not Your Mother’s Casseroles, written by my friend and colleague Faith Durand. By way of some miracle, I had the goods for several recipes (no need for crazy ingredients — or condensed soup! — to cook out of this volume) so I chose a spicy, Asian-influenced stuffed cabbage concoction.
Jan 27, 2011
Dessert Recipe: No-Bake Boston Cream Pie Strata
Here is one of my all-time favorite desserts: It looks and tastes like a dessert casserole, but it spends no time whatsoever in the oven. It is an icebox cake composed of layers of graham crackers and fresh, homemade vanilla pudding, topped with fudge frosting. When it sits together in the fridge overnight, it melds into a luxurious cake-like texture. So yummy, and easy, too!
Jan 26, 2011
Recipe: Cream of Celery Soup with Bacon
Celery is one of those things that can languish in the back of our fridge for a long time. It’s hard to use an entire bunch. We chopped three or four stalks into our Thanksgiving stuffing, and this is what we did with the rest… Celery soup isn’t too complicated (the general idea goes something like this). And celery itself isn’t all that flavorful.
Jan 6, 2011
Autumnal Recipe: Roasted Squash and Arugula Salad with Pecans, Bacon, and Goat Cheese
This salad, with its deep flavors and rich ingredients, is a perfect example of autumn’s most delicious offerings. In fact, it would almost be too rich if it wasn’t for a bright splash of sherry vinegar and the light, spicy green of arugula. Bring it to a buffet, pot luck or serve it as a light supper on its own.This recipe was inspired by Suzanne Goin from her book Sunday Suppers at Lucques.
Nov 10, 2010
Recipe: Easy, Tasty Chickpea Curry
Here’s a simple curry that can stay vegetarian (vegan even) or, with the simple addition of some shrimp or chicken, make a fine dish for the carnivore. The most important thing is that this delicious curry is built largely from your canned goods stash: coconut milk, tinned chickpeas and tomatoes. Just add a few fresh veg, some spices and Bob’s your uncle! This curry is extremely versatile.
Oct 22, 2010
Recipe: Butternut Squash, Apple and Sage Soup
Butternut squash, apple cider, sage, brown sugar and… Worcestershire sauce? This recipe is chock-full of classic fall flavors but an off-the-cuff dash (or two) of an under-used pantry staple really lets them shine. Nothing says fall in our house more than a batch of soup on the stove top, bubbling away, emitting smells that prompt neighbors to drop by, noses tinged just the barest of pink.
Oct 5, 2010
Recipe: Kenny Lao’s Rickshaw Dumplings
We recently ran a tour of Kenny Lao’s kitchen in the East Village. Kenny, who owns Rickshaw Dumpling Bar in New York, cooks a mean dumpling and I felt like I was in great hands for my tutorial.We worked together to write up a recipe — as Kenny says, dumplings are not an exact science — with the hope that you might give it a whirl. Wouldn’t tonight would be a good night for dumplings?
Sep 23, 2010
Recipe: Coconut Ice Cream with Shiso Sugar
The best, and perhaps only, reason to ask: “What’s this green stuff on my ice cream?”Shiso, a Japanese herb similar to mint, is an unlikely, but perfectly suited pairing to rich coconut ice cream. Muddling the leaves with sugar creates bright green, sweet-herbal granules perfect for sprinkling atop creamy, slightly-nutty coconut ice cream…or licking straight off the spoon.
Sep 21, 2010
Summer’s End Nectarine Sorbet
This week, Maxwell and I are doing our annual (well, second annual) end-of-summer community project: we’re hosting nine actors who are creating a play of Shakespeare’s songs and sonnets for the community. It’s a beautiful, free event under the end-of-summer night sky.My role? Cast chef.At the last minute, I learned one actor doesn’t eat meat, one doesn’t do gluten, and one avoids dairy.
Sep 2, 2010
Quick Weeknight Meal: Make-Ahead Indian Dahl
We love the spices in Indian dishes, and dahl is pretty simple to make. However, it still takes about an hour to prep it and some accompanying rice – on many weeknights that kind of time simply isn’t there. Lucky for us, dahl freezes and reheats very well. Here’s what we do to keep from resorting to those prepackaged microwave Indian meals from the grocery shelf: Dahl is simple, but it has a lot of ingredients.
Sep 2, 2010
Simple Breakfast: No-Cook Overnight Steel-Cut Oats
Last week I was talking with a new friend (hi Sara!) and she mentioned how much she loves overnight, no-cook oatmeal. I am familiar with this (also known as muesli) but the new thing here was that she said that she especially likes making it with steel-cut oats. Really? I said. They’re so… chewy. Steel-cut oats without any cooking at all?Why yes! And they are delicious. This has got to be the simplest way to make steel-cut oats (and all of us here at The Kitchn love steel cut oats).
Sep 1, 2010
Can I Freeze Macaroni and Cheese?
Q:  I made a Crock-Pot recipe for macaroni and cheese and it made A LOT of macaroni and cheese. It’s only my boyfriend and me in my house and I don’t think we can eat it all.Is there anything else to do with mac and cheese? Is it freezable?Sent by DarcyEditor: Darcy, the short answer is… yes! Like lasagna and other cheesy pasta casseroles, mac and cheese freezes well. You can freeze it in separate containers, too, for easy lunch reheating.
Aug 31, 2010
Make-Ahead Recipe: Crustless Mini-Quiches
Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but who has time to cook a hot one before heading out the door? Make a batch of these mini-quiches; they freeze great and reheat in minutes as hot breakfast bites. The lack of crust makes them a snap. A pinch of grated cheese in the bottom of each mini muffin cup forms a shell, and the eggs and filling set inside.
Aug 26, 2010
Dinner Idea for Hot Summer Nights: Antipasto
Too hot or too tired to cook? Consider making an antipasto dish as your main meal. Long considered a “first course” in traditional Italian meals or as a shared appetizer plate in Italian-American restaurants, antipasto dishes are filling and satisfying, can be made ahead, and best of all, can be served cold!There is no hard and fast rule for what goes on an antipasto plate. I like to serve mine over a bed of arugula or other mixed greens, but this is not absolutely necessary.
Aug 19, 2010
Recipe: Rose Geranium Ice Cream with Pistachios
I have a little rose geranium plant in my garden, and I’ve been looking for a chance to use it all summer. And now, this is it. A delicately fragrant, rose-scented ice cream studded with salty green pistachios.This is a simple, eggless ice cream based on Jeni Britton’s method. It’s very easy, and it comes out deliciously creamy. I steeped the mix overnight with rose geranium leaves, and added just one teaspoon of rosewater for a little extra rose flavor.
Aug 12, 2010
Recipe: Plum Sorbet with Lemon Verbena Cream
I’ve always felt that the proper treats for August were red, dripping, icy things. Things you get off the ice cream truck, like ice cream sandwiches with chewy cookie covers, tall flag-striped popsicles, and little cups of red ice drenched in a syrup you suck away, leaving clear icy crystals that crunch between your teeth and give you a sweet, piercing headache. Well, here’s a red, drippy sorbet to banish the heat, but with a grown-up twist and a creamy, herbed topping.
Aug 11, 2010
Recipe Review: Improvisational Cherry Vinegar
Most fruit-flavored vinegars that you can purchase in the grocery store are too sweet and fake tasting for me. So in the summertime, when fruit is abundant and cheap, I like to put up a bottle or two of fruit vinegar. Nothing could be easier or tastier. It’s cherry season here on the west coast, so this week it was cherry vinegar!I had a handful of leftover fresh cherries after last week’s cherry roasting experiment, so I thought I would try making some cherry vinegar.
Jun 14, 2010
Make-Ahead Meals: Pan-Fried Falafel and Homemade Pita
Here’s the dilemma: we like fresh-made meals (ie, not just re-heating leftovers), but we also don’t always have time for the prep work, simmering, and so on that can go into a meal from scratch. We’ve been looking for meals that can be prepped ahead and then made within minutes of walking in the door – like these falafel and pitas!First of all, preparing the falafel mix and the dough for the pita is already pretty quick.
May 13, 2010
Dessert Recipe: Mango Panna Cotta
We confess that mangos are one tropical fruit we’ll never be able to give up. No matter how tempting local pears, apples, and blackberries may be, the lure of the mango will always be right there with them. It’s just such a delicious fruit — golden, sweet, and a little tart at the same time. The last time we had a bunch of them we stirred them into a simple panna cotta for a fresh, do-ahead, super-easy dessert.
May 7, 2010
Recipe: Lechón Asado (Cuban-Style Roast Pork)
An authentic Cuban sandwich must have roast pork in it to be worth its salt, and if you want to do it right, make lechón asado. It’s not just for sandwiches; this stands up on its own as a main dish with some rice and black beans.Lechón Asado (Cuban-Style Roast Pork)Ingredients:First, make the mojo marinade.
Apr 23, 2010
Winter Recipe: Rich and Meaty Lamb Ragù
We love rich, meaty ragù — especially in the depths of winter. It’s such a treat poured over fresh pasta, or over fragrant rice. This particular recipe for rich lamb ragù is not hard to make, but you still get the benefits of long, slow cooking. The active part is over quickly, and then then the ragù sits and simmers all afternoon in the oven or all day in the slow cooker.
Feb 18, 2010
Recipe: The New Seven-Layer Salad
My mother made a mean Seven-Layer Salad back in the day. And still does, I’m happy to report. A classic 70’s dish, Seven-Layer Salad offers much in the way of practicality: it’s assembled ahead of time, easy to transport, lovely to look at (especially if you use a clear glass bowl) but, most importantly, it’s a crowd pleaser. Oh, and it has bacon.There are hundreds of versions of Seven Layer Salad. Some have ingredients like taco cheese and sugar (up to 1/2 cup!
Jul 13, 2009
Recipe: Frozen Nectarine-Yogurt Pie
In the summer, we want fast, easy, and, if it’s hot out, cold desserts. This is one of the simplest out there—even quicker if you use a prepared pie crust. Just fresh, ripe fruit, yogurt, some whipped cream, and a little stay in the freezer…The entire pie has only three tablespoons of sugar, so most of the sweetness comes from the fruit. You could of course use any ripe fruit—strawberries and peaches would both be good.
Jun 30, 2009
Dessert Recipe: Rosewater Yogurt Panna Cotta with Blueberries
We love make-ahead desserts, and among easy, delicious, elegant make-ahead desserts, panna cotta reigns supreme. And yet we find that it’s not as well-known as it should be. Why? Is there an impression of difficulty? If so, let us banish that immediately. Panna cotta is perhaps the easiest dessert we know. Read on, and allow us to lecture you further on the delights of this gelled Italian pudding.What is panna cotta?
Jun 22, 2009
Recipe: Chickpea and Chorizo Soup
This rich, spicy stew really hits the spot on cold winter nights. Chorizo, the Spanish pork sausage flavored with smoked paprika and chilies, has a spicy, robust flavor that just permeates this soup. Onions, garlic, thyme, and a little wine round out a broth that gets soaked up by the beans as they simmer. It was easy, quick, and incredibly satisfying on a cold night.
Feb 6, 2009
Recipe: Peach, Plum, and Ginger Jam
You may remember our last attempt at this jam, when it turned out a wee bit hard. But because the flavor was so good, and because we were determined not to let the jam win, we gave it another try…This time, we made a couple of changes. We peeled the peaches, making the jam a little paler than our last batch.
Aug 26, 2008
Recipe: Blackberry Buttermilk Ice Cream
Last weekend I found a bush on the side of the road teeming with wild blackberries. Our two-year old thought it great fun to pick them, and drop a few of them into her red bucket, while eating the rest. That left us with about seven berries. Later, when she wasn’t looking, I dashed back out and filled the bucket again for Blackberry Buttermilk Ice Cream. The lighter berries you see in the photo are some pale pink raspberries from my garden.
Aug 12, 2008
Recipe: Honey Lavender Panna Cotta
OK, this makes three – three! – dessert recipes with lavender that we’ve posted in the last month or two. Lavender is just such a wonderful ingredient for spring and summer desserts; used with a light hand the herbal notes elevate fruit, cream, and honey into a whole new space.Even with the extra step of steeping lavender though, this light, eggless pudding may be the easiest dessert we know. So little work – so much benefit!
Jun 18, 2008
Recipe: Lemon Verbena Simple Syrup
Lemon verbena is one of our favorite herbs. It’s a tall, spare, long-leafed plant with slender leaves and a fragrance to die for. It’s not hard to capture that fragrance in a simple syrup.We grow lemon verbena out on the patio; we clip the top leaves regularly and so far it’s doing beautifully.This simple syrup is a snap to make.
May 26, 2008
Recipe: Basic Tomato Sauce (with Optional Zing!)
For the sauce-hungry crowd, here is a basic tomato sauce, with some lemony and spicy elements for adding an optional zing. It’s easy, quick, and isn’t a boring old sauce. Basic sauces were one of the requested items from Cure-takers. This week’s assignment was to add a new skill to your cooking arsenal.
May 6, 2008
Recipe: Chocolate Orange Truffles
Chocolate Orange Trufflesabout 4-5 dozen 2 cups crushed vanilla wafer cookies2 cups powdered sugar1/2 cup cornstarch1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled1/2 cup orange juice concentrate, thawed1 teaspoon vanilla1 cup minced pecans1/4 cup candied ginger, minced as finely as possible 12 ounces chocolate chips1/4 bar cooking waxZest of 1 orange Mix all ingredients except for the chocolate chips and wax. Stir well and add more powdered sugar or cornstarch if it’s still too goopy to handle.
Sep 27, 2007
Recipe: Plum and Earl Grey Preserves
Plums are in season, and we have been busy thinking up more ways to use them. We were inspired by Heidi Swanson’s Rosewater Plum Compote a couple weeks ago, and we set out to make our own plum sauce. We love tea and plums together, so we played around with an Earl Grey concentrate and sweet-tart red plums until we found a combination we liked. The tea gives the sweet plums undertones of tannins and herbs, and these deep flavors ripen as it sits.
Sep 12, 2007
Recipe: D.I.Y. Pastry Cream
Eclairs, fruit pastries, napoleonsand other little treasures of the patisserie usually have one thing in common: pastry cream. Pastry cream, or creme patisserie, is an egg-enriched custard with flour or cornstarch for added thickening power, used to fill or layer pastries. It’s quite similar to vanilla pudding, and super easy to make. The recipe here only includes three egg yolks, considerably less than a traditional French recipe – which can include up to ten.
Jun 4, 2007
Recipe: Creamy Cheesy Potatoes
These potatoes are a homestyle recipe – full of dairy and fat and other very, very good things. They are comfort food at its finest, with cubed potatoes boiled till just tender and then baked with all sorts of creamy cheese until soft and bubbling. They also come together faster than you might think, and they last for days in the fridge – if you can keep them around that long!
Jan 25, 2007
Recipe: D.I.Y. Divinity
In fact, it never fails to amaze me that this recipe was invented by someone who did not have an electric mixer. How did they do it? How would they even think to whip egg whites this long? I wouldn’t even do this with a hand mixer – a stand mixer is what makes divinity easy.The almonds are highly recommended; this candy is so teeth-achingly sweet that it’s nice to cut it with some salt and smokiness.
Dec 11, 2006
Recipe: D.I.Y. Buckeyes
These freeze well. I, regrettably, prefer them straight from the freezer. They are also the first of several Christmas candies, suitable for food gifts or the holiday buffet table, that we’ll look at in the next several weeks.Chocolate and Peanut Butter Buckeyesmakes about 13 dozen 2 lbs. powdered sugar3 cups peanut butter (smooth and not the all-natural kind)1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)1 1/2 lb. chocolate chips, semi-sweet (24 oz.
Dec 4, 2006
Recipe: Slow-Cooked Pork Roast with White Wine and Sage
Here’s the thing about slow cooking – you can put meat into a slow cooker with almost nothing else and it will still turn out succulently moist. A little extra work may yield some extra complexity, a darkening in the flavor, but you can skip that and still have a great roast. Either of the two methods offered in this recipe will give you a delicious pork roast with almost zero work, which is just what I like the week after Thanksgiving.
Nov 28, 2006
Recipe: D.I.Y. Candied Lemon Peel
5-6 organic lemons, about 1 1/2 pounds1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cup cold water2 cups sugar Superfine sugar (optional) Peel the lemons with vegetable peeler, taking off long, thin strips. Fill a medium sauce pan 3/4 full with water and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the lemon peels and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, then drain. Repeat, using the other 1/2 teaspoon of salt. This is softening the lemon peels and taking away the residual bitterness of the white pith.
Nov 27, 2006
Recipe: Sweet Potato Bread Pudding with Caramel Pecan Sauce
Here’s a fall flavored weekend dessert that can be assembled ahead of time and baked just before serving. It’s great for company as a finale to a homey fall meal. The earthy flavor of the sweet potatoes really comes through, pairing well with the spices and the caramely, nutty sauce. I made a batch and gave some to two sets of friends who heated it up in the microwave later. Everyone raved.
Oct 20, 2006
D.I.Y. Recipe: Plum Cinnamon Jam
Jam looks intimidating – boiling and canning and sterilizing and botulism all rolled into one specter of potential food poisoning. But while canning itself is much easier than it looks, you don’t need to mess with that for just one or two quick jars of jam. An hour or two will give you a jar of jam that can be frozen for up to six months or refrigerated for a month with that taste of summer fruit locked inside.
Oct 2, 2006
Word of Mouth: Mushroom Duxelles
Duxelles [dook-SEHL, deu-SEHL]n. A thick mixture of minced mushrooms and shallots slowly cooked with butter and herbs, used for flavoring soups and sauces and for fillings. This admittedly unphotogenic mushroom mixture is a deceptively simple way to add rich, intense flavor to many dishes, and it’s easy to make ahead and have on hand for quick appetizers. Wrap a teaspoonful in puff pastry and bake, or stuff into chicken breasts.
Oct 2, 2006