Winter

My parents visited Sicily last fall (lucky dogs!) and brought back a wonderful recipe to accompany any main dish at dinner. I’ve riffed on the combination of blood oranges, mint, and red onion and added my own spin. The results? Shockingly good in color and in flavor! For me the perfect salad is crucial to any supper. The lighter notes can take center stage as the base of the meal or they can play in contrast to something heavier.

With this post, the Toddy Project reaches its delicious, boozy conclusion. Herein: gin gets the toddy treatment, and vanilla warms up a plain old whiskey toddy. Can’t get enough hot toddies? Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the Toddy Project. Nancy Mitchell has had a very good week. You can find more of her recipes and writings on her blog, The Backyard Bartender.

The toddy project continues with two delicious combinations of tea and booze – whiskey and black tea to perk you up, and chamomile and bourbon to send you off to sleep. I couldn’t stop drinking this. It’s so many things I love, mixed into one: whiskey, tea, spices, honey. I can see myself drinking this après-ski in front of a roaring fire, or just après-work at the end of a long day. Go ahead, make one: you’ve earned it.

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.I diligently set aside Sunday as a time for personal rest and relaxation. Don’t expect me to brush my hair, and don’t even ask why I still have mascara on my face past noon.

I had the best Brussels sprouts of my life last week at a lovely little restaurant in Brooklyn called Vinegar Hill House. It was just before Thanksgiving and it got me thinking about the dwindling stock of green food coming from the earth this time of year. Winter eating can be depressing for a girl like me, but given the limits and challenges of cold-weather cooking, some pretty amazing stuff can pop through this kind of tabletop sorrow.

pumpkin butter Alcohol always warms the body, and hot alcohol doubly so. Delight your guests, and warm your insides, with this tweak of an old recipe. Now, if you have never had hot buttered rum before, you may be a bit skeptical. Alcohol and butter? Believe and do not doubt. Butter adds a certain richness to this drink, as well as a bit of flavor. Imagine drinking a warm glass of boozy pumpkin pie. Don’t you love fall? Nancy Mitchell loves a hot drink on a cold day.

As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m a pretty big fan of the Southern restaurant chain Cracker Barrel. Their buttermilk biscuits are the lightest, airiest biscuits around. The chicken & dumplings and hashbrown casserole are pretty rockin’, too. But once in a blue moon I’ll indulge in their most decadent menu item of all, baked apple dumplings. Up until a few days ago, Cracker Barrel’s apple dumplings were all I knew.

Everyone loves a good casserole, right? The key word here is good. We’ve all had goopy, unappetizing messes inflicted upon us in the name of casseroles, but that really should be the deviation — not the norm. I love casseroles — the good ones. In fact, I just spent a year writing an entire book with 225 recipes for modern, fresh casseroles. This recipe isn’t in the book, but it’s very much in the spirit of things.

What are you drinking on Valentine’s? (Or, for that matter, Chinese New Year, President’s Day, or Fat Tuesday?) A little later today we have a roundup for you of creative and delicious Valentine’s Day cocktails. But first, let’s consider breakfast. Why not start the day off with a spiked mocha? Here’s one recipe that looks so good; we’d love to curl up with a hot mug of mocha on this snowy weekend!

We’re in the throes of deep-winter eating and there are definitely some days when it’s hard to find cooking inspiration in the produce section. This recipe, which was passed along by a friend, came just in time. The brilliant pairing of apples and parsnips is new and refreshing without being weird.Like most creamy soups, this soup is ridiculously easy to make and is very satisfying.

We mentioned yesterday that we’re slightly obsessed with Brussels sprouts This dish was totally inspired by the warm salad of Brussels sprouts leaves with fried capers and hazelnuts at Contigo, a great Spanish and Catalan restaurant in San Francisco. We had a very memorable meal there a few weeks ago, but it was this dish that took the top prize. Fresh, warm, and interesting.

Well folks, it’s over. The hustle is no longer hustling and the stockings are waiting to be packed up for the next go ’round. An ungodly amount of See’s Candy has been consumed, and we’re slowly making our way through leftovers and the last dregs of eggnog. Now if you’re anything like me (read: efficient first child), you’ve broken down boxes, recycled wrapping paper, and put your new gifts away.

We usually roast our butternut, acorn, and delicata squash. We like the flavor of winter squash roasted slowly in the oven. The only problem is that word: slow. It takes a while to roast a whole squash or two, so lately we’ve been turning to a familiar technique, used in a new way for squash. Braising.Braised or simmered squash is much quicker than roasting: it cooks in just a few minutes, and you’re left with the benefit of all that creamy sauce, too.

Have you ever had apple butter? Personally, we can’t get enough of it! Apple butter is applesauce that gets slowly cooked down until it becomes a thick, glossy, caramelized spread. So good on toast and swirled into ice cream. And here’s how to make it at home:Step 1: Choose ApplesThe best apples are the ones that taste good to you. We like apples that are tart and tangy, but you might prefer ones that are more sweet and mellow. Both are good!

My farm box delivered the most exquisite treasure a few weeks ago, the fairy tale-like Musquee de Provence Pumpkin. It’s been sitting on my dining room table and as much as I would love to keep it around for it’s voluptuous beauty, this pumpkin (which is technically a part of the squash family) is also quite delicious to eat.Read on for a favorite recipe!The flesh of the Musquee de Provence is deep orange and sweet.

Knoblauchcremesuppe! Say that eight times fast. It’s actually a very simple thing, and it’s quite deserving of our soup of the day. Creamy garlic soup, an Austrian favorite.This soup is so simple and easy: just some onion and garlic, a little flour and a little milk. Toasted bread croutons and ta-da! Dinner. Sweet and simple.• Get the recipe: Knoblauchcremesuppe (garlic soup) at Dinner for OneHave a great soup recipe? Email us here if you have a recipe and photo to share.

Here’s what happened. Kim says: For our New Year’s dinner, I impressed our friends (and myself) with an amazing menu. But what impressed me the most was something completely accidental. Rewind to our Christmas Eve dinner… … I’d stuffed a hen with onions, orange wedges, thyme, sage, and rosemary, and I had a few leftover orange wedges. I put them in the roasting pan with the bite-sized creamer potatoes just to see how they would turn out. Surprise!

Oden is a hearty Japanese stew that is cooked over several days and commonly served during cold winter months. It’s pretty easy to make and most ingredients can be found online or in Japanese supermarkets. It’s got a wonderful, savory flavor and contains an odd melange of ingredients like yam, taro, fish cake, hard boiled eggs, and mushrooms. Even though those food combinations might seem odd to Westerners, oden is a delicious dish that should be tried.

Dana’s post last week on cavalo nero kale reminded me that we’re in ribollita season. Ribollita is a simple, earthy Tuscan soup made from whatever vegetable scraps and stale bread is on hand, and is eaten in the fall and winter months.The word “ribollita” means “reboiled” and is used to refer to this soup because it requires a lot of cooking to get the right flavor and texture. It’s very hearty and filling, and keeps you warm in the winter.

Raclette is a firm, pungent cheese from Switzerland that is the center of a popular winter social event in the Alpine parts of Europe. The cheese is made of cow’s milk and is salty, and can come in variations made with wine, pepper, and herbs.The word “raclette” comes from the French word “to scrape.” Raclette makes up a simple meal that was enjoyed by shepherds in the fields.

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!

It is finally snowing here in New York City! And Florida grapefruit are at their peak now. This is the perfect morning to pucker up, keep warm in front of the oven, and make yourself a sunny broiled grapefruit for breakfast.

Like so many vegetables, cauliflower is one of those that is available year round but few realize that there is indeed a season for it. Cauliflower season runs from October through April but it’s at its best starting in December. Look for compact, dense heads without any discolorization. To store, place in a plastic bag and put in the refrigerator, where it should keep for about a week.