Creamy gratins are a comforting backbone of winter cooking. Using cauliflower as the base gives you a healthy-ish dish, where the florets are enveloped in a rich, luscious béchamel sauce. I love adding diced ham or bacon, but you can easily omit it if you want a vegetarian option. It can be a whole dinner…
3 Ways to Love Cauliflower
A classic winter staple, cauliflower is a hardy, healthy, low-calorie vegetable of the cabbage family (Brassica oleracea). With its mild taste and versatility—easily steamed, boiled, roasted, or fried—it can be transformed into all sorts of dishes. It’s also a huge help for those following a gluten-free or paleo diet, and today, it has become increasingly…
Chelsea Buns
Chelsea buns were sold in The Chelsea Bun House in London as far back as 1711. They may be considered the first sweet confection that people ever queued for in masses, just to get their hands on a bun or two. It might not be as modern as a cronut or a freakshake, but the…
Bakewell Tart
In Bakewell you’ll find a bakery on every street corner, each claiming they bake the one and only original Bakewell pudding that made the little Peak District town famous. Who actually invented the Bakewell pudding? According to the most popular story, the Bakewell pudding originated around 1850 when the maid of the local Rutland Arms…
Clapcake
Clapcake, clapbread, or havercake from Cumbria, northern England, and clap scones from Scotland, resemble the thin crispbread we usually associate only with Scandinavia. “The Diary of Celia Fiennes” from 1698 tells us how these clapcakes were made in Cumbria: They mix their flour with water, so soft as to rowle it in their hands into…
The Partial Enchilada: Red Chile Sauce, a Show-Stealing Addition to Any Winter Meal
Winter is the season for red chile enchilada sauce. You can almost smell the piñon and juniper smoke drifting from the leaky wood stove, as you explore the profound depths of a good red chile sauce made from scratch. The sauce is good on potatoes, squash, and other wintry foods, keeping you warm inside and…
Taming the Chicory
Winter is chicory season. Chicories are the often-labeled bitter greens, which include radicchio, endive, puntarelle, and escarole. Bunches and heads of chicory are prolific throughout the season, difficult to miss with their with dramatic frilly, spiky, and cone-headed leaves. And while their bitterness can be off-putting to some, at winter’s peak, chicories are crisp, juicy,…
Fresh Pasta Dough
This is the basic recipe for fresh pasta that my grandma taught me years ago. There’s a golden ratio to follow that is extremely easy to remember: 1 egg and 100 grams of flour, half all-purpose and half semolina. Then scale up as needed. Makes enough for about 4 servings, depending on the recipe 100…
Tortelli Mugellani With Potato Filling
Tortelli mugellani are a type of filled pasta typical of Mugello, a mountainous area near Florence, bordering Emilia Romagna. They are one of the most representative recipes of the cuisine, which is Tuscan, based on poor ingredients, but influenced by the nearby region, Emilia Romagna. Women in Mugello know how to roll out the dough…
Lemon Tagliolini
As much as I love a robust meat or game sauce, a summer basil pesto, or a rich cheese sauce, when it comes to enjoying good, homemade fresh pasta, I prefer a more delicate sauce. This one is fresh and lemony, with just enough cheese to still make it a comfort food. It is bright…
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