Cherry Orange Carrot Cupcakes

These sweet cupcakes are fabulously moist and yummy, with dried cherries stepping in for the more conventional raisin, and orange-flavored cream cheese icing to top them off.

Cupcakes

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

3/4 cup applesauce

4 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

3 cups peeled carrots, grated (this winds up being almost exactly a small bag of "baby" carrots, which I just dump into the food processor with the shred blade)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped dried cherries or more as you like

Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened

zest of 1 orange

2 tsp vanilla

For Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350. Set paper cupcake liners in 2 muffin pans to make room for 24 cupcakes (my muffin pans have 12 spots each). In an electric stand mixer, combine sugar, oil, and applesauce. Add eggs one at a time. Then add dry ingredients and mix to combine. Add carrots, nuts, and cherries, and mix again. Fill each cupcake liner with about 1/2 cup of batter.

Place on middle rack of oven and bake until set, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow cupcakes to cool.

For Frosting:

Combine all ingredients in electric stand mixer and blend for several minutes until all lumps of powdered sugar disappear.

You can frost the cupcakes by dunking them upside down into the frosting, twisting, and flicking a cute little peak over on top when you pull them out.

I like to put a dried cherry or a sliver of crystallized ginger on top.

Tomato Sauce with Sausage and Kale

This is a home-y sauce which cooks quickly. Very easy, healthy and delicious for a weeknight dinner. The olive oil added as a garnish at the end gives it a sweet and fresh taste.

3 tbsp quality extra-virgin olive oil

1 sweet Italian sausage

1 spicy Italian sausage

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed

1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes (I like Muir Glen, and I don't really like anything else...)

1 small pinch dried thyme

1 small bunch of lacinato kale, cut into chiffonade

salt and pepper to taste

freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1 lb pasta of your choice (fusilli or a similar shape would be good here but you can also use ravioli)

Start your pasta water to boil with plenty of salt. Heat a large, heavy-bottomed, lidded sauté pan over medium-high heat (without the lid for now). Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to the pan and swirl the pan to coat. When the oil has heated, squeeze the sausages from their casings into the pan. Sauté for four or five minutes while breaking up the sausages with a wooden spoon. Monitor the heat carefully so that the sausage doesn't form too much of a fond on the bottom of the pan. When the sausage is just beginning to brown in places, add the onions and cook, stirring, for about 5 more minutes. When the onion is wilted, add the garlic and cook for just about 30 seconds, until the pungent garlic smell mellows just slightly. Pour in the liquid from the whole peeled tomatoes, then squeeze each whole tomato in your hand to crush it before you drop it into the pan. (This squirt-prone operation can be mitigated somewhat by poking a hole with your thumb and one finger to de-pressurize the tomato before you really put the squeeze down. I rarely escape this operation without an errant squirt, so an apron would be a strong recommendation here. This might seem like a complicated process -- why not just use diced or puréed tomatoes? Well, somehow they just don't have the same delicate, slightly brothy-y texture and flavor.)

Now add the thyme and the kale and stir the sauce to combine the ingredients. Salt carefully to taste. Cover the sauce and simmer for about 7 minutes, until the kale is wilted and the sauce is bubbling. As soon as you cover your sauce, check the time you need to cook your pasta, and time it to be done just about the same time as the sauce.

Drain the pasta when it's cooked to your liking, and spoon it into 4 wide shallow bowls. Divide the sauce on top of the pasta between the 4 bowls. Drizzle 1/2 tbsp of olive oil over each bowl, and grate the Parmigiano on top.

Serves 4.

Chicken, Bok Choy, and Shitake Mushroom Stirfry with Brown Rice

Growing up in Woodstock NY in the '70s, I ate my fair share of tempeh, homemade yogurt, and stirfries heavily seasoned with any old spices or condiments that happened to be hanging around, particularly large doses of tamari (Japanese wheat-free soy sauce). In general, I'm not a huge fan of the whole Moosewood school of cooking, but every so often, I get a craving for something inauthentically Asian, by way of the health food store. My version here contains chicken (so there, vegetarians!) as well as bok choy, shitake mushrooms, and toasted almonds. You can be very creative with stirfries, but there are some key principles to follow:

• Remember that each of the ingredients has its own optimal cooking time. After you've finished your prep, come up with a game plan for adding (and in some cases, temporarily removing) ingredients so that nothing is over- or under-cooked.
• Just because it's in your fridge doesn't mean it belongs in your dish. Try to use ingredients that complement one another in flavor, sweetness, color, and texture.
• Watch how much soy sauce/tamari etc. you use! Rather than indiscriminately dumping in more of any condiment when you need to add moisture to the pan, I like to mix up a batch of sauce that tastes balanced to me, which I usually make somewhat diluted with either water or broth. Then I add that instead of a squirt of soy sauce. That way you don't wind up with any one flavor dominating.

I like it with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast on top, proving that you can be nostalgic for anything.

For the rice:

Start the rice first, since it takes a while to cook.

1 cup brown rice
2 1/4 cups water
pinch of salt

Combine in a small saucepan with a tight-fitting lid (don't cover just yet though.) Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer gently for 45 minutes.

For the stirfry:

2 boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/8 inch slices
1 lb baby bok choy, washed, ends removed, and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
20 large shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch scallions, washed and sliced into wedgy-julienne (long diagonal slices, turning the scallion after each cut so that the layers of each slice will separate )
1 small red jalapeno, cut into fine dice
1 tsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup toasted almond slivers

For sauce:

2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp agave syrup
1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup chicken broth

Combine all sauce ingredients except chicken broth, and taste. Should taste balanced, a little sweet, a little sour, a little salty. Add half the sauce to a bowl with the sliced raw chicken to marinate, and then add the chicken broth to the remaining sauce to use during cooking.

Heat a large saute pan or a wok over high heat. Add vegetable oil, then the chicken, and brown lightly on all sides until chicken is cooked through. Remove from the pan and reserve. Add mushrooms and bok choy and saute for several minutes, until bok choy leaves wilt and their stems turn bright green and soften. Add sauce as needed to prevent sticking or the bottom of the pan getting brown & crusty. Add jalapeno and scallions, and saute for two more minutes, until the scallions soften. Add toasted almonds and serve with brown rice.

Serves 4.

If you have leftovers, combine the stirfry and rice, and saute in a little extra vegetable oil with an egg for some tasty fried rice.

June Farmer's Market Supper

Carmelized Scallops, Sugar Snap Peas with Mint, and Roasted Beet Salad

The McCarren Park Farmer's Market is starting to get exciting! The fish guys have been here for a few weeks (although sadly, no weakfish), but now my favorite weird vegetable guy is back, along with stalwarts RonnyBrook Farm, RedJacket Orchard and Dines Farms, among others. To celebrate, I made a super-plain, super-fresh dinner of fresh vegetables, herbs, and scallops.

If you want to make everything, the beets take about 1 1/2 hours, so start them first, then do the prep and cook the scallops and peas once the beets are finished roasting.

For Beets

1 bunch small- to medium-sized beets, greens and tips trimmed off
3 tbsp chopped chives
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp walnut or olive oil
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Wrap beets individually in aluminium foil. Roast 1+ hours. When beets are done, a knife should pierce them easily. Remove beets from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Remove skins, and cut into regular cubes. Dress in remaining ingredients.

For Scallops

10 large sea scallops, muscle removed (the little tough bit stuck to the side)
1/2 tbsp butter
kosher salt
pepper
1/3 cup white wine
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 lemon

Heat a heavy-bottomed medium-large size saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add half the butter to the pan, and swirl to coat the surface. Place scallops in the pan on one flat end, in order from largest to smallest (so that the larger scallops cook for slightly longer.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Do not shake the pan or move the scallops in any way for 2 minutes, then carefully turn them over (tongs are the best scallop turner,) sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook for another two minutes. Remove scallops to a warm plate, add the remaining butter, and cook the garlic in the butter for 30 seconds until just barely beginning to turn golden. Add wine and swirl over the bottom of the pan to deglaze, then use a rubber spatula to bring up any bits of scallop or friedness. Reduce to about two tbsp, and spoon over scallops before serving. Serve with lemon wedge.

For Peas

1/2 lb fresh sugar snap peas
1 tsp butter
1 bunch purple scallions, cut into julienne
a good handful of mint leaves, pulled from their stems and cut into chiffonade
salt

Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add peas and saute for several minutes, until the peas turn bright green and lose any trace of "uncooked" taste. Just as they're finishing, add scallions and mint and saute for about 30 more seconds until scallions lose their sharpness. Remove from heat and add salt to taste.

Serves 2.

Mediterranean Salad

Kind of like a Greek salad. I assembled it on a platter surrounded by triangles of toasted pita bread, and served hummus on the side.

For Salad

4 cups washed and well-dried mesclun mix
1/2 cucumber, washed with soap and water, dried, 1/2 peeled in alternating stripes, and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 ripe medium tomato, diced
20 medium-large mint leaves, washed, dried, and cut into chiffonade
12 kalamata olives
1/3 cup toasted Marcona almonds*
1/2 cup creamy Israeli feta, cubed

For Dressing

1 clove garlic, pressed
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp snipped chives

2 tbsp olive oil

For Finishing

Maldon Sea Salt

Layer the salad ingredients in a platter or bowl. In a bowl, combine the garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, and chives. Whisk with a fork while gradually drizzling in olive oil. Pour dressing evenly over salad, sprinkle with salt, and serve immediately. You can either toss or just serve in vertical sections.

Serves 2.

* Marcona almonds are a Spanish variety of almond with a slightly richer taste, somewhat like a Macadamia nut.

Strawberry Mint Margarita

After working through several weekends only to spend my first weekend off having a hot, sweaty, dusty stoop sale, refreshing tasty beverages were in order. I had some beautiful deep red farmer's market strawberries macerating with mint left over from topping a coconut tapioca pudding the night before, which made the perfect fruity base for a frozen margarita. Approximately something like this:

Combine 1 pint washed, hulled, and sliced fresh ripe strawberries, 4 tbsp agave nectar*, and 4 tbsp mint leaves. (Be sure to wash and dry the mint leaves.) Allow to macerate at least 5 minutes, or overnight. Fill a blender about 2/3 full of ice cubes. Add 1 cup tequila, 1/3 cup triple sec, juice of one lime, and strawberry mixture, and blend on high for several seconds until ice is pulverized and ingredients are combined thoroughly. Divide between 4 medium glasses and garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Serves 4.

*I love the idea of using agave nectar for this recipe, since it comes from the same cactus that tequila is made from. Even though it's pricey, it's sweet and tasty and has a low enough glycemic index that it's approved for diabetics, which means it's better for the rest of us too.

Mustard Panko Chicken

Julia Child was on to something with this recipe for Chicken Broiled with Mustard, Herbs, and Breadcrumbs, although the multi-step broiling process seems too complicated for what could just be a tasty thing to cook after work on a weeknight. We like it with sauteed kale or a green salad and mashed sweet potatoes, although when I made it the other night I had half a loaf of olive bread from Bouley Bakery left over and going stale which I turned into a panzanella with olives, tomatoes, some creamy Israeli feta, basil, and pine nuts. It's great either with homemade breadcrumbs or panko, and, as Julia suggests, the perfect wine to drink is a rosé.

8 chicken thighs, boneless or with bones
4 tbsp melted butter
1/3 cup dijon mustard (not the grainy kind)
2-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup panko or homemade breadcrumbs
1 tsp dried thyme or tarragon
1 tsp kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375°. In a small bowl, combine butter , mustard, and garlic. In another small bowl, combine panko, dried thyme or tarragon, salt, and pepper. Coat the chicken pieces thoroughly but lightly with the mustard-butter combination, then with the panko-or-breadcrumb mixture. Place in a baking dish that is big enough so that none of the pieces are touching, and bake until done. This should be about 25-30 minutes for boneless pieces and about 10 minutes longer with bones.

Black Bean Salad

This is a classic Southwest-flavored recipe, but the proportions here worked out particularly well -- the results were zesty, colorful, smoky, and tangy. It's a great easy no-cook side for anything grilled. Be sure to rinse the beans very well, and to wash and thoroughly dry the other ingredients, particularly the scallions and cilantro, since those have nooks and crannies where creepy germs can hang out.

2 cans black beans (or a combination of black beans, chick peas, black eyed peas, etc)

2 ears of corn, kernels sliced off the cobs

1 bunch scallions, green stems removed and chopped fine

1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper, diced

½ bunch cilantro, washed thoroughly and chopped fine

1 lime

1 tsp cumin powder

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

3-4 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp chipotle pepper sauce

Salt to taste

In a medium bowl, combine black beans, corn, scallions, bell pepper, and cilantro. Zest the lime directly into the bean mixture, then slice the lime in half and squeeze the juice over the top. Add remaining ingredients, taste and adjust.

Pan Sauces

Lately, I've been making pan sauces for just about everything. It takes just a few seconds to throw some chopped shallots, butter, herbs, and wine into a pan in which you've just fried up some steak or fish or whatever. You can use white, rosé or red (whatever you're drinking,) any herbs you like, and any other ingredients you find appealing. I like a pan sauce with shallots, white wine, lemon pulp, and capers (and/or sea beans) for fish, and just a simple red wine-shallot-tarragon sauce is killer on a rib eye. I'd love to try something with fruit for pork chops or duck breast, maybe plums and cherries. The one at right is a hanger steak with the most basic of all pan sauces -- just a little butter, shallot, and red wine.

Basic Pan Sauce (with variations)

1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup wine (a goodly slosh)
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
(fresh or dried herbs to taste)
(sliced mushrooms)
(capers or sliced olives)
(sea beans)
(chopped fruit)
(etc.)

Pan fry, sauté, etc, whatever it is you want to sauce. When cooked, move from pan to a plate and keep in a warm oven until ready to serve. Return the empty pan to medium-high heat, and add 1 tbsp butter. Swirl around the pan to melt, and then add shallots. Add any other ingredients you like, though if you're using fresh herbs, it's best to wait to add them until the shallots are wilted. More substantial additions like mushrooms can go right in with the shallots. When shallots are nice and wilted, add wine and swirl around the pan until it's almost entirely reduced and the sauce has a somewhat thickened consistency. Plate up your delicious oven-warmed food items, and top with your pan sauce creation.

Salad Composition 101

(originally published on lime.com)
Many sad salads lurk in refrigerators at restaurants, or languish in the bins of the nearest Salad Toss counter at the deli, or cower inside taco shells or the latest fast food delivery contraption, waiting to depress the nearest eater. Leathery lettuce, alien tomatoes, and canned garnishes can create the impression that a salad is a poor substitute for food. As a powerful antidote to this dispiriting category, creating your own salad is a great way to connect with fresh ingredients. Along with a bit of bread and a glass of wine, it’s a delicious, light, and healthy supper.

The key is to use the most inspired selection of ingredients you can find, with the barest of seasonings. Shopping for a salad can be a great experience of foraging locally for things that are seasonal and fresh. I like to think of an unconventional salade Niçoise or a vegetable antipasto: an artfully curated selection of flavors, textures and colors displayed on individual plates or a large serving dish. Temperature is a key component of getting the best flavor from your salad. A cold tomato is a thing from hell, whereas one that has been warmed by the sun for a few hours just prior to being picked and eaten is a Proustian experience. Not everything you include has to come straight from the garden, but bringing all produce to room temperature is crucial. I rarely refrigerate produce I plan to use within 24 hours, except for onions (colder onions make for fewer tears.)

A salad as it should be is so personal to the taste of the cook and so dependant upon what is in season that it is difficult to give a recipe, but here are some ideas for combinations, along with my favorite salad dressing recipe. As far as that goes, you can do just as well and sometimes better with just a drizzle of high-quality extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon or lime juice and a sprinkle of salt.

Don’t feel as though you have to throw in the kitchen sink. Think of five or six things that might taste good together, treat them well, and assemble them in an appealing way.

Lettuce and other greens: Mesclun mixes of various varieties, baby spinach, sorrel, dandelion greens, and lettuces are in season around the country for the next several months. If you have a farmer’s market, look there first, but many stores now carry a good selection of bulk mesclun or bagged, washed greens. Look carefully for wilted bits, dive to the back of the shelf for the bagged lettuce with the farthest expiration date, and be generally picky. Sub-par greens can become more inspired with a brief cold water bath, and all greens should have one in any case to remove any dirt, sand, or bugs. Dry very carefully in a salad spinner or between paper towels (or both) as wet greens prevent dressing from adhering.

Fresh herbs : Cilantro, tarragon, chervil, basil, mint and parsley are some of my favorites to use in salads. Stick to milder herbs without an overly fibrous texture. Rosemary and sage are better in cooked foods, for example.

Other Vegetables: Some vegetables need a bit of blanching or steaming, including peas, green beans, and fava beans. Beets and potatoes should be boiled until just tender, while tomatoes, avocados, radishes, fennel, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, scallions, sweet onions, celery and sprouts can just be sliced or chopped or included whole.

Fruits: Apples, pears, plums, peaches, watermelon cubes, grapes, mango, berries, grapefruit or orange sections, and thin slices of lemon with the peel still on all have their place in a salad. Raw is always great, but apples, pears, and peaches can also be halved and baked first. Be sure to buy organic when it counts.

Toasted Nuts: Toasting, either in a toaster or on top of the stove in a small skillet, really develops the flavor of nuts. I like to use pine nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, and in a salad with Southeast Asian-inspired flavors, peanuts.

Cheeses: A salad is one of the tastiest ways to set off the flavors of good cheese. Try blue cheeses like Cabrales or sweet Gorgonzola, rich Brie and soft and tangy goats’ milk cheeses, nutty Parmigiano Reggiano, delicate Mozzarella Bufala or dry, salty Feta and Ricotta Salata.

Legumes: High-quality canned cannellini beans or chickpeas, or beluga lentils or lentils du puy cooked in vegetable stock, can work very well in salads. If using canned legumes, wake them up by washing them very well in cold water and marinating in a quick dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.

Others: High-quality canned tuna fish (try the Italian versions packed in olive oil), olives, hard boiled eggs, poached eggs, poached or grilled shrimp, croutons made from stale wholegrain bread, cubed salami, and slab bacon cubed, fried, and drained are all great additions to a salad. I’m told that anchovies are delicious, but they’re too strange for me.

Salad Dressing

I make this in my blender. You can make it without one, but you will need to chop the shallot very finely and whisk the olive oil into the other ingredients by droplets.

1 small shallot, roughly chopped

1/4 cup rice vinegar

Juice of 1 lemon (pick out the seeds)

1/4 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 cup olive oil

Salt to taste

In the bottom of a blender, macerate the shallot in the vinegar and lemon juice for about 15 minutes while you assemble the salad. Add mustard, and blend on high for about 30 seconds. While the blender is running, open the middle of the lid. In a slow, steady stream, add the olive oil. Stop the blender, taste, and correct seasonings. To dress the salad, just barely moisten and toss as close to serving as possible. I like to assemble the salad and then dress and toss it at the table.

You may prefer a lower or higher ratio of vinegar to oil, so experiment. This makes almost a cup of dressing, which will be way more than enough unless you are making a very large salad. It keeps in the refrigerator for up to a week, but be sure to bring to room temperature before using.

Inspired Combinations

• Mache or mesclun, parsley, tuna, olives, red potatoes, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, anchovy (if you must.) This is the classic Niçoise salad.
• Arugula, sliced fennel, slivered pecorino romano, toasted pine nuts. Dress with just a splash of olive oil and a small drizzle of red wine vinegar, with sea salt and pepper.
• Grilled radicchio, parsley, celery, chickpeas, cubed ricotta salata, cubed salami.
• Frisee, tarragon, cubed fried bacon (lardoons), toasted baguette, poached egg.
• Baby romaine, cilantro, mint, grilled shrimp, watermelon cubes, scallions, toasted chopped peanuts. Dress with lime juice mixed with a tiny bit of fish sauce, a dab of honey, and salt.
• Mesclun, baked Seckel pears, Cabrales, toasted pecans.
• Arugula, cannellini, tuna, fennel slices, lemon slices, chopped fennel fronds.

Image courtesy of Chocolate and Zucchini

Brunching Out: A Great Green for Moms

(originally published on lime.com)

Brunching with Mom this weekend?

Adding kale to the menu is an unusual, easy, and delicious way to show her you care. It comes in several tasty varieties and has a wide range of beneficial nutrients that are associated with decreased risk of cancer, cataracts, heart disease, arthritis, and emphysema, including anti-oxidants, calcium, and fiber. Not only is it truly a health super-food, but Sautéed Lemon Kale is a great reason to blow off the Eggs Benedict when served with poached eggs and whole-grain toast. It can be tempting to toss aside good nutrition on special occasions, but this is one exceptionally healthy treat that I have come to crave.

Kale comes in several varieties, and any of them will work well in this preparation, although I particularly like the texture of the curly variety. Look for firm, crisp leaves with no signs of wilting or yellowing.

Poached Eggs with Sautéed Lemon Kale and Whole Grain Toast

1 large bunch kale, washed and dried

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic

1 lemon

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

4 eggs

1 tbsp white vinegar

4 slices of whole grain bread

Slice the kale horizontally across the bunch into ribbons about ½ inch wide. Discard the tough stems. Cut the garlic into slivers.

Heat olive oil in a large lidded sauté pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers but doesn’t smoke. Add kale. You may need to add it in batches, as the kale will reduce in size as it cooks, and while it may initially look as though there is too much for the pan, if you wait 10-15 seconds you should be able to squeeze it all in. Cover and cook until the kale is sufficiently reduced in size that you can stir it. Remove the lid and sauté as the kale continues to cook down. It’s fine, and in fact, quite tasty, if some of the leaves brown and crisp in places. When you have enough room in the pan, move the kale to the side enough that you can add the garlic in direct contact with the pan. Sauté for several seconds, then stir to combine garlic and kale. Cook to desired done-ness, at least until the stem portions of the leaves become tender and lose their raw taste. Remove from the heat and add the juice of the lemon. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Toast bread and keep warm.

While you are cooking the kale, bring a medium saucepan containing a depth of about three inches of water to a boil, then reduce the heat to barely a simmer. Add the vinegar to the water. When the kale is done, poach the eggs as follows: gently crack each egg into a saucer or small cup. Lower into the simmering water and slide in the eggs. Immediately turn off the heat and cover. Cook for just under 3 minutes.

On each one of 4 plates, top one slice of toast with one quarter of the Sautéed Lemon Kale and one poached egg. Serve immediately, and pass sea salt and the pepper mill.

Serves 4.

Lemony Roast Chicken

Easy, inexpensive, and highly delicious, roast chicken is the preferred Sunday night supper around our house. The basic recipe I use is a slight variation on the one my mother has made since I was little. Between the two of us, my mother and I have roasted a hundreds of chickens, and here in print for the very first time are our tried-and-true methods. Roast chicken is great with any number of accompaniments, but my favorites are mashed Yukon Gold potatoes or yams, roasted Cipollini onions, and a simple green salad.

Chicken Procurement

The first step is selecting a chicken. It’s easy to see the difference between naturally-raised chickens and their factory-farmed counterparts – factory farmed chickens are unappealingly yellow, unsavory and fatty looking, and ooze gross liquid from their packaging, where natural chickens have creamy skin and a much more firm, dry, and plump appearance. I prefer Bell and Evans chickens. They’re air-chilled, raised on natural feed, and allowed to roam freely. Also tasty are Whole Foods chickens. Don’t shy away from spending a few extra dollars for a high-quality chicken. It’s simply not worth wasting your time with inferior ingredients, and even spending up, you’ll still be paying $7-8 for a whole bird, which will easily feed four normal appetites. I usually buy a 3.5-4 lb chicken.

Salt Cure (optional)

If you have 12-24 hours before you need to cook the bird, I recommend a simple salt-and-pepper cure to improve the chicken’s flavor. I only started curing chickens about a year ago, and it certainly is not a requirement, although it definitely has a positive impact on the outcome. To cure the chicken, combine 2 tablespoons of coarsely flaked sea salt (Maldon is my favorite) with about ½ tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper. Remove the chicken from its packaging, and remove the neck and any other extras from inside its body cavity. (Note on the odd bits: I throw the neck in the pan to generate more tasty chicken juice, but you could also use it to make a quick stock. You can reduce this further and combine with pan drippings later to make really fantastic gravy, see recipe below.) Place the chicken in a small roasting pan. A Pyrex pie pan, an All-Clad sauté pan, or a cast iron skillet will all do nicely. Fold the wing tips under the body. Using your fingers, detach the skin from the chicken breasts and thighs. Trim any large pieces of fat away from the neck and cavity areas. Rub the chicken inside the cavity and under the skin with the salt and pepper mixture. Cover loosely with waxed paper and refrigerate until you’re ready to roast. DO NOT salt-cure unless you have at least 12 hours before cooking, or the salt will not have time to adequately disperse through the chicken and you will have a salty bird.

Preparation

When you’re ready to cook the bird, preheat the oven to 500°. Slice 4-5 cloves of garlic and quarter 1 organic lemon, and place inside the cavity. I used to truss chickens (to the delight of more perverse acquaintances, I often trussed them in their own skin, making a slit in the lower breast skin on one side and slipping the opposite drumstick into the hole) but I find that you can roast in less time with more even results by leaving the legs be. You’ll also be rewarded with more crispy skin. Next, and it is helpful to have an assistant at this juncture, pour 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil into your hands and rub it all over the chicken. Shake about 1½ teaspoons of paprika over the top of the chicken for an even dusting, followed by 1-2 tablespoons dried thyme. If you did not cure the chicken, season well with salt and pepper.

You'll notice this recipe does not call for stuffing the bird with bread-based stuffing; as a matter of fact, I'm fairly opposed to this practice as it means longer cooking times and drier birds. I love stuffing just as much as the next person, I just prefer to bake it in its own dish, as opposed to up a chicken's butt.

Before you pop the chicken into the oven, press down on one of the back legs and note the texture of its motion as it returns to its original position. Make a mental note of this, as this is what "raw" feels like. As you become more practiced, you may be able to use this as a method for determining when your chicken is done.

Roasting

Place the chicken in the oven with the rack set so the bird is right in the middle. Roast for about 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°. Roast for another hour or so. For your first few chickens, I recommend checking for doneness by piercing the spot where the thigh joins the body. Clear juice indicates that the bird is done, whereas pinkish or bloody juice means back to the oven. Keep up with the "pressing the back leg down" test to see how the motion and feeling changes as the chicken approaches done-ness. Resist the urge to open the oven door where possible, however, as you'll lose heat very quickly.

Once the chicken is done, remove from the oven and cover with a tent of aluminum foil. Allow it to rest for at least 15 minutes.

Carving

To carve, place the chicken on a cutting board. If you have one with a gutter around the edges for catching juice, use that one, otherwise be prepared to waste tasty juice and paper towels. Using a sharp kitchen knife, slice away the skin between the leg and the breast until you can tell where the connecting joint is. There's a "sweet spot" where you can easily slice through the joint, separating the leg from the body. Angle the knife toward the body and rotate the leg a bit to get the best access. Once you've removed both legs, slice diagonally between the drumstick and the thigh to separate. Place on a a warmed platter, and keep covered with aluminum foil. Next, slice away the wings with a small piece of breast meat. Again, there's a sweet spot, be patient and poke away with the knife until you find it. Next, slice from the top of the breast along the bones of the rib cage to remove the breast in one whole large piece. Slice across the breast into 1/2 inch slices. Repeat with the other breast. This is as far as the civilized usually go, but the truly enlightened know that the best bits of all are hidden on the back -- flip the carcass over and feel around for the juicy "oysters." These are best removed and consumed kitchen-side.

Now pour the carving-juice back into the pan, and use it and a whisk to loosen tasty drippings from the bottom of the pan. If there is a lot of fat, tilt the pan so that the juices accumulate in one corner. The fat will rise to the top, where you can skim it off with a spoon. Pour the pan juices over the carved chicken, and serve immediately.

Fancy Gravy

In a small sauce-pan, combine the chicken neck, a stalk of celery sliced into pieces, a small sliced onion, a sliced carrot, a few sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, 3-4 cups of water, and a few peppercorns. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 45 minutes, then strain out the solids. Continue to simmer until volume is reduced by half.

When the chicken is done, pour carving juices back into the pan and place over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup white wine and whisk the sticky drippings up from the bottom of the pan. Add 1-2 tablespoons flour and whisk for a few minutes more. Add wine or stock gradually until you achieve desired volume (about 1 cup usually), whisking continually. Gravy is done when it thickens, after 3-4 minutes. Taste and correct seasonings.

Cheesy Mac for Hippies

I have invented health food store Hamburger Helper. You can make it in about 1/2 an hour using only one large pan. My health food store has packages of natural lean hamburger for about $7/lb, and the other ingredients are readily available. I don't know that this is actually all that much better for you than real Hamburger Helper, but at least there are fewer preservatives and the tomatoes are real. Also, I guarantee it is superior in tastiness.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb lean organic ground beef
salt and pepper
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
splash of white or red wine
1 can Muir Glen whole peeled tomatoes
the same can full of water
1 tbsp thyme
2 bay leaves
2 boxes Annie's Shells and Cheese
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup grated parmeggiano-reggiano (optional)

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large heavy-bottomed sauté pan with a lid. Add ground beef and brown, breaking up large pieces with a wooden spoon. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a bowl, and add diced onions to pan. Sauté until softened, splashing the pan with wine if the bottom gets to dry or crusty. Add garlic and sauté for one minute. Add the meat back in, and add the tomatoes, crushing them with your hand (poke a hole in them with your thumb first to avoid the dreaded tomato squirt). Add thyme, bay leaves, water and pasta from both boxes of Annie's and cover. Go away and do something else for 15-20 minutes. When you come back, check the pasta for done-ness. Assuming it's cooked to your desired al dentation, add the Annie's cheese packages and stir. If it's too wet, turn the heat to high and stir like heck for a few minutes. If it's too dry, add more water and cook a few minutes more. Add butter and stir. Correct seasonings. Enjoy. For even more enjoyment, pour into a 9x12 casserole, top with grated cheese, and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.

Makes about 8 normal person servings or 4 really hungry person servings.

Gratinée of Cauliflower

A side dish for a very fancy dinner party, or a main course with a salad and a bottle of white wine. From the wonderful Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook.

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into thin strips
Florets of 1 large head cauliflower, cut into 1/4-inch lengthwise slices
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups heavy or whipping cream
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups grated Swiss cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté 2 minutes. Stir in the prosciutto and sauté 2 minutes more.
3. Add the cauliflower and cook just until it begins to lose its crispness,3 to 4 minutes.
4. Stir in the flour and then the cream. Blend well. Season with the cayenne and salt and pepper to taste. Heat to boiling and immediately remove from heat.
5. Pour the cauliflower into a shallow au gratin dish. Top with the cheese and parsley. Bake until the top is lightly browned and bubbling, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Serves 6-8 as a side dish.

Chicken Fricasee

I love cozy wine-flavored winter stews: this is a classic based on a recipe from Julia Child. In From Julia Child's Kitchen this recipe appears side by side with the recipe for Coq au Vin, as the techniques and ingredients are so similar -- a quick sauté followed by a slow simmer in a wine-y liquid.

This is a simple recipe. The most time consuming part is peeling the pearl onions, one of the all-time most irritating kitchen chores, on a par with washing lettuce or peeling butternut squash. You can cut this time in half by blanching the onions in boiling water for about 45 seconds and allowing them to cool for a few minutes before peeling. Make sure this is finished before you start the chicken.

Because the wine makes up such a high percentage of the cooking liquid, it's best to choose something you'd be more than happy to drink on its own. My choice would be a nicely balanced French chardonnay or pinot gris. Serve this over rice, wild rice, basmati rice, or egg noodles. Serves 6 as a hearty supper or 10-12 as a light meal.

2 1/2 lbs chicken parts, patted dry
4 tbsp butter
salt & pepper
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp dried tarragon
1 tbsp dried thyme
30-40 peeled yellow or white pearl onions
2 cups decent quality white wine
up to 1 quart chicken broth
3/4 lb button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup heavy cream
1 bunch fresh tarragon

Melt butter over medium heat in a large heavy-bottomed pan with a cover (the Le Crueset dutch oven, pictured, is ideal.) Sauté chicken for 10-15 minutes until the exterior firms up, turning frequently so it doesn't brown. The skin should be pale golden in color. Add salt, pepper, dried tarragon, thyme, and onions, and cover. Cook for about 10 more minutes. Sprinkle with flour and stir. Remove from heat and add wine, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom with a wooden spoon. Add chicken broth to cover, replace over medium-high heat and simmer gently for 35-40 minutes, until chicken pieces are cooked through. Add mushrooms and simmer a few minutes more. Turn heat to low. Stir in cream and fresh tarragon, and serve immediately.

NOTE FOR DISAPPOINTED FRICASSEURS: The fact that your fricasee failed to thicken is MY FAULT. This shit's supposed to have flour in it. You're at least as good a cook as me, and a better copy editor.

Heringsalat (Herring Salad)

Made up of pink cubes of uniform size and dissimilar texture, with a light, unusual flavor, this is a salad that looks like it might be from Outer Space! However, this recipe came from the old country along with my Oma and Opa, and it's traditionally eaten in my family at New Year celebrations. I've been gobbling it on crackers, bread, or straight from the bowl since childhood, but those without a palate for Northern European flavors will probably run the other way. Their loss.

Cut into regular dice about 1 cup each of:

European Style Dill Gherkins
Boiled Peeled Potato
Boiled Beets
Herring in Wine Sauce (reserve juice)
Granny Smith Apple
Celery
Hardboiled Egg

Add to taste:

Sour Cream
Lemon Juice
Salt
Juice from Herring

Best after leaving in the fridge overnight to let the flavors meld.

Pizza with Apples and Blue Cheese

Make a batch of your favorite pizza dough recipe, using about 1 part whole wheat flour to 2 parts white flour. I used Julia Child's recipe in From Julia Child's Kitchen.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. The longer you preheat, the better. The idea is to get your oven as blazing hot as possible.

Slice about 5-6 onions and salt them lightly. Cook them over medium-high heat in a few tablespoons of butter, stirring frequently, for about 30-40 minutes, until caramelized.

Core and slice about 6 Macintosh or Jonagold apples.

Coat a baking sheet in olive oil and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal. Roll out the pizza dough, allowing it to rest a few times. Coat the dough with a layer of caramelized onions. Lay out rows of apple slices. Crumble about 8 oz. of a rich, mellow blue cheese over the top. Rosemary or sage leaves and a good grind of black pepper would be excellent as well. Bake in the oven til the crust is browned, the cheese melted, and the apples softened.

Last Thing I Cooked: Pappardelle with Veal, Mushrooms, and Sage

The trick with this is to find some high-quality dried pasta. I got mine at Dom's in Nolita. It's rough-textured and egg-based. The veal there is great too..

Be sure to taste and correct seasonings at each stage of cooking.

Start a big pot of salty water to boil.

Chop 1 large-ish shallot and 1 clove garlic.. Slice about 20 fresh sage leaves horizontally into strips. Clean and slice about 15 large white mushrooms or 20 shiitake mushroom caps. Prepare a dredging mixture for the veal in a shallow bowl containing 1 cup all-purpose flour and salt and fresh ground black pepper. Dredge 4 veal scallops.

While you're chopping and dredging, start a wide heavy bottomed sauté pan over medium-high heat. When you are ready to devote your attention to the stove, add a film of olive 0il. Add the shallots and saute until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, sage, and the mushrooms together and cook until the mushrooms release their liquid and the liquid is subsequently cooked off. Add 1/4 cup white wine (don't drink the whole rest of the bottle in the next 5 minutes either, you lush, because you need more at the end.) and cook until the wine is absorbed. Remove the vegetables from the pan and reserve.

Wipe out the pan and again film with olive oil. Add the veal. Cook about 4 minutes on the first side. The scallops may stick to the pan at first but as they cook the crust will re-adhere to the veal. When this happens, turn the scallops over and cook on the second side. Remove the veal from the pan and reserve.

Add pappardelle to the salty boiling water.

Add another 1/2 cup white wine and athletically poke the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon while swirling the wine around to capture all the naughty little veal bits into the sauce. Add the reserved vegetables and stir in with the wine to reheat. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth and 1/2 - 3/4 cup heavy cream and stir to combine. Turn heat to low or off while waiting for the pappardelle to cook. When they are al dente, drain (not too vigorously, leave a little pasta water if possible) and add to the sauce pan. If you've turned off the burner, turn it back to medium-low, and fold the pasta together with the sauce to coat.

Check the seasonings, then divide the pasta into 4 heated bowls, reserving some sauce in the bottom of the pan. Top each bowl with a veal scallop, then cover with the reserved sauce.

Serves 4.

Creamy Vegetable Fusilli

Perfect for late summer outdoor eating when tomatoes are heavy and ripe and the air has cooled.

Saute

1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
1 Yellow Bell Pepper, diced
1 Clove Garlic, smashed

in

1 1/2 tbsp. Olive Oil

for about 4 minutes. Add

2 Ears of Corn, cut off cob
1 Clove Garlic, sliced
1/3 cup Red Scallions, chopped
2 large Brandywine Tomatoes, diced
2 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo, finely chopped
1 tbsp Rosemary, chopped

Saute 6-10 minutes over high heat until it gets soupy and the juices mingle. Lower the heat, and add

1 cup Heavy Cream

Add

1 lb Fusilli

Boiled in

Salted Water

Garnish with

Parmesan Cheese, grated

Red White and Green Lasagne

I usually make tomato sauce from scratch and pesto sauce from scratch and layer that with ricotta cheese, mozzarella and lasagne noodles. You can buy pesto or make it without the pesto if you want it to be super traditional. I'm guessing about most of these amounts so if something looks like too much or too little or you don't like so much garlic everywhere, just change it!

Tomato Sauce

Olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, 2 whole, 2 sliced, 2 crushed/pureed
2 medium yellow onions, sliced
3 cans whole peeled tomatoes (Organic Muir Glen are really really good) ripped apart
2 tsp dried thyme
1 dried bay leaf
Salt and Pepper

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a deep heavy skillet or a pot. Whack the 2 whole garlic cloves on the side with a knife so they break open a little, and add these and the onions. Saute until the onions are soft and wilted. Add 2 sliced cloves of garlic, the tomatoes, and the dried spices. Simmer for about 20 minutes, then add the 2 crushed cloves of garlic. Simmer for a few more minutes then season with salt and pepper.

Pesto

1 bunch of basil
3/4-1 cup Pignoli nuts or walnuts
1/2 cup Parmegianno Regianno, shredded
3-4 cloves of garlic
Olive Oil

Pesto is hard to put the right amount of things because I always just go by what it looks and smells like:

Start with the basil and garlic in a food processor (a blender might work too). Pour in about 1/2 cup olive oil and process for about 3 seconds. Add half the amount of nuts and cheese and probably a little more olive oil too, and process about 10 seconds. Watch out for the whole thing either binding up around the blade or starting to smell like a lawn mower -- if it does this, add more oil. Add nuts and cheese until you have something that looks like pesto. Then throw in some salt.

Ricotta Mixture (for fancy. You could also just salt and pepper some ricotta)

1 pint ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 crushed clove of garlic
Chopped fresh parsley
Salt & Pepper

Combine.

Lasagne

You will feel much more zen if you do the dishes from making sauce and all that other stuff, and have your cheese grated, before you start putting the lasagne together. In addition to the above, you need

1 lb lasagne noodles (1 package)
2-3 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated parmegianno regiano cheese

Boil salted water for lasagne noodles. Add the noodles and cook until softened and flexible. I usually pull them out with a spoon or tongs and lay them on wet dishtowels or something else that will keep them separated.

Preheat oven to 350. Put lasagne together like this (from bottom up)

1. Sauce
2. Noodles
3. Sauce
4. Pesto (this is a spotty layer -- just try to get little dots all over)
5. Ricotta
6. Mozzarella
7. Parmegianno
8. Repeat 2-7 til you are running out of either stuff or room, ending with Parmegianno. You can sprinkle more dried thyme or some red pepper flakes on the top, along with more salt and pepper.

Then you bake it until it's melty and bubble-y.

Good luck!!!!