Braided bread with a sweet twist: Chocolate-filled Challah

Challah, a traditional Jewish braided bread, can be flavored in many ways, from simple to savory to sweet. Here, semi-sweet chocolate and brown sugar create an almost dessertlike loaf. Recipe below.

MY MOTHER, A BRILLIANT BAKER, used to routinely make elaborate, gorgeous, braided challahs with five, seven and even nine strands, filling them with chocolate, or candied fruits, or finely chopped nuts, or just cinnamon and sugar added with a cheerful generous hand. The scent, the anticipation, the burnished golden crust, all the ways we could use it: challah was a regular and wonderful part of my childhood. Continue reading “Braided bread with a sweet twist: Chocolate-filled Challah” →

The Procrastinator’s Holiday Gift Guide for Your Favorite Cook

Blue Kitchen is back live this week, with six last-minute culinary gift ideas. This may seem like a short and somewhat random list, but all these items have one thing in common—we actually use them in our kitchen and love them. Happy shopping.

KMN Aluminum Rolling Pin

Before we saw this rolling pin from KMN Home at the National Restaurant Association Show this spring, we thought we had quite enough rolling pins, thank you. After we saw it—and after a few weeks of being unable to stop thinking about it—we bought one. Made of aircraft-grade aluminum, it has a laser-engraved ruler. The aluminum body makes it easy to keep cool for rolling pie crust dough—just pop it in the freezer for a little bit. The ruler—with measurements in inches and millimeters—makes it easy to measure those crusts as you roll them. And with its smooth anodized finish, doughs do not want to stick to it. Available in red, blue and black, it is also handsome enough to display. When I bake, this is now the rolling pin I reach for first. The KMN Aluminum Rolling Pin runs around $40. Continue reading “The Procrastinator’s Holiday Gift Guide for Your Favorite Cook” →

Cooking with cabbage’s sweeter, prettier sibling: Savoy Cabbage Potato Soup

Mild, beautiful Savoy cabbage is the base for this simple, comforting, creamy soup. Recipe below.

A LITTLE WHILE AGO I WAS VISITING ONE OF OUR DAUGHTERS, who was a bit under the weather, and when I asked her if there was anything I could fix for her, she handed me a recipe for a Savoy cabbage potato soup. I don’t know where she got it—there are a lot of recipes kind of like this floating around online—but it looked so easy and direct that I was happy to give it a try. Continue reading “Cooking with cabbage’s sweeter, prettier sibling: Savoy Cabbage Potato Soup” →

Green beans get a surprising seasonal refresh: Charred Green Beans with Apricots

Vietnamese fish sauce adds a subtle unifying umami hit to the crisp green beans and sweet apricots in this colorful, seasonal side dish. Recipe below.

We don’t do enough side dishes here. Unfortunately, we only tend to think of this when we actually post one. So when this recipe showed up in a recent Food & Wine email, we made it pretty much the same day—of course with our own variations. Continue reading “Green beans get a surprising seasonal refresh: Charred Green Beans with Apricots” →

Too good to save for cold weather: Marion’s Simplified Three-bean Chili

Besides meat, beans and various spices, this weeknight-quick chili includes surprises like red wine and coffee. Recipe below.

FOR MANY PEOPLE, CHILI SEASON IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER. For us, it’s always chili season. While a steaming bowl of chili may be especially comforting when winter’s chill settles in, we are always up for a good bowl of red. Like the one you see here. It’s from a batch I made the other night, with the temperature and humidity both flirting with 90. Continue reading “Too good to save for cold weather: Marion’s Simplified Three-bean Chili” →

What $10 can buy—and what it can give

Ten bucks can buy any number of little indulgences. In the hands of Feeding America, it can also feed 100 hungry people.

It was recently announced that, by 2020, a woman’s face will grace our ten-dollar bills. That got me thinking about what a Hamilton (or Tubman or Roosevelt or…?) will get you these days. Continue reading “What $10 can buy—and what it can give” →

The bright, fresh promise of summer: Blueberry Lime Yogurt Cake

Greek yogurt and lime juice lighten up and brighten up a traditional Polish blueberry cake. Recipe below.

We are getting a lot of amusement out of describing this roller coaster weather. On Friday night, it was so clingingly muggy and hot that we turned on the air conditioning. On Saturday night, after a day of plunging temperatures and changing clothes every couple of hours to stay warm and struggling around comically in pretty much maritime gales, we had to turn on the furnace. And when we went out to a surprise party Saturday night, I wore boots and a light down jacket. Continue reading “The bright, fresh promise of summer: Blueberry Lime Yogurt Cake” →

Roasting adds depth to Fettuccine with Cauliflower, Andouille Sausage and Olives

Roasting cauliflower mellows its flavor and adds a bit of color to this hearty, delicious pasta. Roasted andouille sausage, olives and shallots also star. Recipe below.

It’s still not warm yet. And, although the weather folks are threatening above-average temperatures in the nearish future, I am sorry, but now it’s still just cold. When I went out this morning, I was wearing my little down jacket—little, and just a jacket, but still down. Continue reading “Roasting adds depth to Fettuccine with Cauliflower, Andouille Sausage and Olives” →

Chinese cooking made weeknight-quick: Pork and Green Bean Stir Fry

Start marinating pork in the morning with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, mirin and Korean red pepper paste. In the evening, add green beans for a quick, flavorful stir fry. Recipe (and a vegetarian version) below.

I STARTED COOKING CHINESE FOOD BACK IN THE DAY—back before the day, really, when exploratory cooking was not quite a thing yet in North America. I lived in a small college town with a lot of international students, so there were a couple of tiny shops where one could get ingredients like soy sauce (real, actual soy sauce), tofu, chili paste, all these products that today are an ordinary part of our pantries, but back then were… odd. Whatever. I loved trying to figure it out. Continue reading “Chinese cooking made weeknight-quick: Pork and Green Bean Stir Fry” →

A cure for uncommon cold: Dried Cherry Upside Down Cake

Dried tart cherries and a batter made with olive oil and flavored with star anise and almond extract create a dense, delicious, not-too-sweet dessert—or an illicit breakfast. Recipe below.

FIRST, I AM ONE OF THOSE JERKS WHO, after it’s been cold for a while, I go around saying, oh, I don’t think it’s so bad! Lately, this jerk attitude has been exacerbated because I spent a few days in upstate New York, where it was biting cold—so cold that, on Tuesday night, I saw the aurora borealis (it was a huge, white, pink and red fluttering curtain) and Wednesday morning, when I woke up, it was ten below zero. Coming back to Chicago seemed like coming back to a tropical isle. Continue reading “A cure for uncommon cold: Dried Cherry Upside Down Cake” →