DARK CHOCOLATE, PISTACHIO, AND SMOKED SEA SALT COOKIES

Why don’t we put pistachios in cookies more often? Walnuts, pecans, and almonds steal the spotlight, and macadamia nuts have their white-chocolate niche, but pistachios are super delicious yet seem to get little love. They finally get to be superstars in this recipe, transforming otherwise ordinary (though always tasty) chocolate chip cookies into something truly special. You might be distracted by the exoticness of the smoked salt, as indeed I was when I first bookmarked this recipe from Joy the Baker, but it plays a supporting role here, and indeed if you were to use regular coarse sea salt instead, I wouldn’t scold you. I recalled seeing smoked salt in grinders at Trader Joe’s for a few bucks, but of course when I went to actually buy it I found it had been discontinued, as are so many TJ’s products just at the moment you really need them. Thinking that these would just be plain old chocolate chip cookies without the smoked salt, I went to Whole Foods and spent a rather ridiculous sum of money for a container I will now spend the rest of my life trying to use up. Don’t be like me! The smoked salt is great if you can get it, but the pistachios were the real revelation here. We both loved these cookies, to the point that A repeatedly exclaimed how good they were every time we ate one. Definitely a keeper—and not just because I now have a surplus of smoked salt on my hands.

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups dark chocolate chips or chunks (I’ll admit I just used semisweet and it was still great)
1 cup shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped
Smoked sea salt for topping

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars together until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the egg and beat in for about 1 minute. Add vanilla extract and beat to incorporate.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the mixture all at once to the butter mixture. Beat on low speed until just incorporated. Finally, mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

4. Dollop or scoop cookie dough by the 2 tablespoonful onto prepared baking tins. Leave about 2 inches of room between each cookie. Sprinkle generously with smoked sea salt.

5. Bake cookies for 18 minutes, or until just golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yields: 2 dozen
Time: 40 minutes
Leftover potential: Great, either in a sealed container at room temperature or frozen.

CARNITAS

Hey, I made carnitas! And it was super easy! And one of the best meals I cooked in 2013! I can’t stop using exclamation points!
Buying a pork shoulder and slowly braising it is one of those food-bloggy things I never seemed to get around to doing. I grew up thinking I didn’t like pork (oh, the dry pork chops of my childhood), so long after I knew how to do all kinds of things with chicken, I had never even tried cooking a tenderloin. But my enjoyment of pork is steadily growing, and carnitas are a particular favorite, so when I saw this recipe at Dinner With Julie my heart skipped a beat. It sounded doable—put meat and liquid in a pot and throw it in the oven for a few hours. The hardest part would be obtaining a pork shoulder, and that didn’t turn out to be difficult at all (the meat counter at Whole Foods has pretty much everything).

Cooking pork in milk might sound weird, but I’ve seen similar recipes before (Jamie Oliver’s chicken in milk is getting rave reviews, for instance) and knew that it adds sweetness and aids caramelization. I was all set to go until I read the comments on the post and someone mentioned the carnitas recipe at Smitten Kitchen, which turns out to be from the Homesick Texan, an authority if ever there was one. Those two sources have never steered me wrong, so I considered switching recipes, but Julie’s sounded easier and I liked that I could do it in the oven instead of on the stovetop. I did worry it would be bland, so I swiped the garlic, cumin, and generous salt quantity from the SK/HT version, and boy was that an excellent decision; the garlic smelled particularly amazing during the nearly 4 hours this was simmering in my oven on a Sunday afternoon.

Needless to say, the result was incredible: a little sweet, a little tangy, mostly porky; crisp-browned in a few places and meltingly tender (and yes, just the right amount of fatty) everywhere else. As I texted A the next day while eating leftovers, “Hot damn these carnitas are delicious.” I really couldn’t believe I had made them, even though it was so ridiculously easy. The flavor was delicate but didn’t need much accompaniment—just a few tortillas and guacamole did the job for me, although of course you can add any taco-type toppings you see fit. It makes a ton of food but you’ll have no trouble finding uses for the leftovers—in salads, on pizza, tossed in BBQ sauce for a pulled-pork sandwich, and if all else fails, just freeze it. We devoured almost all of ours in taco form, but I threw the last scraps into a Southwest Scramble and it was excellent.

2-3 pounds boneless pork shoulder (butt) or boneless country pork ribs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large orange, washed and quartered
4 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra to taste
1 cup milk (original recipe says whole, but I used 2% and it was fine)
Black pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

2. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Cut the meat into a few chunks and brown each piece on all sides, then transfer them to a Dutch oven or other heavy lidded baking dish. Squeeze the orange wedges over the meat and toss in the rinds alongside; add the garlic, cumin, and salt. Pour in the milk, then add enough water to almost cover the meat. Sprinkle with pepper, cover with a tight-fitting lid and bake for 3 hours, until the meat is very tender.

3. Break or pull the meat apart into smaller pieces, remove and discard the orange rind, and turn the oven up to 375 degrees. Roast the meat uncovered for 20-30 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the meat is crisp and brown on the edges. (If there still seems like there’s a lot of fat/liquid in the pot, you can just drain it off and discard it before eating.)

4. Serve the pork on warm corn or flour tortillas with the toppings of your choice, such as salsa, guacamole or diced avocado, finely chopped onion or scallions, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.

Serves: At least 8
Time: 4 hours
Leftover potential: Awesome; versatile and freezes well.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND PEPPER PIZZA

I’m extra pleased with this one because I invented it myself. I know, putting toppings on a pizza isn’t exactly rocket science, but I’m a habitual recipe follower (hence the title of this blog), and while I think I have pretty good instincts for adapting existing recipes, I rarely come up with anything brand-new. Although putting sausage, peppers, and onions together is hardly original, when I got hungry for a pizza based on this classic combo (34 pizza recipes on file and I still don’t have one that features bell peppers!), Google came up surprisingly short. There were plenty of tomato-sauce pizzas with sausage and peppers, but that seemed too easy; I wanted the main ingredients to shine. I love ricotta in place of regular pizza sauce and thought its mild creaminess would be extra great here.

When a recipe calls for sausage, I usually default to chicken sausage, just to keep things a little lighter. Trader Joe’s has a perfectly serviceable Italian chicken sausage, but since I really wanted to hew closely to the idea of a traditional sausage-and-pepper sandwich, I decided to splurge and use pork sausage. It was a wise decision. It’s notably greasier, but in a way that’s perfect for pizza, which needs a little gooeyness. You can get away with using a fairly small amount because its flavor thoroughly permeates the other ingredients. I wanted big rounds rather than crumbles, so I browned the sausages whole to make them firm enough to slice, then cut them up and sautéed the pieces with the colorful peppers and plenty of aromatic onion and garlic. As for the cheese, there are probably a lot that would be great here, but I went with the standard Parmesan and mozzarella. A garnish of fresh basil adds color, freshness and Italian flair.

This turned out exactly as I’d envisioned it, which is not always the case when I improvise. I’ll definitely make it again and won’t change a thing.

½ pound hot Italian sausage (pork recommended)
Olive oil
1 small to medium red pepper, sliced
1 small to medium yellow pepper, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound pizza dough
About ½ cup ricotta cheese
Shredded Parmesan and mozzarella cheese to taste
Chopped fresh basil to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown the sausages. Remove from the pan, let rest for a few minutes, and slice. (It’s OK if the sausage isn’t cooked all the way through yet.)

3. Return the pan to the heat and add about a tablespoon of olive oil. When it’s warm, add the onions and sauté for a few minutes. Add the peppers, sausage, and garlic and cook until sausage is fully cooked and vegetables are tender.

4. Roll out the pizza dough and place it on an oiled baking sheet. Spread the ricotta over it in an even layer. Scatter the sausage-pepper mixture over that and top with Parmesan and mozzarella.

5. Bake pizza for 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is browned.

6. Garnish with fresh basil.

Serves: 4
Time: 40 minutes
Leftover potential: Good. Reheat on the stove in a dry skillet over medium heat for best results.

CHICKEN AND APPLES IN HONEY-MUSTARD SAUCE

I first made this in 2012 but forgot to take a photo. I put it in my “to make again” file and waited until the seasons rolled back around to autumnal weather, when apples and cider and dishes composed entirely of different shades of brown seemed like a good idea again. That time I did snap a picture, but now a few months have passed and the details have faded somewhat from my mind—yet I don’t want to wait yet another year to share this, because it’s one of those simple crowd-pleasers that are good to have in your back pocket (metaphorically, that is; please don’t keep actual food in your back pocket). It’s pretty much what it sounds like: sautéed chicken and apples in a sweet sauce with a mustardy kick. You could eat it on its own, but it’s nice to have a starch to soak up some of that sauce; my Germanic heart went with egg noodles, although rice would also be nice if you are so inclined.

The original post at Simply Recipes notes that the sauce is mild and you can double the cider, honey, and mustard, leaving out the chicken broth, for a more intense flavor. I can’t quite remember, but I dimly recall that I tried that and found it a little too sweet and syrupy for my taste; the broth adds an important savory note. I do like having plenty of sauce to cover my noodles, so I’m thinking one-and-a-half times the cider/honey/mustard measurements plus all the chicken broth is the way to go, and those are the quantities I’ve noted below. A and I both thought onions might also add a good counterpoint flavor, so I might try throwing some in when I add the apples next time. I’ll try to iron out the details when I make this again in fall 2014.

¾ cup apple cider
1½ teaspoons cornstarch
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1½ tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
½ cup flour
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium unpeeled apples, cored and cut into ¼-inch thick slices (use good cooking apples, such as Fuji, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Jonagold, Pippin, or McIntosh)
½ cup chicken broth
Chopped fresh parsley to taste

1. Whisk cider, cornstarch, mustard, honey, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl. Set aside.

2. Salt the chicken well and dust it in flour. Shake off the excess.

3. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook until golden-brown on one side, about 3-4 minutes. Turn chicken, add apples, and cook until the chicken has browned on the other side.

4. Add chicken broth and cider mixture to the pan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan, and simmer until chicken is tender, about 15 minutes.

5. With a slotted spoon, remove chicken and apples to serving plates. (I like to slice the chicken breasts after they rest for a few minutes.) If sauce looks too thin, increase the heat and reduce it slightly. Spoon sauce over chicken and apples and sprinkle with parsley. (If serving with egg noodles, I toss them into the pan with the sauce until they’re well coated and then serve the chicken, apples, and parsley on top.)

Serves: 4
Time: 40 minutes
Leftover potential: Good.

CHOCOLATE COCONUT OATMEAL COOKIES

Is it too soon to talk about cookies? These are the next item on my long backlog list and I really feel you ought to know about them. Sure, all the food blogs are still full of green smoothies and if your cupboards are anything like mine they’re still full of leftover Christmas treats, but if you don’t feel up making these just yet, bookmark them for later. Because if I’d managed to get this recipe posted in 2013, it probably would have garnered a spot on my list of the year’s top recipes.

I know these look really basic, even homely, and I wasn’t expecting anything especially remarkable. I mean, chocolate and coconut are great together and oatmeal cookies are my fave, so obviously that trifecta is what lured me to try this recipe when I saw it at Tasty Kitchen. But except for the slight twist of replacing some butter with coconut oil, this is about as straightforward as cookie formulas come. Yet I ended up making them twice last year, and considering I don’t make cookies more than once a month (excepting December) and have a wealth of great recipes already on file, that’s pretty remarkable. These might be my ideal everyday cookie. (OK, not every day, but ordinary, not special-occasion.)

One thing I like about these is that they’re not too sweet, but I was too lazy to go to Whole Foods for the unsweetened shredded coconut and got good results using the less-sweetened version from Trader Joe’s, which is still way less cloying than Baker’s or other standard grocery-store versions.



















1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup (heaping) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons coconut oil
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

3. In an electric mixer, cream together the butter, coconut oil, and sugars. Scrape down the sides and then add the egg and vanilla; mix to combine.

4. On low speed, gradually add the flour and cocoa mixture and mix until incorporated. Add the shredded coconut and oats and mix. Add chocolate chips and mix until just folded in.

5. Form dough into balls about the size of a heaping tablespoon and place on baking sheets lined with silicon mats or parchment paper.

6. Bake for 11 minutes or until just solidified. Remove from oven and let cool for about 2 minutes more on the sheet, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Yields: 3 dozen
Time: 35 minutes
Leftover potential: Great; freeze well.

FAVORITE RECIPES OF 2013

Blogwise, 2013 was mainly marked by frustration over my inability to stay up to date. I didn’t cook any less than in previous years (although perhaps less ambitiously), but my posting was sporadic at best and I still have a long backlog of good recipes not yet written up (some of which would have been contenders for my favorite recipes of the year if I’d actually managed to get them posted in 2013). It feels overwhelming, and although the food blogs I follow provide much of my cooking inspiration, seeing so many gorgeously photographed, frequently updated sites only amplifies my sense of inadequacy. I have to stop and remind myself that many of the bloggers I read don’t work full-time outside the home, and for some their sites are their jobs, so there is much more time and energy at work there.

I’m definitely content to stay an amateur, but I at least want to be an organized and capable amateur. Last year I had the stunning epiphany that I don’t actually need to post every single recipe I make, only the ones I really think I’m likely to make again, which streamlined my process somewhat. I also finally realized that while my current schedule doesn’t easily allow for big chunks of time to devote to personal writing, finding a few moments is better than none at all. In the fall I started trying to work on Bookcook for 15 minutes a day, and found I could finish a post in two or three days. I might have gotten up to two whole posts a week if the holiday craziness hadn’t interrupted my flow. So, long story short, my goal for the year is to keep plugging away and get caught up, but also not to stress so much about it that I drain all the fun out of what I’m doing.

Having only managed to post 35 recipes in 2013 (my worst record since 2006), I feel a bit silly making a top 10 list, given that it will contain nearly a third of my total content for the year. But once I started reviewing the recipes, I spotted so many delicious ones that have already become standbys that I realized it’s still worth highlighting them. So, here are my favorite 10 recipes I posted in 2013 (in chronological order):

1. Roasted Tomato, Kale, and Feta Pizza: Building on one of my favorite recipes of 2012, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, this is pretty much my ideal pizza—a little spicy, a little sweet, a little salty, a little tart, a little earthy, loaded with vegetables, plenty cheesy, and easy to put together. Sold! 
2. Cardamom Cookies: Not sexy to look at, but a must for any cardamom lover, these buttery spice cookies have become one of my Christmas standards (although I only posted the recipe last January, I’ve been making them for several years now). I originally struggled with the odd shape and considered just making them round, but I was recently paging through a Swedish cookie recipe book A’s mom gave me a few years ago and spotted almost this exact recipe, titled “Cardamom Horseshoes.” So they are legitimately traditional, and I’ll be sticking with the horseshoe shape now that I’ve finally figured out how not to make them look like butts.
3. Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal: I’d been making a plain version as an occasional break from granola since 2010, but with my discovery of the wealth of flavor variations at Budget Bytes, 2013 was my baked oatmeal renaissance, and now I only tend to make granola as an occasional break from baked oatmeal. Banana and Funky Monkey (although unless I’m feeling hormonal or decadent, I usually omit the chocolate and coconut so it’s just peanut butter-banana) are also in my regular rotation, but pumpkin remains my all-time favorite, regardless of the time of year. I actually have some in the fridge right now!
4. Apple and Fennel Salad: My first time out with raw fennel, I happened to stumble on pretty much the perfect salad. I love the fruit + greens + nuts + cheese + lemon vinaigrette salad formula in many forms, but this is an especially successful version.
5. Mushrooms and Poached Eggs on Cheesy Toast: Hardly a complicated recipe, but beloved, not only because it’s easy and delicious but also because I was hungry for something specific and was able to improvise to feed my craving, not always my strong suit. It also kicked off my mini-mania for other breakfasty sandwich-type things (see also Open-Faced Egg, Cheese, and Tomato Sandwiches).
6. Spinach Soup With Garlic Thyme Croutons: 50-something soup recipes on this site and this was the first time it occurred to me to (a) make a pureed spinach soup and (b) gussy it up with croutons. I may be slow on the uptake, but it helps that this is a really flavor-packed recipe.
7. Farro Salad With Roasted Mushrooms and Parmesan: 2013 was definitely my Year of Farro. I not only discovered that I like it, but found three killer recipes. This one narrowly edged out the excellent Beef, Mushroom, and Farro Soup and One-Pan Farro With Tomatoes, due to the sheer number of times I’ve made it—at least five times already, which pretty much means once a month. I love making a lemony kale salad alongside it and having wholesome, satisfying double-salad lunches all week long.
8. Southwest Scramble: I said in the original post that I’m not sure I could ever get tired of this one, and that still holds true even though I’ve done my best to try. As if the discovery of how to make baked tortilla chips wasn’t exciting enough, I can throw them into a pan with black beans, eggs, salsa and cheese and have easy comfort food in just a few short minutes. Definitely make your own tortilla chips for this one—I did try it with storebought once and it’s not the same.
9. Roasted Strawberry and Toasted Coconut Popsicles: I finally used my popsicle molds! And I struck gold on my first outing with this recipe. Next summer I’m going full-on popsicle-crazy, but I doubt I’ll find anything as delicious as these.
10. Tex-Mex Beef and Bean Enchiladas With Chili Gravy: Slam dunk, instant classic. I’m pretty pleased to have made my own enchilada sauce, but the simple filling is a winner too, with a genius use of refried beans to create a saucy consistency.

OPEN-FACED EGG, TOMATO, AND CHEESE SANDWICHES

Breakfast sandwiches...I never really saw the appeal, but then I haven’t been wild about eggs until recently. Now an egg on toast sounds cozy and lovely to me—for dinner. An egg on toast with mustard, melted cheddar, and tomato sounds even better. You probably don’t even need a recipe for that, but it wouldn’t have occurred to me without this post from Everybody Likes Sandwiches via Poppytalk. I had some fat sourdough English muffins from a neighborhood restaurant, La Grande Orange, each half just the right size to hold a slice of tomato and an egg comfortably (suddenly this breakfast sandwich thing is making sense). A quick egg-frying and broiler-toasting later, and you’ve got a crispy-gooey delight for any time of day. The cheese that oozes off the bread and browns on the baking sheet is my favorite part. I also love the way the egg yolks get just a little more solid in the oven—still soft, but more gelatinous and less runny. Throw some salad or roasted asparagus on the side and peel an orange to round out your lazy dinner.

1 large tomato, thickly sliced
2 large, thick slices of rustic bread or 2 sturdy split English muffins
2-4 thick slices sharp cheddar cheese (or whatever cheese you prefer, as long as it melts well—Edam and Harvati are also good options)
Dijon mustard to taste
Butter
2-4 large eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the broiler.

2. Run the bread under the broiler for a few minutes until lightly toasted (sometimes I find it easier to just use a toaster for this).

3. Place the bread on a baking sheet. Spread mustard over the bread, then add the tomatoes and cheese (enough to cover the whole surface of the bread). Place under the broiler for a couple of minutes, just until cheese is melted.

4. Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Add enough butter (1 tablespoon or less) to just coat the bottom of the pan when it melts. When the butter starts to bubble, crack in the eggs and cook until whites are set on the bottom.

5. Slide the eggs on top of the toast (one per English muffin, or one to two per slice of bread depending on the size) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Return to the broiler for 30 seconds or so, just until the top of the white is fully set and the yolk appears cloudy (or go for a full minute if you want your yolks solid).

Serves: 2
Time: 15 minutes

Leftover potential: No. Eat immediately and make more later.

TEX-MEX BEEF AND BEAN ENCHILADAS WITH CHILI GRAVY

I was craving chili with all the fixings. A pointed out that it was over 90 degrees outside (this was back in September), hardly the ideal weather for simmering a hot pot for several hours on the stove. A countered with a request for beef tacos. I pointed out that I needed leftovers to take to work, and tacos are very annoying to transport because I have to store each component in a separate container and assemble them all at my desk. We needed a compromise, something spicy and beefy but not overly heavy, something compact and portable. Enchiladas were the perfect solution.

It turns out that I’m such a rube of a northern Midwesterner that I didn’t know authentic enchilada sauce doesn’t have tomatoes in it. I guess I always assumed that’s what made it red—and in Minnesota in the 1980s, that may have been the case. (My enchilada experience is not vast, since I avoided them for most of my youth because they were usually made with corn tortillas, which I hated.) Poking around online for enchilada recipes, however, I soon learned from Homesick Texan that genuine Tex-Mex sauce is essentially a gravy that starts with a roux, spiked with plenty of chili powder and thinned it with broth. Easy done. I wasn’t sure I liked it when I tasted it on its own, but it was awesome when baked into the enchiladas, deep and dark and smoky. (I vaguely recall adding some chipotle chili powder into the mix to enhance the smokiness.) Even if the filling I used here doesn’t sound good to you, you should still try this sauce and swap it into the enchilada recipe of your choice—it’s one of those amazing kitchen tricks that goes from “I’m not sure this is going to work…” to “I can’t believe I made that!” in a few minutes flat.

I chose a recipe from Confections of a Foodie Bride that combined the chili gravy with a straightforward spiced-beef filling, but cut the meatiness with some beans. Refried beans aren’t my favorite (although they’re growing on me), but they melt into the background here and create a wonderful creamy, saucy consistency. It was my first time buying canned ones, but it turns out Trader Joe’s fat-free refried beans are pretty darn good, at least for this purpose.

Still thinking of chili and tacos, and wanting to make things a bit healthier and more colorful since it was still technically summer, I topped the enchiladas generously with shredded lettuce and a pico-de-gallo-type salad made of cherry tomatoes, avocado, green onions, cilantro and lime juice. Probably not authentic, but excellent all the same.

Not surprisingly, the enchiladas were delicious and are destined to become a repeat favorite. Apparently A and I need to disagree about what to eat more often, if it results in this type of tasty compromise.

Chili gravy:
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 cups chicken broth
Enchiladas:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
½ medium yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
½ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 14 ounce-can refried beans
16-20 small flour tortillas
2 cups Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese, shredded

1. To make the chili gravy, heat the ¼ cup oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and continue stirring for 3 to 4 minutes until the roux is light brown.

2. Add the pepper, salt, garlic, cumin, oregano, and chili powder and continue to cook for 1 more minute, stirring constantly.

3. Add broth slowly, stirring while the sauce thickens.

4. Turn heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes while you make the enchilada filling.

5. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add ground beef to the pan, breaking up with a spoon, and cook thoroughly. Drain excess grease from the meat and set the meat aside.

6. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the same skillet and add onions, cooking until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.

7. Return cooked beef to the pan and stir in chili powder and cumin. Stir in the refried beans and ½ can of water. Stir until smooth and cook until bubbly.

8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While it heats, put ½ cup of chili gravy into a 9x13 baking pan and spread it evenly.

9. Add ¼ to ⅓ cup beef mixture to the center of a tortilla and top with a pinch of cheese. Roll up and place seam side down in the pan. Repeat until all the beef mixture is used. Pour remaining chili gravy over the enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.

10. Bake 12-15 minutes in the oven, until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve unadorned or with garnishes of your choice (e.g., cilantro, green onions, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado).

Serves: 8-10 (2 enchiladas each)
Time: 1 hour
Leftover potential: Great.

ROASTED STRAWBERRY AND TOASTED COCONUT POPSICLES

I know, it’s not strawberry season for most of you, and it’s not popsicle weather either, and this picture is kinda crappy. (Popsicles turn out to be surprisingly difficult to photograph, especially when they’re melting—it actually was popsicle weather way back when I made these—and I really want to eat the subject. Hunger is my number-one obstacle to becoming a better food photographer.) But I had to share, because popsicles! I made them! And they were delicious. So you’ll just have to bookmark this for next summer.

When I was a kid, my mom used to make pudding pops (from Jell-O boxed pudding mix; pistachio was my favorite) in Tupperware molds. (These, to be precise.) Periodically I’ve seen fancy foodie popsicle recipes on blogs and in magazines and thought about making them, but it never seemed worth buying special equipment for. Popsicles are refreshing and all, but I’ll happily pass them over for ice cream. Then I won some popsicle molds (these, to be precise) in some random departmental contest at my old job…and promptly shoved them into a deep back corner of the cupboard and forgot about them for nearly a year, until I spotted this recipe at Joy the Baker. Roasted strawberries and toasted coconut? Hold the damn phone.

Why didn’t anyone tell me popsicles could be this good? They’re a snap to make but don’t taste like anything you can buy at the store: creamy coconut milk with toasty coconut shreds, rich red strawberry concentrated via roasting, not too much sweetness and just a hint of lime for contrast. This immediately launched a popsicle obsession for me, but none of the other recipes I’ve tried so far have held a candle to this one.

Trader Joe’s only sells a light coconut milk, which works well for most uses but would have been too icy when frozen, so I tried TJ’s coconut cream instead and it was fantastic for this purpose, thick and rich with a purer flavor than any other coconut milk I’ve had. I also used TJ’s shredded coconut, which is only mildly sweetened, far less sugary than the Baker’s stuff. I daresay you could use straight-up unsweetened if you wanted. I had to make this in two half-batches because I only have six popsicle molds, but it was no big deal—I made the full amount of roasted strawberry puree and stored half of it in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days, where it held up just fine until I was ready to make the other popsicles, at which point I concocted the rest of the coconut mixture.

1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Juice of 1 lime, divided
1 (15-ounce) can whole-fat coconut milk or coconut cream, well shaken
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle coconut onto a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden brown, about 3-5 minutes (keep a close eye on it). Remove from oven and place coconut in a small bowl to cool.

2. Place strawberries on the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Place in the oven to roast until fragrant and soft, about 18-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and add the strawberries to the bowl of a food processor or blender. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and juice of half a lime. Blend until smooth.

3. In a small bowl, stir together coconut milk, remaining lime juice, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, and vanilla extract. Stir the toasted coconut into the milk mixture.

4. Dollop a spoonful of strawberry into the bottom of each popsicle mold. Stir coconut milk and add to the popsicle molds, filling them about 2/3 full. Spoon more strawberry into each mold and top with remaining coconut milk.

5. Add popsicle mold sticks and lids. Freeze for at least 6 hours before serving.

Yields: About 10 popsicles
Time: 40 minutes (plus 6 hours to chill)
Leftover potential: Of course. Ours were eaten within a week, but they should keep in the freezer as long as you like (within reason).

STEAK SANDWICHES WITH PICKLED ONION AND HERB AIOLI

I’m determined to get caught up with this thing, which means you’re going to have to put up with nonseasonal recipes for a little while longer. This one is from Cooking Light, and while it seems pretty plain at first glance—bread, meat, greens, onion, and mayo—it definitely adds up to more than the sum of its parts. I usually find steak monotonous, but the peppery arugula, sweet and briny onions, and citrusy herbed aioli jazz things up. The aioli is actually my favorite part, and I say this as a recovering mayonnaise hater of long standing. To me, concocting my own mayo makes all the difference, and when you spike it with garlic, herbs and extra lemon, it’s irresistible. I knew this recipe would be a surefire hit with A, who loves red meat and sandwiches in equal measure, but I was surprised how much I enjoyed it too, and as a bonus it wasn't hard to throw together. I’ve made it twice already, and it’s likely to keep popping up on our menu through all seasons.

I made a few tweaks to the original recipe. I always find myself corrupting the finicky purity of Cooking Light recipes, but my only less-healthy change here was to add salt to the onion pickling mixture, because I think pickles should be at least somewhat salty. (I ahbor sweet pickles, so the 2 tablespoons of sugar seemed excessive to me, but I went with it as written and while I wouldn’t snack on the onions by themselves, they really work on the sandwich, their sweetness offset by the other ingredients.) Other than that, I merely swapped in basil, which seems more appropriately summery, for the tarragon, which I dislike. And it seemed a bit awkward to make one giant sandwich and then slice it into fourths—plus I wanted to save half of the food for leftovers the next day—so instead I just cut the bread into fourths to begin with and assembled the sandwiches separately.

¼ cup water
¼ cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra to taste
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
¼ cup canola mayonnaise
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound flank steak, trimmed
1½ teaspoons olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 12-ounce French baguette
1 cup arugula leaves

1. Combine first three ingredients plus 1 teaspoon salt in a medium microwave-safe bowl; microwave on high 2 minutes or until boiling. Stir in onion. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

3. Combine mayonnaise and next four ingredients (through garlic). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Rub steak evenly with oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place steak on grill rack; grill 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from grill; let stand 5 minutes. Cut steak across the grain into thin slices.

5. Cut baguette in fourths crosswise, then cut the pieces in half lengthwise. Place bread, cut sides down, on grill rack; grill 1 minute or until toasted.

6. Drain onion mixture and discard liquid. Arrange one-quarter of the steak evenly over each of the four bottom baguette pieces; top evenly with onion and arugula. Spread mayonnaise mixture over cut side of each top baguette piece and place the top pieces on the sandwiches.

Serves: 4
Time: 35 minutes
Leftover potential: OK, if all components are stored separately and only assembled just before eating.

ONE-PAN FARRO WITH TOMATOES

I couldn’t definitively declare that I liked farro until I successfully prepared it in a context that didn’t involve mushrooms. When this recipe appeared at Smitten Kitchen, it seemed like the perfect opportunity: colorful, summery, bright with tomato and basil, and about as far from earthy brown mushrooms as you can get. As a bonus, it’s a nifty cooking method—just throw the ingredients into a pot and boil for 30 minutes, end of story. I had my doubts that something so easy and breezy could really result in deep and complex flavors, but I was happy to be proven wrong. The onions and tomatoes break down into a savory sauce that makes the farro sing.

The first time, I followed the Smitten Kitchen directions exactly and it was good. Then I spotted another spin on the same dish at The Kitchen Sink Recipes, mostly the same but with the quantities slightly increased (which appealed to me because the original recipe had yielded a slightly awkward three main-dish servings, and especially after discovering that the leftovers tasted even better the next day, I prefer to have at least four) and with arugula instead of basil (which appealed to me because I love arugula and because if I can cram enough vegetables into the main dish I don’t have to bother with making a side salad). I made a few tweaks, upping the garlic and adding back in the basil. Matters were slightly complicated by the fact that I’d accidentally bought Trader Joe’s 10-Minute Farro, which has already been parboiled and which I feared would become disgustingly mushy if subjected to the 30-minute boil needed to cook off all the liquid the recipe calls for. (Online opinions seem divided on the TJ’s farro, with many loving it but others finding it no match for the regular stuff.) I decided to make the best of it by skipping the presoak and forging ahead as written—and the farro turned out perfectly, just as chewy as ever, so I’m tempted to keep using the TJ’s version, especially since it comes in convenient 1½-cup bags, exactly the quantity needed for this recipe. I served it with a poached egg on top and it was even more heavenly.

This really is a miraculous recipe, a wholesome weeknight meal that coaxes big taste out of simple ingredients. And if you haven’t tried farro before, this may be the way to do it: easy, no fuss, with familiar elements that transform into something even better.

Note, August 2016: I value this as a hearty vegetarian entree, but in an effort to make it more appealing to A, I have tried it with Italian sausage (about 8 ounces, chicken or pork, crumbled and browned in a separate skillet, drained, and added to the farro with the arugula and Parmesan in Step 3) and I gotta say it’s a pretty delicious variation.

3 cups water
1½ cups semi-pearled farro
1 medium yellow onion, quartered and sliced thinly
2 large cloves garlic, halved and sliced thinly
4 cups (2 pints) halved grape or cherry tomatoes
1¼ teaspoons kosher salt, plus extra to taste
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra to taste
2 cups baby arugula
1 handful basil leaves, sliced into thin ribbons
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

1. Place water and farro in a medium saucepan to presoak for at least 5-10 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients. (Skip the soaking if using 10-minute farro.)

2. Add the onion, garlic, tomatoes, salt, red pepper flakes, and 1 tablespoon olive oil to the farro. Bring uncovered pan to a boil. Set a timer for 30 minutes and reduce heat to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. When the timer rings, the farro should be perfectly cooked (tender but still a bit chewy) and the liquid should be mostly absorbed.

3. Add the arugula and Parmesan; stir to combine and to wilt the arugula.

4. Transfer to serving bowls, drizzle with a bit more olive oil, and sprinkle with basil and additional Parmesan to taste.

Serves: 4
Time: 45 minutes
Leftover potential: Great; tastes even better the next day.

CHICKEN WITH PROSCIUTTO, FONTINA, AND ARUGULA

I hope I don’t have to say much to convince you (unless you’re vegan) that crispy breaded chicken topped with ham, cheese, and mustardy, vinegary greens is a Good Thing. This is just the type of straightforward but not dumbed-down weeknight recipe I’m always on the lookout for, and as soon as I came across it at Elly Says Opa, I knew it would be a slam-dunk with both me (quick, easy, vegetable included) and A (two kinds of meat in one dish = score). The pan-fried chicken, creamy cheese, and salty pork veer toward luxurious comfort, and but the fresh, peppery arugula reins it back in. It’s basically a meal in itself, main dish and salad rolled into one, although some roasted potatoes on the side definitely wouldn’t hurt anything.

Apparently the original recipe called for Brie, which I do love, but I second this adaptation’s substitution of Fontina, an equally good melter, less unctuous and with a nice nutty flavor that actually has a bit more character than Brie. I made no real changes except that I’m a bit more generous with the arugula (at least on my own servings…why not fill the plate?) and a bit stingier with the panko. The first time I made th

is, I dutifully filled my shallow bowl with 1 cup panko, breaded my chicken, and still had half of it left, now contaminated with raw chicken juice, that I had to throw away. Now I start with 1 cup panko in the bowl and add more as needed midway through the breading process if the level dips too low.

Both A and I thought that it might make this even better if the prosciutto could be warmed somehow. Next time I might try either crisping it up briefly in a separate dry pan before placing it atop the chicken, or adding it right after the cheese and then moving the whole shebang (in my cast-iron skillet) to the oven for a brief stint under the broiler, which would cook the prosciutto and melt the cheese in one fell swoop (but possibly dry out the chicken?). I’ll keep you posted, but don’t wait that long to make this—no matter what, it’s a keeper.

1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper to taste
6 ounces baby arugula
1 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1-2 cups panko breadcrumbs (start with 1 and add more as needed)
4 chicken breasts (4-5 ounces apiece), pounded to ¼-inch thickness
2 tablespoons butter
4 ounces Fontina cheese, thinly sliced
8 thin slices prosciutto

1. Whisk the vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste together in a large bowl. Slowly add 2 tablespoons olive oil while whisking, and mix until emulsified.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and then add the butter and remaining 1 tablespoon oil. While the pan is heating, place the flour, eggs, and panko in three separate shallow bowls. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper on each side.

3. Once the butter is melted and sizzling in the pan, dredge a piece of chicken in the flour, shaking off the excess. Dip into the egg, letting excess drip off, and then dredge both sides in the panko, being sure to coat the chicken completely. Add to the pan and repeat with remaining chicken.

4. Saute chicken until golden brown on one side and then flip and saute until browned and cooked through. During the last minute, place the Fontina on top of the chicken so it begins to melt.

5. Add the arugula to the bowl with the salad dressing and toss to coat. Plate the chicken and top each piece with two slices of prosciutto and one-fourth of the arugula salad.

Serves: 4
Time: 30 minutes
Leftover potential: Decent; for leftover servings, store the arugula, dressing and chicken separately, assembling only when ready to eat.

SOUTHWEST SCRAMBLE

This is another of those look-how-far-I’ve-come posts, because I used to detest the idea of eggs with salsa. Like, it actually turned my stomach. Perhaps because I grew up in the Midwest in the 1980s, where the salsa was Pace and the eggs were most likely dry and overcooked. (As I’ve previously mentioned, I hated corn tortillas, too.) I don’t know whether to credit my maturing palate or expanding horizons, but after all these years I finally Get It where huevos rancheros and breakfast tacos/quesadillas/burritos are concerned. First I discovered good tortillas and salsa, and then I became downright egg-obsessed, and then finally I started craving them all together.

I’d been wanting to try my hand at migas or chilaquiles for a while, since I always seem to have leftover corn tortillas lurking in the fridge, and then one day I saw this variation on the concept at Budget Bytes, which throws in enough black beans and salsa and cilantro to totally qualify as dinner in my book (in fact, you’ll notice I’ve dropped the “breakfast” part of the title). The recipe calls for corn chips, but I decided to take things up a notch and bake my own from those troublesome spare tortillas. I’m sure it’s good enough with storebought corn chips, and it does feel kind of silly to spend 20 minutes hardening up some tortillas only to turn around and soften them up again with salsa and eggs and cheese the next moment, but I love the flavor and chewy (rather than soggy) texture the homemade chips impart.

But then, I love everything about this recipe. Let’s face it, it’s basically the lovechild of scrambled eggs and nachos. It’s warm and homey and soft and cheesy, but not heavy, and chock-full enough of protein to make a satisfying meal. It’s incredibly quick and easy, it’s simple but flavorful, I usually have the ingredients on hand already, and it makes surprisingly good leftovers. Because the eggs are scrambled slowly and carefully, they don’t dry out or toughen up, even when reheated the next day. It’s become my comfort-food default, and I’ve probably cooked it half a dozen times in the few months since I first tried it. I’ve made it as lazy single-lady fare while A was out of town, eating the leftovers all week long. I’ve made it just after returning from vacation, when the fridge was empty and I only had the time and energy to pick up a few things at the store. I’ve made it when I’m too stressed out for anything else, when I have salsa or tortillas to use up (and once, with leftover tomatillo salsa verde, an excellent variation), or just when I’m hungry for it, which seems to be often. (I’m actually making it for dinner tonight, in about an hour.) I don’t want to jinx anything, but I’m not sure I could ever get tired of it. Who knew that eggs plus salsa could someday become one of my favorite foods?

6 large eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
2-3 cups tortilla chips (I recommend baking your own)
1 cup salsa, plus extra for serving if desired
1 cup shredded cheddar or pepper Jack cheese
1 generous handful chopped fresh cilantro
2 or 3 scallions, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and lightly whisk them.

2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Pour in the eggs and let them cook slowly. As the bottom layer begins to set, use a spatula to drag the outside edges in toward the center, allowing the uncooked egg to run back into the empty space. Continue to gently move the eggs around in the skillet in this manner until they are about 75 percent set; they should still be moist, but in large pieces. (They will continue to cook as you add other ingredients, so make sure not to overcook them now.) Season the eggs with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Add the drained beans and tortilla chips to the skillet. Gently fold them into the eggs, breaking the tortilla strips into smaller pieces as you go. Spoon one cup of salsa over top of the egg mixture and then sprinkle the shredded cheese over top.

4. Place a lid on the skillet and turn the heat up to medium. Allow the skillet to heat for 5 minutes, or until mostly heated through. Remove the lid and gently fold the ingredients in the skillet, so that the cheese gets a little mixed in and melts slightly. Sprinkle the cilantro and scallions over the top, and serve with additional salsa if desired.

Serves: 4
Time: 30 minutes
Leftover potential: Good.

BAKED TORTILLA CHIPS

Making my own tortilla chips is exactly the kind of fussy kitchen experiment I didn’t think I had time for anymore. Now that I’m back in an office for 40 hours a week (no more cozy telecommuting days while bread dough rose on the counter or beans simmered on the stove) and working a faster-paced job that leaves me drained by the time evening rolls around, I’m trying to get back to basics with quicker, less ambitious weekday meals that make plenty of leftovers and can hit the table before 8 p.m. But when you find yourself with a giant stack of tortillas getting stale in the fridge, you have to do something—and it turns out that, after immersion-blender mayonnaise, this is about the easiest DIY I’ve ever tried.

The last time we stopped by the Mexican market to get fresh corn tortillas for fish tacos, they were out of our usual 24-count bags. All that remained were the massive “family size” packages, easily eight inches tall. They still only cost a couple of bucks, so we rolled with it. The leftover tortillas get too dry for making tacos after a couple of days, but they remain perfectly good for tortilla soup, tostadas, and quesadillas. After a couple of weeks, however, despite our best efforts, we barely seemed to have made a dent in the pile, so I consulted the Internet and found this nifty procedure at The Kitchn for making baked tortilla chips.

And really, it couldn’t be any simpler. Coat baking sheets and tortillas with oil, sprinkle with salt, bake until crisp. You can use cooking spray if you want to make it even easier; I usually do that on the baking sheets, but I don’t think it gives even enough coverage on the tortillas themselves, so I prefer to use my silicon pastry brush. It takes surprisingly little oil, so you might even consider this downright healthy—if you can actually manage not to gobble up every warm, salty, crispy morsel right out of the oven. The first time I made these I was so impressed that they actually turned out like real tortilla chips that A and I stood over the baking sheets and happily snacked away…until I realized I’d eaten the equivalent of about six tortillas in one sitting. Be forewarned, the texture is a bit different than storebought/fried chips, less shatteringly crispy and with a little bit of chew, especially when they’re still warm. You can dry them out by leaving them in the oven with the heat off after baking, but I’ve found that can almost make them too crunchy for me, at least with the tortillas I've been using. Because they’re a bit sturdier, though, it makes them great for nachos, dipping, and so forth. (Next time I post I’ll share with you a recipe I used them in that knocked my socks right off.) And the flavor is excellent.

You can do this in any quantity you like. I’ve found that 10 to 12 corn tortillas yields the right number of chips to cover two of my large baking sheets in a single layer (and two sheets is all that fits into my oven at one time). Even at that rate, it took us six batches or (over the course of several weeks) so to get through all our leftover tortillas. Luckily, this recipe works just fine with older tortillas—the chips maybe get a bit denser in texture, but the flavor is unaffected. Of course, now that we’ve finally finished off the bag, I find myself craving them again, so there’s probably a trip to the Mexican market in my near future. I can see that this is going to become a vicious—but delicious—circle.

Good-quality corn tortillas
Neutral vegetable oil, like grapeseed or canola
Coarse salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour a tablespoon or so of oil into a bowl. Brush a thin coating onto one or two baking sheets and set aside.

2. Place one tortilla on a cutting board and brush the top with a light layer of oil. (You don’t need a lot of oil, but make sure it’s spread evenly across the entire surface, including the edges.) Place another tortilla on top of the oiled one and brush its top with oil. Continue until all your tortillas are oiled and stacked in one pile.

3. Cut your tortilla stack in half. Cut one of the halves in half and cut each of those halves in half again, forming wedges. Repeat with other side, so you have eight stacks of tortilla wedges.

4. Arrange the tortilla wedges in a single layer on the baking sheets (don’t overlap them or they won’t get crisp), un-oiled sides facing down so that they have contact with the oil on the tray. Sprinkle a pinch or two of coarse salt evenly over the tops.

5. Place the trays in the oven and bake for 8 to 12 minutes. Check your chips at 8 minutes and rotate your pans. The chips are done when the edges are crisp and dry and slightly lifted from the tray. They should be a few shades darker, though not completely browned. The chips will still be slightly flexible in the middle, but they will crisp further as they cool. If you want crispier chips, turn the oven off and let them sit in there until they dry out a bit more, from 10 to 60 minutes.

6. Remove trays from the oven and let cool slightly.

Yield: Whatever quantity you like.
Time: 20 minutes
Leftover potential: These are best when fresh, but can be stored (after cooling) in an airtight container for several days.

FUNKY MONKEY BAKED OATMEAL

I feel like I preface every banana-related post with a disclaimer that I don’t really like bananas, but…I do have 10 (now 11) banana recipes on this site, so perhaps I protest too much. I certainly don’t like them enough to be a particular fan of Chunky Monkey ice cream or the peanut-butter-and-banana combo and its various “fat Elvis” iterations. (I am, however, a fan of both actual monkeys and actual Elvis, so that’s something.) What I do like is peanut butter, and I had been wondering for a while, in the midst of my baked oatmeal mania, if a peanut butter version could work. And I know banana adds a nice tenderness to baked goods, and I love coconut, and I certainly won’t turn down chocolate—even if I don’t normally eat it for breakfast—so when I saw this recipe at Budget Bytes (my go-to source for oatmeal inspiration), I knew I had to at least give it a shot.

I usually avoid overly sweet foods in the morning—no donuts or coffee cake or cinnamon rolls for me—and this was definitely richer and more indulgent-seeming than my usual fare. But it’s not as sweet as I expected, in fact not actually that sweet at all, except that it’s a logical disconnect for me to be enjoying chocolate at 8 a.m. (The occasional chocolate chip studded into each bite doesn’t seem too weird, but when I got to the bottom of the bowl and essentially had chocolate milk, it did feel like I was getting away with something.) It is, of course, delicious, and there’s a reason these are all classic flavor pairings. As an occasional “special treat” breakfast, it will definitely have a place in my regular oatmeal rotation. (I find it’s an especially welcome balm for the soul during my extra-hormonal week of the month.) And unlike a pastry or sugary cereal, it keeps me full and energized until lunchtime.
The first time I made this I was slightly dismayed because I couldn’t really pick up much peanut butter flavor, so the second time I increased the quantity to ⅓ cup and that seemed perfect. Natural PB is best, but if you only have the sweetened stuff, just leave out the brown sugar. Same thing with the coconut—I only had the big unsweetened flakes on hand and didn’t feel like making a special trip to the Whole Foods bulk section for the unsweetened shredded, but Trader Joe’s has a shredded coconut that is way less sweet than the tooth-aching Baker’s kind, and that worked just fine; but if you do find yourself with the Baker’s, just cut out the brown sugar and all should be well.
I keep thinking it would be cool to use cocoa instead of chocolate chips to make the whole thing feel even less desserty, so that the oatmeal itself was chocolate-flavored instead of having pieces of chocolate in it, but I don’t know if I want to mess around with that when this is already so good.

P.S. November 2013: Does this just sound too decadent for your everyday breakfast? I recently tried this as just a PB-banana version and it was excellent. Follow the recipe below, but use a generous 1/3 cup peanut butter and omit the chocolate chips and coconut.
P.P.S. February 2015: If you want a subtler chocolate presence, I have discovered that mini-chips are the perfect solution, scattering the chocolate more evenly throughout the oatmeal instead of in big chunks. 

3-4 medium bananas
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼-⅓ cup natural peanut butter (unsweetened; salted OK)
2 cups milk
¼ teaspoon salt
2½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
⅓ cup semisweet chocolate chips
⅓ cup shredded coconut (unsweetened or lightly sweetened)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mash the bananas with a fork until they make a smooth puree (or you can leave it a bit chunky if you prefer that). Start with just three bananas and add another if needed to make 1½ cups. (If you’re short a little banana, make up the difference by using the corresponding amount of extra milk.)
3. Add the mashed bananas to a large bowl. If your peanut butter is firm, warm it slightly in the microwave so that it is more fluid and can mix in more easily. Add the peanut butter, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, baking powder, and salt to the bowl. Whisk these ingredients together until smooth. Add the milk and whisk again.
4. Add the dry oats, chocolate chips, and shredded coconut to the bowl. Stir everything together until evenly combined. Lightly coat the inside of an 8-by-8-inch casserole dish with nonstick spray (I like to use coconut oil spray for this). Pour the oat mixture into the casserole dish and bake for 45 minutes, or until browned and firm.

Serves: 6-8
Time: 1 hour
Leftover potential: Great. Keep in a covered dish, scoop out a serving each morning, and reheat it in the microwave. Break it up a little with a spoon and pour cold milk over the top.

FARRO SALAD WITH ROASTED MUSHROOMS AND PARMESAN

There are advantages and disadvantages to being so far behind on this blog. Mostly disadvantages. It bothers me all the time, actually. I can’t help but feel oppressed by a long to-do list, and besides, Bookcook is an important record-keeping method for me, so it’s inconvenient when it’s not up to date. Not to mention that there are things I really, really want to tell you about. (“You” being the whole three or four people who are still bearing with me at this point.) And when I do go to write a post, often it’s been so long since I made the recipe that I can barely remember the details.
But on the plus side, the long lag time does provide perspective. For example, it’s been so many months since I first discovered this recipe that I’ve made it three times already. That means it’s been thoroughly tested and even improved upon for you. I can now confidently attest that it is both dead easy and incredibly delicious—in fact, it’s one of my new favorite recipes. I’m even jumping it ahead in the queue because I’m so excited to share it with you. I may actually be a teeny bit obsessed with it; just typing these words has made me start thinking I need to add it to next week’s menu.
You might recall that my first attempt at farro was in a salad, and I did not like it. Luckily, farro was redeemed for me in this beef and mushroom soup. Since I enjoyed that so much, I thought this salad from Food 52 wouldn’t be too much more of a stretch, and I do think there’s something about the earthiness of farro and mushrooms that makes them go extra well together. They also have a similarly addictive chewy texture here—roasting the mushrooms is a great touch. I actually liked them so much I doubled the quantity from the original recipe and feel it’s just the right balance, about half mushroom and half farro. The salad is studded with little cubes of Parmesan, and while I’d never had that cheese in such big pieces before (pretty much only shredded and shaved), it adds these wonderful pops of salty nuttiness. All this umami is lightened by lemon juice and parsley (my favorite herb to go with mushrooms), making this a great salad for any season. It did seem a little dull and oily the first time I made it, so on the next go-round I decreased the olive oil and amped up the citrus (a 3:1 oil-to-acid ratio? I like it half-and-half, please). The result? Perfection, especially as a weekday lunch.
I struggled with what to serve with this at first—it’s satisfying enough to be a meal but I still feel compelled to accompany a mostly brown dish with something green—until I hit upon the idea of kale salad, another fresh-but-earthy concoction. This one, with walnuts, Pecorino, and lemon, echoes the elements of the farro salad without being repetitive. Together they make the ideal little salad sampler.

1 cup uncooked farro
Salt
1 pound cremini mushrooms
Olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
3-4 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ cup finely cubed or crumbled Parmesan
¼ cup roughly chopped Italian parsley

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. While the oven heats, in a medium saucepan, combine the farro and enough cold water to cover it by about an inch. Soak for 20 minutes. Drain well and return the farro to the pan, again covering it with cold water. Add a few generous pinches of salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, until the farro is tender but still has some bite.
3. While the farro is cooking, wipe and trim the mushrooms and then halve or quarter them, into bite-sized pieces. Arrange them on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet and drizzle generously with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss gently to distribute everything; spread the mushrooms out evenly and put in the oven for about 20 minutes, stirring halfway through, until crisp around the edges and cooked through.
4. When the farro is cooked, drain it well and spread it on a clean baking sheet to cool. Do the same with the mushrooms once they are cooked. When the farro and mushrooms are close to room temperature, or just barely warm, combine them in a serving bowl. Add the lemon juice and 4 tablespoons of olive oil, tossing gently to combine. Then add the Parmesan, parsley and a generous grinding of pepper and fold gently. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Serve at room temperature.

Serves: 4
Time: 1½ hours
Leftover potential: Great.

KALE, STRAWBERRY, AND AVOCADO SALAD

I’m still desperately trying to play catchup here, but at least I’ve reached a recipe that seems more seasonally appropriate for today (i.e., isn’t soup). My goal is to have kale salads for all seasons, and here’s my spring edition—Southern California spring, at least, but more like summer everywhere else…so, see, I’m not late with this at all! I wouldn’t necessarily have thought to combine bitter leafy greens with sweet berries, creamy avocado, and crunchy poppy seeds, but the blend really works. Bright lemon vinaigrette is perfect as always (I can’t recall, but I’m guessing I left out the honey, because I like my dressings acidic), almonds add more texture and some protein, and feta brings its usual salty cheesy goodness. Regrettably, my salad didn’t turn out as picture-perfect as the original version over at Two Peas and Their Pod—especially if your strawberries and avocado are very ripe, they’ll begin to break down somewhat as soon as you start mixing everything—but its pinks, reds, whites, and greens were still pretty, and I loved its fresh, grassy flavors. Oh kale, what can’t you do?

1 bunch Tuscan kale (about 4-5 cups), stems removed, leaves chopped
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 avocado, peeled and chopped
⅓ cup sliced almonds
¼ cup feta cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
½ teaspoon poppy seeds
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Put the kale in a large bowl.

2. In a small bowl or jar, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, poppy seeds, salt, and pepper. Shake or whisk until mixed well.

3. Add most of the dressing to the kale and mix it together with your hands, massaging gently until the kale is well coated. If you have time, let the dressed kale sit for 15-30 minutes.

4. Add the strawberries, avocado, almonds, and feta cheese. Toss gently. Add the rest of the dressing as needed and toss gently to coat. Season with additional salt and pepper as needed.

Serves: 4
Time: 20 minutes
Leftover potential: With the berries and avocado, it doesn’t hold up as sturdily as other kale salads I’ve tried, but it’s fine for a few days.

KALE AND WHITE BEAN SOUP

You can tell I’m still catching up on recipes from a few months ago, when all these vegetable soups were just what I needed to bridge the gap between warm, comforting chilly-evening food and the fresh flavors of spring. I found this one on Epicurious (from the dearly departed Gourmet) because I was very specifically containing something with white beans, sausage, and kale—a classic combination but not one previously represented in my repertoire. It turned out to be exactly what I’d been hoping for…with one minor exception. The recipe claims it makes “6 main-dish servings,” but with 13 cups of liquid going into it, I should have known better. We like hearty portions, but I don’t see how this could only yield six bowls of soup unless they were huge mixing bowls. When I was portioning it out, I had to keep grabbing more containers out of the cupboard to hold it all, until every available surface in the kitchen was covered with bowls of soup, like some sort of I Love Lucy routine. I don’t exactly remember, but I think I got at least 10 generously sized servings. It didn’t end up being a problem—at least four of those servings went directly into the freezer, where they kept well and came in handy later—but it felt a little out of control at the time. Mostly I was just surprised that Gourmet would be so wildly off-base. (The recipe also just called for “8 carrots,” without any detail about what size. Eight of the petite carrots you buy in bunches at the farmers’ market in the spring, maybe, but definitely not eight big, fat, mature carrots. My carrots were medium-sized and after I’d cut up six, I had more than enough; any more and it would have been carrot and white bean soup. I’ve tried to clarify quantities in the recipe below.)

While I was skimming the Epicurious comments to see if other people had the same experience with the vast soup surplus (I didn’t make it through 132, but surprisingly few mentioned it), I saw a number of suggestions for further enhancements. I don’t think it really needs much help, especially if you take the original recipe’s advice and make it a day ahead of time so the flavors have time to deepen, but some of the ideas do sound good, like replacing a cup of the water with white wine, adding red pepper flakes, sprinkling Parmesan on top, or stirring in fresh lemon juice. A number of reviewers enthusiastically recommended putting a poached egg on top of each serving (or as one comment put it, “poached egg, poached egg, POACHED EGG!”), and that sounds awesome. Next time I make this, when fall is rolling around, that will happen.

1 pound dry white beans, such as Great Northern, cannellini, or navy
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
5 cups chicken broth
8 cups water
1 (3-by-2-inch) piece Parmigiano-Reggiano rind
2 teaspoons salt, plus extra to taste
½ teaspoon black pepper, plus extra to taste
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 pound smoked sausage, such as kielbasa (I used chicken andouille), sliced crosswise ¼ inch thick
4 large, 6 medium, or 8 smallish carrots, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into ½-inch pieces
1 pound kale (preferably lacinato), stems and center ribs discarded and leaves coarsely chopped

1. Cover beans with water by 2 inches in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand, uncovered, 1 hour. Drain beans in a colander and rinse.
2. Cook onions in oil in an 8-quart pot over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add beans, broth, 4 cups water, cheese rind, 2 teaspoons salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, bay leaf, and rosemary and simmer, uncovered, until beans are just tender, about 50 minutes.
3. While soup is simmering, brown sausage in batches in a heavy skillet over moderate heat, turning, then transfer to paper towels to drain. (If your sausage is precooked and relatively lean, you can skip this step if you like.)
4. Stir carrots into soup and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in kale, sausage, and remaining 4 cups water and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until kale is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Season soup with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves: 8-12
Time: 2½ hours
Leftover potential: Great! Makes a ton, tastes even better the next day, and freezes well.

SPINACH SOUP WITH GARLIC THYME CROUTONS

I have several green soups in my repertoire—broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, and even green bean (the point at which I actually had the short-sightedness to declare that my collection of pureed green soups was complete)—but somehow I’ve missed out on the most obvious variety. Of course spinach is ideal for soup because it you can cram a lot of it in there and it shrinks down to practically nothing. But spinach soup never sounded especially appealing to me until this Joy the Baker recipe caught my eye. So many pureed vegetable soups risk being bland, especially when potatoes are involved, so I look for big added flavors to keep things interesting, and this one had some of my faves, red pepper flakes and lemon juice, as well as an intriguingly large dose of dried thyme. (You might be tempted to use fresh, but I think dried has its own unique character and works well here.) The soup is great, fresh and green and velvety, but let’s face it, the croutons are the big stars here. Their spicy, salty, herby, garlicky, unrepentantly buttery crunch make this soup a knockout. A isn’t a fan of pureed soups and almost never eats the leftovers, but a plentiful supply of croutons was enough to lure him back for a second helping the next day. And I may be a vegetable soup lover anyway, but I’m not made of stone, and I found the crunchy, seasoned bread bites irresistible.

Making my own croutons isn't a revelation for me, but I’d never thought to put them on soup before. Now that I’ve started, I want to put them on everything.

Croutons:
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tablespoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt to taste
4-6 heaping cups stale bread cubes
Soup:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon salt, plus extra to taste
2 cups peeled, diced red potatoes
4 cups low-sodium chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
6 heaping cups fresh spinach leaves
Juice of half a lemon

1. To prepare the croutons, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, place bread cubes on the parchment, and set aside. Heat oil and butter in a medium sauté pan until butter is melted. Add sliced garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Remove garlic from the pan and discard. Remove pan from the heat, add thyme and red pepper flakes, and stir to combine. Drizzle melted butter mixture over the bread cubes. Sprinkle generously with salt and toss with your hands, then spread cubes out in a single layer. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until bread is golden brown and crisp.

2. To prepare the soup, heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, red pepper flakes, and ½ teaspoon salt and sauté for 2 minutes. Add potatoes and sauté for 3 minutes more.

3. Pour in chicken stock and bring to a low simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until potato chunks are cooked through. Reduce heat to low and add spinach leaves. Stir and cook spinach down in the hot broth for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and puree soup with an immersion blender, or in a regular blender or food processor in batches. Once soup is pureed, stir in lemon juice and season with salt to taste.

4. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with croutons.

Serves: 4
Time: 45 minutes
Leftover potential: Good; store leftover croutons separately from soup.

CHIPOTLE-ROSEMARY ROASTED NUTS

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a habitual snacker, but I’m terrified of being hungry—it makes me cranky and weak and shaky and indecisive. So I always feel better when I’ve got something to nibble on just in case, and nothing staves off my hunger pangs more than a handful of nuts. Having snacks on hand became especially important when I started my new job. Spending all day trying to learn the ropes is exhausting and overwhelming to begin with, but the company was extra busy and short-staffed when I came on board, so I was working incredibly hard right off the bat. I made sure that I was always supplied with a little container of nuts to feed my brain in the midmorning and late afternoon, but I burned through my small repertoire of roasted-nut recipes fairly quickly and decided to start in on my backlog of bookmarked new versions. This one, from Ina Garten via Eggs on Sunday, is a bit on the sweeter side than what I usually aim for, but boy howdy, is it delicious. A has declared it the all-time best, and I’m not inclined to argue.

Garten is also the creator of my special-occasion (specifically, Christmastime) nut recipe, Rosemary Roasted Cashews, and this shares some of the same ingredients and mix of sweet-spicy-salty-savory elements but takes everything up several notches. Here we have rosemary again, but also orange juice and zest, maple syrup, and a generous dose of smoky chipotle chili. The result is well-balanced and irresistible. And even though I had to laugh at the odd quantities of the different nuts called for in the recipe (basically, lots of cashews, a medium amount of walnuts and pecans, and just a few almonds, all adding up, inexplicably, to 31 ounces—for pete’s sake, why not two pounds, Ina?), I did follow it precisely for experimentation’s sake and loved the variety of the mixture. I used the bulk section at Whole Foods to get the exact amounts called for, but if it’s easier for you to buy prepackaged nuts, there’s no reason you couldn’t use, say, half cashews and half pecans and round up the quantities to an even number of pounds.

The first time I made this, I halved it because it seemed like a lot and nuts are expensive, y’all. I baked the nuts for exactly the time specified (I wasn’t thinking; I should have reduced it) and came within a hair’s breadth of burning them. They were still tasty, but decidedly on the dark—er, caramelized—side. The second time, I made the full recipe, but foolishly followed the instructions to the letter and plopped them all on a single baking sheet, even though there wasn’t room to spread them out in a single layer. Consequently, they took forever to cook. I baked them for about 15 minutes longer than the recipe said to, and they were still a little sticky when I took them out. I convinced myself they’d firm up when they cooled, but they remained a little chewy even then. Again, still tasty, but I feel as though I’ve yet to execute the recipe perfectly. I did correct the directions below to use two baking sheets if you’re making the full batch. Which you really should, because if they’re so delicious when I’ve messed them up, imagine how good they’ll be when I finally get them right!

3 cups whole roasted unsalted cashews (14 ounces)
2 cups whole walnut halves (7 ounces)
2 cups whole pecan halves (7 ounces)
½ cup whole almonds (3 ounces)
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
¼ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
Zest of half an orange
2 teaspoons ground chipotle powder
4 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary leaves, divided
2-3 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the nuts, oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, orange juice and zest, and chipotle powder. Toss to coat the nuts evenly. Add 2 tablespoons of rosemary and 1 to 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, and toss again.

3. Divide the nuts between the two baking sheets and spread them out in a single layer. Roast for 25 minutes, stirring about halfway through, until glazed and golden brown. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with another teaspoon or so of salt and the remaining 2 tablespoons of minced rosemary.

4. Stir well and set the nuts aside on their baking sheets to cool at room temperature, stirring occasionally to prevent them from sticking together too much as they cool. Store in an airtight container.

Serves: 12-16
Time: 40 minutes
Leftover potential: Good; will keep in a sealed container at room temperature for at least a week, or can be frozen indefinitely.