What a nice, refreshing salad – perfect for the holidays, too.

A post from Carolyn. In early December I attended my first in-person cooking class with Phillis Carey, my favorite cooking instructor. All through Covid she taught via zoom, and if I couldn’t taste the food, why bother, was my motto? After three years, it was so fun to see her (and her cooking friend Diane Phillips) and to eat a treasure-trove of new things. This was one of the recipes I really liked.

Phillis’s heritage is Sicilian, so her recipes were more Southern Italian. This salad could be made ahead up to the point of tossing it. Prep the fennel ahead and the fresh oranges (let the fennel marinate in the orange/juice to keep it from turning brown). Have the arugula part all ready to dress, and toss at the last minute.

The dressing is just slightly different – lemon juice and white wine vinegar, a tetch of honey, and EVOO. Easy to make ahead too. You may also add olives – Phillis added Kalamata, but she also suggested Castelvetrano (I’d prefer those). Your choice, however. The olives add some color to the salad in addition to a punch of flavor. Castelvetrano olives are a ripe olive, very mild, not acidic/bitter like Kalamata. Arugula is everywhere now in the grocery stores, so that wouldn’t be hard to find. You could use baby spinach, I suppose, but it wouldn’t be authentic. I may make this salad for Christmas or New Year’s Eve. One or the other. If you can find blood oranges, that would make an ever prettier platter of salad. Sometimes they’re available around the holidays. I haven’t seen them lately.

You can plate individually, or make a big platter of it with the oranges and olives and fennel piled on top of the arugula, kind of centered. If I do that for the holidays I’ll take a picture of it!!

What’s GOOD: love the acid (lemon juice/vinegar and olives) vs. sweet (honey, oranges). It’s a simple dressing, but perfect for arugula. What a pretty salad it makes. And nice that it can be made ahead up to the point of dressing it. A winner.

What’s NOT: nothing, really – easy to do.

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Certainly I’d never heard of chocolate salami before, but was intrigued when I read the story about them. Italians claim the origin of the recipe, so do Germans, but so do Russians. Mine weren’t as round as the pictures online, but hey, made no difference to the taste!

A post from Carolyn. I think I mentioned recently that I decided to subscribe to the New York Times Food Section. It’s not a cheap purchase, but they offered it for half price ($20/year). If you’re interested, it’s still on offer at that price. I have nowhere near discovered all there is to know about their recipe archives, but this cookie recipe popped up and it’s just so different I had to try it.

So I read, back during the Soviet Russia era, some foodstuffs were hard to come by like cookies and cocoa powder. An ingenious cook combined shortbread cookies and cocoa along with chocolate (available) and hazelnuts (available) to spread the wealth, so to speak. Both the cocoa powder and the cookies then were enjoyed for a longer period of time. Although I have to say, eating one of these is nearly impossible.

A package of hazelnuts was staring at me, so I toasted them up first (about 5-7 minutes in my toaster oven at 375). Then I opened the package of Walker’s shortbread and used my meat pounder (flat) to kind-of mash up the cookies. In the photo above you can see toasted hazelnuts and pieces/crumbs of the cookies. The recipe suggested you sieve the cookies because you don’t want many crumbs. I didn’t wish to waste the crumbs, so I used them anyway. Just make sure you leave some little chunks – more chunks than crumbs if you can do it (and no, it’s not easy to do that).

Meanwhile you melt butter, sweetened condensed milk and bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghiradelli, bar type) and unsweetened cocoa powder. Once melted, it’s poured into the cookies and nuts mixture and after it cools a bit. Then you roll it into logs, trying to get them into a rounded shape, then seal up in waxed paper and foil for a longer chill.

My salami were not very round, so a day later I let the logs warm for about 45 minutes at room temperature and then rolled them on my countertop until they formed a more rounded shape. But, as you can see, I didn’t succeed very well with that! You sprinkle the logs with powdered sugar when you’re ready to serve them, then slice. I sliced mine thinner than the 1/4″ recommended. If you use a very slim knife you can do it. Don’t lay the slices in the sugar, however, as that messes up the visual of “salami.”

Oh my goodness, are these ever good. I suppose you could say they’re a variation of fudge, but with the addition of hazelnuts and cookie bits, they’re really not fudge.

What’s GOOD: well, I’m going to be adding this recipe to my regular Christmas cookie rotation. Or maybe not rotation – it’ll be a regular every year here on out. I liked that they were easy – EASY – to make. They’re a real keeper in my book. And, I’ll be adding this recipe to my favorites. Does that tell you how much I liked them?

What’s NOT: nothing whatsoever, other than you can’t eat these immediately – requires overnight or several hours of chilling to make the logs firm enough to slice.

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Another iteration of a different kind of cranberry sauce.

A post from Carolyn. For Thanksgiving I was invited to go to a distant relative’s home, so this is what I made – this sauce plus my regular old-faithful raw cranberry relish I make every year. This new one came from Cook’s Illustrated, from 1999, my records tell me. It was very simple to make – just water, sugar, some grated fresh ginger, a dash of ground cinnamon (which you can taste in the finished sauce, although it’s elusive, but you know something, something is different about it), salt, cranberries and fresh pears. That’s it.

Preparing it ahead a day or two made it easy; all I had to do was package it up and take it on the drive and pour it out into a pretty dish when I got there. The raw relish I made didn’t last all that long after making it (probably because I used half fake sugar, so it didn’t have as much sugar/preservative to keep it from spoiling). As I write this, it’s been made for over 2 weeks, this sauce, and it’s still delicious. I’ve had it spooned over my morning yogurt, and served along with some roasted chicken I had.

What’s GOOD: easy sauce to make – very delicious. I really, really liked it. It may become a regular that I make every Thanksgiving!

What’s NOT: not a thing. Of course, we can’t make this during the summer unless we’ve frozen a bag of cranberries over the holiday time when they’re available!

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This is such an unusual bread . . . unless you come from Naples, where you see it all the time, I suppose. So delicious. Easy. Those little holes you see are where there were little chunks of Provolone cheese that oozed into the little crevices of the baking bread.

A post from Carolyn. At that cooking class I went to earlier in the month, Phillis Carey prepared this quick bread. I’d never had it before, so I went online to read about it. A common bread in Naples, Italy, Babà Rustico (or Rustica) is usually made with yeast and usually it’s made in a tube or ring mold, even a fluted one you’d use for a cake. And, in fact, I found a recipe online that uses yeast but cooks it like a quick bread (no rising required, in other words). I may have to try that version.  But this quick-bread version is just marvelous. It’s so tender (probably from the buttermilk in the batter) and moist (from the eggs and cheeses). It’s a very moist bread, in other words.

You mix up the dry, then stir in add-ins (salami, provolone and parsley). The wet ingredients (eggs, buttermilk, olive oil) are mixed into the dry – remember, with a quick bread you don’t want to over-mix it, just until combined. The batter is quite thick. The Parm gets sprinkled all over the top of the bread, then it bakes for 45-55 minutes (depending on the exact size of your pan). Once out of the oven you drizzle a little bit of EVOO over the top of the bread and let it soak in.

What I will tell you is that the leftover pieces of this make fantastic toast. I toasted it in my countertop oven and slathered just a little bit of butter on it. Oh my. Divine. Do serve it warm if you can. It freezes well too. You can bake it ahead several days (store, wrapped, in the frig).

What’s GOOD: the lovely moist, cheesy texture (like brioche) of this bread is fabulous. You’re gonna love it.

What’s NOT: nothing really except that you may not have salami and Provolone on hand.

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Yummy. Comfort food at its best.

A post from Carolyn. Once in awhile I get a craving for risotto. Usually after I’ve watched someone else make it on a TV program, I’ve seen it on a menu, or someone mentions it in passing. I used to make it much more regularly, but since it’s a very simple carb, I try not to. Yet a craving sometimes needs to be answered. My cousin Gary was visiting and he doesn’t mind having meatless meals. As it happened, I had some chicken sausages that I cooked separately, for some added protein.

I have a relatively “old” Breville multi-cooker – it’s a similar shape to an Instant Pot (smaller in all dimensions). It’s not an Instant Pot (though I have one of those also) – this was before IP came into being and has now taken over pressure cooking in general. This old Breville cooker (that doesn’t pressure cook) has a risotto setting. FYI: you can’t buy these old Breville models anymore. Not sure if anyone manufactures a device that “makes” risotto like it does. This little model does have a saute function, but I was in a relative hurry, so I cooked the shallots and mushrooms in another skillet and added them to the cooker. I’ve revised the recipe with directions for using a regular pan on the range, since I doubt many people have this old Breville thing.

Risotto requires a lot of stirring, and particularly at the end of the cooking time as it could burn easily if you’re not watching it. Have the rest of your meal all ready at this point so you can concentrate on the risotto.

One of the secrets to risotto is adding a little bit of white wine at the very beginning – with the rice – and allowing all the wine to be absorbed by the raw rice. Then you begin adding broth about 1/2 cup at a time and the mushroom concentrate. (A note about that – if you don’t have mushroom base, it’s now available from Better Than Bouillon, and I hear it’s really delicious.) Continue cooking, adding broth, until the rice is done, kind of mildly firm to the tooth, but still just barely cooked through. Then you add a dollop of sherry wine and 1/2 cup of heavy cream. I let it continue to warm through, and maybe add some water if it’s too thick, or to cook a minute or two more if it’s too thin. Scoop into heated bowls and garnish with black pepper and some grated Parm.

What’s GOOD: oh my, yes, I do love risotto. If you like mushrooms, you’ll love the intense flavor in this. Do click on that amazon link above for the mushroom concentrate – it makes a difference. The risotto was so satisfying – comfort food for sure. Leftovers were mixed with a tiny bit of water and served a few days later. Altogether wonderful.

What’s NOT: only the time of cooking risotto, with stirring and stirring.

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It’s holiday time, and my cousin Gary visits most years, and he’s gluten (or at least he’s for sure wheat)  intolerant.

A post from Carolyn. My cousin and I share one very important trait (hmmm, maybe it’s genetic?) – we love chocolate. He will always tell me, “no, don’t bake cookies for me,” but then I think, yes, I should. I didn’t ask him this year, I just made them. It’s the holidays. A reason to try a new GF recipe for him.

Recently the New York Times offered a subscription to their food section and archives (not the daily newspaper) at half price, for $20/year. I don’t know about you, but I think newspapers should offer recipes for free – maybe not the stories, but at least the recipes; but they don’t. Or at least most newspapers don’t. And particularly the New York Times. But at half price I thought it was a good buy. In the past when I’ve discovered the NYT had printed some great sounding recipe, I’d do a search all over the web, and sometimes I’d find the recipe somewhere else. But not always. One of my very favorite cookbooks I own is Amanda Hesser’s gigantic tome, The Essential New York Times Cookbook: The Recipes of Record, a 2021 re-release with new added content. I have the older edition – the one here is the recent one. The older one must be out of print already!

With that in mind, and my new subscription available, I decided to search for GF cookie recipes for Gary, and downloaded this one and made them for him. They’re very straight-forward. No unusual ingredients, providing you have almond flour on hand already. I do. I keep it in the freezer. Do use the pure almond flour – not the one from Trader Joe’s that has the skins included. I buy my blanched almond flour at Costco. I had a small bag of Bob’s Red Mill almond flour in my pantry (that had been there for well over a year) and it smelled just fine, so I’m not sure almond flour needs to be kept in the freezer after all. Might open up some new real estate in my jam-packed freezer.

In this case I used half artificial sugar, half real sugar; the recipe calls for both light brown and granulated; I use half Swerve brown, and half So Nourished erythritol granular. In sampling the finished cookies, I cannot tell there is any artificial sugar in them.

First it’s butter and sugars to be mixed, then eggs, then vanilla, and lastly the dry ingredients. With most new cookie recipes these days, I bake 2-3 of them first to make sure they’re the right consistency. These were; I made no adjustments except for the baking time. The cookies are scooped onto baking sheets and lightly flattened before baking for 13 1/2 minutes (in my oven, anyway). The original recipe made gigantic ones. I made traditional sized, and that’s the time they needed. These cookies were plumper than the ones shown in the newspaper photograph – theirs were very spread out, but still in a nice round shape. Mine were thicker – they barely settled a little in height when baked. That may be why they required a bit more baking time.

What’s GOOD: well, obviously, that they GF. GF cookies (at least those made with almond flour) tend to be a bit more “sandy” in texture. From a frozen state, I liked these better. They’re pretty fragile at room temperature. They’re still a bit fragile from frozen, but manageable. My cousin ate a few every day and liked them.

What’s NOT: nothing really, other than GF cookies tend to have a different texture. If you prefer tender, soft cookies, these will be perfect.

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Oh my. Oh my. This is so darned good I could not keep my spoon out of it for days on end. I will never make any other kind of rice pudding. Ever.

A post from Carolyn. I can’t take a speck of credit for this recipe, but it’s such a keeper. It’s going onto my favs list (the top right tab on my home page). It was just a week or so ago I watched Ina Garten in her newest series, Be My Guest, when she invited Nathan Lane to her home and served him some barely warm rice pudding. He swooned.

Perhaps you don’t think there’s much to say about rice pudding – it’s pudding. But you’d be dead wrong. This version, with either golden raisin- or currant-soaked in dark rum in a rich rice pudding made with half and  half, is just off the charts delicious. I can’t tell you if it’s the rum, or the plump raisins, or the pudding itself made with the half and half that make the strongest impression. It’s a combination made in heaven. I hope they serve this up there in heaven. Wish I’d discovered this version decades ago!

You can make this in one pan – cooking the basmati rice first, then adding the half and half, cooking it until it’s just right, adding a fork-stirred egg to thicken it slightly, then a splash of vanilla, and lastly those scrumptious plump rum soaked raisins (or currants if that what you have on hand like I had). It takes awhile to cool – I made one in a little ramekin just so take a picture of it, but the remainder went into a ceramic dish. That’s the dish I can’t keep my spoon from dipping in several times a day for just a bite.

It doesn’t make a thick pudding. Guess you could call it a loose pudding. Some commenters said the pudding was too thin, so I added less half and half.

What’s GOOD: every single solitary thing about this pudding is off the charts, in my book anyway. Can be made ahead. If you’re not a fan of rum or alcohol, just plump the raisins with apple juice or hot water. Maybe add a slight more vanilla.

What’s NOT: there isn’t anything about this I didn’t like.

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Comfort food – think all the ingredients of cabbage rolls, but in a casserole.

A post from Carolyn. You’ll likely find a bunch of recipes out there for cabbage roll casseroles. I looked at about 15 maybe before deciding on one, but then I tweaked it some. First, I substituted Impossible burger meat instead of ground beef. You can use beef, or ground chicken or turkey too. In a casserole like this, I doubt anyone could tell the difference!

There’s another recipe here on my blog that’s a similar concoction, Unstuffed Sweet & Sour Cabbage, posted waaay back when – in 2008. My goodness, how time flies. I also have made a similar mixture into a soup. But I prefer the sweet/sour aspect of this recipe and my 2008 one.

First a chopped up an onion and sizzled that a bit in a big frying pan with a bit of oil. Then garlic, some celery (not in the original recipe), then the beef substitute. It cooks up just like ground beef, looking like raw, with redness, then it cooks out the red. Then a big can of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste are added. Paprika and thyme were sprinkled in. I also added some half-sharp paprika too. Since most of you won’t have that (you can buy it at Penzey’s), just add a little jot of Sriracha to the mixture. I added some beef soup base (not much) to give it a bit more beefy flavor, though you could use vegetable soup base just as easily. I added a little bit of caraway seed, ground sage, celery seed too. Those weren’t in the original recipe either.

Meanwhile I cooked up 2/3 cup of basmati rice (long grain) and set it aside. Once the sauce came to a boil I simmered it for about 20 minutes to meld the flavors. I poured it out into a big bowl. Then I chopped up a big green cabbage. Some recipes leave the cabbage in wedges, but I liked the idea of layering the cabbage and the “meat” sauce, so I cut it into about 1″ squares, approximately. That got sautéed a bit in oil and water (in the original pot), then steamed until mostly cooked. One recipe cautioned that the baking of  the casserole doesn’t cook the cabbage any further, so it needs to be fully cooked before composing the casserole.

Into a big 9×13 pan it went – half of the cabbage – then half the “meat”, then the remaining cabbage and remaining “meat.” I also sprinkled on some fresh dill in between the layers and some more on top when it was served.

This makes a generous quantity, and it’s very filling. I ate one portion and then squared out  more portions and put them in freezer containers for another day. Always happy for that occurrence. I used some plastic wrap to mold (pressed directly on) the top of the food itself, then put the plastic lid on top. I didn’t want it to grow ice crystals, so hope that will be a good solution. My cousin Gary is coming to visit over Thanksgiving, so this will make a nice dinner for us one night.

What’s GOOD: loved the ease of making this – it’ll serve at least 8-10 people. I liked that the whole casserole had just 2 cups of cooked rice in it (since I try to limit carbs). Loved the flavors, the sweet (from the tomatoes) and the sour (from the little bit of cider vinegar added at the end). You might ask – why did she put in celery? Because of the flavor – celery adds a nice addition to flavors. It probably isn’t in cabbage rolls. I try to add more veggies wherever I can.

What’s NOT: nothing really. It made a mound of dirty dishes, but it wasn’t all that bad. I miss my dear hubby who used to wash all the dishes for me – that was our deal – I cooked – he cleaned up.

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Actually that’s the chicken before baking – it just got golden brown.

A post from Carolyn. Do you watch the show, Family Dinner with Andrew Zimmern? It’s so interesting to go along with him – it’s a reality food program – as Zimmern visits a home and the family prepares a big family feast. Zimmern usually makes one thing – something from his own repertoire that he hopes will complement the meal. Lots of the programs are about food from various parts of the world, from families who have been in the U.S. for a long time. Various family members contribute their willing hands and you get to enjoy the repartee of the family.

Recently I watched a program of a family with roots in Canton, China. They have a blog, too, The Woks of Life. Isn’t that the most clever name? And they’ve published a cookbook, that’s just come out (with the same title as their blog).

In the program, this dish intrigued me. When they said this was one of their family favorites, that got me more interested. Chicken thighs first. You generally can’t buy thighs that are boned, but still have skin. I found some with bone and with skin, so needed to remove the bone myself. It’s not hard, just a little bit tedious. Once done, the thighs are marinated for a bit, then stuffed with a rice mixture that included onion, mushrooms, shallots and five spice powder.

Their family recipe calls for Chinese sausage. I didn’t make a special trip to an Asian market to buy that, but the recipe indicated bacon could be substituted.

What’s unique about this is the use of sticky (sweet) rice. Many, many years ago I made a dessert for a Chinese-themed dinner, something like “jeweled” rice, and I had to buy 5 pounds of sweet rice because it was all I could find. After 10 years I finally threw away the rest of it as I didn’t know what to do with it. If you search on amazon you can find a smaller size – I bought a small plastic jar of it that holds about 3 cups.

Sweet rice isn’t sweet. I don’t know why they call it sweet because the only difference is it cooks up sticky. It’s also called glutinous rice, but that has nothing whatsoever to do with gluten, but about the fact that it’s glue-like. VERY sticky. Don’t be turned off by the name – it’s just rice that cooks up differently. I suppose it’s in this recipe because you want the rice combo to stick together in a kind of oval ball and you mold the boneless chicken thigh around it. Most sticky rice comes from Thailand or Japan. If you don’t want to buy sweet rice, use regular, but know it won’t look quite the same but it’ll taste just as fine!

I also didn’t have shiitake mushrooms on hand – but I had regular ones. I’m sure the shiitake would be better. They were finely minced.  The rice is flavored with onion, scallions, soy sauce, dry sherry (if you have Shaoxing wine use it – I didn’t), five spice powder, the mushrooms and a tiny splash of both dark and regular soy sauce. If you don’t have dark soy sauce, just use more of what you have. Years ago I bought a bottle of mushroom soy sauce, and it’s super-dark, so I use that when I need it. I use a low-sodium soy sauce when recipes call for the “regular” type.

What’s GOOD: everything about this was fabulous. I’d definitely make it again. Loved all the flavors that enhanced the rice. The meat was tender and juicy, and the Chinese flavors were quite subtle – nothing was overpowering. I see why it’s a favorite of the family. I think one chicken thigh is sufficient per serving.

What’s NOT: only the mound of dishes I had to clean afterwards. Engage a friend to help in the kitchen when you make this as it’s more labor intensive than a lot of dishes.

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No, those aren’t biscotti. I know they look like them, but they’re not.

A post from Carolyn. A dear friend passed away recently at 96. Such a sweet PEO friend; she’ll be missed. Our PEO chapter offered to bake cookies for the reception, so I looked through my to-try files and this one seemed to fit the bill. They would transport well (with waxed paper between layers, that is) and they weren’t all that difficult to make. Plus they had fall, spicy flavors in them. A win-win.

This is a Dorie Greenspan recipe that I’d downloaded a year or two ago, but after reading the comments, I changed the recipe some. Many said they were too sweet. So I reduced the amount of brown sugar and the amount of molasses. I didn’t have enough golden raisins, so I used half of them and half currants. I also added some ground cardamom. I think you could still reduce the sugar in these, especially because of the icing, which is 98% sugar. I also have reduced the quantity of icing – it made too much.

They are baked in long logs – they seemed quite thick – I should have made the logs thinner, so because of that, I cut the pieces (after they were cooled and iced) into smaller ones. Usually hermits are kind of oblong-ish squares. Oblongs would have been way too big. So, therefore I cut them into thinner biscotti-like pieces.

The icing, Dorie said, could be made with lemon juice (in the powdered sugar) or rum, or milk. I opted to do two of the logs with lemon juice and two with dark, spiced rum. There is a difference in the color of the icing if you use spiced rum. I liked both, so use your preference.

What’s GOOD: easy to make, great for fall. Would be nice as Christmas cookies too. You can make the batter several days ahead. Am sure these would keep well – layer with waxed paper, though, so you don’t damage the icing.

What’s NOT: nothing, really .. . make sure you have golden raisins and/or currants.

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