I love anything and everything that has to do with custard. And because I'm not a big chocolate fan, my weakness lies with custard desserts, and if they're combined with lemon—goodnight. This dessert is another inspired by my grandma, but with a twist. The lemon sauce is one she's been serving with her bread pudding forever, and it's divine. The sweet citrus is what takes the bread pudding to a whole other level. So, using her old fashioned lemon sauce, I'm upgrading Ina Garten's delicious croissant bread pudding. This is such a comforting dessert—perfect for fall and winter—and it's very, very easy to make.
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For all my office worker bees, or anyone who packs a lunch during the week: this is for you! I understand the effort required to A. make lunch ahead of time, B. pack it up for work, C. make and pack up a lunch for work that still sounds appetizing come lunchtime when there are paninis/pizza/pho just around the river bend AKA block. I rely on make-ahead lunches for work and I promise I’ll only ever tell you about them if they’re worth it. Chicken salad is one of my favorite things to make because there are so many directions you can go with it (traditional, with celery and tarragon / summery a la Pioneer Woman with sweet corn, blueberries, and feta / Asian, loaded with veggies, Sriracha sauce, and sesame notes—the list goes on), and all feel indulgent and satisfying.
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I’m such a sucker for sports culture—the comradery, the excitement, the sportsmanship, the win-big together / lose-big together attitude, the drinking, the tailgating, everything. I’ve never been a diehard sports fan, although I loved playing sports myself, but I love the community surrounding sports. There’s a book by political scientist Robert Putnam from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government called Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. It is about the decline in all forms of social and communal engagement among Americans—and he famously uses the example of how the number of people who bowl has increased in the US, but membership in bowling leagues has steadily declined over the last couple of decades. Putnam is concerned about the education, enrichment, and general sense of civic duty being lost if people choose to do these kinds of activities alone, rather than with other people. (I promise this will eventually be about pulled pork)
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Greek food and Thai food—the two cuisine types I crave most often. Luckily, we have some really great Greek restaurants in Rochester that consistently deliver great flavor. But every now and then, I really love making a Greek feast at home. This usually comes in the form of pitas with chicken or steak, tzatziki, grilled onions, tomatoes and cucumbers, the works. But this time, we used some of the same great ingredients to go in a totally different direction. These petite lamb chops are my favorite way to eat lamb, because they're so easy to cook, they're tender and full of flavor, and they're much less gamey than other cuts of the lamb. Lamb chops were actually what converted me into a lamb lover (after a couple of years spent traumatized—because bad lamb is bad bad bad), so consider them a gateway of sorts. Topped with herbaceous, lemony gremolata, and served alongside endless pita bread and hummus, this Greek feast is top notch.
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I’m afraid I may have just corralled all the kale fanatics and scared away all the kale opponents. But please stay. I fancy myself somewhere in the middle—I sort of hate food trends that take over the scene, but I also really do like kale. So I promise this post will be a quiet, under-the-radar cheer for kale. I won’t declare that it’s changed my life or pretend that if you eat this, you'll get all the vitamins and minerals you need in one day in a single salad and that it helps fight off seasonal depression and increases your metabolism. This salad purely tastes good and travels well, which is why I’m featuring it. It doesn’t hurt that it’s got some supposed nutritional value too—but that’s honestly not the point.
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The first time I made this salad was for a friend’s dish-to-pass baby shower, and I was so happy with how it turned out. This salad just gets better as it sits with its flavors melding, and it makes a really pretty addition to a buffet style line up. I know it may look like it has a lot of ingredients, as a lot of Thai cooking does, but I promise you it’s worth it. More recently I made it on Sunday to act as a few weekday lunches, and I was thrilled with it again. The flavor combination of this dish is honestly a little bit life-altering. I love hearty cold salads and this one fits the bill better than any other I’ve encountered. With juicy medium-rare skirt steak and plenty of crunchy vegetables, this tastes like so much more than a salad. It’s got great texture, great color, and obviously great flavors of salty soy sauce, lime, vinegar, cilantro, and a little heat from sriracha. Go make this right now!
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This summer was my first ever actually keeping a basil plant alive for longer than a couple of days. And with him by my side, I have grown to be a little more creative with my basil uses. This recipe is not exactly a creative use of basil (with tomatoes, garlic, and lemon?), but it is a really really tasty one. I'm so partial to cherry tomatoes in this case because they are so dependable for flavor and sweetness. Although in the right months, heirloom tomatoes would be amazing and look even prettier.
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