Deep frying at home isn’t hard, but you need to commit: use enough oil, put it in a pan big enough to hold it without boiling over, and get it hot enough that your food doesn’t come out oily. Once you get the basics down, the world is your (deep fried) oyster (recipe for those happens to be below from a few years ago).
Chicken:
Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper. If planning ahead, you can also soak the chicken in buttermilk to improve texture and moisture. Feel free to cut these down to a smaller size or use a different cut depending on what you are going for.
Put enough oil (canola, peanut, vegetable) in your cooking vessel to cover the chicken about ⅔ of the way up. I like to use my wok for this, but a heavy skillet or Dutch oven will also work well. Heat the oil to 350 degrees.
Make a dredging station: order should be 1) chicken plate 2) small bowl with 2 beaten eggs 3) plate with flour, salt, and paprika 4) landing plate for breaded chicken. Dip your chicken in the egg, dredge in flour, dip in the egg, and then dredge again. Place on your landing plate until you are ready to fry.
Cook the chicken in batches until they are golden brown and the internal temp is 160 degrees. Place on a wire rack to cool.
Sauce:
In a large bowl, mix one cup of Greek yogurt or sour cream, a third of a cup of milk or cream, one finely grated clove of garlic, salt, freshly ground black pepper, and finely diced red bell pepper. Use as a dipping sauce or serve directly with the chicken.
I really like making fridge pickles and keeping a few jars on hand to punch up a dish or to just snack on. A few favorites:
Pickled red onions: Thinly slice red onions and place in a jar. Cover with apple cider vinegar and add a teaspoon of salt. They will be ready to go after about an hour and will last in the fridge for a while (I have no sense of the health and safety of these claims… I always eat them really fast and have never gotten close to having them go wrong in the fridge).
Pickled jalapeño: Finely dice a couple of jalapeños and place in a jar. In a small sauce pan, bring 1 cup of white vinegar, half a cup of water, a tablespoon of sugar, and a teaspoon of salt up to a boil. Pour the liquid over the jalapeño and let cool. These will be best the next day and will also last in the fridge for a good long while.
Pickle pickles: Slice a cucumber into spears or disks and place in a jar with a smashed clove of garlic. In a small sauce pan, bring 1 cup of white vinegar, half a cup of water, chili flakes, half a tablespoon of sugar, and a teaspoon of salt up to a boil. Pour the liquid over the cucumber and let cool. I also like this technique for pickled okra.
A New Year’s tradition in the Schultz household, this take on chili capitalizes on those slower days between Christmas and New Year’s by taking its time.
Day before: Soak a bag of kidney beans in a large bowl overnight. Season a large chuck roast with salt and pepper and place uncovered on a wire rack in the fridge.
Next morning: In a large pot, cover the beans with salted water and cook for a couple of hours. Add aromatics like onions and garlic to enhance the flavor.
Cut the roast into 1” cubes and allow to come up to room temperature to facilitate better browning. Heat oil in a Dutch oven and sear the meat on all sides. This can be done in batches if necessary. Remove to a plate and reduce the heat. Sauté onion, garlic, and diced bell pepper in the drippings, being sure to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
Fun but optional step: remove the stems and seeds from a variety of dried chilis and place them in a bowl. Pour boiling water over them and cover for 15 minutes. Place the mixture in the blender and blend until smooth. Add to pot.
Add tomatoes, the beans, cumin, salt, garlic powder, chili powder, and paprika and bring up to a high simmer. Add the beef and ensure that there is enough liquid to cover. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for several hours until the meat is very tender and the beans are cooked through.
The next two recipes both use homemade mayo, which is surprisingly easy to make, as a key ingredient. To make, find a jar that is about the size of an immersion blender and add, in this order, one egg, 1 tsp of lemon juice, 1 tsp of Dijon mustard, a pinch of salt, the immersion blender, and one cup of canola oil. Turn on the blender and slowly pull it out of the jar. The mayo will emulsify as you remove the blender.
Optional, but can help mitigate the risk of eating the raw beef: heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Very quickly sear all sides of a beef tenderloin. Immediately place in the freezer to stop the cooking.
When the steak is almost frozen, remove from the freezer and finely dice. Place in a bowl with two tablespoons of homemade mayo, a splash of red wine vinegar, a splash of olive oil, Dijon mustard, a few drops of fish sauce, minced shallot, minced cornichons, and minced capers. Stir to combine and serve with toasts.
When making the mayo for this recipe, add Old Bay seasoning.
In a bowl, combine lump crab meat, mayo, an egg, panko bread crumbs, salt, and paprika. Gently stir together and shape into balls. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat until just starting to brown. Add the crab cakes and carefully cook them to avoid having them fall apart (these have a lot more crab than filler, which makes them super tasty but also a bit crumbly). Serve with some additional Old Bay mayo as a dipping sauce.
Traditionally made with egg and confit potato slices, I subbed in Rt. 11 Potato Chips into a recent iteration of this and will not be looking back.
Thinly slice an onion. Heat a skillet over medium-low heat with a decent amount of oil. Add a good pinch of salt to the onions and slowly caramelize until very soft and dark brown, about 45 minutes.
In a bowl, combine potato chips, 4 beaten eggs, the onions, salt and pepper. Let sit for about 15 minutes until the chips soften from the eggs.
Heat butter in a small skillet or omelette pan over medium heat. Add the mixture and cook undisturbed until the bottom begins to crisp. Carefully flip the tortilla so that it keeps its shape - I found success putting a plate on top of the skillet, inverting the skillet and plate so that the tortilla came out onto the plate, and then sliding it back into the skillet. Cook until browned but still jammy inside. Top with pickled red onions and chives.
In August, we hosted a dinner party at our house where every ingredient was from within 100 miles of our house. It was a fun challenge to find recipes and ingredients that captured the essence of our area, including several of the recipes included on this page. If you haven’t caught on by now, I tend to cook with a lot of butter and ended up spending a small fortune on local handcrafted butter from the farmers market - it was amazing and definitely worth it.
In a food processor, combine chopped tomatoes, bell peppers, half a red onion, a clove of garlic, celery, cucumber, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. Run until finely chopped and then filter through a cheese cloth to separate the solids from the liquids. Retain and chill both. Toss the solids with a little good olive oil.
In a hot skillet cook the fish with the skin side down until about 80% of the way cooked through. Flip and finish cooking. This will help to get crispy skin without overcooking the fish.
Spoon the tomato broth into the bottom of a shallow bowl and place the fish on top, skin side up. Add the salsa to the top for a summery and delicious entree.
A tasty and healthy breakfast that fits the “mornings are a bit different with a kid” vibes that we find ourselves in these days. This recipe will also work for those who love to plan ahead or oat aficionados.
In a glass mason jar or other container, combine ½ cup old fashioned oats, 1 cup milk, and a pinch of salt. Feel free to riff on sweetening it up with any sort of dried fruit - I like chopped up dates, but brown sugar or maple syrup will also work in a sweet toothed pinch. Add chopped nuts or chia seeds to round it out with a little additional heft. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours. These hold for several days in the fridge, lending themselves to batch preparation for a busy week ahead (or an oat-loving crowd).
Earlier this year, I bought an ice cream maker on an impulse while sitting on the tarmac in Atlanta inside a poorly air conditioned airplane. As I write this in December, I still feel good about that decision. I tried a few recipes before settling on a basic preparation that allows for a lot of options for new flavors. Base recipe is below, followed by two variations that were really fun this year: corn and basil ice cream and miso maple ice cream.
Basic Ice Cream
Combine 2 cups of heavy cream, 1 cup of whole milk, ⅔ cups of sugar, and a pinch of salt in a sauce pan. Bring to a simmer. Whisk 6 egg yolks in a small bowl or measuring cup. While whisking, put one ladleful of the cream mixture into the eggs to temper the eggs. Once they have come up to temperature, stir the eggs into the cream. Pour the mix into a container and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours before churning according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Store and freeze.
Corn and Basil Ice Cream
Follow the basic recipe except: Quickly blanch a handful of basil and drain. Meanwhile, slice the kernels off of two ears of corn. Place the basil, corn kernels, and corn cobs in the sauce pan before following the basic ice cream technique. Strain the corn mixture before tempering the eggs.
Miso Maple Ice Cream
Follow the basic recipe except: Substitute half of the sugar for maple syrup. In a small bowl, whisk a large spoonful of miso until smooth using a ladleful of the cream mixture. Incorporate the miso mix at the same time that the eggs are added.
I got a challenge this year to incorporate Cinnamon Toast Crunch into an element of a dinner party and ultimately decided on Cereal Milk Panna Cotta, a fun dessert that tastes like the bottom of a bowl of cereal from back in the day. It is actually pretty easy to make and is quite adaptable to your non-cereal needs as well.
In a small pan, combine 2 cups of cream, 1 cup of milk, ⅓ cup of sugar and a pinch of salt. Heat to just below a boil and remove from heat. Add about a quarter of a box of the cereal and let steep for an hour or so.
In a small bowl, add a ¼ ounce of unflavored gelatin powder and a ¼ cup of milk. Mix with a fork until smooth. Reheat the cream mixture and combine the two in a large measuring cup. Pour the mix into your final serving dishes (it makes about six servings) and chill for at least 4 hours.
Two-year-old Mary isn’t picky as much as she has eclectic tastes: cans of sardines instead of chicken nuggets any day, spicy cured Spanish chorizo by the pound, and these spicy, funky stir fried noodles rather than anything else (she also loves Indian and Ethiopian food but will not tolerate a scrambled egg or buttered noodles…)
Prep: Cooking on this one goes fast, so channel your inner Food Network star and have everything chopped and in little bowls before firing up the wok.
Bowl 1: Chicken thighs cut into strips, seasoned with salt and pepper
Bowl 2: Chopped onion, garlic, ginger
Bowl 3: Broccoli and green beans
Bowl 4: Soy sauce, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, chili oil, unseasoned rice vinegar, mirin, toasted sesame oil
Cook: Add oil to a wok or large skillet and place over very high heat. When it just starts to smoke, add Bowl 1. Shake to get chicken into an even layer and then let cook undisturbed until a deep brown crust forms. Add Bowl 2 and stir. Let cook until the aromatics start to get color and add Bowl 3. Stir. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook your favorite stir fry noodles according to package directions (or just wing it if, like me, you bought noodles at H Mart that do not have English instructions). Add Bowl 4 to the wok, lowering the heat slightly so things don’t burn. Drain and add the noodles, cook and stir for another minute or two. When serving, sauce the noodles with Kewpie mayo and sriracha sauce.
This new addition was the surprise hit of Thanksgiving and will definitely be coming back next year.
Cut a head of cauliflower into small florets and place on a sheet tray. Season with salt, drizzle with olive oil and roast in a 425 until they start to brown, about 15 minutes. Remove and let cool.
Rub a shallow gratin dish with butter and add cauliflower. Heat enough cream to fill the dish in a small saucepan, adding a smashed clove of garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper. Let steep for 5-10 minutes before adding the cream to the dish through a strainer. Top the dish with a significant amount of shredded Gruyère cheese. Bake until the cheese is browned and melty, 15-20 minutes.
I’m a sucker for the homey comforts of a big pot of beans made from scratch. Take those beans and add bacon and molasses? Yes please.
Soak Navy Beans overnight in a large bowl. Add beans to a large pot and cover with water by an inch or two. Season with salt and add chopped onion, garlic, celery, and carrots. Bring to a boil and then par cook the beans over medium low heat for 45 minutes. Remove and discard the aromatics, drain the beans and set aside, reserving cooking liquid. Chop thick cut bacon in a large Dutch oven until brown. Remove. Next sauté a finely chopped onion and a red bell pepper in the bacon fat until soft. Return the bacon and beans to the pot. In a large bowl or measuring cup, mix molasses, yellow mustard, salt, pepper, and apple cider vinegar. Pour over beans, adding some of the cooking liquid to remove any molasses that remains. Add additional bean cooking liquid to just cover the beans. Cover and place in a 300 degree oven for one hour. Remove cover and cook for an additional two hours.
I love recipes where the name of the thing is also the recipe: Bacon wrapped dates, grilled cheese sandwiches, pineapple upside down cakes. I also love wrapping bacon around other things. Lots to love about this one.
Cut a strip of bacon into pieces such that it will cover a large, pitted (!!!) date in a single layer. Place on a sheet tray with the seam down. Repeat until you run out of dates or bacon (sad) and then bake in a 350 degree oven until the bacon starts to brown, about 15 minutes. Blow on the date a few times before immediately eating and burning your tongue - worth it.
Inspired by an amazing bite we had at the Inn at Little Washington earlier this year (homemade potato chips rolled and stuffed with pimento cheese), I tracked down the recipe from a decade old post on Facebook and gave it a go. So good.
Mix one cup of Duke's mayo, two tablespoons of sweet and spicy pickle juice, a hefty squeeze of sriacha, a finely chopped jalapeño pepper, salt, sugar, and pepper in a large bowl.
Slice a red bell pepper into a few pieces and broil skin side up until deeply blackened. Place in a small storage container and tightly seal, letting the pepper steam for about ten minutes. Remove the skin and finely chop before stirring into the dressing mix.
Very finely grate two cups of Comte cheese and one cup of Gouda and stir into the bowl. Check seasonings before refrigerating for at least 24 hours.
Do these need to be filled with smoked duck? No. Could you put other things inside? Probably, but the duck was pretty fun and very good.
Dough: Mix three cups of OO or other very fine flour, one teaspoon salt, and one teaspoon sugar in a bowl. Cut half a cup of butter into small cubes and toss in the flour mix. Use your fingers to flatten each butter cube and incorporate it into the flour before adding one beaten egg and 2/3 of a cup of cold water. Quickly mix the dough together. Form the dough into a large ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate.
Filling: Season four duck legs with salt and pepper and place fat side down in a cast iron skillet. Place in a 300 degree smoker (or oven) and cook for about 45 minutes. Remove duck and let rest. Save the rendered duck fat for something else (like those smashed potatoes below).
In a skillet, saute onion, garlic and bell peppers. Season with salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika. Chop the duck and mix into the onion mixture. Let cool.
Assembly: Divide the dough into 12 equal sized balls. Roll the dough out into thin disks about five inches across. Hold the disk in your hand and place two tablespoons of filling in the center before folding the dough like a taco. Crimp the edges together and place on a sheet pan.
Cook: Once all of the empanadas are assembled, brush the tops with an egg wash and bake in a 350 degree oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes.
Remove the steak from the refrigerator at least an hour before cooking, seasoning with salt and pepper. Depending on your setup, you may consider removing the batteries from your smoke detector at this point.
Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet over high heat. Add the steak and leave undisturbed until a nice brown crust forms. If your steak is thin, cook it up to 80% of the way through on the first side. Flip the steak and add a large knob of butter to the skillet, basting the steak with the butter throughout. When the steak reaches five degrees below desired doneness (I usually pull mine at 125 degrees for medium rare), remove from the skillet and let rest.
Meanwhile, add small whole potatoes to a cold pot of salted water and bring to a boil. Cook until fork tender. Drain potatoes and place in the cast iron skillet that was used to cook the steak over medium high heat. Flatten the potatoes with a spatula and cook on each side until crispy around the edges.
To make the chimichurri sauce, add cilantro, parsley, garlic, chili flakes, salt, and red wine vinegar to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine before adding olive oil with the motor running. Continue running the food processor until the mixture combines, another 30 seconds. Spoon over the steak. Return batteries to the smoke detector before serving.
I am not a big dessert person, but these are delicious, easy to make, and look impressive. Please disregard how easy they are to make if I ever bring them as a host gift to your home.
Break up one pound of good quality dark chocolate and place it in a large heatproof bowl. Heat one cup of cream over medium heat until just about to boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir to melt the chocolate. Mix thoroughly and let cool for about an hour. Scoop out the chocolate and roll into a ball between your palms. Dust the truffle with cocoa powder and place on a sheet tray with parchment paper. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Whipped Brie with Blueberry Jam
This is a simple make-ahead app that looks great, tastes good, and sounds fancier than it actually is. What’s not to love!
Make the jam: combine whole fresh blueberries and sugar in a saucepan in a 3:1 ratio by weight. This will cook down quite a bit, so I usually start with 3 pounds of berries to make the math easier. Add a pinch of salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice to the pan before stirring everything together. Increase the heat to medium-high, stirring frequently until the berries break down and the jam thickens, which should take about half an hour. Let the jam cool and then refrigerate.
Make the Brie: Remove the rind from a cold wedge of brie and toss into the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment. Whip the brie at a medium speed, scraping the bowl as needed until the cheese is broken apart and has gained a lighter texture, about five minutes. Remove the cheese from the mixer and shape into a ball using your hands. Wrap the cheese in plastic and refrigerate.
Place the cheese on a platter and cover with the jam. Serve with crackers.
Finely chop 3 anchovy filets and mix in a bowl with tomato paste, olive oil, oregano, and chili flakes. Mix well until a smooth paste forms, spoon onto sliced French bread. Broil on high until beginning to crisp.
As you'll soon learn, I look to recipes for a framework or a general approach for how I should go about cooking something rather than a rigid step-by-step list of mandates. This dish is an exception to that philosophy because it is absolutely perfect. First, check out chef Gabrielle Hamilton’s explanation of the dish and its power to break the quarantine monotony in the NY Times. Afterwards, enjoy this amazing snack while plotting all of the things you are going to add brown butter mayo to in the near future.
Sauté half an onion in olive oil. Add salt and garlic, cooking until beginning to brown, about three minutes. Stir in chopped mint leaves and allow to cook in the oil. Add in a handful of spinach and cook until leaves are wilted. Transfer to food processor and add lemon juice. Toast peanuts in the skillet until beginning to brown. Meanwhile, run the food processor until mixture is chopped but not smooth. Add peanuts and pulse several times. Fold processed mixture into a bowl of plain Greek yogurt. Serve with vegetables or crackers.
Slice squid into ¼ rings and dry thoroughly on paper towels before sprinkling with salt. Heat butter in a non-stick skillet until just starting to brown and smell nutty. Add the squid and diced garlic and sauté until squid develops a brown crust in places, about 4-5 minutes. Serve in a bowl with lemon and crackers or bread.
The good news/ bad news with our weekly farm share boxes this year was that we got a lot of radishes. We ate them raw, had them on vegetable plates, and as the crunch on top of fish tacos before finally landing on a new favorite: Radish sandwiches.
Thinly slice the radishes and place them on a well buttered baguette. Sprinkle with salt. That’s it.
For the Christmas classic fried oyster, dip the oysters in an egg wash before dredging through a mixture of very finely ground saltine crackers mixed with salt, pepper, and Old Bay seasoning. Quickly fry in a heavy bottomed pot until golden brown.
With something this simple, having great ingredients makes a big difference - aim for the best bread and tomatoes you can get, but also know that this one is going to be super solid no matter what.
Lightly brush a large slice of bread with olive oil and place under the broiler for a few minutes until it begins to toast. Remove. In the meantime, slice a tomato in half and grate on a box grater, pressing the cut side into the holes - the goal here is to get the tomato flesh broken down and to separate out the skin. Collect the tomato in a bowl and stir in some olive oil and salt to taste. Rub the toast with a cut open garlic clove and then spoon on the tomato mixture.
Buttermilk biscuits are amazing (see below…), but leftover buttermilk less so. This recipe, which comes from one of our Atlanta favorite restaurants Miller Union, is a delicious solution to that problem.
Take eight ounces of feta cheese (use feta in brine but discard the brine) and break it into small chunks in a bowl using a whisk or fork. Pour in buttermilk a quarter cup at a time and stir to incorporate. Continue to add buttermilk until the mixture reaches a cottage cheese consistency. Transfer to a small serving bowl and top with good olive oil, flaky sea salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Serve with toasts or vegetables
Start with the flatbread recipe from Ben’s 2020 Quarantine Cookbook. You’ve memorized it, right?! If not, shame on you and see below:
Dough:
Add 2 ½ teaspoons (one package) of yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar to 1 ¼ cup of warm water. Stir until the yeast begins to activate.
In the bowl of a mixer, combine 530g of all-purpose flour, 45g of semolina flour, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix to incorporate and then begin to add the yeast and water mixture. Mix until dough is uniform and smooth. Shape into a ball and transfer into a large bowl that is coated with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 ½ hours.
Cut dough in four parts and shape into balls. From here it comes down to process, but you can’t really go wrong. Roll a ball into a thin disc (think very thin pizza shape). Brush with a lot of olive oil and sprinkle with feta and chopped green onions. Roll it up (think pizza shape becoming snake shape with everything inside). Next, coil up the snake into a small thicker disc (this time we are going snake becoming sweetroll). Using a rolling pin, roll the whole thing back into a pizza shape (I’m getting confused at this point too and it is my recipe - feel free to just Facetime me…). The goal here is to have lots of laminated layers that will become flaky goodness when you cook everything up.
Cook dough in a skillet with a neutral oil over medium high heat until golden brown on both sides. These are great on their own or with a dip.
These Sardines and your favorite crackers. Perfection.
Roasted Sweet Potato with Pistachios
This has become a staple of the Schultz Family Thanksgiving table over the past few years but could really be made any time you light the grill. I always make these on the Big Green Egg while I smoke our Thanksgiving turkey, but you could pull this off in the oven or on a regular grill as well.
Light the grill for whatever else you are having for dinner and place whole, unpeeled sweet potatoes in a spot where they will receive indirect heat. Cook for about an hour and a half until the internal temperature of the potatoes is about 200 degrees (the paradox here is that if you can easily get a thermometer into the potato to take the temperature, the potato is definitely done, but it is fun to use all the cooking toys).
Let the potatoes cool slightly and then scoop the potatoes from the skin with a large spoon. Discard the skin. Add butter and salt before roughly breaking them apart. Top with chopped pistachios (Pro tip: buy shelled pistachios, a lesson I learned the hard way in Sweet Potato Year 1).
Potatoes Au Gratin
Rub butter to coat an ovenproof baking dish and thinly slice potatoes using a mandolin slicer. Layer the potatoes in the baking dish, seasoning every few layers with salt, pepper, and additional butter. Add a layer of grated Swiss cheese about halfway through. When pan is full, pour cream into dish to just about cover the potatoes and then add a topping of more grated Swiss cheese. Place the dish on a baking sheet to guard against boil overs and then cover with foil. Place in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove foil and cook for an additional 15 minutes, or until the cheese is browned and the potatoes are cooked through. Serve with a big ol’ hunk of meat.
This has become another staple of our Thanksgiving table for the past few years, but would really work at any festive occasion. Do you really need to make your own stock and sausage? No. Should you? Probably.
In advance:
Make turkey stock. In a large pot, brown turkey wings and necks in oil until a medium color is achieved. Add two onions sliced in half, six carrots sliced in half, and a few celery stalks with the leaves. Top with water and simmer for about three hours. Refrigerate.
Make sage sausage. Cut two pounds of fatty pork shoulder into one inch cubes and chill. Run through a meat grinder and place in a large bowl. Season with kosher salt, garlic powder, chopped sage, chopped rosemary, chopped thyme, chili flakes, and maple syrup. Loosely mix with your hands before running through the meat grinder again. At this point you can make a small sausage patty and test for seasoning after cooking it in a skillet. Chill overnight to allow flavors to meld.
Prep bread. Tear two loaves of challah into small pieces and place on a sheet tray to dry overnight.
Day of:
Melt a stick of butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sausage and brown on one side. Add two chopped onions and four chopped celery stalks and cook until soft but not brown. Season with salt, pepper, and chopped sage. Stir in torn bread, incorporating the sausage and onions throughout. Pour in four cups of turkey stock and three eggs, mixing thoroughly to allow bread to absorb. Cover the pot with a lid or foil and place in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove the covering and bake for an additional 15 minutes to allow the top layer to brown. Remove and serve.
Inspired by Alison Roman’s “Luckiest Biscuits in America,” this recipe takes the philosophy that anything great can be made better with the addition of cheese.
In a large bowl, combine 3 cups flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 2 teaspoons salt, 1.5 teaspoons sugar, and .25 teaspoons baking soda. Stir to combine. Cut two sticks of unsalted butter into small cubes and add to the dry mix. Using your hands, press the butter into the flour, forming small discs of butter throughout the dry mix. This will allow the biscuits to become flaky later on.
Add as much shredded cheddar cheese as you dare and a finely diced jalapeno, stirring to incorporate. Pour in 1.25 cups of buttermilk and mix to create a shaggy dough. Transfer to a sheet pan and knead until the dough holds in a loaf shape, about half an inch thick. Cut into eight similarly shaped pieces and spread across the baking sheet (I have never succeeded in making any two biscuits the same size or shape, but perhaps you’ll fare better). Bake in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes, turning the baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through being sure to add an additional cheese topping during the turn.
Pasta
You should be making fresh pasta at home. It is easy and tastes better than a box of store-bought pasta. When making the base dough for the following recipes, I always follow a 3, 2, 1 ratio: 3 eggs, 2 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt. You can combine these in a mixer or kneed by hand before forming the dough into a ball and letting it rest wrapped in plastic for at least 30 minutes. From there, you can roll it and shape it into anything your heart desires.
Pasta of the Many Fishes
This is a Christmas Eve dish in our household that is a very loose interpretation of the Italian tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes. I would recommend taking a “more is more” approach when adding seafood and encourage you to add as much as you can to really make this one feel festive.
Start by making a basic red sauce: In a large pot with olive oil, add finely diced onions and garlic and cook over medium-low heat until softened. Season with salt and pepper. Increase heat and add tomato paste, stirring frequently until the tomato paste has darkened in color. Deglaze the pan with red wine before adding canned tomatoes, basil, parsley, oregano, and fennel. Lower heat and cover with a lid for about 30 minutes. Using an immersion blender, blend the sauce until it is very smooth (this step is optional, but don’t forget: Kitchen Gadgets Are Fun!)
Assemble your many fishes: clams, mussels, white fish, scallops, shrimp, squid, lobster, langoustine, crab legs, and/ or any other festive-feeling former ocean-dweller that feels right.
Time your final steps carefully, balancing your pasta cook time while adding the seafood to the sauce in order of needed cooking time (I.E. clams need more time than shrimp and should go in earlier). Finish by combining the pasta and the sauce in the pot and then place the pot right in the middle of the table for maximum effect.
Simple to make and super satisfying, cacio e pepe was always our go to dinner after getting back home from a long flight.
Cook spaghetti for 3 minutes in a pot of heavily salted water. If using packaged pasta, pull the pasta about 2 minutes short of the suggested cooking time.
Meanwhile, melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and quickly sauté a finely chopped garlic clove. Add about a cup of finely ground parmesan (use a microplane to get a very fine texture) and a ladle of the pasta cooking water and whisk until a thin sauce forms. Add the pasta into the skillet and allow the pasta to finish cooking in the sauce. Add 10 turns of freshly ground black pepper and serve.
Roughly chop 2 lbs of shiitake mushrooms. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy skillet and add mushrooms, a teaspoon of salt, black pepper, and a tablespoon of finely chopped rosemary. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes. Add half a cup of dry white wine and continue to cook until mushrooms are browned. Check seasonings and adjust as needed.
Make a Morney Sauce (this is from Mastering the Art of French Cooking and is basically the fancy French version of Tex-Mex queso). Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a sauce pan and make a roux by stirring in 3 tablespoons of flour for about 2 minutes. Remove from head and whisk in 2 cups of milk and a pinch of salt. Return to heat and bring to a boil for 1 minute while whisking briskly. Add a few grinds of pepper and remove from heat. This is a Bechamel sauce. Next, add ¼ cup of grated gruyere cheese and a ¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese, whisking until the cheese has melted.
Divide the pasta dough into 6 similarly sized balls and run through a pasta roller until thinnest setting is reached. Cut to length depending on the pan you will use.
Rub the bottom and edges of the lasagna pan with butter and begin building layers of sauce, mushrooms, noodles until pan is full. Top with additional cheese and bake in a 350 degree oven until golden brown, about 45 minutes.
Turkey Meatloaf
Make the glaze: In a saucepan, combine ketchup, soy sauce, gochujang, rice vinegar, fish sauce, and sugar. Whisk together over medium heat until the glaze thickens.
Make the meatloaf: Very finely chop garlic, ginger, and onion. In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, the chopped aromatics, breadcrumbs, and an egg. Season with salt and pepper. Form the turkey mix into a loaf shape on a sheet pan and pour the glaze over. Cook in a 375 oven until the internal temperature of the meatloaf reaches 165 degrees. Slice to serve.
The joke in our house is that this really a potato dish – it just happens to come with a side of chicken. Inspired by a shop we saw in Paris during our honeymoon that placed potatoes under the rotisserie chickens, allowing the juices to drip down and do the cooking, it makes an amazingly flavorful potato that pairs well with the richly roasted chicken.
Using a mandolin slicer, thinly slice 3 medium sized potatoes. Melt a tablespoon of butter in a cast iron skillet, then remove from heat. Arrange potatoes in a layer, covering as much of the bottom of the pan as possible. Season with salt before building additional layers, seasoning each layer as it is added. Drizzle with olive oil.
Season a chicken inside and out with salt, pepper, and Herbs de Provence and place it in the skillet on top of the potatoes. Roast in a 375 degree oven until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Move chicken to a cutting board and let rest. Flip potatoes and return to oven for about 15 additional minutes. Carve chicken and serve, setting aside chicken bones for stock.
Spatchcocking is the process of removing the backbone of a bird in order to flatten it. It is a great technique that reduces the cooking time for a chicken or turkey by nearly half and helps to ensure more even cooking between the various sections of the chicken.
Using kitchen shears, remove the backbone of the chicken, making sure to set it aside for stock. Place the chicken on a cutting board and flatten it by moving the thighs to the sides before firmly pressing the center of the breast to dislocate the breast bone.
Season with salt, pepper, and herbs de Provence and grill, flipping regularly until it reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees.
In a medium bowl, mix 2 cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoons salt, 4 tablespoons butter that have been cut into small cubes, and 1 cup of water. Mix until fully incorporated into a wet dough. Set aside.
Heat a large pot of chicken stock and add sliced onions, chopped celery, and roughly chopped carrots, being sure to save all scraps for the next round of stock (you’re doing that, right?! It’s important)
When carrots are cooked but still retain their texture, bring the pot to a full boil and begin to add the dough in golf ball sized balls. Wait about a minute and then begin to flip the dumplings and ladle broth over any undercooked areas to ensure even cooking. Serve in large bowls with your favorite hot sauce (my go to on this is a Chinese hot chili oil).
Poach three large boneless skinless chicken thighs in a pot of salted water until just cooked through, about ten minutes. Reserve cooking liquid and allow chicken to cool on a cutting board before chopping.
Prepare a pie crust. Combine 1.25 cups of flour, one stick of butter cut into cubes, and a teaspoon of salt in a mixing bowl. Flatten each butter cube with your fingers, incorporating as much of the butter into the flour as you can. Add ¼ cup of very cold water and knead gently until a shaggy dough forms. Form the dough into a disc and wrap with plastic. Chill.
In an ovenproof skillet, saute onions, garlic, carrot, and celery in butter until they begin to release some of their liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Add diced potato and continue to cook over medium-low heat. Add tomato paste and cook until the color darkens, about two minutes. Add the chopped chicken, some frozen peas, and about a cup of the reserved poaching liquid, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Allow to simmer until the liquid reduces and the potatoes soften. Add a few tablespoons of flour and stir to thicken the sauce. Roll out the pie crust and cover the top of the skillet, being sure to cut slits to allow steam to release. Bake in a 350 degree oven until the crust browns, about 25-30 minutes.
Gochujang is a Korean condiment that is available online and in most super well-stocked grocery stores. It kind of has a sweet/spicy/savory bbq sauce thing going on and is great as an all-around marinade or in hearty stews.
In a large bowl, combine a tablespoon of gochujang, three tablespoons of soy sauce, one tablespoon of mirin, one tablespoon of fish sauce, and two tablespoons of a neutral oil. Cube salmon and dice a small onion and mix into the marinade.
Prepare sushi or other short grain white rice according to instructions and allow to cool slightly. Add three tablespoons of seasoned rice vinegar and mix.
Cook the salmon and all of the marinade in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until the salmon is cooked through, about ten minutes.
Assemble rice bowl. Scoop rice into a large bowl and top with salmon mixture and sauce. Add additional veggies as desired such as a cabbage slaw, steamed broccoli, roasted Brussels, or really whatever you have in the fridge.
This meal, and many others like it, came from a desire to replicate as many of our restaurant favorites without venturing out. The skeptics among you may not like the idea of covering meat in yogurt and then throwing it on the grill, but trust me it’s an amazing way to tenderize the meat and to get a flavorful crust.
Marinate the chicken in a mixture of plain Greek yogurt, lemon juice, garam masala, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, salt and pepper. Prior to adding chicken set aside 3 tablespoons of the marinade to use later in the sauce.
Meanwhile, start the sauce by cooking diced onion and half a jalapeno in butter, adding ginger, garlic, garam masala, paprika, turmeric, and curry powder, cooking on medium-low for 3 to 4 minutes. Add a can of tomato, and half cup water, stirring to incorporate. Cook on low ~30 minutes. Blend the sauce with and emersion blender and then stir in add excess marinade and tab butter to finish.
Grill the chicken until cooked through. Toss the chicken with the sauce in a bowl to coat and serve over rice.
This is another takeout replacement meal that we have made several times throughout the year. A big portion of the flavor for the beef comes from berbere seasoning, an East African chili and spice blend that we were able to find at a local grocery store but can also be purchased online, just like everything else.
Beef:
Cut 1 lb of flank steak into cubes. Season flank steak with salt and berbere seasoning and let rest at room temperature. Sear beef in three tablespoons of butter on one side until crust forms. Dice and add ½ onion and ½ tomato. Cook until a fatty sauce forms and the beef is medium rare. Serve in sauce for dipping.
Cabbage: Dice onion and four carrots and sauté in medium sized Dutch oven. Add turmeric and cumin. Stir in two cubed potatoes and shredded cabbage and half a cup of chicken stock. Cook until potatoes are just tender.
Serve with injera, tomatoes and cucumber.
Some times call for fancy and others call for being correct. There’s nothing fancy about sliced American cheese, Duke’s mayo and a grocery store potato roll, but when combined, the sure make for a tasty burger. Our butcher sells a “burger blend” of ground beef and ground bacon from Riverview Farms in Georgia, but finely chopping bacon and mixing it into your ground beef will also work.
Season beef with salt and pepper and form into ¼ pound balls. Place meat balls into a very hot cast iron skillet with oil. Use two spatulas, one to place on the top of the burger and one to apply pressure onto the first with the handle until patties are very thin. Cook until a crust forms and flip, adding two slices of American cheese. Cook until cheese melts and transfer to a toasted (use broiler to only toast inside) bun with mayo. Top with very thinly sliced yellow onion and lettuce.
Dough:
Add 2 ½ teaspoons (one package) of yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar to 1 ¼ cup of warm water. Stir until the yeast begins to activate.
In the bowl of a mixer, combine 530g of all-purpose flour, 45g of semolina flour, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix to incorporate and then begin to add the yeast and water mixture. Mix until dough is uniform and smooth. Shape into a ball and transfer into a large bowl that is coated with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 ½ hours.
Cut dough into 4 equal sized pieces, shaping each into a ball. Return to bowl and let rise for at least 30 minutes.
Pesto: Place ½ cup of pine nuts into a small skillet over medium heat. Toss frequently until nuts begin to brown and develop a strong nutty smell, about 4 minutes. Transfer to food processor. Add 3 oz of grated Parmesan cheese, 2 smashed garlic cloves and 1 tsp. of salt. Pulse several times to roughly chop. Add about 3 bunches of basil leaves and run food processor. Slowly pour in ¾ cup of olive oil until sauce forms.
Onions: Chop one yellow onion into slivers and cook over low heat with a large pinch of salt in a large skillet until caramelized, about 45 minutes.
Cooking and assembly: Stretch dough until very thin and place directly on the grate of a hot charcoal grill for ~3 minutes or until dough becomes stiff enough to flip. Flip and allow to cook for another 3 minutes. While still warm, spread pesto on flatbread and add onion mixture. Serve with a splash of lemon juice.
For a variation, top instead with crème fraiche, smoked salmon, green onions. Or really anything else.
Confession: I don’t know the difference between grits and polenta. I think there is one, but the cooking process and the results are almost exactly the same – it really comes down to whether you want to sound Southern or European. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t – it’s a personal choice.
Polenta: In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, combine 1 cup of polenta, 2 cups of milk, and 2 cups of stock over medium heat. Stirring frequently but not obsessively, cook the polenta until it thickens considerably, about 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and butter. This is a great base for just about anything saucy and is also good on its own. Feel free to stop at this point if you want.
Chicken: Season a bone-in, skin-on chicken thigh with salt and pepper and place in a cold cast iron skillet (this will help the skin become crispy) with a neutral oil. Bring to medium-high heat and cook, flipping occasionally, until browned and at an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Remove chicken and make a pan sauce by adding a finely chopped shallot and 2 tablespoons of butter, allowing shallot to brown before deglazing pan with half a cup of white wine. Allow sauce to reduce. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve chicken and sauce on the polenta.
Quick Pickled Red Onions:
Very thinly slice ¼ of a red onion and place into a small bowl and add a few cranks of black pepper. Cover with red wine vinegar and let sit while cooking. Stir occasionally.
Squash:
Slice yellow squash and/ or zucchini in half lengthwise and sprinkle cut side with a very heavy pinch of salt to pull moisture from the squash (use an alarming amount of salt – this will help prevent the squash from becoming squishy. Don’t worry, you’ll wipe almost all of it off). Let sit for about 20 minutes and then wipe off the salt and all accumulated moisture with a paper towel. Chop remaining onion into strips and add to a medium sized bowl. Chop the squash into ¼ inch cubes and add to the bowl. Season with salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, and chili powder.
Heat a skillet over medium high heat with a neutral oil and add squash and onion mixture. Cook, tossing occasionally for about 15 minutes. Add a quick pour of chicken stock and continue to cook until most of the stock has cooked off.
Sauce:
Mix two tablespoons of crème fraiche, ~10 leaves of finely chopped cilantro, and a tablespoon of Cholula hot sauce in bowl, stirring to incorporate.
Assembly:
Heat flour tortillas in a skillet until warm, transfer to plate. Coat center third of tortilla with crème fraiche sauce, then add squash and top with pickled red onions.
Make or procure a pie crust. See above.
Thinly slice one tomato cross sectionally and lightly salt. Set aside for at least 20 minutes to draw out some of the moisture.
Thinly slice red onion, mince garlic, and chop fresh thyme and oregano.
Assembly: Roll pie dough into a thin layer on a sheet pan. Spread two tablespoons of Dijon mustard on dough. Finely grate Manchego or Parmesan cheese on dough. Add tomato, onion, garlic, and herbs in thin layers, careful not to cover edges. Fold excess dough over the edges to form a crust. Grate additional cheese over the galette. Bake in a 375 degree oven until crust is golden brown, about 35 minutes.
Mushroom Variation:
Add 3 tablespoons of butter to a large skillet over low heat. Roughly cut ~1 pound of mushrooms, saving stems for stock. Increase heat on skillet to medium high and add mushrooms. Sprinkle with a teaspoon of salt and several grinds of black pepper, stirring to coat mushrooms. Sauté for about 5 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed and mushrooms begin to brown. Add chopped rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Deglaze pan with chicken stock, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Add to pie dough with Dijon mustard and grated cheese, substituting a yellow onion for the red onion above.
This French seafood stew has become a staple of late fall quarantine cooking in our house because it 1) is satisfyingly delicious and 2) can be made with anything ranging from lobster to that random package of white fish of unknown origins that you found at the bottom of your freezer. In Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child lists 35 potential seafood ingredients for her version, including two different kinds of eels. You should aim for a mixture of sturdy fish and shellfish.
In a large pot, cook diced onion and garlic over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and fresh thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper. Stirring, cook until the tomato paste begins to darken before adding diced tomato (fresh or canned). Add diced potatoes and your choice of seafood stock, chicken stock, or water. Note: If using shell on shrimp, you can add some extra flavor to the cooking liquid by boiling the water or chicken stock before straining them out. Add a pinch or two of saffron if you are feeling fancy. Bring the soup to a boil before reducing to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are nearly cooked. Increase the heat to high, adding any and all sea food that you would like. Continue to cook until the seafood is cooked. Serve with crusty bread.
This was a very 2020 invention that was driven from the long held belief in the Schultz household that every leftover can be improved by either topping it with an egg or serving it as a taco. As I write this, I have become resolved to add a runny egg to this next time we have it.
Season a duck quarter with salt and pepper and allow to come up to room temperature on the counter. Place skin side down in a cold, well-oiled skillet before bringing the heat to medium high. Cook undisturbed for 6 to 7 minutes before flipping. Continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 135 degrees, medium rare.
Meanwhile, combine 3 tablespoons of sugar, ¼ cup of red wine vinegar, and a ¼ cup of orange juice in a sauce pan. Stir to incorporate and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly.
At this point, you could choose to glaze the duck with the sauce and be well on your way to a classic Caneton a l’Orange.
But tacos.
Instead, shred the meat and cover with the glaze in the fridge at least a few hours. Transfer to a skillet over high heat and cook until the meat is reheated and beginning to crisp in places. Transfer to a tortilla and top with raw diced white onion.
Literally French for rooster with wine - I typically opt for grocery store chicken quarters per Bridget’s preference but if you have a neighbor with a rooster which hasn’t quite adjusted to daylight savings time, by all means feel free to make this one old school.
Pull the chicken from the fridge an hour or two before cooking and season with salt and pepper.
Heat a Dutch oven with oil over medium high heat, brown chicken quarters on both sides and then remove to a plate. Reduce heat to medium low. Add a few tablespoons of butter, chopped onions, carrots, and celery to Dutch oven, scraping the pan to reduce and stuck brown bits. After about 5 minutes, add a heavy squeeze of tomato paste (isn’t the 21st century great? Tomato paste comes in resealable tubes now!) and stir. Cook for three minutes until the tomato paste deepens in color and then add three tablespoons of flour. Stir and allow the mixture to thicken before adding half a bottle of red wine (I like a nice $4 twist off Trader Joe’s Pinot Noir for this). Add the chicken back to the pot, being sure to include any juices that accumulated, and season with salt, pepper, and Herbs de Provence. Cover and cook until the chicken is cooked, about 20 minutes. Serve over mashed potatoes.