Please welcome Hank as he shares a simple Italian classic, pasta e fagioli, or pasta and bean soup! ~Elise
Pasta e fagioli. I knew—and loved—this dish years before I knew how to spell it. Growing up in New Jersey, pasta e fagioli is a staple on every red sauce place’s menu, along with spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, alfredo and cannolis.
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Now here’s a soup to brighten up a cold winter day! I looked to the flavors of Morocco for inspiration for this lemon chicken chickpea soup. The soup is seasoned with turmeric, cumin, and ginger—spices that not only warm the belly but give the soup its vibrant golden hue.
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Have canned artichokes, mayonnaise, and Parm? That’s all you need for this quick and easy artichoke dip. Add some salt and pepper if you want.
Dress it up with some minced garlic, or chopped green chiles or jalapeños. You can also try adding dill, lemon juice, sliced green onions, or sour cream, or even a little brown sugar.
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I really wanted to save some of these ginger honey chicken wings to share with my loved ones. Buhhht, it didn’t happen.
That’s the problem when you are alone in the kitchen and you have in front of you something irresistibly good, and imagine that, you can’t resist!
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Please welcome Hank Shaw as he shares a Southern favorite, collard greens! ~Elise
I grew up with a healthy affection for sauteed greens: Bright, vibrant, spiked with garlic and red pepper and maybe a little citrus at the end. This was how greens were supposed to be served—alive, vigorous and most of all, emerald green. So you can imagine my shock when I first encountered Southern-style collard greens.
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Is there anything better on a cold winter day than a big bowl of hearty ham and potato soup? True, there is some close competition from white bean and ham soup. Come to think about it, both versions are at the top of my list.
This recipe is for the potato and ham variety. You can use either a leftover ham bone and some ham from a glazed ham or you can use a meaty ham shank. You could even use a ham hock, but the hocks aren’t as meaty as the shanks, so if you use hocks, you’ll likely need extra ham.
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Making homemade chicken stock is easy! Not only do you save money because you don’t have to buy boxed stock, the stock itself is so much healthier for you because of all the iron, collagen, and vitamin-rich marrow from the bones.
There are several ways to make chicken stock. Three of our favorite methods are presented here. The first method uses the leftover bones from a chicken carcass and vegetables (which means it’s practically free), and takes several hours of slow cooking. We often use this method when we’ve roasted a chicken and have a leftover carcass. It’s a great way to not let good bones go to waste.
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Do like garlic? Do you like chicken? Then you’ll love garlic chicken, a classic recipe of chicken parts that have been browned in olive oil, then cooked with white wine and garlic. It’s also known as “40 Clove Chicken” because that’s how many garlic cloves you’ll use to make the dish.
So, crazy right?
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Take one part honey, one part Dijon mustard, mix, and now you have one of the most versatile sauces possible, for chicken, ham, corned beef, and in this case, honey mustard salmon.
It’s one of those couldn’t-be-easier, how-to-impress-without-doing-much recipes. Takes 10 minute to prep, and 10 minutes to cook.
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Have you encountered broccolini? It looks like broccoli rabe, or a baby version of broccoli, but in truth it is neither of those vegetables, but a hybrid developed out of Japan. Unlike broccoli rabe, broccolini is not at all bitter, and even though it looks like broccoli, it doesn’t taste like it, but is sweeter and nuttier.
It’s delicious! And like other members of the brassica family, broccolini is loaded with iron and vitamins.
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One of my favorite recipes from my childhood is this ground beef noodle casserole that my grandmother used to make for us when we came for a visit. It has ground beef, egg noodles, black olives, corn, mushrooms, and shredded cheddar cheese. It may sound like an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink kind of recipe, or a midwestern version of tamale pie (corn, olives, mushrooms?) but wow is it good!
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Do you like white chili? If you are not familiar with it, it’s sort of the calmer, nicer cousin of a Texas chili. No frantically looking for something to put out the flames from a beef and habanero fest. White chili is made with white beans, chicken (sometimes pork), and mild green chiles.
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Looking for the perfect cheesecake? It takes a bit of hubris to describe a recipe as “perfect”, especially for a recipe such as cheesecake, for which so many have their own personal favorite.
But, this is simply the best, most wonderful cheesecake I have ever had, and have ever made. It is based on a master recipe, from the master of baking herself, Dorie Greenspan.
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Pimento cheese! If you are from the South, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about, of course. You likely have your favorite way of making it and may even take issue with our recipe that follows.
If you are not from the South, you might be scratching your head at this point. Pimentos? Those red things in olives, shmooshed together with cheese? Yep. Welcome to “Carolina caviar” or “Southern pâté”, a dip containing cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, pimentos, and cream cheese. Spread between two pieces of white bread for a quick sandwich, or stuff into celery sticks for the southern version of ants on a log. You can even put it on a burger.
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Looking for a festive holiday side dish? One my favorite winter sides is my dad’s sweet and sour red cabbage. The following recipe takes that Austrian standard up a notch with the addition of apples, onions, bacon, and roasted chestnuts. So good! Pretty too.
Braised red cabbage with chestnuts is a traditional accompaniment to roast goose, but if goose isn’t on your menu it also works great alongside a pork roast or even prime rib. You can easily make ahead and reheat to serve.
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Ready for some holiday ham? Glazed ham is probably one of the easiest, festive, and cost effective roasts one can serve for a large gathering. The ham is already cooked when you buy it, so all you really have to do is heat it and glaze it. For this cranberry glazed ham, we are making a cranberry glaze with jellied cranberry sauce, orange juice, and whole grain mustard.
It’s sweet and tart, and with hints of orange and bursts of mustard. A perfect taste combination for ham!
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Stuffed mushrooms should be in every home cook’s repertoire. They’re easy to make, they’re great for parties, and the variations are endless. Just regular button mushrooms, or the brown creminis, are perfect for stuffing. You can get as creative as you like with the filling, just look at the ideas from other food bloggers that we’ve linked to at the bottom of the recipe.
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One of the most festive loafs you can make during the holidays is this cranberry nut bread, brightly speckled with day glow fuchsia cranberries, orange zest, and walnuts.
It’s a great loaf for late fall, early winter as cranberries, oranges, and walnuts are all in season. Buy an orange and squeeze it fresh to get the best juice for this recipe (grate the peel first).
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One of the easiest and most elegant appetizers you can make for a gathering is baked brie. Baking a round of brie for a few minutes in the oven makes it all melty and oozy, and transforms it from something already wonderful to completely irresistible.
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Like peanut butter? Chicken? Then this African chicken peanut stew by Hank is for you. Perfect for chilly weather. ~Elise
Chicken, sweet potatoes and peanuts are one of those magical flavor combinations that make me feel all warm and happy, especially because I never would have thought to do this 20 years ago, when I met some fellow University of Wisconsin students from Ghana who made this stew at their apartment. Chicken groundnut stew is, in various forms, common all over West Africa, and this is my version, inspired by my colleagues at UW.
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