I just learned that in 1939, legislature was passed in Maine that forbid the addition of tomatoes to clam chowder.

If I had grown up in Maine, my thirty year phase of not liking tomatoes might not have seemed so weird.

Although I still dislike tomatoes added to foods that aren't already tomato-y (e.g. in mac and cheese, in stew), it is not uncommon for me to dream about grilled cheese + tomato soup. Yet though I've been known to make a meal of bread dipped into a bowl of jarred tomato sauce, I must admit - I still love the white stuff.

Ingredients

1 eggplant, sliced into rounds
panko
red pepper flakes
3 cups milk
2 T butter
2 T flour
dried oregano and basil, to taste
1 bunch of parsley - chopped coarsely - you can use stems
3 cloves garlic minced + 1 clove garlic minced
1 large egg + 1 large egg white
blk pepper
salt
1 small container ricotta
2 oz grated parm
6 sheets lasagna noodles

Method

1. Preheat oven to 450 and line baking sheet with tin foil.

2. Combine enough panko to coat eggplant + red pepper flakes to taste. Dip eggplant in egg white and dredge in panko mixture. Place on prepared baking sheet.

3. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping once. Eggplant should be browned.

4. While eggplant is baking, sautee 1 clove garlic in butter, just until butter starts to bubble. Add flour and mix well. Add 2 cups milk, oregano and basil. Reduce heat and cook until mixture thickens - approx 10 minutes. Stir frequently.

5. In a bowl, combine 1 egg, ricotta, parmesan, chopped parsley, 3 cloves garlic and salt and pepper to taste.

6. Coat bottom of a small baker (I used a 5x7) with thickened milk. Top with 1 or 2 lasagna noodles, eggplant, and ricotta mixture. Repeat. Finish with layer of eggplant.

7. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes, or until bubbly and cooked thru. Allow 10 minutes to cool before serving.

 

Eating kale for dinner is so righteous that homemade brownies are the only appropriate response for dessert.

Since only 1 of us eats sweets, I halved the New York Times Essential recipe. I left out the nuts and added espresso to intensify the bitterness of the chocolate.

After years of making "healthy" brownies, it was a treat to see that crisp and shiny glass-like top layer yield to a rich and dense, barely cake-like center. Yogurt brownies, these are not.

Ingredients
2 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghiardelli 60% cacao chips)
3 T butter
1 large egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup mixed ap and ww flour
1 ts vanilla
1 T + 1.5 ts instant espresso
1/8 ts coarse salt

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line the smallest baker you can find (mine is 3x6, but better would be anything that measures 12 square inches) with parchment paper, allowing the paper to come up on 2 opposite sides.

2. Melt chocolate and butter over low heat. Remove from heat, add espresso powder and mix well.

3. In medium bowl beat egg with sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add melted chocolate, flour, vanilla and salt. Mix well.

4. Pour into prepared baker and bake for 20 minutes, until toothpick comes out pretty clean. 

5. Remove brownies from pan by lifting parchment paper sides. Cool completely on wire rack before cutting into 8 squares.

There's something about a cake that just begs for a party. Even unfrosted, this barely sweet, single layer cake screams "Let's go!" in a way a cupcake just can't. This yogurt, olive oil cake is the perfect snack - not too sweet, not too heavy, yet undeniably festive.

Ingredients
1 cup yogurt or sour cream
1/3 cup olive oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 ts vanilla
1 2/3 cup flour (I used a blend of whole wheat and AP)
1 2/3 ts baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
1/3 ts salt
zest of 1 lemon

Method

1. Whisk yogurt, oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla in large bowl.

2. Combine flour, baking soda and powder and zest in small bowl.

3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and mix until blended.

4. Pour into 9" pan lined with parchment paper for 20 minutes at 350. Toothpick should come out dry.

It started with an amazing Bloody Mary. Then things progressed to the point where this self-proclaimed non-lover of tomatoes found herself with pounds of tomatoes in her basket (in winter, no less!).

And so, in just one weekend, there was salsa, there were nachos and there was soup. But not that old friend of grilled cheese, tomato soup. This was a shameful soup garnished with cheese and sour cream and hot peppers and shredded chicken and a bag of chips. But even with all the junk, the broth shone through - bright and spicy.

It takes some time to make, but worth it on a snowy wintery weekend.

Soup Ingredients

8 plum tomatoes, halved
1 large onion (red or yellow), chopped
1 jalapeno, halved
1 cherry pepper, halved
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 ts chili powder (I used BBQ Billys rub)
2 ts cumin 
5 cups homemade stock + 1 cup, divided
15 oz canned San Marzano tomatoes, chopped with kitchen shears + their juice
Salt and pepper, to taste

Stock Ingredients

3 garlic cloves 
2 stalks celery
1.5 lbs chicken breast (approx 2, including bones)
water to fill pot

Garnish

Chicken breast, shredded
1/2 avocado, sliced
Tortilla chips
Cilantro, removed from stems
Sour cream or Greek yogurt
Fresh lime juice
Shredded cheddar 

Method

1. Place halved tomatoes and peppers on baking sheet covered in foil. Cook for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from heat, peel (if you feel like it - I only did half).

2. In the meantime, make your stock by placing chicken, celery, whole garlic cloves and water in large pot. Bring to boil and cook approximately 20 minutes, until chicken is cooked thru. Remove chicken and shred. Strain stock. Reserve garlic and shredded chicken.

3. Combine fresh tomatoes with canned tomatoes and garlic from stock and puree briefly with an immersion blender. Set aside.

4. In a dutch oven, saute chopped onion and garlic, approximately 5 minutes. Add cumin, chili powder and 1 cup stock. Cook another 5 minutes, then add tomato mixture and 5 cups stock to pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer 1 hour, until flavors mingle. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Garnish and serve.

I've never met a new year celebration I didn't love. The year we ran through Times Square, trying to make it home to Queens before midnite? Loved it. The years I grumbled about the cold, watching fireworks in Prospect Park while drinking champagne from the bottle? - Loved them. The year we spent with Jon and Kim in our dingy Astoria apartment when Bill and Lori ditched us for warmer weathers? Loved it.

My point is: I can think of no better way to end a year than with the ritual of a day spent cooking rewarded with a day with friends. This year was no exception. We ate, drank, and of course, we were merry.

1. Our appetizer spread started out simply. 2. Even if watermelon radish didn't taste amazing, I would still love it for its color. 3. We cleaned out the old pickling experiments so we'd have enough mason jars for drinking.

1. Lobster shells for the seafood, coconut milk stock 2. Toasted fideos for the shrimp and sausage fideo cakes 3. Salt-baked stuff clams. These were a fight to clean, even with my new clam shucking knife. 4. Baby octopus cooked in olive oil, capers and lemon. Tender and perfect.

1. Kept the table restrained and simple: Seafood stew, rosemary popovers and shrimp / fideo cakes.

1. Instant espresso + imitation vanilla + an industrial-sized tape measure. No kitchen should be without. 2. Chocolate chip espresso shortbread cookies. 3. Chopped bittersweet chocolate.

1. Winter savory and peppercorns for infusing the vodka. 2. This vodka has been in our freezer for years. Leftover from the people who owned the house before us, we finally put it to good use. 3. Without a mortar and pestle, I crushed the peppercorns with a meat tenderizer and a ziplock. 4. Finished product.

1. Baked eggs with cream and leftover pea dip. 2. Hoppin John (jonk) cakes.

1. Bill playing my crappy ukulele while I am likely trying to steal his. 2. Festive tie. 3. Festive bowtie. 4. This year, I wasn't the only one who fell asleep (off camera - Bill asleep in a chair. Lori asleep upstairs. Jamie and Jon, cleaning). 5. Lori in Bill's slippers.

Not pictured:

Kim's "Anis" cookies, spicy spicy sweet bacon, ginger posset, smashed pea dip, pickled jalapeno and relish deviled eggs, smokey oyster dip, home-baked, then grilled bruschettas.

Hope yours was merry and bright.

In all the millions of times I've been to Five Leaves, I must confess I rarely stray from the same order. A bowl of fries (regular - none of that fussy truffle oil), oysters or a salad and a glass of red or rose, depending on the season.

So what I fool I felt when I finally ordered the kale salad.

I do love a kale salad. But I'm used to mine, which is tangy, zesty, rice vinegary and gingery.

Theirs is a creamy, spicy nest of the thinnest, darkest kale strips. More dressed than I prefer my greens, but no matter, because the lingering heat at the end of every bite keeps you coming back for more.

Really, it's just a bunch of kale with a very grown up caesar dressing. Take care when choosing your kale. Baby kale is ideal. Red Russian and Toscano will do. But by all means, steer clear of curly kale. I made this mistake once and even with the garlicky goodness of the dressing, it was a bit to choke down.

Ingredients

1/2 a head of garlic, minced
2 eggs
Juice from 3/4 lemon
1/4 c olive oil
Black pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
4 oz grated parm
1 small jalapeno or other hot pepper
1 tin of anchovies + oil they're packed in

Method

1. Blend pepper + garlic + oil + anchovies with an immersion blender.

2. Fill a small pot with water to cover 2 eggs and bring to a boil. Poke a hole in each egg with a pin. Once water boils, add eggs to water and cook for 90 seconds.

3. Remove eggs and crack into a bowl. Be sure to get all the egg, cleaning the shell with a spoon in order to get the thin layer of cooked white that will stick to the inside. Beat well.

4. Add lemon juice and oil mixture to eggs and mix well. Add black pepper and cayenne to taste.

5. Dress greens well. Top with grated parm and serve.

Above is Orangette's Salted Peanut Butter Cookie and for once in my life, I didn't change a thing about the recipe.

There are two secrets to this cookie that you should know:

1. Remove from the oven at the very hint of browning. It will look undone. You will doubt yourself. 

2. Do not serve these fresh out of the oven. Do not even serve them warm. Do yourself a favor and bake them in the morning. Ignore them cooling on a wire rack all day while you seek out every youtube version of King of the Road (this one wins, but this one's kind of special, too). Serve them after dinner.

I mixed up a batch of these last month, but because there were only four of us for dinner and I've been trying not to make people leave my house clutching their stomachs, I baked a pan's worth and froze the rest. My first effort, served warm. They were fine, but not great. They needed ice cream.

More than a month later, I broke out the dough, baked for 20 minutes. After dinner, they were good. But the next morning, they were amazing. Recipe here.