The Winter Solstice Approaches

Missy Frederick

Fresh flour tortillas, Julia Turshen’s green pasta, and an orange-cardamom cake to finish off your citrus

It’s week trazillion-and-twelve of pandemic cooking, and you’ve hit a rut. Nay, a trench. You’ve done all the things one can do to a bean, and while the digital cook-o-sphere is loaded with ideas, there are just too many of them. You scroll a few blogs, flip through some cookbooks, and give up. Beany Thursday strikes again.

We’ve been there. We are there. But help is here. To sort through the noise of TikTok tortilla wraps and feta pastas, Eater has compiled a handful of the recipes — from blogs, magazines, publications, and cookbooks — that put the pep back in our pans this week and that we hope will do the same for you. These are the dishes that Eater editors from across the country actually made recently, and we’re passing along any first-hand tips, hacks, or dietary substitutions that, hey, worked for us. Here, then, are this week’s must-try recipes from Eater’s very-much-average but highly enthusiastic home cooks.

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8-Inch Flour Tortillas

Cooks Country

I got a tortilla press for Christmas, and have been slowly trying to improve my comfort level with making tortillas at home. My first attempt at corn ones was a pretty mixed bag, and I’m happy to say I had a bit more success with this recipe from Cook’s Country for a flour variety. Though I had to play around with the recommended amount of water and add more than the recipe called for to get the consistency I wanted, this recipe is really pretty easy, and created tortillas that were thin and flecked with char when I browned them in a cast iron grill (the recipe does not require a tortilla press, but I am not great at rolling things out thinly so it’s a nice cheat for me). The tortillas were a nice complement to another recipe from the same family of websites: these herby steak tacos. — Missy Frederick, Eater cities director

Maeun Dwaeji Galbijjim (Slow Cooker Pork Ribs)

Hyosun, Korean Bapsang

I have been neglecting a tub of doenjang — Korean fermented soybean paste — in my fridge for months, so on a random weekend day I decided to go all-out and make a Korean feast. The star of the meal was certainly Korean Bapsang’s maeun dwaeji galbijjim, a braised pork rib dish with lots of sweetness, notes of sesame, and a hit of that good-good gochugaru. It was also remarkably easy: Outside of soaking the ribs beforehand to draw out excess blood, you basically just dump a ton of ingredients in a slow cooker (or an Instant Pot, if you’re impatient) and walk away. The drizzle of sesame oil at the end really brings the whole dish together in a lovely way. I am a freak for spice, so I did double the amount of gochugaru in this dish; however, it’s really not necessary. The liquid in this braise is the real showstopper, poured over white rice or eaten by the spoonful. My final meal also included a bowl of japchae using a recipe from my one true love, Maangchi, some Instant Pot dakjuk (rice porridge), and a few jars of Choi’s Kimchi, my all-time favorite grocery store kimchi (which just happens to be made here in Portland). — Brooke Jackson-Glidden, Eater Portland editor

Cheddar-Walnut Gougères

Dorie Greenspan, NYT Cooking

Around this time a year ago, I was gifted a KitchenAid stand mixer — a thoughtful but slightly unnecessary gift, given that I rarely bake anything that calls for one. That trend’s continued; the only thing I regularly make using it is this great cheddar and walnut gougeres recipe by Dorie Greenspan, which my colleague Monica recommended. I love how the bite of sharp cheddar plays with the custardy, airy interior; texturally, they’re perfect. And as the recipe promises, the gougeres freeze beautifully, meaning I always have a Tupperware of gougeres ready to bake whenever I need a fancier-than-pizza-rolls snack, or if I decide one morning that a warm, luxurious breakfast is in order. — Erin DeJesus, Eater lead editor

Monica Burton

Orange-cardamom olive oil cake

Llubav’s Green Spaghetti

Julia Turshen, Simply Julia

I’ve been following Julia Turshen’s career for as long as I can remember. I have all of her cookbooks, because I’ve learned I can count on her to give me delicious, actually cookable recipes every single time. Her newest book, Simply Julia, which James Park reviewed in our spring 2021 cookbook preview, has helped me get out of a slump — I’ve been cooking from it all week. Llubav’s Green Spaghetti is the first recipe in the book, and it’s perfect for a quick weeknight dinner because — drumroll — you don’t have to chop any vegetables for the green sauce, which makes cleanup super easy. All you have to do is throw the baby spinach, basil leaves, and fresh kale into a blender, sit back, and let the vibrant aroma fill your kitchen with the speed of a Boy Smells candle. One thing I learned after making this dish twice: Don’t be afraid to go big on the kale leaves. Turshen’s recipe calls for six large leaves of kale, but mine were smallish, so the green sauce came out looking like soup. Luckily, I had enough kale, so I just added more leaves until I got a saucy consistency. — Esra Erol, Eater social media manager

Roast Chicken with Apricots and Olives

Susan Spungen, NYT Cooking

I have a real penchant for recipes that involve salty and sweet and bitter, and this recipe checks all three of those boxes, with the bonus of caramelized bits from the broiler. Marinating is the key here: let it go as long as possible to make sure all those flavors snuggle up nice and close. I love Castelvetrano olives, and as the recipe promises, they’re buttery and mellow. So mellow that I might even swap them out for a brinier olive that stands up to the sweetness of the apricots a little more. That said, this recipe is quite easy to prepare, and is lovely over a bed of pearled couscous to soak up that sauce. — Ellen Fort, Eater San Francisco interim editor

Orange-Cardamom Olive Oil Cake

Carolina Gelen, Food 52

For a few weeks now, my CSA oranges have been piling up, and I desperately needed a way to use at least a few of them. Cake seemed the obvious answer, and this Food52 recipe appeared to be particularly orange-heavy, calling for at least three (I used both blood and navel). The recipe makes efficient use of them, requiring orange juice, orange zest, and slicing and caramelizing oranges for a visibly orange upside-down topping. Slicing those oranges thin is key. That step, along with arranging them on the bottom of the pan, was the most difficult part of the whole thing, which is to say it’s a very easy cake to make. But there’s big payoff in the flavors, and next time I’ll have a better handle on how to artfully arrange the fruit so the cake also looks more impressive than it actually is. — Monica Burton, Eater editor

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March 26, 2021

Nick Mancall-Bitel

• Fresh Pineapple Syrup
  Stella Parks, Serious Eats
• Ande Ki Kari (Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce)
  Julie Sahni, NYT Cooking
• Mexican Stewed Beans With Salsa Fresca
  Diane Unger, Milk Street
• Broccoli Pesto Pasta
  Dawn Perry, Bon Appétit
• Instant Pot Italian Beef Sandwiches
  Lindsay Ostrom, Pinch of Yum
• Soft Dinner Rolls
  Sally McKenney, Sally’s Baking Addiction

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March 19, 2021

Brooke Jackson-Glidden

• Orecchiette With Sausage and Chicory

Michael White/Food & Wine

• Lemony Salmon With Fennel and Orange Salad

Adeena Sussman/Adeenasussman.com

• Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock’s Shrimp Grits

Food52

• Breakfast Dumplings

Lori Yates/Foxes Love Lemons

• Vegan Coconut-Ginger Black Beans

Ali Slagle/NYT Cooking

• Bouchon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thomas Keller/Bouchon Bakery Cookbook

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March 12, 2021

James Park

• Easy Air-Fryer Durian Basque Cheesecake

What to Cook Today

• Red Lentil Soup, Barrett Prendergast

Barrett and the Boys

• Sesame Tofu with Broccoli

Hetty McKinnon, Bon Appétit

• Meat Loaf

Ina Garden, Food Network

• Kimchi Jjigae

Sohui Kim/Bon Appétit

• Vegan Chocolate Cake

Bea Vo/Leite’s Culinaria

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For the complete list of everything Eater editors have enjoyed cooking so far this year (pizza babka! air-fryer ube cheesecake! spiced coconut chicken and rice!), head to the archive.

Source : food