Recipes

ENTREES

Easy, Awesome Brisket With Vegetables

April 16, 2014

Course #2 of our Passover Dinner (the first I've ever made on my own) was yet another dish that's brand-new to me: brisket. But I was excited to add my aunt Debbie's recipe to my repertoire, because I have a big thing for inexpensive cuts of meat that you cook on low heat for ever and ever: I think they're just incredibly flavorful and delicious, and love how virtually unscrewupable they are. I also love the fact that you start them in the morning and then basically forget about them all day long, and then poof: dinner is ready, and you barely did a thing.

This dish easily serves 4-6, and makes for some seriously good leftovers (try putting the meat between slices of white bread the next day, oh my god yum). You can also try making this in your slow-cooker; just remember that you'll need about 8 hours of cooking if you do it that way.

(Click here for Course #1, Matzoh Ball Soup)

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SIDESSALADS

Easy Matzoh Ball Soup

April 14, 2014

My Family Cookbook

I know: Passover isn't until this week. But we had Passover dinner on Saturday, because that's when Mom was free to come up, and Saturday afternoon is a much easier time to cook multi-course meals (apparently shifting the start date of Passover to accommodate busy family schedules is becoming a thing).

Usually we go to my aunt Debbie's house for Passover: she's a cookbook editor and food writer, and so her dinners are kind of next-level in terms of prettiness/preparedness/general impressiveness/et cetera. This is the first time I've ever attempted to make a Passover dinner on my own, so I have to say: I was a little nervous. Especially about the matzoh ball soup: Debbie's soup (which uses my aunt June's matzoh ball recipe) is one of my favorite meals on the planet, but I've never made it myself just because it seems like one of those recipes that everyone's all "Oh my god, it's so eaaaasy" about, and then it's…impossible.

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Eat

Olive Oil & Ricotta Cake (with Chocolate & Orange)

April 9, 2014

Loaf cakes are basically the best things in the world. They're easy to make, they freeze well (making them an excellent solution when you've got a lot of parties to go to and not a lot of time)...and you can pretend that they are "bread" and eat them for breakfast. Which is what I just finished doing.

I've never actually made an olive oil cake before, but I've always wanted to try it, partially because it sounds delicious and partially because it sounds weird (and those two things are not, to my mind, mutually exclusive). As it turns out, it is delicious, but it's totally not weird - just a super-moist version of a traditional cake. You can make a plain version of this cake minus the chocolate and orange, or you can try swapping in lemon zest or topping it with a fruit coulis (try strawberry or plum). If you do that you can call the coulis "jam", plant a cup of coffee next to it, and happily consume it at 7 o'clock in the morning. And then again at 7 o'clock at night. And maybe again while laying in bed a couple of hours later, with a side order of Joel McHale. All good.

Try it. You'll like it.

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Recipes

Blueberry-Cinnamon French Toast

March 14, 2014

Suggestion for your weekend: make this.

It takes about five minutes total, and is a huge crowd-pleaser for all ages. The key to this recipe: use blueberry bread instead of regular bread (this is Pepperidge Farm Blueberry Swirl bread, which I think is delicious…but my son's obsession is on another level entirely: he insists on eating it every. single. morning, calls it "my muffin", and was literally still talking about it as he went to sleep last night).

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