Not Derby Pie

For most of you, this weekend was chock full of great food. I may not have had Christmas dinner, but I had a southern feast of fried chicken, pulled smoked beef, and collards that rivals the best Chinese takeout of my storied Jewish-Christmas past. Still, as I think back on the past couple weeks of eating, I tell you this with little hesitation: long fusilli with Marcella Hazan’s Tomato-Eggplant sauce is the single best food item I’ve eaten in weeks.

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updated from the archives: with New Years Day quickly approaching, I’m starting to think about breakfast in a serious way. Here’s a smattering of good ideas to make on my favorite lazy morning of the year.

December 31 is nearly upon us! I’m expecting thousands of drunken belligerent psychos to descend on my neighborhood next week, and if you think I’m excited, I’m actually going elsewhere. Nothing I hate more than Adams Morgan on New Years Eve. But New Years morning is another story entirely. The streets are quiet, the air is cold and still, the oven is on and the coffee is brewing. I love waking up on New Years Day to total silence, enjoying yummy but easy breakfast and hot tea in my bathrobe, and being altogether lazy.

Even if you’re like me and breakfast/brunch is your thing, I’m sure you feel me that cooking on New Years morning isn’t exactly an appealing thought. Especially if you’re hosting tomorrow morning, surely you want something easy to make, but with big wow-factor. A Dutch Baby is just the thing. It’s a big, floppy, eggy pancake that puffs up beautifully in the oven; pull it out, top with some stewed fruit and a dusting of powdered sugar, and ta-da! Perfect breakfast entree. It takes 20 minutes to bake and about 15 seconds to mix up. Can’t complain about that prep time, now can you?

Just in case a hot, fluffy, fruit-topped pancake isn’t your thing (but really, who are we kidding?) I’ve included links to some other good New Years brunch recipes below. Have yourselves a safe and rockin’ evening, and a very Happy New Year!

New Years Day Brunch Ideas:

Rich and creamy apricot-stuffed french toast
Lazy, boozy french toast casserole
Easy vintage breakfast biscuits
Ever-popular and dead easy shakshuka
Any kind of frittata, any kind at all
Blackberry and pear clafoutis — perfect for winter

There are plenty more where those came from — just run a quick search through my breakfast-and-brunch category and see what pops up.

Dutch Babies
basic recipe adapted from Lara at Cook and Eat
serves 2-4 (if it’s a main course for 4, double the recipe and make in two separate pans)

4 eggs
generous pinch of salt
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
2 T unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Whisk the eggs with the pinch of salt until they just begin to get fluffy. Gradually whisk in the milk and flour and continue whisking until there are no lumps.

Melt the butter in a 8-inch cast iron pan. Then, pour the egg mixture over the butter. Move the pan immediately to the hot oven. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until it puffs up over the edges of the pan and is a rich golden brown on the edges.

Top with any kind of stewed fruit, or even good-quality preserves, and finish with a dusting of powdered sugar. I used poached quince that I had leftover — delicious.

Every year, sometime in late November, we turn on our heat, move the sweaters to the top drawer, dig up our tights and fleece-lined slippers, …and stop eating salads.

It’s silly, really. Once the cold sets in, and my cravings for fresh, red tomatoes are a faint mystery, all I can think about is stew and soup, tea and cider. Might a salad go perfectly with my black bean chili? Why yes, yes it would. Do I make one? No, no I don’t. The chill kills my appetite for fresh leaves, replaces it with a deep-belly hunger for soy-marinated kale and spicy, savory pasta dishes like this one. But I’m right on cue. Around December, I suddenly remember winter vegetable slaw, and everything changes.

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Alternative grains are all the rage these days. Joy the Baker made some buckwheat pine nut biscuits from my favorite new cookbook. David Lebovitz had the scoop on some tempting Italian cornmeal cookies. And Deb made oatmeal pancakes from the cookbook that clinched a well-deserved win of the Piglet, if you ask me.

I haven’t yet bought Good to the Grain. Until I do, I’ll have to wait on those oatmeal pancakes. (Also Strawberry Barley Scones, Buckwheat and Pear Pancakes, Gingersnaps, and now you see why I’m buying this book). But I can be patient. Very patient. See, I’ve got Alice Medrich.

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Until recently, I’d always bought ginger at the grocery store. It always looked kind of dry and gnarly outside, but I’d learned that peeling it revealed a soft, fresh, meaty interior, as great in stir-fry as it was steeped in tea. But last year, I learned that the folks at Next Step Produce, a local farm, were selling the knobs of fresh ginger at the Dupont farmers’ market. The stuff was sort of legendary; a certain Jeremy Brosowsky had been singing its praises for months, and when fall finally rolled around, I was eager to pick some up. The fresh ginger was approximately 5,723 times more expensive than the stuff at Harris Teeter, so I had high hopes, and I wasn’t disappointed. The flavor was smoother and sweeter, and yet more pronounced. It was also easier to slice. I was hooked.

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For food lovers, Hanukkah is an eight-day period in which to justify that guilty pleasure, deep-fried food. Latkes and sufganiyot (jelly donuts) might be the most traditional Hanukkah fare, but they are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to things improved by a hot oil bath.

The reason we eat fried foods on Hanukkah is well-known, if not entirely logical. Because a one-day supply of oil kept the menorah in the Temple lit for eight full days, we have the tradition of consuming as much oil as we can, in remembrance of the miracle. So let’s fry some stuff, shall we?

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Well, friends, I’m back at it. After a few terrible attempts at this in past years (no, I’m not providing links), this time I’ve got what I hope will be a unique take on holiday gifts for the important folks in your lives. Yes, these gifts are great for food lovers — but they’re the types of things others might appreciate as well.

I’ve tried to cover all the bases. From unique Etsy finds, to quirky items from standard stores like Amazon, to exotic spices, to must-own cookbooks, I hope there’s something here for everyone. All pictures are clickable; want it? Click it.

Take a look past the jump.

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