RED WINE BRAISED LAMB AND FIGS

With temperatures finally dipping down into true fall territory here in New York City, we’re entering my favorite cooking season. (Note, I did not just say “season” there, I prefaced it with cooking. These shorter, cooler days? No, no, no, I don’t like where this is headed.)

Our farmers markets are still stocked with tomatoes and eggplant, those beauties of late summer. But tables are also laden with winter squashes, sweet potatoes, cabbages, kale and other cold weather produce.

On top of that, it doesn’t seem sacrilegious to have my oven on for hours at a time. In fact, I want to have it on for hours to combat the cold air seeping through my windows and to fill my home with the comforting smells of something delicious. That’s exactly what inspired this recipe: red wine braised lamb and figs.

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SLOW ROASTED VEGETABLES AND HOW TO USE THEM

Now that the weather is a bit cooler, slow roasting vegetables is my ideal type of weekend prep – a couple of sheet trays loaded with barely prepped produce, an oven set to a low temperature and a long cooking time that leaves little room for error or need for attention. Slow roasted vegetables are luxurious in texture and intense in flavor. Almost all vegetables can be cooked this way (though maybe not the potato family) and can be used in a multitude of dishes. I’m sharing how I used four of them below.
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TWICE BAKED SWEET POTATOES WITH TAHINI YOGURT AND POMEGRANATE

There is a lot of inspiration behind this dish. This picture on Sprouted Kitchen’s Instagram sent me on a hunt for Bon App’s method of twice baking these crispy, irregular shaped potatoes. Rather than pairing the butter/honey/cider vinegar bathed beauties with coconut yogurt and harissa like Sprouted Kitchen, I piled them on a generous bed of tahini yogurt and finished them off with a mix of herbs, nuts and seeds. I’ve made this dish countless times, a rare testament to how good it is. The recipe is long but not nearly as hard as it looks.

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A Guide to Squash: How to Choose and Cook Gourds

If you’ve walked around your local store you can’t help but notice a few things: pumpkin spice everything, halloween candy, and squash! I’d love to do a guide to the best halloween candy but that’s for another day. I’ve compiled a guide to help you determine which squash is best for your recipe and exactly how it should be cooked. The cool thing about these fall and winter gourds is they last a really long time, like six weeks to even a few months. And guess what? They’re technically fruit because they have seeds! Let’s get started.

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How To Make Homemade Sushi

One of my favorite things about cooking is playing with my food. Composing a salad, the perfect toast or (in this case) sushi, allows me to have fun each step of the way!  For some, making your own sushi can sound daunting, but it’s actually simple. You don’t even need a sushi mat to make it (although it helps).

In this recipe, I made a vegan sweet potato and avocado sushi roll. Sushi is versatile, so play up your favorite flavor combinations! For the gals at What We Eat, we constantly make many variations of a carrot and avocado salad. So, in light of that inspiration, here is what we came up with! 

What you’ll need:

A clean dish towel

Plastic wrap

A bowl of cold water (to help the rice not stick to your hands)

Sushi mat 

Ingredients

Nori sheets

2 cups sushi rice, cooked and cooled with a splash of seasoned rice vinegar 

Julienned Vegetables of choice (I did sweet potato, cucumber, daikon, avocado, cilantro)

Method:

  1. Place a big square of plastic wrap on top of a sushi mat and place on top of a dish towel. (The towel is there to help with the mess). Place a single piece of nori on top of the plastic.

2. With wet hands, place a decent size scoop of the rice onto the nori and press down until even thickness throughout. The water will help the sushi rice to not stick to your hands. Life hack!

3. Add vegetables of choice in a straight line about ⅓ of the way in. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and top with cilantro.

4. Now the fun part! Using the sushi mat and plastic as a guide, tightly roll the sushi. Make sure the pressure is even when you roll to help prevent lumps. (Note: Chef hands in dire need of a paraffin treatment!!)

5. Allow to sit for 10 minutes rolled in the plastic before cutting.

6. Slice sushi into 8 pieces and enjoy dipped in your favorite sauce.

With Love,

Rian