STICKY RICE WITH CRISPY TOFU AND BRUSSELS HASH

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My love affair with tofu started somewhere around age 10. My favorite Thai restaurant (which was the only Thai restaurant within a several town radius of my own) served the most perfect fried tofu triangles with peanut sauce. The tofu was crunchy on the outside and moist and simply flavored within. Smothered in rich peanut sauce and quickly dipped in the restaurant’s bright nuoc cham, each bite was an adventure for my inexperienced palate.

This flawless little appetizer is the reason I’ve stuck with making endless rounds of mediocre tofu for decades, ever in the search of some cooking method that would replicate that early food memory. I’ve shallow-fried, deep-fried and roasted infinite sheet trays. I’ve drained and pressed tofu overnight in the refrigerator, frozen and thawed it, and worked with every texture from silken to extra firm. I’ve quick-marinated and left tofu to sit with seasoning for several days before cooking. While much of these efforts came with some reward, the texture has always been…meh.

It wasn’t until I came upon a recipe from Cookies and Kate that I discovered the merits of cornstarch.

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FARRO, CHARRED BROCCOLI AND CASTELVETRANO OLIVE SALAD

Posted on by Laura Geraty – By

With all the buzz around grain bowls over the last few years, I’ve gotten away from making grain salads. But what is a grain bowl after all than a grain salad with its parts disassembled?

One could certainly argue that grain salads are better. In fact, I might be arguing it? When you mix ingredients, flavors meld. Every bite has a little bit of this and that without you having to gather ingredients from around your plate.

There are also times when photo ready grain bowls just aren’t practical. Are you a new parent, cradling a baby in your arms while trying to shovel something nourishing into your mouth? Are you eating while driving your kids to soccer practice or doing work at your computer? Do you want to prep something ahead to easily pull from the fridge throughout the week? Grain bowls are pretty but they take work to assemble and eat. Of course, the ideal is to mindfully dine at our kitchen tables with no distractions but that is not always practical. Enter, the grain salad.

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KALE PESTO PASTA WITH ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND MINT

Posted on by Laura Geraty – By

Kale and squash are two of my kitchen staples in the fall and winter. In fact, they have already been so heavily in rotation around here that you’d think I was on a mission to see how quickly I can burn myself out. (For the record, I’m not even close.)

While they are a perfect match in salad, sometimes a girl just wants pasta – kale pesto pasta with roasted butternut squash and mint to be exact. The kale lends its signature grassy flavor to the pesto, which is captured by the curves and grooves of al dente fusilli. The deeply roasted butternut squash provides caramelized sweetness and the mint a hit of freshness.

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BROWN BUTTER STEAM-ROASTED SWEET POTATO, ARUGULA AND DATE SALAD WITH TAHINI DRIZZLE

Posted on by Laura Geraty – By

These steam-then-roasted sweet potatoes are my latest obsession. They take less than five minutes to prep, do their thing in the oven for a little under an hour, and are equally delicious served just as-is or all dressed up as I am showing you here.

The potato cooking method itself comes from Nik Sharma in his cookbook The Flavor Equation. After halving your sweet potatoes lengthwise, you spread or dollop the flesh side with butter and seasoning, place them on a sheet pan flesh side up then seal the pan tightly with tin foil. You then stick them in the oven to steam-roast for about 25 minutes before uncovering, flipping and returning them to the oven for another 25 minutes or so. The flesh side browns and crisps and the potatoes become more concentrated in flavor. Moist and crisp? This method makes that possible.

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RED WINE BRAISED LAMB AND FIGS

Posted on by Laura Geraty – By

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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