Sugar and Spice Pumpkin Muffins

Every Thanksgiving I like to make my pumpkin pies from fresh pumpkin. It's that little extra step that makes me feel better about indulging in dessert. Most years the pumpkins are from our own garden, but not this year. This year I used sugar pumpkins from the CSA, which were so lovely and vibrant. After turning out three pies, I still had extra roasted pumpkin so I stored it in the fridge until I was ready to whip up some SPICED PUMPKIN MUFFINS for my family. You can also do this in a loaf tin or double the recipe and make two 12'' cake rounds with a frosting of your choice (I'd recommend a cream cheese-based one). The healthy subs are Greek yogurt for sour cream (I used nonfat Fage plain yogurt, but that's only because it was what I had on hand) and less sugar than most recipes call for. I also added a little extra spice for more flavor, but you can really add as much or as little as you like, depending on your taste and preferences.

Would love to hear from you so feel free to holler at me on Instagram if you have questions or comments: @tatiboncompagni

SPICED PUMPKIN MUFFINS
makes 12

Ingredients:
Wet:
1 1/2 cup roasted and cooled fresh pumpkin mash
2 eggs
3/4 stick butter, melted or softened
3/4 cup Greek Yogurt, unflavored
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
Dry:
1 1/2 cup organic all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt


Heat oven to 350°F and coat a muffin tin with cooking spray (I like organic coconut oil). In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together all the wet ingredients until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients; stir to combine. You may sift the flour, baking soda and spices if you want but it is not essential. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just combined. Distribute batter into tins and bake for about 25-30 minutes. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes and then remove to finish cooling on a wire rack or plate. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

News!

Hey Everybody!

Admittedly I haven't been very good about staying on top of my blogging. That's because I've been working a full-time job as the lifestyle editor at SELF magazine for the last year and change. I was brought in as part of the team to help redesign and redirect the magazine, which is focused on health and wellness. It was a dream job in the sense that I got to contribute to every aspect of the magazine, first helping to edit our fashion and beauty coverage and then transitioning into a role that reflects my passion for healthy food and fitness.

Last year I accomplished my life-long goals of running the New York City marathon. It was an amazing experience--the crowds, the energy, the joy! And the bigger lesson: Anything is possible. Life is too short not to spend it (at least in part) doing what you love and going after your dreams! With that in mind, I'm working on launching a new website focused on recipes that bring the farm-to-table ethos to the family kitchen -- and modern home cook. Nourishing yourself and your family with wholesome, nutrient-packed meals should be EASY and ENJOYABLE. I get it: I'm a mom of three with a career and a busy life. I know how tough it is to get through everything you need to do in a day and then on top of that cook dinner for 5. But it can be done. And I hope to show as many of you as possible how. Because food is the meeting point of so many of life's most important things: family, friends, health, happiness.

It will take me a little time to get my new website designed and ready to go, so watch this space for recipes, ideas and inspo in the meantime.

xo,
Tatiana

Quinoa: Not just for salads and sides

SELFeats: Quinoa Brownies for Kids, Adults…Everyone!

I was skeptical at first, but this new recipe is just as delicious as the brownie recipe I've been using for over a decade.

I am, in general, not a fan of food that pretends to be something it is not. If I want ice cream, I eat ice cream. A latte? You better believe it’s with whole milk. And on those rare occasions I crave a Coca-Cola, it’s the real thing—as the old tag line goes—fizzing in my glass.

So when I received a pre-release exclusive look at The Sweet Side of Ancient Grains, a dessert cookbook (it’s available April 20, but you can pre-order it here) from blogger and food photographer Erin Dooner, I was skeptical. The brownie recipe I’ve been using for over a decade yields squares of rich, dense, chocolaty goodness that I can’t imagine improving upon.

But I was willing to give this recipe a go for a couple reasons. One, it’s my job, and two, I’d tried another recipe from the cookbook—Peach Apricot Oat Bars—and it managed to massively outperform my expectations. So, on a recent Saturday, I made a special trip to my local health food store to buy a sack of quinoa flour and some Dutch processed cocoa and hunkered down for a long afternoon of baking.

The first step is the most crucial: You have to cook, at a very low temperature, the quinoa flour on a parchment-lined baking sheet in the oven. You do this for two and a half hours. Yes, that long. Dooner explains why: “The flavor of the quinoa flour was bitter, grassy-tasting, and totally overpowered by the chocolate. Luckily I discovered a fix—toasted quinoa flour!” When it is in the oven, the quinoa will give off what Dooner calls a bitter smell. I smelled something close to roasting asparagus—not terribly unpleasant but a little unexpected if you haven’t been forewarned.

After the flour has cooked and cooled you mix it with cocoa, baking powder and salt and set aside. The recipe basically calls for a 1:1 mix of Dutch-process cocoa powder to toasted quinoa flour. This may seem like a lot of cocoa or not enough flour but it’s not. Just go with it.

 Next you grab another bowl and mix together one cup of unsalted butter or coconut oil (I made mine with salted butter as I feel like that extra hint of salt heightens the flavor of the chocolate), one and a half cups of sugar (I used a scant cup of raw cane sugar and that was plenty) vanilla and eggs. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together and pour into a parchment-lined baking pan. The whole thing bakes in 23-28 minutes. Cool, cut and serve.

If you’re sharing these brownies with friends, you may decide not to tell them about the quinoa flour until after they’ve taken a taste. Or you may decide not to mention it at all. My kids, who are capable of ferreting out a lone tablespoon of avocado in their banana smoothies, couldn’t tell these were made with anything other than traditional ingredients. And because the quinoa gives these brownies a boost of protein, fiber, vitamin and minerals, I feel less guilty letting my brood eat them for breakfast—with a glass of whole milk, of course.

Quinoa Brownies

Quinoa is often referred to as a grain because it’s cooked and used like one, but it’s actually a seed and not a grain. So these gooey and fudgy brownies are actually grain-free if you use 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar and 1/8 teaspoon baking soda in place of the baking powder. (Cornstarch, which is not grain-free, is a filler that is used to keep ingredients separated and is often found in baking powder.)
Although this recipe works with whole-wheat flour (using 1 cup + 2 tablespoons, or 141 grams), the texture isn’t nearly as nice as the quinoa-flour version.

The whole-wheat version is also much more cakey. If you prefer a whole-wheat version, I recommend that you make the Teff Espresso Hazelnut Brownies (page 85). Omit the espresso powder and hazelnuts, if desired. You could also try the Ultra-Fudgy Brownies (page 79) if you’re in the mood for something super rich and decadent!

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 28 minutes
Ready in: 43 minutes, plus cooling
Yield: 16–20 brownies
Gluten-Free: Roasted quinoa flour
Dairy-Free: Coconut oil, Dairy-free chocolate chips, or other add-ins

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (126 grams) roasted quinoa flour
• 1 cup (115 grams) Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (225 grams) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar or unrefined sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup (115 grams) add-ins, if desired (chopped nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit, candy pieces, etc.)

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C). Line an 8 × 8-inch (20 × 20 cm) baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on opposite ends.
In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the quinoa flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the melted butter or coconut oil, sugar, and vanilla. Add in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Fold in the flour mixture just until very few streaks of flour remain. Gently fold in the add-ins if using.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 23 to 28 minutes or until the edges are fully baked and a toothpick inserted in one of the edges comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
TIP
If you’ve never made American-style brownies before (or maybe even if you have!), you’re probably looking at the large amount of sugar in this recipe and wondering if it’s a typo. It isn’t. To get that fudgy, gooey texture that makes a brownie a brownie, you really do need a lot of sugar. Feel free to reduce the amount of sugar to make a slightly cakier, less chewy brownie.

The Sweet Side of Ancient Grains: Decadent Whole Grain Brownies, Cakes, Cookies, Pies and More, by Erin Dooner, The Countryman Press 2015.

 

Easy braised chicken

SELFEats: The Braised Chicken Recipe That Will Make You Feel Like a Master Chef

Whether you call yourself a "chef" or a simply a "cook," this decadent chicken recipe will instantly upgrade your status in the kitchen.

 

I once had a ridiculous argument with my husband about whether I could call myself a home chef. I was a cook, Max said, not a chef, even with the qualifier of “home.” I had never spent time in a professional kitchen or attended an accredited program, ergo I could lay claim to neither toque nor title. Our friend Gina, who is a real chef and a whiz in any kitchen, happened to bare witness to our ridiculous exchange, and when pressed (by Max, not me), took his side.

 I was annoyed. Mostly because I hate being wrong—who doesn’t?— but also because calling me a cook seemed to devalue both my talents in the kitchen and my efforts to keep our family healthy with home-cooked, wholesome meals day in, day out. Plus, I had taken a handful of cooking classes, obsessively watched cooking shows since I was a teenager (back then they only aired on PBS, imagine my delight when the Food Network launched) and had a shelf stocked with cookbooks to attest to my culinarian ambitions, if not status.

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The newest cookbook to land on my shelf is 12 Recipes, by Cal Peternell, a chef at the legendary Berkley, Calif.-based restaurant Chez Panisse. The book purports to be the ideal beginner’s cookbook—a great gift or starting point for any one of my kitchen-averse friends. I disagree. 12 Recipes is a book even the experienced cook can enjoy—and learn from.

It’s also unlike any other cookbook I’ve ever seen. The title—12 Recipes— refers to the 12 things every home cook should know how to make: toast, eggs, beans, and so on. Think of it as a culinary core curriculum, with Peternell as your esteemed yet affable professor.

I decided to cook from his chapter on braising, a technique I don’t usually use. To braise, in general, means to cook meat (or vegetables) at a high temperature for a short time, then at a low temperature for a long time, often in a liquid. The chapter starts with a few paragraphs on why Peternell loves the technique—you use one pan so there’s low-level clean up and it’s economical since it works best on cheaper cuts of meat—then continues with a recipe for braised chicken legs. Finally he offers a handful of variations on the dish. You can, for example, use lamb, beef or pork instead of chicken, different spices and a plethora of liquids in which to cook your chosen protein.

I decided to make a braised pork shoulder (one of Peternell’s suggested cuts) with Moroccan spices and beer. I seasoned the pork with pinches of salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon and caraway (no measuring spoons needed!) and dumped in a full bottle of pale ale—minus the glug I took.

While the meat cooked, and in need of a veggie side, I decided to make use of the abundant CSA Kholrabi in my fridge. I looked online for a recipe, but finding none that appealed to me, I made up my own: Curried Kholrabi French Fries. I peeled off the green outer layers, sliced the white insides into skinny rectangles and tossed them in curry powder and salt. Then I arranged them in a single layer on a lightly oiled baking sheet. I pulled the meat out of the oven to rest, turned up the heat to 400 degrees, and cooked the fries for about 30-35 minutes, until they were tender and crisped at the edges. The result? Imagine a cross between roasted cauliflower and sweet potato fries—addictive and delicious.

As for the pork, it came out fork tender, with a spicy, caramelized crust and rich vegetable-scented gravy. I served it with rice (a concession to my kids), the fries and a Mache salad dressed with Peternell’s shallot and sherry vinaigrette (so mind-blowing it deserves a shout-out—see below).
It’s been several years since Max and I argued about my non-chef status. Since then, I’ve learned that there is no shame in being “just a cook”—unless, perhaps, you are a terrible one. And even then, with a cookbook like 12 Recipes on hand, it’s unlikely you’ll be terrible for long.

Braised Chicken Legs

 

There are two steps in the braising process: the tasty browning and the tender cooking. Here the chicken is browned in a skillet first, then cooked to tenderness either in the oven or on the stovetop. Dusting the seasoned meat with all-purpose flour thickens the braising liquid and results in a rich, gravy-like sauce. Using stock will give you the most flavorful dish, but water really does work well, especially if you help it out with plenty of flavor from spices and fresh herbs. Wine gives the stew roundness, complexity, and welcome acidity. Beer-cooked chicken has roots in Europe as well as in China and the Americas and renders an earthy, grainy, bitter/fruity flavor, depending on the type of beer used.

The onion can stand alone if you don’t have the carrots and celery, but get some for next time—they are so good in so many things and when in the sweet midst of their individual seasons, each can step forward from the trio and take their solo.

• 5 chicken legs (drumstick and thigh together)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• All-purpose flour, for dredging
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil or butter
• 3/4 cup white or red wine, beer, chicken stock (page 206), or water
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, chunked, chopped, or sliced
• Roughly chopped leaves from 3 thyme, rosemary, or sage sprigs
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cups chicken stock (page 206) or water
• Finely chopped leaves from
• 6 parsley sprigs

Season the chicken legs well with 1 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper and let them sit for a while, 15 minutes to an hour (or, best, overnight in the refrigerator to absorb the seasoning). Unless you’re cooking in the tropics or there’s a hungry, ill-trained dog capable of counter jumping, they need not be refrigerated. Leash that dog and dredge the chicken legs: Put the flour into a bowl or, better, a deep cake pan (the high sides make for less flour-dusting of the kitchen floor), add the chicken legs, and tumble them around so they get completely coated. Shake off all excess flour or it will burn in the skillet and that greasy burned-toast smell will stick. Don’t flour more than you can fry at a go, so depending on the size of your skillet, you may have to work in batches.

Heat a skillet over high and when it’s nice and hot but not smoking, add 2 tablespoons of the oil and then, pretty quickly, the legs. This is an important part: if you leave the oil alone in the hot skillet for long, it will burn and give the braise an off taste. So carefully but swiftly place the floured legs in the hot oil and adjust the heat so that they’re sizzling nicely, not ferociously. Leave them in place; don’t move them any more than needed to make them fit snugly in the skillet. Add more oil if it looks dry. When you can see them getting brown around the edges, after about 5 minutes, turn them over. You’re not trying to cook them through at this stage, so when they are browned all over, about 3 minutes more, set the legs aside. Turn off the heat under the skillet and turn the oven on to 450˚F.
Unless it looks too dark and burned, it’s time to add some liquid to simmer up all the sweet and flavorful bits that are sticking to the skillet.

First pour off all the grease and then return the skillet to medium heat and deglaze by adding the wine and scraping with a wooden spoon as it bubbles. When it’s all dissolved and dislodged, pour the deglazing liquid into a bowl and set aside. (If the skillet is in fact too burned, just wash it out and skip the deglazing step, adding the wine later when the legs go back in.) Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, the onion, carrot, and celery, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, thyme, and bay leaf and cook for a minute, and then return the chicken to the pan, skin side up, along with the reserved deglazing liquid and stock or water. Bring to a simmer and put the skillet in the oven. After 5 minutes, lower the heat to 325˚F. (Or you can skip the oven and simmer, covered loosely, on a low burner.) Cook until very tender, 30 to 40 minutes.

Test for doneness by inserting a slender-bladed knife into the meat. It should pull out easily with very little grab. If the knife sticks, cook for 10 minutes more. Check again, and when done, remove from the oven, lift the legs from the skillet, and set them aside. Pour the contents of the skillet into a small, deep-sided bowl to allow the fat to rise for 5 minutes. With a small ladle, skim off the floating grease layer. Recombine the braising liquid and vegetables with the chicken skin side up, bring back to a simmer, and pop back into the oven for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley, and eat right away, or save to reheat later.

Shallot and Sherry Vinaigrette

We love to eat well-dressed salads of hearty greens on the same plate as roasted chicken (Chapter 9) or braised pork (page 222) or duck legs (page 219). This simple vinaigrette makes especially good company for meats of all sorts, the sherry vinegar mixing politely with the juices while the pickle-y shallots contribute pungent and acidic asides.

• 1 small shallot
• Good pinch of salt (about 1⁄8 teaspoon)
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Peel and mince the shallot in a tiny imitation of dicing an onion (page 12). Mix with the salt, vinegars, mustard, and pepper and let sit for 5 minutes to marinate and temper the shallot. Stir in the olive oil with a fork or a whisk: if it thickens and emulsifies, fine; if not, also fine—just stir before using.

And voila! A gorgeous meal for everyone!

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Ed Anderson; Tatiana Boncompagni

 

Scones for Breakfast!

SELFeats: Apricot, Almond and Whipped Cream Scones are Breakfast Perfection

Step away from sugary morning treats with these gorgeous baked goods.

I love to bake. In the last days of March, when the days begin to stretch gently into the night and I can smell the promise of spring in the air, I bake. I pull out the flour, sugar, butter and vanilla and get to work, letting my thoughts melt into each other, the time pass without heed. At the end, I have something to show and to share—crumbly, sugar-dusted pecan cookies, dense double chocolate brownies, tart fruit pies with flaky, buttery crust.
But my love affair with baking is—like the stuff of so many a juicy romance novel—highly destructive. Sugar is the bad-boy next door: irresistible, addictive, bad for you.
Which is why, over the years, I’ve started cutting back on the amount of sugar I use in my desserts (I cut between 1/3 and 1/2 from most recipes) and substituting maple syrup, honey and raw cane sugar for white sugar and corn syrup. Sometimes the results weren’t all that great—cookies came out too hard, cakes too dense. But more often than not, the natural sugar improved on the original recipe, bringing unexpected texture or deepening flavor. Maple syrup, for example, can bring an earthy sweetness to pumpkin pies; while Turbindo sugar can add a pleasant crunch to oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

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Real Sweet by Shauna Sever, a baking expert and blogger, is the dessert cookbook I’ve been waiting for. There are 80 recipes for wholesome confectionary treats using only natural sugars, plus—my favorite part—a section explaining how each of these sugars impacts the flavor profile of the recipes.
I decided to make Server’s recipe for Apricot, Almond and Whipped Cream Scones because A.) the last time I made scones they emerged from the oven hard as bricks and nearly as tasty and B.) we were planning to go on a hike the next morning and needed a fast, filling breakfast to get us up and out. Server’s recipe called for just 2 tablespoons of honey and a sprinkling of Turbindo sugar. Most of the sweetness comes from the dried fruit in the recipe. I opted for diced dried strawberries instead of cranberries and excluded the almond flakes, but otherwise followed her recipe exactly.
With scones, technique is everything. You soak the dried fruit in hot water, vanilla and almond extract. While the fruit softens in the water and extracts, you work together whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and butter to form a crumbly meal. Next you whip heavy cream with honey to form soft peaks (whipping the cream helps make the scones lighter and less brick-like). Now is the tricky part: The biggest mistake most people make is over working the dough after you add the plumped-up fruit and whipped cream to the crumbly flour mixture. The key is to mix just until there are no big pockets of cream remaining—and not a bit more. Then you dump the whole clump of sticky dough onto a floured surface, free form the lot into a disk with your hands, and cut into triangles. The scones go onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, brushed with egg and sprinkled with Turbindo sugar.
The result? Picture your bad-boy lover getting down on bended knee. Tender and not too sweet, this is one scone recipe worthy of your affection.

Apricot, Cranberry, and Almond Whipped Cream Scones

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Makes 8 Large or 12 Smaller Scones
For the longest time, I was never really a scone person. To me, they were all too often leaden and dry, and neither sweet nor savory enough to be a baked good winner. But as it turned out, I’d just been having the wrong scones. Done right—made with a light touch, tasty add-ins, and just the right amount of honeyed sweetness and turbinado for sparkle and crunch—it’s a totally different, delicious story. Using a cloud of whipped cream, rather than just pouring in the liquid version, gives them additional lightness and a melting quality.
INGREDIENTS: SCONE DOUGH

• 1/2 cup (2 7/8 ounces/80 grams) dried apricots, diced
• 1/4 cup (1 3/8 ounces/40 grams) dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce/28 grams) water
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1 cup (41/4 ounces/120 grams) whole wheat pastry flour, spooned and leveled
• 1 cup (41/2 ounces/128 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for dusting
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest*
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces/85 grams) very cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1/3 cup (1 1/4 ounces/34 grams) sliced Almonds
• 1 cup (8 1/2 ounces/240 grams) chilled heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces/42 grams) honey

INGREDIENTS: FINISHING THE SCONES

• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

TIP: This dough is a sticky one, but it leads to moist, fluffy baked scones. To keep the stick factor down–Not enough can be said about keeping the dough as cool as possible while it comes together and not overworking it—a bench scraper is really helpful for keeping the dough moving on the board without having to squish it with warm hands or add too much flour.
* Whenever I use citrus zest in a recipe, I reach for unwaxed, organic fruit.
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 425˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Have ready an 8-inch round cake pan.
2. In a small, heatproof bowl, combine the apricots, cranberries, water, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Heat in the microwave on high power until steaming, about 45 seconds. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean tea towel and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the pastry and all-purpose flours, baking powder, orange zest, and salt. Add the butter. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse meal without any obvious little chunks of butter in the mix.
4. Uncover the bowl of dried fruit bits. The fruit should be nicely plumped without much liquid in the bowl (drain off any excess). Lightly pat the fruit dry with paper toweling. Add the fruit bits and the almonds to the dry ingredients and toss with your hands to combine.
5. In a medium bowl, combine the heavy cream and honey. Using a handheld mixer, beat the cream to soft peaks.
6. Using a large, flexible spatula, gently fold the honeyed whipped cream into the flour mixture; it will look quite dry at first, but after several folds the dough will begin to come together. When no large puffs of cream remain visible, stop folding—don’t overmix.
7. Lightly flour a work surface, and turn out the dough onto it—the dough will be soft and sticky. Gently knead the dough 5 or 6 times just to smooth it out. Pat the dough into a disk about 6 inches across. Dust a little more flour onto the top of the disk and invert it, flour side down, into the cake pan. Press the dough evenly into the pan to shape it into a neat circle. Dust the top lightly with flour. Invert the molded dough back out onto the work surface. Using a bench scraper or large knife, cut the circle into 8 large wedges. Place the scones, evenly spaced, onto the prepared baking sheet.
8. To finish the scones, in a small bowl whisk together the egg with the water until smooth. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the scones with the egg wash, followed by a generous sprinkling of sugar.
9. Bake until the scones are golden all over, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

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REAL SWEET by Shauna Sever, reprinted courtesy of HarperCollins.

 

How do you feed the people you love?

I’m pretty sure my husband fell in love with me because I can cook. He won’t admit it now, but I can still remember the night, 15 long years ago, when I made him dinner for the first time. Max took one bite of the chicken in cherry sauce I’d thrown together in the dinky kitchen of our Hamptons share house and just stared at me across the table.

I’d known I’d wanted to marry him from the moment I laid eyes on him; apparently he’d needed to taste my cooking first.

But that’s okay. Because food can be a form of love. Chopping, mixing, simmering—what is that if not a ritual, with the end result being its own kind of offering? Think of all the care you put into your cooking. What if that effort doesn’t disappear but, rather, like all energy on earth, it takes on another form? What if the love you put into your cooking is like another nutrient—up there with protein and anti-oxidants—that’s just as essential? After all, none of us can truly thrive without love in our lives.

So then, the only question left is: How do you feed the people you love? On Valentine’s Day, the answer—I think—should be something sweet. Chocolate is ideal. Decadence is a must. Food52 founder Amanda Hesser’s Chocolate Dump-It Cake checks both those boxes. Plus it’s delicious. I’d mastered a good number of desserts—everything from pumpkin pie to panna cotta—but cake, so far, had eluded me. My previous attempts often turned out dense and dry or calling out for more flavor. But maybe all I was missing was the right recipe. This cake turned out moist and light and was incredibly easy to pull together.

To start, you melt some chocolate and butter. The recipe says you should do it over a double boiler, but you can also do it in a heat-proof bowl in a microwave. Next you mix in the wet ingredients: milk, eggs and vinegar to add a little fluffiness (this trick also works with pancakes). Last you sift in the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder, etc) and mix in a little vanilla before pouring the batter into a greased and floured pan. Cook until a fork comes out clean when you poke it into the cake. (I cooked my cake in a bundt pan for 35 minutes).

The frosting is even easier. It contains only two ingredients: Melted chocolate chips and sour cream. The only tricky part is making sure you combine the melted chocolate and sour cream when they are at the same temperature so they blend smoothly. (I let my chocolate over cool so it became hard again and had to reheat and recool it.) The end result is a lighter, more chocolatey version of your standard chocolate buttercream.

Once the cake was cooled and frosted, I called my husband over from his perch on the living room couch and offered him a slice.

”From a box?” Max asked after taking his first bite.

“Nope,” I said. “It was from scratch.”

He lifted his eyebrows, impressed. “Nice work,” he said, that look in his eyes, once again.

It wasn’t quite the magical, chicken-in-cherry-sauce moment we’d once had, but I love that after 15 years together I can still surprise him—and myself.

My foray into the Paleo-way

I have no trouble understanding the appeal of the Paleo Diet. The diet allows you to eat plenty of meat, fat, veggies, legumes and fermented foods and drink coffee laced with butter and coconut oil (surprisingly delicious). Going Paleo also means giving up grains (our bodies aren’t “hardwired” to digest them, proponents say), processed and refined foods (that’s anything made from white flour or sugar), plus dairy—which is why I won’t be jumping on the Paleo bandwagon anytime soon.
But while I love wine, cheese and chocolate too much to follow this diet full-time, I’m curious enough about it to try cooking a meal or two, especially when the recipes look as tasty as the ones in The Paleo Chef do. The cookbook’s author, Chris Evans, is a chef, health coach and the host of The Moveable Feast on PBS. His recipes are hearty and flavorful. Many of them feature Asian spices, so I decided to go with an Asian-themed meal for my brood—Japanese Crispy Chicken and Turkey and Shiitake Lettuce Cups.

Both recipes were easy to follow but took a long time to prep. A lot of the ingredients had to be washed and chopped—and there were a lot of ingredients. If you don’t have a well-stocked pantry, you’ll have a long shopping list, and might have to take an additional run to a grocery or health food store that stocks less widely available ingredients like wheat-free tamari (a gluten-free substitute for soy sauce), almond meal and tapioca starch (to sub for the flour for the fried chicken).

The Japanese Crispy Chicken went over well with my kids—even my picky ten year old cleaned his plate—and the lettuce cups tasted fresh and light. The combination of coconut oil, cilantro, ginger and fish sauce will always call to mind a trip we took to Thailand and the great food we sampled there. I wanted a bit more spice in my cups, so next time I make this recipe—in the summer, for an alfresco dinner upstate with friends—I’ll add extra ginger and red chili.

I wasn’t done with The Paleo Chef yet: The next night, at the behest of my husband, I made Nasi Goreng, which means fried Rice in Balinese. Evans’s version uses cauliflower instead of rice, but I didn’t do that for the sake of time. Once again, the ingredient list was long and the prep time considerable. There’s chicken, shrimp, bacon, coconut oil, tamarind pulp, fish sauce and wheat-free tamari, plus lots of fresh vegetables and aromatics and a whole fried egg atop each serving. I won’t lie; it was a lot of work. But at the end, when my husband turned to me and told me it was the best thing I’d made since he didn’t know when, I knew my efforts had been worthwhile.

This is not a beginner’s cookbook, and the jury is still out on whether the Paleo diet is as healthy as its advocates claim, but the recipes in this book are delicious. That, at least, is not up for debate.

Turkey & Shiitake Lettuce Cups

 

SERVES 4

• 1 tbsp coconut oil, ghee, or duck fat
• 3 cloves garlic, minced 4 shallots, chopped
• 2 tsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
• 1 1/3 lb (600 g) ground turkey 4 oz (120 g) shiitake mushrooms, chopped
• 2 tbsp wheat-free tamari or coconut aminos
• 1 tbsp fish sauce, plus more to serve
• 1 tsp raw honey (optional)
• 1 (8 oz/225 g) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
• 4 green onions, finely chopped
• 2 fresh red chiles, seeded and chopped
• 3 1/2 oz (100 g) bean sprouts 8 iceberg lettuce leaves, washed and dried
• Fresh cilantro leaves, torn, to serve
• Lime wedges, to serve

Heat a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the coconut oil and swirl around the wok. Add the garlic, shallots, and ginger and cook for 1 minute. Add the turkey and mushrooms and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cooked through and browned. Add the tamari, fish sauce, and honey, if using, and toss to mix. Then add the water chestnuts, green onions, and chiles and keep stirring until the mixture is well combined. Cook until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, mix in the bean sprouts, and check for seasoning, adding more fish sauce or sea salt if needed.
To serve, place the lettuce cups on a serving platter or four plates. Top each with some of the turkey mixture, and garnish with cilantro leaves and lime wedges.

Japanese Crispy Chicken with Miso Mayonnaise

SERVES 4

• miso mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) mayonnaise (page 203)
• 1 tsp white miso paste
• 1 tbsp bonito flakes, crushed in your hands to form a powder marinade & chicken
• 1 tsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp white wine
• 3 tbsp wheat-free tamari or coconut aminos
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 3/4 lb (800 g) boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch (5 cm) pieces
• 3/4 cup (75 g) almond meal
• 3/4 cup (90 g) tapioca starch
• Coconut oil, for frying to serve
• Fresh baby shiso leaves
• Black and white sesame seeds, toasted
• Ichimi togarashi (Japanese ground red chile; optional)

To make the miso mayonnaise, combine the mayonnaise, miso, and bonito powder and mix until blended. Set aside.
To make the seasoning marinade, combine the ginger, garlic, egg yolk, wine, tamari, sesame oil, 1 tsp sea salt, and some freshly cracked black pepper. Add the chicken, turning the pieces until well coated. Marinate in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes.
In a shallow bowl, mix together the almond meal and tapioca starch. Lift the chicken out of the marinade and coat the chicken with the almond meal mixture, shaking off any excess.
Fill a wok or saucepan halfway with coconut oil and heat over medium heat to reach 340°F (170°C). Add one piece of chicken to the oil to test; it should bubble right away. Deep-fry the chicken in batches until golden brown, crispy and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Place on paper towels to drain the excess oil. Season with salt and pepper.
To serve, thread the chicken pieces onto eight skewers. Garnish with the shiso leaves, sesame seeds, and ichimi togarashi. Pass the mayonnaise alongside.

Nasi Goreng

SERVES 4

• 4 tbsp coconut oil
• 14 oz (400 g) boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2-inch (2 cm) pieces
• 5 oz (150 g) sliced bacon, thinly sliced crosswise
• 4 shallots, thinly sliced 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
• 1 celery stalk, trimmed and finely diced
• 1 fresh red chile, seeded and finely chopped
• 5 oz (150 g) cooked, peeled bay shrimp
• 1/2 cup (50 g) finely shredded Chinese cabbage
• 1 tsp shrimp paste
• 3 cups (600 g) Cauliflower Rice (page 61)
• 1 cup (120 g) bean sprouts 2 green onions, sliced
• 2 tbsp fried shallots (page 207)
• 4 tbsp wheat-free tamari or coconut aminos
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp tamarind pulp
• 4 eggs
• Bird chiles, thinly sliced
• Lime wedges

Place a large wok over medium heat, add 2 tbsp of the coconut oil, and heat until just smoking. Add half the chicken and stir-fry until brown and just cooked through, 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, then stir-fry the remaining chicken and trasfer to the bowl. Add the bacon to the wok and stir-fry until it becomes golden and crispy, 2 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the chicken and set aside.
Add 1 tbsp coconut oil to the wok and heat over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and stir-fry until shallots are soft, 1 minute. Add the carrot, celery, and red chile and stir-fry for 3 minutes.
Return the cooked chicken and bacon to the wok, add the shrimp and cabbage, and stir-fry until the cabbage wilts, 3 minutes. Stir in the shrimp paste, then add the cauliflower rice, bean sprouts, green onions, 1 tbsp of the fried shallots, the tamari, fish sauce, and tamarind pulp. Stir-fry until heated through, 2 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.
Heat the remaining 1 tbsp coconut oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, crack the eggs into the pan and cook, uncovered, until the whites set and the yolks are almost set (for a soft yolk), 2 minutes, or until cooked to your liking. Transfer to a plate.
Spoon the nasi goreng into four shallow serving bowls. Top each with a fried egg and sprinkle over the remaining 1 tbsp fried shallots. Serve, accompanied by chile slices and lime wedges.
Reprinted with permission from The Paleo Chef by Pete Evans, copyright © 2014. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc.

Photography © 2014 by Mark Roper