Fried Yuca Balls

One beautiful April day, we drove upstate to meet our puppy and then had lunch at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. Our meal was insanely good, filled with memorable dishes of the tenderest short ribs and fried yucca balls. It was my first time tasting yuca (cassava root) and it was love at first bite.

Green Bean Casserole From Scratch

When my European mother came to the U.S. she did her best to understand American holidays and customs. The idea of Thanksgiving appealed to her but some of the traditional foods did not. So she gave them her own spin.

Acorn Squash Stuffing Bowls

Is it called stuffing or dressing? The answer is that it depends on how it's cooked. It is stuffing if it's cooked inside the bird but dressing if it's cooked on the side. So now you just have to decide which way you want to make it.

Cheesy Rice and Vegetable Bake

I totally understand wanting a healthy food reset in the new year. But, there's a strong argument to be made for comfort food in January because it's cold and it gets dark ridiculously early and it's a little depressing when the holidays are over. We can compromise between the two, though.

Baked Potato and Cheese Croquettes

These crispy little balls of cheesy, potato goodness are a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. Normally there aren't a lot of those left over in my house but, on Thanksgiving, it's the stuffing that everyone goes for first so I've got a shot at some extra spuds.

Smoked Gouda Whole Egg Souffle

Souffles are always so tempting on restaurant menus, right? But making them at home seems daunting. It's actually a simple recipe but still, the thought of it puts most of us off. I've got a solution for that.

Biscuit Topped Tomato Cobbler

It still amazes me how much I disliked tomatoes when I was a kid and how I now can't pass up a ripe batch of these gorgeous August beauties. They call out from the farmer's market tables, begging to come home with me. I accommodate.

Smoked Cheddar Corn Gratin

Summer corn has been on repeat in my house lately. That natural sweetness, paired up with butter and seasoning is hard to resist this time of year. And since I have so many ears of corn in my kitchen, there was also plenty to make something more creative.

Vegetarian White Bean Cassoulet

I hesitated slightly to call this dish a cassoulet because the original is a French casserole that includes white beans, duck confit as well as other meats and is slow cooked for days in a special earthenware pot. But if we can get past that, my version is way easier to make and ridiculously delicious.

Stuffed Roasted Cornish Game Hen

My European mother came to the US as an adult and had to learn American foods and holiday customs. She liked the idea of them but wasn't completely sold on some of the dishes so she put her own spin on them. This also applied to the Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey which she interpreted to mean some kind of roast bird. And it was fun each year to see which bird she'd chosen.

Bacon Cheddar Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing

Let's talk about the best part of the Thanksgiving feast: stuffing! Or, in this case, dressing. Because when you stuff it inside the bird it's called stuffing and when you make it on the side it's called dressing. In my family we call it stuffing no matter what because dressing is the stuff you pour on salad. But that's not important right now. What is important is: stuffing!

Ghee Roasted White and Sweet Potato Salad

For some reason, 2018 is running by super fast for me. Half the things I was supposed to get to in the first quarter of the year are still untouched. And then suddenly I look up and it's two weeks to the start of long summer weekends, beach openings and grilling season. Not that those things are anything to complain about.

Individual Red Lentil Pot Pies

There are just some culinary terms that make me extra happy and pot pie is one of them. The image of creamy filling encased in pastry is enough to make me hungry. It's also an incredibly versatile dish since both the crust and the filling can be varied so much.

Baked Cauliflower Rice and Bacon Arancini

Where should I begin? The arancini part, the cauliflower rice part or the fact that this recipe serves four but I ate most of it by myself for dinner last night?

Smoky Beer Battered Cauliflower

In between batches of holiday cookies, I thought I would take a quick veggie break and indulge my love of cauliflower. I'll eat it pretty much every way there is but I have to admit that my mother's crispy breaded and fried cauliflower was and still is my favorite. So, so good but maybe not so good for me if I'm trying to minimize the cookie damage.

Cheesy White and Sweet Potato Latkes

Hannukah is about a week away so my mind has been drifting to classic holiday favorites like latkes and doughnuts. It's a celebration of oil, after all. But you don't have to be Jewish to appreciate fried potato pancakes anymore than you need to be Christian to eat Christmas cookies.

Roasted Honeynut Squash Salad with Candied Pecans

I feel like the only food I eat lately is tastings of cake and cookie batter. OK, that's possibly a slight exaggeration but I was feeling like the fresh greens took a back seat once the temperature started dipping.

Cheesy Spaetzle and Mushroom Bake

It's been such an unusually warm autumn in New York that I almost didn't notice that somebody pulled the winter switch somewhere. I stepped out the other day to walk my dog, wearing the light jacket that's been my staple this past month, and suddenly had to run back upstairs to grab a winter coat, gloves and scarf. Going from 70 degrees down to 20 is just not right, Mother Nature.

Roasted Cauliflower Gratin with Crispy Shallots

Let's talk vegetable side dishes. Whether you're planning the meal for Thanksgiving, Christmas or any entertaining in between, I'm upping my roasted cauliflower game big time.

Baked Polenta with Bacon and Gruyere

Let's get the basics out of the way before we dive, face first, into this pan of deliciousness. Is it cornmeal or polenta? What's the difference? What should I buy? Why does one bag say cornmeal and the other bag say polenta? So, polenta is the name of the dish and cornmeal is the stuff it's made out of. Easy, right? You can use regular, medium or course ground cornmeal to make polenta but very fine ground will make it gummy. So, if the bag is labeled polenta, all it means is that the grind of the cornmeal is OK to make that dish. I buy cornmeal, in a regular/medium grind because it's the most versatile.