Kate Cooks The Books
Kate Sheehan
Like you, I have a “real” job that has nothing to do with food and a more than full-time child so I cook in my so-called free time. Fortunately for all of us, cooking is my golf and I don’t mind spending hours doing it in order to help find the cookbooks worth having.
Funfetti Cake
Unlike Molly, and maybe many of you, this was not an “iconic cake of my childhood” mainly because I was a child in the 1960s and cake innovation technology just wasn’t there yet. But even without the strong pull of nostalgia, how can you not be drawn to this cake? It’s got “fun” right in the title for crying out loud!
Squash and Ricotta Pizza with Sage and Arugula
Since I am limited in how many recipes I can reproduce on my site (go figure, it’s like Molly wants to make money off her hard work and ingenuity or something) I’m going to just give you some guidelines on how to make this stupendous pizza. The dough is…
Schnitzel Bao with Sriracha Mayo and Sesame Pickles
Mercy. Not a weeknight meal, to be sure. But if you have a rainy afternoon and a desire to impress the hell out of even yourself with your cooking, make these. Molly says you can use “store bought bao” but you will likely not find them in a regular…
Slow Cooker Goulash with Scallion Knodeln
One reason I love having a blog is that when I make something fabulous I have an outlet for my enthusiasm. Last night I made goulash, a dish I don’t think I’ve ever made before so I have no point of comparison, for what it’s worth. But taken solely…
Gruyere Mac and Cheese with Caramelized Onions
Does it seem like everyone is trying to do something different, or quirky, or artisanal, or “maker” with mac and cheese? It’s on menus from dive bars to foam boutiques, paired with PBRs and boldly-priced malbecs. Like pizza, it’s basic enough…
Appetites
I’ve been a fan of Anthony Bourdain’s since Kitchen Confidential and I’ve always felt a little bad for him in that he’s gotten one of those super-sticky labels that famous people acquire (sometimes unfairly), in his case: “bad boy,”…
Pimento Cheese: Dip, Sandwich or All-Purpose Life-Fixer
Sometimes you just want cheese-spread on Ritz crackers. Sometimes you want to serve it to company and sometimes you want to be alone with your schmear-y treat and brown sleeve of crackers. Sometimes you want to make it into a sandwich and grill it up in a pan….
Strawberry Cream Cake
My most-requested cake. My Strawberry Letter 22. My best shot at the Nobel Prize in Baking.
Kansas City BBQ Brisket
Sometimes a certain dish calls out to you, maybe prompted by a picture, a season, a memory, a craving, a passing aroma. In paging through the recipes in this book one thing I really wanted to make was a barbecued beef sandwich that would taste like one from this…
Grilled Eggplant with Yogurt Sauce
This recipe attempts to solve a couple of eggplant problems: excessive moisture and an unpleasant texture best described as “spongy.” Grilling (vs. other cooking methods) itself solves the moisture by letting it all drip away. To avoid sponginess we are…
Juicy Lucy Burgers
Apparently a Minneapolis tavern specialty, the Juicy Lucy is a burger with the cheese — are you sitting down? — inside. Wow, way to blow our minds, half of the Twin Cities! I’m not sure what the advantage is to a cheese surprise but it’s a…
Grilled Pork Kebabs with Hoisin and Five-Spice
I have made so many disappointing grilled, glazed pork tenderloins. They look so good and yet they never seem to work for me. I have the same relationship with J Crew clothes. Typically what happens is the glaze gets completely charred and never penetrates beyond…
Mediterranean-Style Portobello Burgers
If you want to serve something to the vegetarians in your life that will make the meat eaters drool, Pin this right now. It’s an absolute star of a meatless entree that is no way an after-thought or an apology. As I was preparing this, and especially when I sat…
Next book: Master of the Grill
Guess what? America’s Test Kitchen contacted me and asked me to review their new book. You know what that means? Yep. I won. It’s possible that they sent the same email to dozens of bloggers, food journalists, respected practitioners of the culinary arts…
Easy Skillet Pizza re-visited
I wrote about this a year ago when I first made it but after making it again this weekend I felt compelled to tell you about it (and give you the recipe this time). It is truly delicious and, aside from the dough rising, quick. This time I threw some prosciutto on…
Short Rib Pot Pie
Photo by Gentl and Hyers Why humble-brag when you can just straight out brag? I kicked my own ass when I made this dish. You know how they say if you can read a recipe you can cook? I did that. But first, I used my formidable powers of discernment to pick a recipe…
Sauteed Chicken Cutlets with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Of course we all know that a boneless, skinless chicken breasts are an excellent source of low-fat, healthy protein, but the thought of eating one is about as enticing as doing your taxes. It’s very tricky to cook them all the way through without completely…
Plump and Tender Shrimp Cocktail
Do you long to be fancy but only in a fleeting way? Like, you’d like to fancy up some parts of your life but not go overboard and start making your bed everyday or anything crazy like that? Then let me say two word s to you: shrimp cocktail. Make it, eat this…
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
One of my favorite things in the world are the Lemon Ricotta pancakes at Sarabeth’s Kitchen. Unfortunately the closest Sarabeth’s to me is the one on the Upper West Side and it’s a 12 hour and 45 minute drive. So I have been meaning to try to…
Cheesy Broccoli or Cauliflower Casserole
There’s nothing bad about broccoli in a creamy cheese sauce with buttery breadcrumbs on top. Nothing. But it could be better. It’s hard to put my finger on what’s missing. I think I wanted bigger, more hearty pieces of broccoli when what I ended…
Quick Chickpea and Spinach Stew (or Making a Blender Murderer)
This is so good I’m almost able to forgive it for breaking my blender. And it is the absolute perfect food for January. It will warm you and comfort you and fortify you against any arctic blasts you may have to fight this month. And all while making up for…
Perfect Easy Red Sauce and Pasta with Caramelized Eggplant and Rich Tomato Sauce
I’m combining my notes on these two recipes because one is really a variation on the other. One of the most brilliant recipes of all time is Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Butter Sauce [no recipe even needed: put a can of whole tomatoes (28 oz.), 4 tablespoons of…
Cranberry Sauce with Cider and Cinnamon
For my daughter this is the undisputed highlight of our Christmas dinner and one of her all-time favorite foods. I have been making it for years from a photocopy from a cookbook whose title had been cut off from the copy (or “Xerox” as we used to call…
Dry-Brined Turkey
Photo: Evan Sung for the New York Times I think I’m done searching for the be-all and end-all turkey. Right here, this is it. Probably the best turkey I’ve ever made and I’ve made a few. I was a devotee of Cook’s Illustrated’s wet…