beauty essentials

  

Make these instead of (or alongside) Juleps for the Derby, and then make them every warm weekend thereafter. Enlist a friend to help you bash ice, or, for a larger crowd, we like to crush ice in a blender. (less) - Kenzi Wilbur

Serves 1

1 1/2 ounces Bulleit bourbon
1 heaping barspoon peach jam
1 barspoon honey
1 fat lemon wedge
4 to 6 mint leaves

Muddle the herbs and lemon wedge, then add the jam, honey, and spirit and stir.
Add ice and shake hard for 5 to 10 seconds, depending on the size of your ice. Strain into a rocks glass over crushed ice. Garnish with more mint.  

I've been meaning to write this post for a long time, so long in fact, that this recipe has changed since I originally intended to write about it. That's a good thing, meaning that this recipe is a favorite of ours and that it is quality controlled and tested (another way of saying I ate a lot of it). But the thing I've been meaning to write about is the difference between roasting and frying. If you were to ask a Western chef, say Michael Ruhlman, about the difference, he would probably give you a long answer about heat and molecules and fat absorption. But in the most of the world (that is in the 2nd and 3rd worlds), there is one distinction between frying and roasting: money.

The cost of cooking fuel is a major expense in many households and it costs a whole lot more to heat an oven at a consistent temperature than it does to use a relatively small flame to heat a pot of frying oil. And I'm not talking just about poverty here, for middle class families in places like Iraq and Syria, where people have modern ovens and cooking appliances, the oven is still reserved for use sparingly, for special occasions and big cuts of meat, because of the cost associated. And in many places like China and Japan, ovens aren't even a standard part of the kitchen.

I say this mainly because there are several Middle Eastern recipes where I adapt frying to roasting. Frankly, I don't want to wrestle a pot of boiling oil, and roasting is a bit more healthful and easier. In the case of this recipe, it started with a simple preparation for cauliflower. The cauliflower is broken into florets, fried in a shallow pan of oil, and served with a squeeze of lemon and maybe a bit of tahini sauce. It's addictive, in a way you never thought cauliflower could be.

I roast the cauliflower in a pan in the oven, which means you can roast the entire head at once. I originally served the cauliflower with just a drizzling of tahini sauce, then I added a few slivered almonds, then some golden raisins, and so on until I arrived at this salad. It's crunchy and creamy and tart and perfect for winter.

Roast Cauliflowers with Tahini, Almond, and Pomegranate
Don't be surprised if you find you can eat a whole head of roast cauliflower yourself, it's surprisingly addictive. Pine nuts can also be used in place of almonds.

1 large head of cauliflower
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 recipe tahini sauce
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
1 cup of chopped parsley and cilantro (mixed)

1. Preheat oven to 410 F. Place head of cauliflower sideways on a large cutting board, and start slicing about 1/2 inch slices across the top. There will be a mess of tiny florets everywhere, that's okay. When you reach the core, slice the sides of the cauliflower in the same manner. Chop any large florets into smaller bits (about 1-2 inch pieces). Discard core.

2. Drizzle olive oil over a large baking sheet. Add all the cauliflower to the baking sheet, drizzle with a bit more olive oil and roll around so that cauliflower is coated in oil. Season well with salt and pepper. Roast cauliflower for 25-35 minutes, until browned in spots and large pieces of cauliflower are tender when poked with a knife.

3. Meanwhile, while cauliflower is roasting, place raisins in a bowl and pour boiling water over the cover. Let sit to plump. Toast almonds in a skillet until lightly browned and fragrant.

4. Transfer cauliflower to a serving bowl. Drain raisins, and add raisins, almonds, and herbs to cauliflower, stirring to mix. Drizzle tahini sauce over top (you may not use all of it). Sprinkle pomegranate seeds over. Serve warm or at room temperature.  

Winter snowstorms--whether in your area or halfway across the country--are opportunities for excuses. An excuse not to work. An excuse to stay in sweatpants all day. And an excuse to drink hot chocolate.

The flipside of that excuse: If you're stuck at home all day with not much else to do but watch the snow fall, there's no reason not to make your hot chocolate the best it can be. Here are a few ways to give your drinking chocolate an upgrade.

1. Spike it with booze.

Get the recipe: Brandied Hot Chocolate

This just may be the best part about being an adult because, really, what isn't better with a bit of booze? Just stir in a shot of brandy, rum, or whiskey right before sipping. You're welcome.

2. Add serious spice.

Sure, you can infuse hot chocolate with cinnamon and it will undoubtly be delicious. But go beyond the warming spices and try the more fiery ones. Here, ancho chili powder and a red chile are added to the mix.

Get the recipe: Mexican Hot Cocoa

3. Pour it over ice cream, call it dessert.


Because what isn't better with a scoop of ice cream? Typically made by pouring hot espresso over vanilla gelato, this take on the classic Italian dessert swaps out espresso for creamy hot cocoa. Don't limit this decadent combination to just peppermint ice cream--vanilla, coffee, or chocolate are also pretty perfect.

Get the recipe: Hot-Cocoa Affogato with Peppermint Ice Cream

4. Go big with your toppings.


Fact: Canned whipped cream and mini marshmallows are so passé. Go a heavy-handed dollop of freshly whipped cream, instead. (A drizzle of caramel sauce doesn't hurt, either.)

Get the recipe: Caramel-Swirl Hot Chocolate  

Forget everything you’ve been told about salted butter.

Ok.
There, I hope that was easy.

(Now forget my last column.)

I’ve recently reconverted to salted butter.
Most recipe-writers like myself call for unsalted butter because it’s easier to gauge how much salt will be used in the recipe and everyone seems to be on an exactitude kick when baking. Lighten up, home cooks. If people followed traffic rules with the same methodical precision they followed recipes we’d all be a lot safer Probiotic powder.

Kouign Amann took me a few years to learn to pronounce (although I tried to describe this to a French person) it’s pronounced like “shwing” from Wayne’s World, which lost something for better or worse in the translation. It’s perhaps the best known dessert of this region. Driving through villages and cities, you’ll find them piled high in the window of bakeries. Layers of flaky pastry cooked with obscene amounts of salted butter and sugar. When cooked right, the combination of melt-away pastry and salty caramel is unbelievable.

However since I wrote the last column on getting larger, I figured I’d better hold back on further descriptions of Kouign Amann and switch to gateaux Bretons and palets Bretons. Both are basically buttery shortcakes with that lip-coating-just-near-the-ocean saltiness that cuts the richness of the butter Burgundy wine.

Palets Bretons are small, cake-like confections (shown piled above) that have the consistency of rich cornbread with the exact blend of tender-toughness that Clint Eastwood is beginning to aspire to. Gateaux Bretons are larger cakes made of rich better, poured into a cake mold, scraped with a fork, then baked until golden brown. When done right it’s perhaps the most delicious thing in the universe. The picture that you see here means that a lot of people will get to experience that delicious-ness themselves.

My favorite place for palets Bretons is C. Ferchaux on the rue Général de Gaulle in Ploubazlanec (Bretons have a different language, and many of the names and places are full of “z’s”. You should have heard me trying to give directions.) I practically died walking in the bakery. The overwhelming smell of butter was greater than that of a butter farm I once visited. On the countertop was a big pot of rice pudding that the woman informed me gets cooked in the oven alongside the bread for 4 hours lafite rothschild. I took a picture, but it would take a better food stylist than me to get rich pudding to look unctuous in a photo, so I skipped it in favor of the cakes.  

Something I always have on hand in the kitchen is a roll of aluminum foil -- it's super-convenient for baking (and sometimes, after a long day at work, I'll wrap my fish in it before popping it onto my George Foreman grill) -- hello, zero cleanup Neo skin lab derma21.

Speaking of cleanup, did you know that if you ball up some foil, you can use it to scrub uncoated pans? Yup, it's true. If you don't have any scrubby sponges or steel wool (rough) on hand, balled-up foil is a great alternative -- just combine it with a bit of water and salt for a soap-free clean University Fellow.

And after you scrub up that uncoated pan, why not make some of your favorite comfort foods? Like:

Skillet Mac and Cheese

Pan-Roasted Veal Chops With Arugula

Sauteed Pork Chops With Sweet Potato, Apples, and Mustard Sauce

Pan-Seared Five-Spice Duck Breast With Balsamic Au Jus