Some people drool over Neiman-Marcus catalogs filled with designer clothes and $600 shoes. My guilty pleasure is cookware catalogs abrim with pricey pots and clever gadgets.

I always make time to thumb through the Williams-Sonoma catalog even though I rarely can afford anything on its glossy pages. That’s how I ran across Thomas Keller’s slow-cooker cassoulet, photographed temptingly in All-Clad’s shiny, deluxe slow cooker ($279.95, gasp, plus tax and shipping), last week.

Keller, of course, is All-Clad’s celebrity chef spokesman. He’s paid to tout their products, which always are top of the line with prices to match. On the other hand, he’s the man who turned The French Laundry into arguably the best restaurant in the country. His palate is pitch perfect.

If Keller was willing to put his name on a slow cooker cassoulet recipe, I felt compelled to try it.

Continue reading Soul-warming cassoulet in a slow cooker →

Let’s face it, broccoli gets no respect.

George H. W. Bush won’t touch it and neither will my dad.

Even those of us who eat it all the time, don’t give it much thought. It’s the old reliable, always waiting in the market for that day when nothing more glamorous beckons. It’s pleasant enough when cooked properly, and no one disputes that it’s good for us with all those vitamins, calcium and fiber. Yet it’s rarely a show-stopper.

What broccoli needs is a makeover. That’s just what it gets from Ina Garten, the television cooking show star known as the Barefoot Contessa. In her latest cookbook, “Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics” (Clarkson Potter, 2008), she transforms the humble vegetable from a bit player into a star. Parmesan-roasted broccoli is guaranteed to impress even the skeptics still among us. Continue reading Broccoli gets a makeover →

Black-eyed peas were always on the New Year’s Day menu when I was a child. It’s a Southern tradition said to bring prosperity in the coming year, much like the custom of serving lengthy noodles at Chinese New Year is intended to ensure a long life. Each cute little pea we consumed was supposed to put a dollar in our pockets.

We ate them fairly plain, usually out of a can. Truth be told, they were rather dull and boring, hardly the sort of food the uninitiated would expect at a celebration. No wonder I found it hard to interest my Midwestern-born husband in continuing the tradition.

Little did I know then how good black-eyed peas could be. Today, it’s a delight to eat them as an auspicious beginning to a brand new year. Continue reading Greet the New Year with black-eyed peas →

One good thing about coming from a family without a lot of immutable holiday traditions is you get to make up your own. That’s how we came to eat tamales at my house on Christmas Eve even though none of our ancestors would have had the slightest idea what to do with masa or chiles.

Since I’ve never been initiated into the secrets of tamale making, we let Lucy’s Tamale Factory prepare ours. To go with them, I cook a pot of savory pinto beans with onions, straight out of “Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen” (Scribner, 1996), along with rice and a festive salad. This year I’m also thinking about trying my hand at corn tortillas, but that’s another post.

This salad is far from traditional but it draws on flavors Continue reading Festive salad for the season →

Attention bakers: It’s not too late to make your own golden panettone for Christmas.

It doesn’t have to take days of fiddling with starters and multiple mixings of dough. And if the results aren’t quite as delicate as the festive bread from Milan’s best bakeries, they certainly beat the packaged panettone found at most stores. Just think of the bragging rights.

I love the light, airy texture and sweet, buttery flavor of this traditional Italian celebration bread at its best. I’m not so fond, however, of the bitter chunks of citron and rock-like raisins in most commercial panettone. So when I ran across Jim Lahey’s recipe in the December Gourmet, I couldn’t resist. Continue reading Panettone for Christmas →

It’s hard to imagine a better present for anyone who cooks than a new cookbook. A good cookbook is a friend in the kitchen, introducing new ingredients, explaining unfamiliar techniques, and even inspiring altogether new dishes. It belongs on the counter with food stains on the pages and notes penciled in the margins.

With that in mind, I offer here half a dozen recently published cookbooks that have won my affection this year. Any one of them would make a great gift for your favorite cook (or a place on your own wish list). Continue reading Cookbooks for Christmas →

Fresh cranberries are not the sort of produce I usually celebrate.

They’re not local – the entire American crop is grown in only five chilly northern states – and just a tiny fraction of the harvest is organic. They require vast quantities of water for cultivation and pose serious environmental challenges.

I love them anyway. Their bright, tart flavor and beautiful ruby red color bring a sparkle to dreary winter days that’s hard to give up.

The arrival of bags and boxes of the little jewels in the supermarket heralds the beginning of the holiday season in November. Come January, they’re gone . . . unless I remember to stash some in the freezer while they’re still available.

At Thanksgiving, we all eat cranberries, whether fresh or canned. They’re the humble supporting player to the noble roast turkey at the traditional feast. I like to grind raw berries in a food processor with a cut-up orange, a handful of walnuts and sugar to taste for a lively relish that sings with sweet, tart flavor. It’s the perfect counterpoint to often dull turkey.

Yet cranberries really deserve a starring role and they get one in this upside-down cake from my friend Joyce Gemperlein. Continue reading Cranberries: Jewels of the holidays →

Most years, I reach for a can of pumpkin puree when I’m baking Thanksgiving pies. This fall, though, the cute little Sugar Pie pumpkins called out to me from their bins at the market.

They’re locally grown, organic and perfectly packaged – the only waste goes straight into the compost bin. Plus they really do taste better, with a lovely, delicate flavor unsullied by tin can undertones. I’ve become a convert.

Preparing these little pumpkins isn’t that difficult: Split them in half vertically, scrape out the seeds, and bake them in a 400-degree oven for about an hour, until a knife easily pierces the skin. Let them cool a bit, scoop out the pulp and whirl in a food processor and you’re set. You could mash the pulp with a potato masher or put it through a ricer, but the processor makes a smoother puree for pies.

Although the tiniest pumpkins are appealing, look for one around 3 pounds or more. The 5 pounder I baked yielded almost 5 cups of puree.

Such luscious, fresh-tasting puree calls for something more special than my usual pie. So I created a new tart recipe that contrasts the pure pumpkin flavor of a silky custard with the dark and spicy character of a crisp gingersnap cookie crust. Continue reading Fresh pumpkin tart for Thanksgiving →

The sight of brilliant orange persimmons dangling from the branches of virtually leafless trees always makes me smile.

For years, though, the memory of that one shockingly tannic, under-ripe persimmon I had bitten into during junior high led me to think of the beautiful fall fruit as little more than nature’s holiday ornaments. They were attractive displayed in a bowl or arranged in a centerpiece but I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to eat them.

Then I joined a community garden with a bountiful persimmon tree and decided to give the fruit another chance. What a difference a variety makes! These were Fuyus, nearly as crisp as an apple, spicy and sweet even when not completely ripe. They were great for eating out of hand or tossing in a salad. Continue reading A persimmon to love →