Let the parsnip stand in for the potato in these healthy oven fries. Parsnips have an earthy sweetness, making them an interesting alternative to same-old, same-old spud fries. These, with sliced garlic and Parmesan, are downright addictive.
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Homemade mayonnaise is rich, creamy, and tangy in a way stuff from the jar can’t duplicate. Whipping up your own mayo also is a use of leftover egg yolks from making meringues and other egg-white-based recipes (like our Chocolate Angel Food Cake); the fresher the eggs, the silkier, tastier and more golden your mayonnaise will be. I enjoy the satisfaction of whipping the egg yolks by hand, but you could use a blender, food processor or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (a good idea if you decide to double or triple this recipe). The amount of oil you’ll use depends on the size of the yolks and how thick you like your mayonnaise; for a stiff sauce, use more oil. This homemade mayonnaise is great spread on a sandwich, as well as in other recipes, like Bestest Buttermilk-Chive Dressing. I also love this homemade mayonnaise recipe as a dipper for roasted baby potatoes or sauteed shrimp. To make aioli, substitute extra-virgin olive oil for canola, and add a clove or two of garlic that’s been mashed to a paste.
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Drawing from folklore, nutrition, and the laws of good taste, this invigorating beverage contains calcium-rich milk, zinc-rich pine nuts, and antioxidant-rich spices. A bit of honey lends sweetness. Will it help your love life? Who knows, but it’s a delicious and potent energy-booster nonetheless.
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 cups very cold skim milk
2-1/2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ancho chile powder
1/8 teaspoon chipotle chile pepper, or more for an added kick
In a small, dry skillet over medium heat, toast the pine nuts for 3 to 5 minutes, shaking the pan frequently and stirring with a heatproof spatula. Transfer to a plate to cool completely.
Combine nuts and remaining ingredients in a blender. (Use an immersion blender if you have one.) Divide between two glasses, and serve.
Serves 2
Use room-temperature eggs, which will be easy to separate and beat to their full volume. (Hang onto the yolks to make Homemade Mayonnaise or Sweet Potato-Kale Bread Pudding.) Angel food cakes are made in an ungreased tube pan, which provides maximum surface area and traction for the cake to climb. The cake is cooled upside-down so it doesn’t lose volume as it cools. Some tube pans have little feet to hold the pan up off the counter while the cake cools. If yours doesn’t, simply invert the pan on the neck of a wine bottle or other bottle that fits into the hole of the tube pan.
Cake
1-1/2 cups sugar, divided
2/3 cup cake flour
1/3 cup unsweetened dark chocolate cocoa powder
12 egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
Strawberries
1 pound strawberries, trimmed and sliced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Cointreau (orange-flavored liqueur)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Remaining ingredients
2 tablespoons slivered toasted almonds
Whipped cream (optional)
Fresh mint sprigs (optional)
Preheat oven to 350.
To prepare cake, sift together 3/4 cup sugar, flour, and cocoa powder in a medium bowl.
Place egg whites and cream of tartar in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 3/4 cup sugar. Add salt, vanilla, and almond extract; beat until stiff peaks form. Sprinkle one-third of flour mixture over beaten egg whites; gently fold flour mixture into egg whites. Repeat with remaining flour mixture.
Scrape batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Gently swirl a knife through the batter to eliminate any air bubbles. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until cake springs back when touched. Invert pan (either on its “feet” or on the neck of a wine bottle) and cool completely. Run a knife around edges to loosen cake. Gently pull cake out of pan and slice with a serrated knife.
While cake cools, prepare strawberries. Combine strawberries, 2 tablespoons sugar, liqueur, and juice in a medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Serve with cake; sprinkle with almonds. Garnish with whipped cream and mint, if desired.
Serves 12
A granita is a light, simple, refreshing iced treat that doesn’t require an ice cream maker. Stirring the mixture periodically as it freezes gives the granita its characteristic fluffy, granular texture. Blood oranges are in season right now; they have a wonderful ruby flesh and pleasant sweet-tart juice. You can substitute regular fresh orange juice or tangerine juice. This three-ingredient dessert has an added benefit: One serving provides more than 100 percent of your vitamin C needs for the day.
2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups fresh blood orange juice (about 12 blood oranges)
Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Stir in juice. Pour mixture into an 8-inch square dish. Freeze 4 hours or until frozen, stirring with a fork every 30 minutes. Scrape surface of granita with a fork before serving.
Serves 8
By Alison Ashton
A mandolin makes easy work of this salad. Use the flat blade to slice the fennel and onion as thinly as possible, and the julienne blade to cut the apples; or slice the apple and then cut lengthwise into long planks. I like to use Point Reyes Blue Cheese, which is a farmstead cheese made locally in Marin County.
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 pound bitter greens, such as escarole, cleaned and torn into bite-sized pieces
2 fennel bulbs, sliced as thinly as possible
1 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 medium Granny Smith apples, halved, cored and cut into matchsticks (or cut into slices 1/8-inch thick and then cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch planks)
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
Shake together oil, vinegar, honey, garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper in a tight-sealing jar.
Toss together greens, fennel, onion and apples. Drizzle dressing over top and toss well. Divide mixture among 4 plates. Scatter pine nuts and blue cheese over top.
Serves 4
This take on guacamole comes from a Guatemalan recipe for avocado salad. There’s nothing quite like the buttery flesh of an avocado, made even better by the fact that it’s loaded with healthy fats. Do be aware, though, that those same fats make this a calorically dense dish . . . so just be conscious of your bites.
2 large, ripe avocados
1 hard-boiled egg, peeled and coarsely mashed
1/4 cup jicama, peeled and cut into a 1/4-inch dice
1/4 cup lime juice, divided
2 tablespoons finely diced red onion
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh hot chiles
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Scrape the flesh from the avocados into a bowl and roughly mash them with the egg. Mix in the jicama, 2 tablespoons lime juice, onion, oregano, chile and salt and pepper to taste. Mix enough to blend the ingredients, not so much so that it becomes smooth. This should be a chunky guacamole.
Serves 8
Prep Time: 10 minutes
This lentil recipe is the little black dress of dinner. Toss a cup or two with a frisee salad. Serve it as a side with duck confit, or roasted or grilled salmon Or top a bowl with some honey-ginger carrots to make them the star of the show. Leftovers make a fab lunch, gently warmed and sprinkled with a little crumbled goat cheese or feta.
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By Cheryl Sternman Rule
In wintertime especially, there’s nothing more comforting than coming home to a pot of simmering soup. This carrot version has a secret ingredient–a cup of diced, kabocha squash–which plays beautifully with the spices and citrus drizzle.
1-1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and diced (or, if they’re organic and thin-skinned, just give them a scrub)
1 cup diced, peeled kabocha squash (from a 1/2 pound wedge)
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon minced fresh gingerroot
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Generous pinch ground cloves
3-1/2 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock, or low-sodium canned broth
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons sour cream, plus 2 teaspoons for serving
Juice from 1/2 blood orange (about 1-1/2 tablespoons)
Place the carrots, squash, onion, ginger, spices, and stock in the crock of a slow cooker in the order given. Season with salt and pepper. Place on the lid, set to low, and allow to simmer for about 8 hours, or until vegetables are very tender.
Unplug the slow cooker. Puree the vegetables using an immersion blender.
Whisk in 3 tablespoons of the sour cream.
To serve, divide among 6 bowls, topping each bowl with a tiny dollop of additional sour cream and a few drops of blood orange juice.
Serves 6
Back in the day in San Francisco, when A16 was Zinzino, we lived just a block and a half away on Chestnut Street. One of our all-time-favorite dishes there was parchment-baked spaghetti and meatballs. It was, truly, the ultimate comfort food. The noodles were shot through with flavor with an altogether unique texture—chewy in a good, satisfying way. Zinzino turned into A16 not long after we left the city and that dish disappeared along with it. Until now. I’m happy to report that, after all these years, I’ve successfully replicated it here. Note that this is not a throw-together-in-10-minute supper, but rather one for when you’re looking to warm yourself up from the inside out (like, say, after it’s been raining for umpteen days straight). Two other thoughts on this dish: you could use a high-quality jarred tomato sauce if you’d like, and you could double the meatball recipe and freeze half.
1 cup coarse bread crumbs, pebble-sized, torn from stale, rustic bread
1 tablespoon lowfat 1% milk
1/2 pound lean ground beef
2 tablespoon grated garlic
1/3 cup grated onion
3 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons oregano
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoon olive oil, divided
2 cups onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
15-ounce can low-sodium crushed tomatoes
28-ounce can pureed tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Preheat oven to 400 with a baking sheet on the middle rack. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
Place breadcrumbs in a large bowl and pour in milk. Squeeze with your fingers until the milk is absorbed by the bread. Add ground beef, grated garlic, grated onion, parsley, and 1/2 tablespoon oregano to the bowl with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Mix with your hands, squishing the mixture between your fingers, until it is well blended. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add chopped onions and saute 5 minutes. Add chopped garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper and saute 2-3 minutes more, until onions are just tinged brown. Pour in crushed tomatoes, pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, vinegar, remaining 1 tablespoon oregano and sugar. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes, while meatballs brown.Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.
Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, nonstick saute pan over high heat. Remove meatball mixture from fridge and roll out 1-inch balls, browning in the pan on all sides, about 5 minutes total (you should have about 16 and may have to work in batches so you don’t crowd the pan). As meatballs are done, transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate.
Add spaghetti to water and cook for 3 minutes. Drain. Return to pan with the tomato sauce and mix well.
Tear off 2 18-inch pieces of parchment paper. Crease all of them by folding them in half in both directions. Place a piece of parchment on the warmed baking sheet and top with spaghetti mixture and meatballs. Sprinkle half of the cheese on top and lay the remaining piece of parchment on top. Starting at the corner, crimp the edges up and over onto themselves, rolling tightly to seal. Continue the movement, working around the perimeter, until entire package is sealed.
Bake for 15 minutes, open package carefully and serve with remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
Serves 4
