Starters and Nibbles

Spicy Crock-Pot Apple Butter – Serve with cheddar or brie (or any cheese that is cheddar-or-brie-like) and crackers. Can be made several days in advance. Uses the crock-pot, which frees up your stovetop and oven. Would also be a nice sauce with turkey. And a nice host(-ess) gift.

Spicy Crock-Pot Apple Butter

Chicken Liver Mousse – Quick and easy to make. Can be made several days in advance. Serve with toast squares, crackers, or sliced baguette.

Chicken Liver Mousse on a crunchy little toast square

Manchego Cheese, Quince, and Walnut Crostini – Make the quince jam (or buy it) in advance. Toast the bread in advance. Easy to assemble.

Manchego, Quince, and Walnut Crostini

First Course

Easy Golden Beet Soup with Buttery Croutons - Serve as a first course. Beets can be roasted several days in advance. Soup can be made and refrigerated 1-2 days in advance (without the croutons, of course). Swirl a bit of heavy cream or yogurt on top for an elegant little touch. When I make a large meal like Thanksgiving dinner, I serve creamy soups like this in teacups – it’s just the right amount of soup so your guests aren’t stuffed before the main course.

Golden Beet Soup with Buttery Croutons

Quick Breads

Bacon Muffins – quick and easy to bake. Can be made 1 day in advance.

Bacon Muffins

Irish Soda Bread with Brown Butter, Rosemary, and Black Pepper – Quickbread (no yeast) – takes only a few minutes to mix. Can be made 1-2 days in advance.

Irish Soda Bread with Brown Butter, Rosemary, and Black Pepper

Cheddar-Sage Biscuits – Can be made 1 day in advance and re-heated. Sage goes nicely with turkey.

Cheddar Sage Biscuits

Sides

Broccoli Raab with Pecans – can be made 1-2 day in advance and re-heated.

Broccoli Raab with Pecans

Mashed Potatoes - can be made several hours in advance. Hold in a metal bowl over simmering water. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Add more cream or milk before serving if the potatoes have dried out a bit.

Mashed Potatoes

Cranberry Sauce with Bourbon – can be made up to a week in advance. Made in the oven so it frees up your stovetop. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Cranberry Sauce with Bourbon

Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower – can be made several hours in advance. Pop back in the oven for a few minutes to re-heat. Grate some Parmesan over the cauliflower for a little more richness.

Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower

Kale and Ricotta Salata Salad – believe it or not, this salad can be made several days in advance. Unlike lettuce, the kale is hearty enough to not get slimy under the weight of the vinaigrette. Flavors actually get better if made a day in advance. Can be served cold or at room temperature.

Raw lacitano kale for Kale and Ricotta Salata Salad

Dessert

Apple Pie with Boiled Cider – pie can be made one day in advance. I usually serve apple pie with this Calvados Ice Cream (it’s heaven). You can omit the boiled cider to save time. Add a bit more sugar to compensate.

Apple Pie with Boiled Cider

Bourbon Milkshakes – can’t really be made in advance, but really easy to make using store-bought ingredients. And a perfect ending to your fabulous Thanksgiving meal. Give yourself a round of (bourbon-y) applause!

Bourbon Milkshake

Chicken Liver Mousse on a crunchy little toast square

There was a time not too long ago when I was intimidated at the prospect of cooking organ meats.  I have since recovered from my fear – but if you have a bit of an organ-meat-cooking phobia, an easy entree into the world of offal cookery can be had with the making of chicken liver mousse. There aren’t very many ingredients, cooking time is very limited, and even prepping the actual livers isn’t so bad. Seriously. This mousse is a fairly classic recipe that makes for an elegant pre-dinner starter with a glass of white wine, or, dare I say, a glass or two (or seven) of champagne?

This recipe is an amalgamation of recipes from my French Culinary Institute curriculum, Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and the Gourmet cookbook. It’s definitely better the next day, after the flavors have had plenty of time to meld. (And, might I add, perfect for a party? You can make it one or two days in advance, no sweat.)  Just make sure you leave the mousse out for 1-2 hours before you want to serve it to make sure it is nice and spreadable.

A word about chicken livers. It’s a bit hard to find pasture-raised chicken livers, but when I stumble upon them I get really excited. The liver functions as a detoxification organ (among other things) in lots of animals (including people), so I get a bit freaked out when I think about liver from a factory-farmed animal. Prepping a chicken liver is easier than you might think. First, trim off large chunks of fat. If the liver is large, you can separate the two lobes and pull off the fat with your fingers. Also check the livers for green spots (this is bile – not good to eat) and large blood vessels – remove with your fingers or trim with a knife. Finally, check the livers for the stringy bits that connect the lobes – remove those with your fingers or a knife as well. Rinse the livers under cold running water and pat dry.  You’re good to go.

I passed my mousse through a fine-meshed sieve because I wanted the texture to be ultra-smooth. You can skip this step – your mousse won’t be chunky, but it won’t have the fine, smooth texture you’d get forcing it through a sieve. (Forcing stuff through sieves is a very French thing to do. The easiest way to pass stuff through a sieve in a home kitchen is to dump the mixture into your fine-mesh strainer, then push it through the sieve using a rubber spatula. It doesn’t take very long if you move the spatula around kinda vigorously.)

I think this mousse is best served with crunchy little toasts or crackers.

Ingredients:
(Makes about 1 cup mousse)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium shallot, very finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3/4 pound pastured chicken livers, trimmed, washed, and patted dry (see note above)
1/4 cup brandy
Pinch ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3-4 tablespoons whipping cream

Special Equipment: food processor, fine-mesh sieve (optional)

Procedure:

1. In a 12-inch, heavy bottomed saute pan, heat the butter over medium heat until just foaming.
2. Add the chopped shallot and garlic and cook and stir until the shallot is soft, 5-6 minutes. (Turn the heat down a bit if the butter or shallots start to brown.)
3. Salt and pepper the trimmed chicken livers and add to the pan. Cook the livers, stirring gently from time to time, until they are cooked but still a bit pink in the center, about 5 minutes (cooking time will depend on the size of your livers).
4. Add the brandy. Turn the heat up to medium-high and cook until most of the brandy has evaporated, another 3-4 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool for a few minutes.
6. Add the slightly-cooled mixture to the bowl of the food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Add the allspice, nutmeg, a few grindings of pepper, a pinch of salt, and the whipping cream.
7. Process until you have a very smooth mixture. Add more cream if you want your mousse a bit looser.
8. If you want a super smooth mixture, force the mousse through a fine mesh strainer (optional – see above).
9. Pack the mousse into a large ramekin or other container and let cool. Once cool, cover surface of the mousse with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours, preferably longer. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Grilled Shishito Peppers

I’m not afraid to go out on a limb and say that shishito peppers are the most delicious peppers ever in the history of peppers. They are so good I had to cook them up two different ways. The first: a classic method for cooking shishito peppers – toss them in a bit of oil, drop them on a hot grill pan or cast-iron skillet, and cook until hot and blackened in spots. Then toss with a bit of kosher or sea salt. (Wait! I just gave the recipe away! Do I really need to type it up now?) The second method involves a bit of frying. I use a very simple batter to fry up various summer produce, shishito peppers being a recent favorite. The batter results in a crispy exterior that won’t fall off. (Contrary to popular wisdom, I fry in extra virgin olive oil. It tastes good.)  Try the batter for squash blossoms, zucchini rounds, patty pan squash slices, jalepenos…pretty much any kind of summer produce that you can get your hands on.

Shishito peppers are not spicy, so I like to add just a tiny bit of cayenne to the salt after grilling or frying – I like spicy. Of course, this step is entirely optional. Also, you can strain the olive oil after frying and re-use it so as not to waste perfectly good extra-virgin olive oil.

Ingredients:
(Serves 2-3 as an appetizer)

For the pan-roasted peppers:
1 cup (or more) shishito peppers
1 tablespoon (or more) extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Cayenne (optional)

For the fried peppers:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
1 cup (or more) shishito peppers
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Cayenne (optional)

Lemon or lime wedges for serving

Special Equipment: Grill pan, cast-iron skillet, or heavy-bottomed pan

Fried Shishito Peppers

Procedure:

For the pan-roasted peppers:

1. Heat your grill pan, cast-iron skillet, or heavy-bottomed pan over very high heat.
2. Toss the peppers with a bit of extra virgin olive oil. Drop the peppers on the hot skillet, and cook, turning occationally, until the peppers have softened and are charred in spots.
3. Remove from heat and sprinkle kosher salt and the optional pinch of cayenne over the peppers. Eat piping hot.

For the fried peppers:

1. Put the water in a small bowl. Sift the flour into the water, stirring with a fork or a small whisk until the flour has been entirely incorporated into the water. You should have a mixture as thick as skim yogurt. (If your mixture is too thick or too thin, add a bit more water or flour as needed.)
2. In a medium, heavy-bottomed skillet, add extra virgin olive oil to come about an inch up from the bottom of the pan. Heat over medium-high heat until the oil is very hot (drop a bit of the batter into the oil – it should immediately turn a golden brown color and start to float to the top of the oil).
3. Dunk the peppers into the batter, letting the excess batter drip back into the bowl. Add the battered peppers to the oil and fry until golden brown, turning halfway through cooking. Depending on the size of your pan, you may need to cook the peppers in batches. (Don’t crowd the pan: it will immediately lower the temperature of the oil and will result in a soggy, not crisp, crust.)
4. Drain on a paper towels and sprinkle with kosher salt and the optional cayenne while still hot.
5. Serve very hot with lemon or lime wedges on the side.

Fresh Cranberry Beans

It took me a while to catch on to the beauty and deliciousness of fresh shelling beans. I think I had always been unsure of the best way to cook them, my primary bean experiences having been with the dried and canned varieties. Then I found fresh cranberry beans at my local farmer’s market. I don’t know about you guys, but sometimes I get a little emotional about my food – I mean, these beans were just so beautiful, both in the pod and out. I shed a little tear. (Unfortunately, the beautiful mottled cranberry color of the fresh, uncooked beans gets cooked out, leaving you with a rather boring-looking greyish-cream bean. But the memory of the raw bean lingers on.)

I made a super-simple salad with a bit of arugula, but think of this post as a fresh bean primer – you can alter this recipe in so many ways. Experiment with different types of greens (finely shredded kale would be nice, or chopped endive). Add a chopped fresh chile. Experiment with the types of herbs you use. Add a pinch of cumin and a squeeze of lime juice. Or a squashed anchovy. Pile up on toasted bread rubbed with a clove of garlic. Serve the salad while the beans are still a bit warm, or at room temperature. The possibilities, as they say, are endless.

If you can’t find fresh beans, dried or canned are an acceptable substitution, but I implore you to try to find fresh beans at least once this summer. There is a tremendous difference in texture and I think you’ll like it. Marcella Hazan taught me how to cook fresh beans in her awesome Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. This recipe is loosely based on several of her recipes.

Fresh Cranberry Bean and Arugula Salad

Ingredients:
(Serves 3-4 as an appetizer or side dish)

1 pound fresh cranberry or other fresh beans in the shell
1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
The juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime
1/2 to 1 teaspoon fresh herbs, finely chopped (either rosemary, sage, chives, parsley, or cilantro)
1 cup baby arugula leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Procedure:

1. Shell the fresh beans. Put the beans in a medium, heavy pot and cover with water by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and simmer gently for about an hour, or until the beans are tender. (Note: do not salt the water.)
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, olive oil, lemon or lime juice and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
3. Drain the beans and gently rinse under cold water to stop the cooking.
4. Toss the beans in the dressing. Taste and correct for salt – you will probably need to add quite a bit more salt at this point. Add the fresh herbs to taste and the baby arugula leaves. Toss very gently to combine. Add a few grindings of black pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Fava and Pecorino Crostini with Mint and Pea Shoots

Fava beans, Pecorino-Romano cheese, and mint – a classic combination that’s just sooo delicious on toasty, garlicy bread. Top it with a handful of pea shoots, and you’ve just produced a crostini that screams “Spring”. Even the color is Spring-y – the fava beans and Pecorino become a beautiful spring green in the food processor. Just wait ’till you see it.

Favas can be a bit of a pain to prepare because you have to remove them from their pods and slip them out of their outer skins once they’ve been blanched. But you can do it – they’re such a fleeting, seasonal vegetable that you’ll miss them terribly when they are gone from the markets.

Ingredients:

For the fava bean puree:

1 pound fava beans in their pods
4 ounces Pecorino-Romano cheese, coarsely grated
5-6 large mint leaves, torn
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For the toast:

6 slices artisanal bread (I used multigrain, but ciabatta would be nice), sliced on the bias
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, cut in half

To assemble:

1/4 cup pea shoots
10-15 small mint leaves

Special Equipment: Food processor

Procedure:

For the fava bean puree:

1. Remove the fava beans from their pods. Have a small bowl of ice water at hand.
2. Bring a small pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil. Add the fava beans and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the favas are tender (you’ll have to slip them out of their outer skins to test for doneness).
3. Remove the favas and plunge into your waiting bowl of ice water. Let cool for a few minutes, then remove the favas to drain.
4. Slip the inner, bright green favas out of their outer, white-ish skins. This is a bit of a pain, but I promise that you won’t regret it.
5. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the fava beans that have now been freed of their jackets, the Pecorino, the torn mint leaves, the olive oil, a small, tiny pinch of salt (Pecorino is salty), and a grinding of black pepper.
6. Process in the food processor until you get a smooth puree. You can add a bit more olive oil or even a touch of water if the mixture is too thick for your taste. Remove from the food processor and set aside.

For the toast:

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF (or use your broiler).
2. Spread the bread slices out on a small baking sheet. Rub each slice with a bit of the olive oil, and sprinkle lightly with salt. Toast in the oven until crispy.
3. While still hot, rub each slice with the cut side of the garlic clove. You’ll probably only need to use 1/2 of the clove, unless you like it really garlicky (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
4. Set aside to cool slightly.

To assemble:

1. Top each slice of toast with a generous smear of fava puree. Top with a mixture of pea shoots and fresh mint leaves.

Seared Scallops with Sweet Onion, Red Pepper Coulis, and Arugula Flowers

It’s kind of a long title, but really, this is an elegant recipe that isn’t terribly difficult to make. It makes a really lovely first course for a fish dinner. I stumbled upon arugula flowers the other day at the farmer’s market and now I’m hooked – not only are they beautiful (but in a subtle way – they don’t hit you over the head with color like other edible flowers), but they taste delicious. Slightly spicy like arugula, the flowers have a tender bite and great texture. I’ve been sticking them in salads and munching on them right out of the fridge.

I’m also lucky to have access to a great seafood purveyor at one of our local farmer’s markets – Blue Moon Fish – who focus on wild, seasonal, and sustainably-harvested seafood from our local waters. Their scallops are some of the best I’ve ever had. Harvested off the coast of Montauk, Long Island, the scallops are smaller than the gigantic sea scallops you often see in commercial markets, and they’re fresh and delicious and sweet and buttery. Good, fresh scallops should smell exactly like the sea, not bitter or fishy. Untreated scallops should be off-white to beige in color – usually not snow-white. Inferior-quality scallops are often treated with a chemical called sodium tripolyphosphate as a preservative to help them retain water and to stay plump, thus increasing their shelf life (ewwww on so many levels). Ask for “dry-pack” or unsoaked scallops (or chemical-free) – or better yet, get to know a few local fishermen (and -women) and ask them directly how their scallops are processed. (Um, this suggestion will only work if you live close to an ocean.) Most high-quality scallops are untreated – and after a few taste tests, you’ll start to discern a difference in flavor. The chemically-processed scallops can often have a bitter undertone and a texture that is mushier than a fresh, untreated scallop.

Scallops usually have what is called an adductor muscle attached to them – the muscle will generally be a crescent-shaped piece of flesh attached to the side of the scallop. (It’s this muscle that the mollusk uses to close its shell.) Remove the adductor muscle before searing the scallops; it’s quite tough and doesn’t particularly taste good. As with searing other kinds of meat, make sure that your pan is extremely hot and that your scallops are extremely dry before you add them to the pan. And don’t move them around once you’ve started to cook them. They will form a brown crust and will release on their own. One last thing: do try to find a sweet onion variety – regular onions will overpower the delicate taste of the scallop.

Leftover red pepper coulis is delicious on sandwiches (or mix with mayo for a red pepper mayonnaise) and as a dip for fried fish.

Arugula Flowers

Ingredients:

For the red pepper coulis:

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 red bell pepper, cored and seeded, chopped roughly into 2-inch pieces
Kosher salt
Cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed with the side of your knife
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon heavy cream (optional)
Lemon juice (optional)

For the grilled sweet onion:

1 large sweet white onion (such as Vidalia, Maui, or other sweet variety), sliced into 3/4-inch thick rounds
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For the seared scallops:

1 tablespoon grapeseed or canola oil
6 medium sea scallops, adductor muscles removed
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For the garnish:

1/4 cup microgreens
Handful of arugula flowers or other small, edible flower

Special Equipment: Food processor, grill pan

Procedure:

For the red pepper coulis:

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a small, heavy saucepan. Add the bell pepper, a generous pinch of salt, and a tiny pinch of cayenne. Sweat the pepper (cook without browning) for 3-4 minutes, or until the pepper is slightly soft. Add the garlic and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. (Turn down the heat if the pepper or garlic starts to even remotely brown.)
2. Add the water and turn down the heat to medium-low. Cover the pot with the lid slightly ajar and cook until the pepper pieces are soft and most of the water has evaporated, about 15 minutes.
3. Carefully add the contents of the pot to the food processor and process until smooth. Add the heavy cream and pulse to evenly distribute.
4. Taste and season with additional salt and a few drops of lemon juice, if necessary.
5. For a very smooth coulis, force the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding the solids.
6. Keep the red pepper coulis warm.

For the grilled sweet onion:

1. Preheat the oven to 300ºF.
2. Heat your grill pan (or grill, if you should be so lucky) over high heat.
3. Season the onion slices generously with salt and pepper. Oil them lightly with the olive oil.
4. Grill the onions over high heat until grill marks form and the onions have softened, 5-6 minutes per side. Taking care to keep all of the rings intact (you want a solid bed for your scallops), transfer the onion slices to a small baking sheet and keep warm in the oven.

For the seared scallops:

1. Generously season the scallops with salt and freshly ground pepper.
2. In a medium, heavy saute pan, heat the oil over high heat until very hot, but not smoking.
3. Add the scallops. Sear (without moving) on one side until golden brown, about 1 minute to 1 1/2 minutes per side (this will depend on how large your scallops are). Flip the scallops and cook on the second side for another minute.
4. Remove from heat to a warm plate. Tent with foil to keep warm.

To serve:

1. Place a warm grilled onion slice on a small plate. Spoon the red pepper coulis around the onion slice (or transfer the coulis to a squeeze bottle and decoratively squeeze the coulis around the onion slice).
2. Top the onion slice with 3 seared scallops. Top the scallops with a handful of microgreens. Scatter arugula flowers on top of the microgreens.
3. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Serves 2.

Winter Vegetable Crostata with Goat Cheese and Thyme

March is so hard. Here in Brooklyn, the weather is starting to warm up, making me think about strawberries, asparagus, ramps, garlic scapes, peas, favas – argh!  Did I mention I’m sick of winter? I’m making lemonade out of lemons here by continuing to celebrate winter’s bounty – yams and winter squash and beets and Jerusalem artichokes and onions, sprinkled with thyme, green onions, and goat cheese, and all baked into a buttery crust. Maybe I’m not ready to say goodbye to winter after all. (OK, that was a lie, I’m totally ready.)

This is one of those recipes that is infinitely adaptable. You could add (or subtract) any number of seasonal vegetables. A couple of thinly sliced and sauteed mushrooms would be nice. Chopped and lightly sauteed cabbage or kale would be good. Marjoram or oregano instead of thyme would be lovely. Roasted potatoes would be delicious. Shallots or garlic would be a tasty addition. Acorn squash instead of kabocha would be delectable. I’m running out of adjectives – but you get the idea. If you can’t get your hands on a good aged balsamic vinegar, you can reduce a cheaper balsamic in a small saucepan for a few minutes until a bit more syrupy.

Serve small wedges as an appetizer or side dish (with roast chicken maybe?), or serve larger slices as a main dish, perhaps with a nice little green salad.

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

Use the basic one-crust pie dough recipe here.
(You can add a bit of whole-wheat pastry flour to the basic recipe if you like.)

For the Filling:

1 small kabocha squash, seeded and cut into eighths or 1 small yam, cut into bit-sized chunks (or use both!)
1 medium red onion, peeled (root left intact) and cut into quarters
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
5-6 small beets, washed and long roots trimmed
Leaves from 2 thyme sprigs
1 large Jerusalem artichoke, scrubbed well and sliced very thin using a mandoline or Japanese slicer
2 green onions (white and green parts), sliced on the bias
4 ounces fresh goat cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Aged balsamic vinegar, for serving

It's a vegetable rainbow - vegetables for the crostata

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. On a large baking sheet, toss the squash or yam (or both) and the red onion chunks with the extra virgin olive oil, a generous pinch of salt, and a few grindings of black pepper. Wrap the beets in tinfoil.
3. Roast the squash (or yams), the onions, and the beets until tender. The squash and the onions will take between 35-40 minutes (depending on how thick you’ve cut them), while the beets (depending on their size) may take up to an hour and 15 minutes or longer.
4. Remove the vegetables from the oven as soon as they are tender. Cool to room temperature.
5. Peel the squash, if using, and chop the flesh into bite-sized chunks. Separate the onions into “petals”. Peel and slice the beets.
6. Turn up the oven to 425ºF. Line a large baking sheet with a silpat or with parchment paper.
7. Roll out the dough to 13-inches in diameter. In the center of the dough disk, layer the squash, red onions, sliced beets, Jerusalem artichokes, and green onion slices, scattering thyme leaves, goat cheese chunks, and a sprinkling of kosher salt between layers of vegetables.
8. Bring the dough up over the vegetables, creating large folds as you go (it doesn’t have to be terribly exact – this is a rustic tart, after all) leaving an open space in the middle.
9. Transfer crostata to the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown and the goat cheese is brown in places and bubbly.
10. Grind a bit of black pepper over the crostata. Cut into wedges, and drizzle the vegetable part of the tart with the balsamic vinegar.

I like to leave the skin on the jerusalem artichokes because I like it and it tastes good, but you could certainly remove it if you feel like it. If you opt to leave the skin on, remember to scrub the vegetable well.

Jerusalem Artichoke Salad

Ingredients:

5 small jerusalem artichokes, scrubbed well and very thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups sliced)
2 tablespoons shallot, very finely sliced
12-15 leaves flat-leaf parsley, washed and dried
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2-3 tablespoons good-quality extra virgin olive oil
A small Parmigiano-Reggiano piece (you will have leftovers!)
Fleur de sel or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Special Equipment: A mandoline or Japanese slicer, a swivel-style vegetable peeler

Procedure:

1. Pile the thinly sliced jerusalem artichokes on a serving platter. Squeeze some of the lemon over the slices.
2. Sprinkle the shallot slices over the jerusalem artichokes.
3. Using a swivel-style vegetable peeler, shave 10-15 good-sized pieces (or more, to taste) of Parmesan off of the block of cheese over the vegetables.
4. Top decoratively with the parsley leaves. Sprinkle with fleur de sel or kosher salt, and add a few grindings of pepper.
5. Drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil and a few more squeezes of your lemon half.

Manchego, Quince, and Walnut Crostini

Ingredients:

1/2 whole-wheat baguette (or regular baguette), sliced on the bias, 1/2 inch thickness (about 10 slices)
4 ounces manchego cheese, sliced into pieces slightly smaller than the bread
4-5 tablespoons quince jam (or substitute slices of membrillo, or fig jam would be nice)
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and finely chopped
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Special Equipment: A cast iron grill pan, a pastry brush
Serves: 3-4

Procedure:

1. Brush one side of each slice of baguette with the olive oil and sprinkle very lightly with salt.
2. Set your grill pan on high heat, place the bread oiled side down in the pan, and grill for 2-3 minutes (or alternatively, broil until toasty), or until grill marks form. Cool bread slightly.
3. Top each piece of baguette with a piece of manchego and a smear of quince jam. Sprinkle with toasted walnuts.

Serves: 8 as an appetizer

Ingredients
1 pound assorted leftover (high quality) cheese, such as Gruyère, soft goat cheese, or blue cheese
1/2 cup dry white wine (I like white Bordeaux – just to keep it French)
2 garlic cloves, pressed

Procedure

1. Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse until smooth. Transfer to a ramekin or other container and refrigerate.