With its incredibly rich, nuanced, bittersweet flavor, from-scratch butterscotch pudding is worlds away from the dull, sweet kind you get from an instant mix. But making butterscotch pudding can be temperamental: A custard is combined with homemade caramel, and the usual approach of boiling it from start to finish is tricky in a blink-and-you've-burned-it way. Our method is forgiving: Boil the caramel to jump-start it, then reduce the heat and gently simmer it until it reaches the right temperature. Most recipes have you temper the yolks and cornstarch, add everything to the dairy in the pot, and stir away. We swapped this fussy method in favor of pouring the boiling caramel directly over the thickening agents. When taking the temperature of the caramel in step 1, tilt the saucepan and move the thermometer back and forth to equalize hot and cool spots.
Tejal Rao, critic at large for The New York Times, has fallen hard for luxuriously, long-cooked greens. Put away your predilection for bright green, still crisp, blanched vegetables, and give this recipe a shot.
Any green can be substituted for the broccoli rabe, from chard to collards to mustard greens. Be sure to double the recipe to have more of these greens in the fridge, ready to go the next day. You can stir them into hot pasta with lemon zest, pile them on thick toasted bread with a smear of ricotta, tuck a spoonful or two under a fried egg, add it to a rice bowl with some smoked sardines, or just have it on the side with some beans.
You can make the sauce a few days in advance—the flavor will only get better with time. Keep your pot in the fridge and reheat before serving.
Something beautiful happens when the natural juices of the tomatoes, citrus, and fish come together with the garlic and chile butter, and you’ll want some good bread on hand to capture the moment. This is the ultimate midweek summer dish, as it only takes 10 minutes to make. As ever, make sure your tomatoes are nice and ripe, it’ll make all the difference. If you can get hold of tomatillos, these are lovely in place of green tomatoes. Of course, you can also use good-quality red tomatoes, if that’s what’s more readily available.
This recipe is made in about a 10-inch cast iron or carbon steel pan on the stove. It can easily be scaled up to six eggs, or to eight, just by increasing the ingredients and cooking it in a 12-inch pan instead. If you do increase it, make sure to use two cans of tomatoes so that there’s enough liquid in the sauce that it doesn’t burn while you’re cooking the eggs.
I think of salads in two distinct camps: 1) the classic tossed salad, where everything is added to a deep bowl and moved around to evenly distribute, and 2) flat salads built in layers on a shallow platter. The latter is best when you have delicate greens (like butter lettuce) that won’t take well to tossing. Building in layers also means that the construction of the servings will be roughly the same if you are the first person to be served or the last—no more lettuce-only bites for the last in line.
Lupini beans are most widely known in the Mediterranean Basin and often eaten brined as a snack. I’ve only ever bought processed lupini beans because I read about how one needs to meticulously rinse them to remove the toxic alkaloids that give them a distinct bitterness not dissimilar to uncured olives, which got me to thinking about how I love olives and dark cherries together. Which, naturally, made me think about brining cherries to cure a bit like an olive. And now, here we are.
Pizza rolls are a very popular street food and this tear-and-share traybake makes a great and always welcome addition to an informal dinner buffet, a picnic or a kids’ birthday party.
Common fillings include the usual tomato sauce, mozzarella and often ham; however, this recipe uses one of my favourite combinations based on ripe red sweet peppers and onions. The vegetables are simmered before being blended to a cream: the cooking brings out their sweetness and makes them easier to digest. The creamed filling also makes a delicious dipping sauce, so don’t throw away any leftovers!
Pull out a big heavy stew pot and get some greens going on the back of your stove for wonderful mid-week eating à la Brittany Luse, cultural critic and host of It’s Been A Minute from NPR. Serve on top of Brittany’s Weekend Grits.
Inspired by Mrs. Donna M. Hayes | North Alabama State Fair, Alabama
Originally held on Blakeley Island, the Alabama State Fair (Greater Gulf State Fair) began as a fundraiser for the Junior Chamber of Commerce. The inaugural year featured a young Elvis Presley as the first performer, and brought in 60,000 people to the fair.