Potato salad with pickled celery and hard-boiled egg

I received a few new cookbooks this holiday season, including Jerusalem, Heart of the Artichoke, Bean by Bean, and Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream at Home. I've already had a chance to try a couple recipes from these books and I can't wait to try more. No matter how many recipes I make, there's always so many more creative ideas out there that I have to try. But before I get to recipes from my new books, I want to share this one from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. This potato salad has pickled celery, grated hard-boiled eggs, and a mustardy dressing. If you're a pickle lover like me and prefer your potato salads mayo-free, this is something you should definitely try.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2013!

Pumpkin tart with cheesecake topping

Somehow, inexplicably, it is already December 10th, and I am just now getting around to telling you about the dessert I made for Thanksgiving. This pumpkin tart is from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook - it's got a gingersnap and graham cracker crust, pumpkin filling, and dollops of cheesecake batter swirled into the top - as you might suspect, it's pretty much the best pumpkin dessert ever. And as a bonus, it's really simple to make. No fussy pastry dough to roll out or fruit to chop. I'm glad I managed to post this in time for Christmas - if you're looking for something new to try during the holidays, this is definitely a recipe for you!

White bean and Swiss chard pot pies

Smitten Kitchen is my very favorite food blog, and I have been eagerly awaiting the release of the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook for many, many months. SK's recipes fit in well with my style of cooking, and I have always found the recipes to be reliable and very delicious - they're the kind of recipes that I'm comfortable cooking for guests without testing in advance. I finally got a copy of the cookbook a few weeks ago, and it is a delight. I know I'll be cooking out of this book for years to come. This pot pie recipe is the first one I tried from the book (it is also on the blog). These pot pies take some time to make, but it is worth it - this is some seriously tasty vegetarian comfort food. The pastry is tender and incredibly flaky and the filling is flavorful and hearty. Given the time it takes to make these and the amount of butter in each serving, I'd say this is a once-in-a-while kind of recipe, but it is definitely worth trying. It's the perfect meal for a snowy weekend day like today.

p.s. Sorry there's no picture of the filling - once we dug in, we were too busy eating to think about taking a photo!

Red lentil and pumpkin soup

I saw this recipe in the November issue of Cooking Light and the lentil-pumpkin combination really appealed to me. I have always enjoyed lentil soup and the addition of pumpkin just seemed like it would work well. I ended up making this soup for dinner tonight and was really happy with it. This is a great soup for fall/winter - it's healthy, filling, and flavorful, and also happens to be quick and easy to make. The pumpkin adds creaminess and a hint of sweetness to the soup, and the spices are well balanced. The recipe uses mostly pantry ingredients, so this is something that you can easily whip up when you're looking for a warm satisfying meal on a winter night.

Cranberry sherbet

I like to keep a supply of cranberries in the freezer, mostly so that I can make these cranberry pecan caramel bars any time I want. But during a recent freezer cleanout I discovered a couple bags of cranberries in there that had to be at least a year old, if not longer. Luckily cranberries do very well in the freezer so the quality of the berries was totally fine, but I figured I should use them soon. I ended up finding the perfect recipe in the November 2012 issue of Cooking Light. You might not think to make frozen desserts during the fall and winter months, but I actually think a nice fruity sherbet is a perfect dessert after a hearty hot meal.

This sherbet is on the tart side, which I love. It's also a bit boozy, due to a tablespoon of liquor in the mix. Don't leave this out - it helps keep the sherbet from getting too hard in the freezer, and it gives you an opportunity to add another dimension to the flavor of the sherbet. With its gorgeous bright color and fresh flavor, this sherbet definitely adds some happiness to these dreary days!

Broccoli rabe, sun-dried tomato, and Fontina frittata

Andrew and I had some friends over for brunch today. It reminded me of how much I enjoy hosting brunch, mostly because I get an excuse to make some fun treats (today's big project was apple cider doughnuts - recipe coming soon!). However, treats alone don't make a meal. I personally enjoy savory brunch items more than sweet, and I made sure to include something eggy and relatively healthy in the menu along with the more indulgent items. A frittata is a great selection when serving brunch to a group - it comes together quickly and can be made ahead of time and served at room temperature. This frittata includes broccoli rabe and sun-dried tomatoes along with melty Fontina cheese. I loved this recipe - I especially enjoyed the flavor of the sun-dried tomatoes, and the texture of the eggs was perfect - tender and not at all dry. I need to cook recipes like this more often, whether or not we are having guests!

Apple tart

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to meet Luisa Weiss, the author of one of my favorite food blogs - The Wednesday Chef. She has written a memoir that recently came out, and her book tour brought her to Boston. One of the first recipes that I ever posted here was from Luisa's blog, and I was super excited to meet her. While I was at the reading, I realized that I hadn't cooked one of her recipes in a while, and I thought to myself that it would be fun to post about one of recipes from her book. So I kept that in mind as I was reading the book and made mental notes about the recipes I wanted to try.

In the meantime, my office decided to have an apple and pumpkin-themed baking contest. I decided to make this apple tart, which I found on Smitten Kitchen. The recipe originates with Jacques Pepin and Alice Waters, so I knew it had to be good. And I was also drawn in by the recipe's simplicity. Flour, sugar, salt, butter, and apples. Nothing else, no spices, just pure apple flavor and flaky pastry. The tart was lovely, as expected given the people who created it, and I won the presentation category of the baking contest! And then, when I finished Luisa's book this past weekend, I found that her adaptation of this very same tart recipe is in there, in one of the last chapters...so I ended up cooking a recipe from her book after all! Clearly, this recipe has made its way around the food world already, and I'm happy to promote it even more. I urge you to make this soon, before the fall is gone...