INGREDIENTS
Starting out, I was always so scared to try out a Yule Log recipe – they always look so intimidating! But I encourage you to give it a go. Even if it ends up looking like a mess, it’ll still taste delicious! I tried something a little different with this Yule Log and added a line of frozen chocolate cremeux. It’s totally optional but it really elevates the dessert and helps you advance your skills.
This recipe is so light, not overly sweet or heavy. It’s a real showstopper for the Christmas table – the ultimate festive dessert.
This widely loved snack in India, which is famed in Mumbai as batata vada, is customarily sold in a soft bun with a garlic and chilli chutney. Its popularity has spread and it’s now available in many Indian restaurants worldwide. Where I come from, these delicious potato balls are called alu banda and are sold in small shops and street stalls in the mornings for breakfast with chai. So why not serve this with some Coriander Peanut Chutney and piping hot masala chai?
Kim Chi loves this simple Korean seaweed soup that is traditionally eaten on birthdays and after giving birth, but it is delicious anytime! This is home food of the first order and rarely found in restaurants so making it at home is essential. Healthy, simple to make and very, very soothing, Kim equates this soup it to a “warm hug”
You mean to tell me that you’re going to make comically, cartoonishly, large meatballs and not put one on a plate of spaghetti?
For my cookbook "Better Baking," I took inspiration from my American Chinese upbringing for sweets like almond cookies and coconut mochi, but I can eat only so many desserts and rely on this savory recipe almost daily. I learned it from an auntie in my church community on the far east side of Los Angeles, where many families made some version of this dish. It evolved from Taiwanese dan bing, where egg is cooked and rolled into a thin, chewy dough. Flour tortillas, readily available in Southern California during my childhood and now everywhere, are an approximation -- not necessarily a close one but an ideal one for busy cooks. This is the simplest version, the one that comes together under 5 minutes for a satisfying meal when there's no time to cook. The egg can be cooked with stir-fried scallions and the wrap stuffed with crispy wontons, shredded lettuce and more seasonings, such as hoisin, sesame seeds and sesame oil.
I first had this one-pot dish in Tel Aviv, but its flavor notes—a medley of savory, sweet, and sour—are similar to other dishes you’ll see throughout the Middle East. Pistachios browned in butter, sweet nuggets of Medjool dates, and piquant lemon juice bring out the best in lamb and rice seasoned with fragrant cinnamon, nutmeg, and cumin. For the most robust flavor, use a high-quality purchased chicken stock, or, even better, homemade stock.
I smashed sweet, ripe blackberries and a spicy homemade ginger syrup with lemon juice and topped it off with bourbon and sparkling water, as you see here. If you prefer less kick and more floral aroma, swap St-Germain elderflower liqueur for the ginger syrup and exchange the sparkling water with ginger beer. Float a half teaspoon of beautifully purple Empress gin over the top to make this drink a bright beauty.
Okay, now don’t freak out, but there is mayonnaise in this cake. I know: crazy. But it takes the place of the oil in the recipe, as well as the eggs (though, yes, I do throw in one, for good measure). And the texture is so perfect, as well as the flavor, that you need to put any mayo-phobias behind you and get baking. The marshmallow frosting here is epic, but if you’re just not feeling like pulling out your stand mixer for it, I totally understand and suggest you glaze this cutie with Cream Cheese Glaze instead.
Something magical happened the day I decided to dump a container of fresh ricotta into my standard biscuit recipe. I thought I would get lumps and layers of cheese in the biscuits, but I got something better than that. The ricotta melts into the biscuit in most places and creates a fluffy crumb that I had been trying to achieve for years but never knew the secret to. These are dangerously addictive. Proceed with caution.