Shredded Egg Salad

Made by shredding hard-boiled eggs on a box grater. This shredded egg salad is light, fluffy, and bright. I must say, a nice alternative to chopped, heavily dressed versions of the classic.

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I thought I’d update my shredded egg salad recipe today, it has been a while! The first time I made a grated egg preparation like this was in 2014 after discovering some exceptional eggs at the Farmers’ Market in San Francisco. I’ve been making variations over the years, and made a version of the grated egg avocado toast (the one that recently took TikTok by storm) for lunch yesterday. You grate eggs over the top of avocado toast. I added some extra flare – curry powder and the like. Such a great, easy lunch.
Close-up photo of open-faced Shredded Egg Salad Sandwich

Why Shred or Grate Eggs?

My shredded egg journey started when I bought some really good eggs. I mean, there are special eggs, and there are special eggs. The kind of eggs some people might feel compelled to roll their eyes at. But I had to buy them. Bring them home with me so I could try them. And I wanted to do something straight-forward yet special with them. So as I drove back from the Saturday market – through North Beach, up the Fillmore hills, and down into Hayes Valley, I settled on egg salad.

Not earth-shattering, I know. That was sort of the point. But the twist? I was going to shred the hard-boiled eggs on a box grater into a fluffy pile. I’d toss it gingerly with my fingertips working in a bit of salt and pepper, add a few herbs and whatnot, and not much beyond that. Well, maybe the tiniest dollop of creme fraiche or thread of olive oil, enough to add a hint of cohesiveness, but not enough to weigh the salad down. I was after an egg salad that was fluffy, light, bright, and vibrant. Nothing wet, damp, or heavy about it. That is why you shred them, to keep things light.
Grated Egg Shredded for Sandwich in a Bowl

More About The Eggs

If you’re curious about the inspiration eggs – here’s what happened. I was at the market when a lovely, petite lady rolled up next to me with her cart. You could tell she knew exactly what she was after, so I stepped back and watched the scene unfold. She pointed straight at a mega-cooler behind the table, and asked if “any” were available. At that point I wasn’t entirely sure what she was asking for, but the way she inquired insinuated she didn’t always succeed. Now I know.
Eggs in a Bowl of Ice to Prevent Grey Ring Around Yolks
That’s where the eggs live — when they’re available. They are eggs from sprout-fed chickens. Think about that – sprout fed chickens. And they’re perhaps the best eggs I’ve had (with the exception of the eggs I’d buy from the grandmotherly figure who would sell in the corner of the old Testaccio market in Rome). So, I wanted to do something special with them, but nothing too complicated. Nothing that was going to get in the way of the eggs themselves. And this is what I came up with. There might be times when a more standard approach to egg salad might be called for – smashing and chopping the eggs + a more enveloping dressing. But for now, I’m on the shredding bandwagon.

Shredded Egg Salad Sandwich Open-faced on a Plate

Shredded Egg Salad Variations

  • Shredded Egg Salad Toast with Gruyere: This has been my long-time favorite version of this sandwich. Grate some gruyere cheese onto a slab of garlic-rubbed toast and put that under the broiler for a bit (until the cheese bubbles and melts). Top with the shredded egg salad (recipe below) and a sprinkling of chives.

Grated Egg Salad in a Bowl

  • Shredded Egg Salad Lettuce Wraps: I love the shredded eggs in a wrap of some sort of tender butter lettuce along with a sprinkling of fried shallots, toasted almond slices, and a kiss of hot sauce.

Grated Egg Salad in a Bowl

  • Grated Turmeric Egg Salad: You know where this is headed right? If you have some of these Pickled Turmeric Eggs on hand you can use them as a component. They aren’t as mild as standard hard-boiled eggs because of the vinegar, but they are a great accent.
  • Shredded Curried Egg Salad: I can imagine a shredded egg version of this curried egg salad would be really amazing. I’d scale back the amount of yogurt called for a bit, but imagine the grated egg with toasted pecans, apple bits, and chives! Would be so good!

Cross-section photo of Grated Egg Salad Sandwich

TikTok Grated Egg Avocado Toast

The version of the internet-famous TikTok Grated Egg Avocado Toast I made for lunch was just that plus some flare. I topped the grated egg with a few quick-pickled red onions, whisper thin slices of scallions, a nice squeeze of lemon, a pinch of curry powder, and a few sesame seeds. Good bread is key!

Cross-section photo of Grated Egg Salad Sandwich

Have fun with this one, but if a more classic version is your speed, here’s where you can find my go-to egg salad sandwich. And you can also browse a bunch of other egg recipes. If you want to put your knife skills to the test and explore the exciting world of shredded ingredients, don’t miss this quick Shredded Tofu Stir-fry, the Shredded Jackfruit Burritos, A Good Shredded Salad, my favorite Spicy Sesame Coleslaw, or this Sriracha Rainbow Noodle Salad.

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8 Homemade Spice Blends

A collection of eight bold, flavor-packed spice blends. The recipes are the ones I use regularly, the ones in my notebooks with lots of stars and hearts next to them.

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One of the things I’ve been working on recently is a collection of recipes I’ve created specifically for the members of my site. I mined my notebooks from the past few years to create a collection of favorite spice blends, seasonings, sprinkles and the like. A little magic for your food. The blends are bold, flavor-packed, and meant to be delicious and fun. They’re the ones I use regularly, the ones in my notebooks with lots of stars and hearts next to them. Let’s dive in! *Note: if you’re already a member (thank you!) the PDF will be in the downloads section of your account.

Spice Blends for the Win

One of the best ways to personalize your cooking is by using spices, herbs, edible flowers, seeds, and zests. You can highlight each ingredient individually or combine multiples into punctuating seasoning and spice blends. The components can be electric with flavor, vibrant in color, and often have deep and rich histories of culinary use. Today I’m highlighting one of my favorite custom spice blends (Mandarin Marjoram Salt), along with glimpses of some of the other recipes included in the collection.
Spice Blends - Mandarin Marjoram Salt

Mandarin Marjoram Salt

I’m going to include the recipe for this blend down at the bottom of the post. With citrus accents, fennel and sesame seeds, dried marjoram and lemon verbena this salt is a multi-purpose ringer. It’s the perfect finishing touch on avocado toast, guacamole, or scrambled eggs. It’s also great on hummus, and as a bread crumb seasoning. My absolute favorite way to use it is as a generous sprinkle on top of a silky, simple pureed carrot soup with a finishing thread of good olive oil. The recipe is at the bottom of this post.
Spice Blends - Pink Dragon Dust

Pink Dragon Dust

This dust comes to life when stirred into ingredients like honey, nut butters, or yogurt – all to taste. It’s also great sprinkled across the top of fruit salad. The recipe is included in the Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest recipe collection.
Diablo Powder Seasoning Blend

Diablo Powder

This is what I think of as a “dry” soup or curry starter. I like to make up a few little dry spice pouches whenever we go camping or take our Airstream out. They make for easy one-pot, just-add-water style meals. Add whatever protein and vegetable you have on hand. This broth mad from this spice blend is warming and chile-forward, but also grounding from the mushrooms. A finishing splash of coconut (or cashew milk) brings everything together. The recipe is included in the Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest recipe collection.
Spice Blends - Toasted Coconut Pepper

Toasted Coconut Pepper

With black peppercorns, sesame seeds, toasted coconut flakes, lime, dried garlic or onions, and grated cheese to finish, this seasoning blend is good on everything. You can’t go wrong keeping a little container front and center in your kitchen. The zest (or leaves) of the uniquely fragrant makrut limes make this extra special, but any limes will work great. Work this combo generously into butter for a fantastic compound butter perfect on roasted sweet potatoes. Or, sprinkle it across your favorite grain bowls. I like it on soba as well. The recipe is included in the Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest recipe collection.
Spice Blends - Golden Sesame Sprinkle

Golden Sesame Sprinkle

There’s a lot going on with this hearty blend making it a fragrant fennel-flecked closer that you can use generously. The sesame seeds provide a substantial foundation, the coriander and lemon verbena bring bright citrus notes, and you get a kick from the peppercorns. It’s not shy sprinkled on salted yogurt, accenting brown rice, or tossed with roasted asparagus. The recipe is included in the Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest recipe collection.
Seasoning Blend - Salad Booster

Salad Booster

I often carry a small vial of this spiced kale and nori medley in my purse, refilling it every few days. It’s a blend of seaweed, crisped kale, seeds, and a few wildcards. Nutrient-dense and delicious, you can use it as a healthful seasoning for salad, vegetables, stir-fries – whatever you like. Get the recipe here or in the Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest recipe collection.

Spice Blends - Rose Geranium Lime Sugar

Rose Geranium Lime Sugar

Keep an eagle eye out for rose geranium at your local nursery, the leaves perfume the world around them – perfect for infusing sugars, alcohol, and baked goods. Try this floral sugar sprinkle as a finishing touch on everything from waffles to muffin tops, berry crisps to apple pies. The recipe is included in the Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest recipe collection.

Spice Blends - Yeast Beast

Yeast Beast

If you’re not using nutritional yeast as a seasoning component, you’re missing out. The only thing I reach for more often is sea salt. Nutritional yeast can add a cheesy savoriness to pasta, savory toasts, biscuits, crepes, and just about anything else you can imagine. I love it spiked with curry powder and cut with ground, toasted pepitas. This combo has been a finishing touch on the last pizza I baked, topping for a breakfast bowl of spicy congee, and a kiss of magic on a simple, green lunch salad. The recipe is included in the Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest recipe collection.

Using Spice Blends

Use these seasoning and spice blends to flavor your curries, rim your cocktail glasses, churn into compound butters, press into cookie dough, whisk into dressings, and sprinkle on toast. My hope is you’ll then jump off and explore making your own creations. Have fun! 

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Homemade Pappardelle

Simple, homemade pappardelle pasta is a deliciously versatile shape to make! Pictured below topped with crispy mushrooms, clouds of Parmesan cheese, and lemon.

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It’s time for another pasta session! Pappardelle is one of the pasta shapes I prepare most often. The easy-to-make wide ribbons sweep up sauces beautifully. Flecks of flavor, like zests and grated cheese, love to cling to the expansive surface area. A bowl of homemade pappardelle is a real treat. Let’s talk though the process of making the pasta, and then I’ll share a simple pairing with oven-crisped mushroom, Parmesan and a lemon accent that I like a lot.
Fresh Homemade Pappardelle Noodles

About this Pappardelle Recipe

When you enjoy pappardelle in a restaurant the ratio of eggs to flour is often much, much higher than what I make at home. With the former, the weight of egg yolks can equal the weight of the flour. That means, you might need nearly two dozen yolks for the amount of flour we’re going to use today. This version is going to use some eggs, but nothing extreme.

For home-style pappardelle, I like to use 4 eggs for 400g of flour. It ends up being more egg-y than this basic homemade pasta recipe, but it works great, I always have the ingredients on hand, and it’s perfect for everyday cooking and eating. And there are eggs leftover for the rest of the week.Homemade Pappardelle on a platter with sliced mushrooms and lemon

Which Flour Should I Use?

The pappardelle you see pictured here was made with “00” flour. “00” is powder-fine and made with low gluten, soft wheat flour. If you don’t have “00” you can certainly use all-purpose flour. Or use equal parts “00” and unbleached all-purpose flour. Once you’re comfortable with this, you can even swap in a bit of whole-grain flour if you like – until you have a blend you love. A bit of rye flour is nice for winter pappardelle, or you could play around with chickpea flour, or even oat flour. I have it on my list to try a bit of mesquite flour at some point.Flour and eggs ready to make pasta dough

How To Make Pappardelle Dough By Hand

This is covered in the recipe below, but I wanted to include some step-by-step information in case you find yourself in the weeds.

Start by making a mound of the flour directly on the countertop. Make a deep crater in the top and add the eggs, olive oil, and salt.

Use a fork to break up the eggs without breaking through the walls of your flour mound. You want to try to keep the eggs contained, but don’t worry if they break through – use a spatula or bench scraper to scoop them back in. Work more and more flour into the eggs a bit at a time. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of cold water across the mixture and keep mixing until you’ve got a dough coming together.

If you’re exclusively using all-purpose flour, you might not need more water. Some of the other flours are a bit thirstier, you can drizzle a bit more at time as you go if you feel like your dough is too dry. It should look like the pictures, you want to avoid having a wet dough. With some of the other flours I typically end up using 4-5 tablespoons of water total.

I’ve found that a spray bottle is my favorite way to add water to pasta dough without adding too much, but drizzling works too. Use your hands to bring the dough together into a bag and knead for 7-10 minutes, until the dough is silky smooth and elastic.
Pappardelle dough resting in a bag

How to Roll and Cut Fresh Pappardelle By Hand

To roll out pappardelle dough by hand, make sure your dough is at room temperature. Cut the dough into four equal pieces. Choose one piece to work with, and immediately wrap the rest so they don’t dry out. You’ll need a floured surface, and you’ll want to keep the pasta floured a bit as well, so it doesn’t stick to itself. If the dough is sticking rub with a bit more flour. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to your desired thickness. I tend to go thinner than I think I’ll want because the pasta swells a bit as it cooks. Once you’ve rolled the dough out flat, cut the dough into strips 1-inch wide and 12 inches long. Transfer the cut pasta to a floured baking sheet, rub with a bit of flour, and swirl into little nests with about 6 pieces of pasta in each nest. Repeat with the remaining dough. At this point you can cook the pasta immediately, dry it, refrigerate it, or freeze it.

How to Roll and Cut Fresh Pappardelle by Machine

If your dough was refrigerated, bring it to room temperature before rolling out. Sprinkle a baking sheet generously with flour and aside. When you’re ready to roll out the pasta, make sure your dough is at room temperature. Cut it into six equal wedges, and squish one of them flat-ish with your fingers. Re-wrap the remaining dough immediately so it doesn’t dry out. Feed your flattened wedge though the pasta machine on its widest setting. Run it though 2 or 3 times. You want to get it into a rectangular shape if possible. Fold the dough in thirds so you have a rectangle. Feed it though the pasta maker 2-3 more times on the widest setting. Continue to feed the pasta dough through the pasta maker, decreasing the width as you go. I run the pasta through a 2-3 times on each width, and dust with a bit of flour on both sides if I’m getting any stickiness. I typically roll pappardelle out to the 5 or 6 setting on my Atlas 150. 
Pappardelle dough next to an Atlas Pasta machine
I love my Altas hand-cranked pasta machine, and I’ve used it forever. They’re relatively inexpensive, and a great investment if you think you might want to make homemade pasta more often. I’ve also had great success using the pasta attachment to the Kitchen-Aid. So, if you already have one of those, consider the attachment. 
Pasta machine making sheets of pasta dough from which you cut pappardelle
Cut the sheets into strips roughly 12-inches long by 1-inch thick. You can get super precise, like the photo below, or just eyeball it, and take a more casual approach. Transfer the cut pasta to a floured baking sheet, dust/rub the pasta with a bit of flour, and swirl into little nests. I usually do 6 pappardelle per nest. At this point you can cook the pasta immediately, dry it, refrigerate it, or freeze it.
Cutting homemade pappardelle on marble countertop using ruler as a guide
The pappardelle are lightly dusted (photo below) and then shaped into nests that you can use immediately, or freeze to use at a later time. 
Fresh Homemade Pappardelle Noodles drying a bit on a floured sheet pan

How To Freeze Pappardelle

Freezing is my preferred method of storing any pappardelle I’m not cooking immediately. Arrange freshly made, uncooked nests of pappardelle across a floured baking sheet. Freeze for a couple of hours, and then transfer to double layer plastic bags. You can freeze for up to a couple of months. And you can cook straight from the freezer. No need to thaw, just dump the pappardelle into boiling salted water, and increase the cooking time a bit.Nest of Pappardelle pasta on a floured sheetpan

Variations

You can see in some of my other pasta recipes how to tweak basic pappardelle pasta dough by adding different seasonings and spices. For example, I added black pepper and turmeric to this sunny-looking cavatelli. And beet juice to electrify this fettuccini. You can also play around with the water component. In place of water you can use vegetable juices, purees, stocks or broths, anything of that sort is fair game.
Top-down view of Homemade Pappardelle on a platter with sliced mushrooms and lemon

More Ideas!

Making fresh pasta is one of my favorite things to do. It’s even better when you have others around to help, taking turns in shifts. I did a basic primer on making homemade pasta a while ago, if you love fettuccine noodles or anything along those lines, start there. You can also try making gnocchi (it’s perfect with this pesto), or a favorite simple tomato sauce. And all my pasta recipes live here. Have a blast and enjoy!

 

 

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Blood Orange Gin Sparkler

The citrus gin cocktail you want to be drinking. It’s bright and beautiful – perfect for winter holidays and New Years Eve.

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For a good part of the year I have rosemary floating about the kitchen. It’s typically crowded in a wide-mouth jar, standing stick-straight, quietly waiting to be called upon. Sometimes it sits on the windowsill here, other times it migrates to the island, or, on rare occasions, the dinner table. I tend to buy a bunch, then work my way through it little by little (you’ve likely seen it in the background of photos on previous posts). Said another way – rosemary is often in my line of sight, and I’m always looking for ways to use it. This cocktail caught my attention a couple weeks back, and I’ve been making my own citrus-spiked riff on it in the days since.
Blood Orange Gin Sparkler
So…my initial idea was that I’d do a winter citrus version using freshly-squeezed pink grapefruit juice, gin, and tonic water or sparkling water. I thought the evergreen notes in the gin would blend nicely with the tart pucker of grapefruit, and I’d take the edge off with a hint of rosemary syrup.

Not meant to be.
Gin Sparkler
I walked into a box of beautiful Moro blood oranges at the store, and here we are. The blood orange juice worked beautifully, it added a lovely burst of color, and generally lent itself agreeably to what ended up being a long, bright, winter-time quencher. One that goes down a bit too easily, in fact. As I mention down below, if blood oranges are hard for you to come by, this drink is great with navel oranges as well. I mean it when I say, I hope you like this one as much as I do.

Gin Sparkler

I kept thinking the gin / citrus combo would make for a striking DIY cocktail set-up at a holiday party, or New Year’s brunch /gathering. Particularly if you offered a selection of juice mixers. I’m imagining small glass pitchers of blood orange juice, pink grapefruit juice, orange juice, oro blanco grapefruit juice, and or sweet lime juice? It would be a beautiful spectrum. Let me know if you give it a go.

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18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

Putting a handful of new, veg-centric recipes into rotation this time of year can move the needle in the right direction. Hopefully this will provide a bit of inspiration!

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It’s increasingly difficult to get consensus on what makes the most healthful diet, but I think we can all agree that eating more nutrient-dense plants after an overly-indulgent holiday season is a positive thing. Putting a handful of new, veg-centric recipes into rotation this time of year can help move the needle in the right direction. Hopefully this will provide a bit of inspiration! Many of the recipes are easily adaptable, and weeknight friendly. Enjoy!

1. Garlic Lime Lettuce WrapsI love these! Ginger and garlic tempeh rice, folded into lime-spiked lettuce wraps with lots of herbs, cucumber, and carrots. A one-pan meal that comes together in no time! Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

2. Quick Vegan Enchiladas with Sweet Potato SauceThese are knock-out delicious, in the oven in less that ten minutes, and a healthful alternative to all the heavy cheese versions out there. With black beans, sweet potatoes, and a stealthy turmeric boost.Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

3. Spicy Tahini Noodles with Roasted VegetablesA weeknight winner! Make a simple, thinned-out tahini sauce, roast some vegetables while your pasta water is coming to a boil, toss and serve on one platter. If you like those old-school Chinese restaurant spicy peanut noodles, these are sort-of their tahini slathered distant cousinsGet the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

4. California Tom Yum SoupThe perfect antidote to holiday over-indulgence. This version is a distant relative of the vibrant, brothy tom yum soup you likely know and love. Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

5. Last Minute Red Lasagna A true weeknight lasagna. No pre-cooking sauces, no pre-cooking noodles. You, literally, stir the first five ingredients together into a vibrant crushed tomato sauce, and start layering. Also, it isn’t a cheese bomb.Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

6. Ten Ingredient Alkalizing Green Soup Ten ingredients in a blender and you’ve got a potent, alkalizing green soup – spinach, herbs, garlic, with silky coconut cream, and some green split peas for staying power. Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

7. Chickpea Cauliflower Korma A riff on the Chickpea Cauliflower Korma recipe in Jennifer Iserloh’s The Healing Slow Cooker – chickpeas, cauliflower, combined with a not-shy simmer sauce. (conventional / Instantpot versions) Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

8. Vibrant, Vegan Double Broccoli Buddha Bowl Made with seven ingredients on green overdrive. You double up on broccoli through a coconut green curry pesto and florets, then toss with a quinoa base. Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

9. Immunity Soup A soup built on a monster white pepper broth. White pepper with jolts of ginger, and stabs of garlic – clear and strong topped with tofu, mushrooms, watermelon radish, and lots of green onions. Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

10. Orange Pan-glazed Tempeh The best tempeh recipe I’ve highlighted to date – it features a simple ginger and garlic-spiked orange glaze that plays of the nutty earthiness of the pan-fried tempeh beautifully. Get the recipe here.

I18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

11. Chia Breakfast Bowl So easy, so good! Soak the chia seeds in your favorite nut milk, top with smashed berries, fresh passionfruit juice, pepitas, and big flakes of toasted coconut. A bit of bee pollen adds a boost and some pretty. Get the recipe here.

Instant Pot Chickpea Cauliflower Korma

12. Sriracha Rainbow Noodle Salad A radiant, color-flecked tangle of noodles, cabbage, shredded carrots, pickled sushi ginger, and an abundance of cilantro, basil, and scallions. It has tofu and peanuts, coconut, ginger, avocado, and hemp seeds. Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

13. Mung Yoga Bowl The kind of bowl that keeps you strong – herb-packed yogurt dolloped over a hearty bowl of mung beans and quinoa, finished with toasted nuts and a simple paprika oil. Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset</a

14. Vegetable Noodle Soup This vegetable noodle soup is as simple, direct, and delicious as it gets. Vegetarian and vegans looking for an alternative to chicken noodle soup, try this! Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

15. Anna’s California Miso Avocado Salad So good! A California-inspired Miso, Avocado, & Bean Salad from A Modern Way to Eat, by Anna Jones. Seasonal greens and beans are tossed with an assertive, creamy miso dressing. There are crunchy seeds, and broccoli, and avocado – it all comes together into a brilliant, beautiful, feel-good salad.Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

16. Rainbow Cauliflower Rice Lightly cooked cauliflower is chopped, then tossed, with turmeric, cumin, cayenne, and a touch of ghee – add sliced avocado, hard-boiled eggs, toasted seeds, rainbow chard stems, lettuces. Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

17. Mushroom Stroganoff This fantastic vegan mushroom stroganoff is a total crowd-pleaser. You can make it in an Instant Pot, or stovetop. Made with caraway-spiked vodka, and a hearty mushroom base, you get all of what you love about mushroom stroganoff, without the all the butter and cream. Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

18. Winter Green Miso Paste Keep this on hand for flash-quick, healthy meals. A herbaceous, green miso paste with some garlic bite, rounded out with lots of scallions, cilantro, ginger, and some rosemary. Plus ten simple ways to use it. Get the recipe here.

18 Recipes to Kick off your Post-Holiday Reset

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Meal In A Jar: Tortellini Soup

A favorite flavor-packed meal in a jar, just add water and a can of crushed tomatoes. It’s a favorite one-pot lentil and tomato-based stew, dotted with plump, tender tortellini, spiked with a range of spices. Perfect for one-pot camping or weeknight meals.

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In nearly twenty years of sharing recipes on this site I don’t think I’ve ever posted a meal in a jar. I’m talking about the “just add water” style jar meals. The kind you can keep in the pantry, gift to friends, or pack with you for a road trip or camping trip. In contrast, I’m not talking about green salads in a jar, or burrito in a jar, or those sorts of meals. Just want to clarify. I like a meal in a jar that can be cooked in one pan and only requires water and perhaps one can of something (tomatoes, or coconut milk, etc.) to be great. 
Meal In A Jar Tortellini Soup in Weck Jars on Countertop
I make a range of these whenever we go camping or take our travel trailer out. We’ve been doing a lot of fall/winter coastal camping and a cozy soup or stew always hits the spot. We were at beautiful Crystal Cove State Park for a few days last week and had to hitch up the trailer in the worst rain and wind storm to hit the California Coast all year. Complete laugh/cry mud fest. Torrential downpour. Sideways rain. This was the perfect hearty bowl of soup to thaw us out.
Meal In A Jar Tortellini Soup in a Big White Pot

Meal In A Jar Tortellini Soup

If you’ve tried this Curried Tomato Tortellini Soup, you’ll immediately recognize the inspiration. This is basically the “meal in a jar” version of that soup. It’s a fortifying lentil and tomato-based stew dotted with plump, tender tortellini, and spiked with a range of spices. It’s so delicious, and simple, and this version you combine the jar ingredients with water and a can of crushed tomatoes. There’s literally no prep required for this version once you’ve built your jar. I talk about bonus ingredients down below, and they’re completely optional but instead of the spinach called for in the non-jar recipe, I like to add finely chopped kale or broccoli florets, or whatever I have on had to work in a green veg component in this version.
 View From Crystal Cove Campground

Meal in A Jar Instructions

This is just a reminder to be nice to your future self. Be sure to include all instructions on the side of your jar or container. You can use a sticker, washi tape, tag, or Sharpie marker. If you’re designing your own meal in a jar (I often rework favorite recipes) try to keep things as simple as possible. This means ingredients and instructions. Take a first stab and then tweak as you go until you have a great master recipe. For this soup, I know I can always track down a can of tomatoes (I keep a couple cans in the trailer), so aside from the jar contents all I need is that and water. The instructions fit on one line. It’s basically as simple as this: simmer contents of jar with 5 1/2 cups water and 14-oz can of tomatoes. 
Airstream Trailer from the Front Parked at the Beach

Bonus Ingredients

With these meal in a jar situations I often look to the refrigerator or cooler box for an extra ingredient or two. They’re not necessary, but can be nice to have. Basically, think of it as bonus points for rounding out whatever goes in the pot with whatever fresh ingredient(s) like kale or broccoli you might have on hand. Half the time for me, it’s broccoli, or some chopped kale. Use what you’ve got, it’s hard to go wrong! Cabbage, asparagus, corn, etc. So many add-ins would work here.
Meal in a Jar Tortellini Soup Recipe Handwritten in Journal

Pro-tip! Good Herbs & Spices

These types of meals in jars rely heavily on dry spices, herbs, and the like for flavor and seasoning. You want to use the best, freshest you’ve got. It’s the difference between using a curry paste and a curry powder. Or, the difference between using something like sriracha sauce and dried chile peppers and garlic.  If you’re going to make a bunch of these jars for future meals go ahead and reboot your most used spices, spice blends and dried ingredients. Source from great sources, store them in a dark, cool place, and be sure they’re beautifully fragrant. I list my favorite suppliers in the back of all of my books.
Meal In A Jar Tortellini Soup in Weck Jars on Countertop

If you like this sort of meal in a jar recipe, let me know. I tend to keep these sorts of recipes to myself, In part because I often throw them together in a hurry. But I always take notes, and make tweaks, and have quite a collection of them in my notebooks. Happy to share more if you like!

If soups are your thing, be sure to browse the archives. No one loves a good one more than me and there are dozens of great soup recipes to be had. Don’t miss this lentil soup, this simple tomato soup, or this ribollita.

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Most Popular Soups of 2021

A round-up of the most popular soups of 2021, plus a trio of favorite soups from my personal list.

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I love looking back at the end of the year to see which recipes have been most popular. Some recipes make the lists every year, other times it’s a newcomer’s game. The end of the year round-ups also coincide with soup season, and no one loves a good soup or stew more than I do. I thought I’d wrangle the most popular soup recipes of the year, into a list & toss in a few wildcards that didn’t make the cut as well. The soups that aren’t the most popular on the site, but have a special place in my heart and on my table throughout the year. Enjoy! Xoxo! -h

Curried Tomato Tortellini Soup Recipe

1 // Curried Tomato Tortellini Soup
A crowd-pleasing tomato-based tortellini soup, dotted with plump, tender dumplings, spiked with a range of spices, and boosted with plenty of spinach. Get the recipe!

Fire Broth Noodle Soup
2 // Fire Broth Noodle Soup
If you’ve been visiting this site for a while, you’ve seen a lot of this soup. Loaded with all the things that make you feel good (beans, pasta, kale, turmeric), and seasoned with a broth that is nuclear spicy (cayenne, ginger, garlic. Perfect this time of year.  Get the recipe!

Vegetarian Split Pea Soup
3 // Vegetarian Split Pea Soup
Delicious, healthy, textured soup made from an impossibly short list of ingredients. Just five! Simply green split peas and onions cooked until tender, partially pureed, seasoned and flared out with toppings.  Get the recipe!
Coconut Red Lentil Soup
4 // Coconut Red Lentil Soup
Everyone who tastes this loves it – not a shock that it is popular every year. I tasted it first when a neighbor cooked it from the Esalen cookbook – a red lentil based, curry-spiced coconut broth with back notes of ginger and tomato, with slivered green onions, and curry-plumped raisins.  Get the recipe!
Simple Cauliflower Soup
5 // Simple Cauliflower Soup
This is the simplest of cauliflower soups. And it is so incredibly good. The ingredient list is shorter than short, and if you have a great yellow curry paste on hand (or even just a good one), it is worth making. Get the recipe!
Ribollita - Tuscan Stew
6 // Ribollita
A beautiful rustic, thick Tuscan stew made with dark greens, lots of beans, vegetables, olive oil, and thickened with day-old bread. One of my favorites & apparently one of yours as well! Get the recipe!
Spicy Instant Pot Taco Soup
7 // Spicy Instant Pot Taco Soup
Last year the Instant Pot Minestrone was on the list, this year it is this taco soup, a weeknight winner. A hearty melding of beans, and corn, and taco spices, and quinoa. Finished with avocado and pepitas and a squeeze of lime. Get the recipe!

// And here’s a trio of soups that might night rack up as many page views, but are definitely on repeat in my life. A couple of them have been on my site for-ev-er, and they never get old. Hope you take these for a spin as well! //

Simple Tomato Soup
// A Simple Tomato Soup
So good. So easy to make! A simple tomato soup recipe inspired by a Melissa Clark recipe – pureed, warmly spiced, and perfect topped with everything from toasted almonds and herbs, to coconut cream or a poached egg.  Get the recipe!

Green Lentil Soup with Curried Brown Butter
// Green Lentil Soup with Curried Brown Butter
Here’s the deal. The magic here is the curried brown butter drizzle. Don’t skip it. Also, a good chunk of hearty sourdough really elevates the whole experience. Or! Some good naan or paratha. Get the recipe!
Chicory & Barley Soup
// Chicory & Barley Soup
A soup I included in Near & Far, it is brothy, restorative barley soup with chicories punctuated with flecks of preserved lemon, a bit of chile confetti, and a silky dollop of creme fraiche. I love it so much. Make a double batch of the lemon-chile confetti, and put it on everything else throughout the week. Get the recipe!

If you want to browse all the past soup recipes, there are some gems here. Happy soup season everyone. Looking forward to featuring some new soups in 2022.

 

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Classic Shortbread Cookies

Buttery, golden, classic shortbread cookies. So simple, and the best cookies on any cookie plate.

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Shortbread cookies were my first baking love. They were the first cookie I remember putting in the oven myself, always for the holidays, always wearing a kid-sized apron. I’ve developed some strong opinions on the shortbread front over the years, and I’m going to talk you through the difference between great shortbread cookies and the ones that are just so-so. Shortbread cookies can be the best cookie on any cookie tray (controversial take, I know!), and this post will walk you through how. I’ve featured shortbread many different ways on the site over the years, but love circling back to this buttery, golden, classic shortbread version.
Classic Shortbread Cookies

The Secret to Great Shortbread Cookies

I should say secrets, plural, because there are actually a few that will help bump your shortbread game from good to great.

  • Salt: Let’s start with this, it’s an easy one. A lot of shortbread cookie recipes are under salted, and that can leave them tasting flat and boring. Others call for salted butter which can be great, but it’s harder to control seasoning levels. I’m not saying go wild on the salt front, but treat it like a pillar ingredient. It is the ingredient that will bring the toasted butter, sugar, and flour into perfect focus. 
  • Thickness: For classic shortbread cookies like these, I like to go thick. I’ve found that rolling out the dough to 1/2-inch thickness is too thin, and a full-inch is too thick. I aim for somewhere in the 3/4-inch zone. This allows for golden crust with crisp buttery edge and a tender center.
    A Stack of Little Shortbreads
  • Baking Time: I’ve provided guidance in the recipe for baking time, but in reality it’s all about having an eagle eye and good nose here. Use your sight and smell. A lot of the shortbread I’ve come across over the years is too pale, nearly white. That’s not what I’m after. Shortbread that is allowed to get tip top super-golden and toasted where it touches the baking pan, with a wash of color over the rest of the cookie is so much better. That’s how all the flavor comes to life. It’s literally the difference between butter and brown butter. Patience and attentiveness pays off here. Hover near the oven, let your shortbread get toasty.

Ingredients for Making Shortbread - Flour, Butter, Sugar, Salt

Ingredients in Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread magic happens when butter, sugar, flour, and salt come together. The list of ingredients is incredibly short, so you want to make sure each one is on point. Be sure your butter is good-quality, and recently purchased. You don’t want the butter picking up refrigerator odors. When in doubt, taste. I also like to use a fresh bag of all purpose flour when baking shortbread, some flours can pick up off smells and flavors when they’ve been sitting around too long. I’m also a purist when it comes to shortbread and skip the vanilla extract you might see in other recipes.
Classic Shortbread Cookies

Make-Ahead Shortbread Cookies

The freezer is your friend here and shortbread dough stored in an airtight container or double wrapped in plastic can last frozen for months. You can freeze the cookie dough pre-rollout or proceed through the cutout phase. Once you’ve rolled and cut your dough, transfer the unbaked cookies onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and freeze before transferring to an air-tight container. Freeze until ready to bake.
Cookie Dough on Baking Sheet Prepared to go in Oven

Thick or Thin?

We talked a bit about this up above, but I have a few other things to say. When it comes to classic shortbread cookies, I lean towards thick. On the other hand, if I’ve loaded the dough up with zest, nuts, spices, or other flavors, I tend to use a rolling pin to roll the dough out a bit more thinly, cutting the cookies smaller for a more concentrated experience. All of this is personal preference, of course. One thing to think about here is oven temperature. For thicker shortbread, starting with a slightly hotter oven to set the dough, and then dialing it back a bit can help prevent spread. And with smaller, thinner shortbread you don’t have to worry about that as much. When in doubt, just keep an eye on things!
A Close-up of Four Freshly Baked Shortbread Cookies

How do I keep my Shortbread from Spreading?

If you look at the photos above  you can see the difference between properly chilled shortbread dough prior to baking (circles), and dough that wasn’t chilled long enough (rectangles). The circles had their shape perfectly while the larger rectangular slabs had a bit of spread. Another hour in the refrigerator or baking straight from the freezer will likely fix that. If you’re still getting too much spread, reduce the time you’re creaming the butter and sugars, too much air being incorporated into the dough can also cause your cookies to spread. Last, confirm your oven temperature is correct, if it is running low, you’re going to have trouble.
Classic Shortbread Cookies

Other Shortbread Cookie Ideas

Once you have a shortbread recipe you love in your back pocket (hopefully this one!), you can play around with many variables. They’re great for Christmas and beyond.

  • Skillet Shortbread: bake directly into a cast iron skillet or press the dough into a pan, marking with fork tines, then bake. In either case, mark the top of the dough with fork tines, to ensure more even baking.
  • Try Alternative Flours: If you want to introduce other flours to this recipe go for it. I’d start with 20% and make note from there. Rye flour is always a great starting point, oat flour might be nice, or buckwheat flour. I’m also curious about introducing a percentage of something like almond flour but haven’t experimented with that yet. All would add dimension and depth.
  • Sugar Crust: A lot of people love it when you sprinkle large-grain sugar across the shortbread dough before baking. You end up with a crunchy sugar crust and some sparkle.

More Shortbread!

I’ve baked and highlighted many shortbread cookies over years and learned a lot. The Rosewater Shortbread Cookies and Toasted Almond Sables are my favorites in the beyond-classic category, but they all are special in one way or another.

Middle Eastern Millionaire’s Shortbread: This is the Middle Eastern Millionaire’s Shortbread from Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh’s Sweet. It’s incredible for a number of reasons. Imagine a crisp, shortbread base spread thick with a creamy tahini-halva blend, finished with glossy tahini caramel. It’s brilliant, and a thin slice makes for the perfect treat.
Millionaire's Shortbread in Slices on Marble Table
Rosewater Shortbread Cookies: One of my favorites. Classic, buttery, whole wheat shortbread cookies fragrant with rosewater, flecked with toasted nuts, and dried rose petals. They have a crunchy dusting of sugar on top that provides a satisfying, sweet tongue scratch, and are punctuated with black sesame. They are the prettiest of the shortbread lot.
Rosewater Shortbread Cookies
Toasted Almond Sable Cookies // Toasty, nutty sable cookies made with whole wheat flour, sliced almonds, currents and salted butter. They are a take-off on Alice Medrich’s charming Whole Wheat Sables, published in her book Pure Dessert.
Toasted Almond Sables Cookies cut into Teardrop Shape

There’s also Apple & Carrot ShortbreadHearst Castle Shortbread Cookies, Pine Nut Rosemary Shortbread Cookies, and Olive Biscuit Cookies. And then, beyond that, here are all of the cookie recipes and baking recipes. Happy baking everyone!

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Lacinato Kale and Pecorino Salad

A base of finely shredded Lacinato kale to which and abundance of toasted pecans, pecorino cheese, and shredded Brussels sprouts are added. A strong lemon-tahini dressing is leveraged to brighten things up and take the raw edge off of the kale.

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You’re looking at one of my favorite winter salads and if you feel up for shredding a few ingredients, it won’t disappoint. It’s the most wintery of kale salads – an especially good one. Buckle up for a hearty, filling, and nutritious salad that happily makes a meal on its own. It also plays nice with others and is brilliant over a bed of pasta, or platter of roasted vegetables, or a grain bowl.
Lacinato Kale and Pecorino Salad
The salad is easy enough, without being obvious or predictable. It builds on a base of finely shredded lacinato kale to which and abundance of toasted pecans, pecorino cheese, and shredded Brussels sprouts are added. Don’t skimp. A strong lemon-tahini dressing is leveraged to brighten things up and take the raw edge off of the kale.

The key here is your knife work. For this salad to really pop, really shred the kale and Brussels sprouts and green onions finely, delicately. It’s leads a feathery texture that makes all the different in a robust salad like this one.
Lacinato Kale and Pecorino Salad on an Antique Serving Platter

Variations

I tend to make this salad the way it is written below. The combination of pecans, green olives, and pecorino is a winner in my book. But walnuts are great too if that is what you have on hand. If you have celery, I like to add it as well. Again, sliced whisper thin. A finishing kiss of lemon zest from the lemon you used to make the dressing is nice as well.

There is no shortage of kale recipes on the site, so have a look around. On the salad front, I love this Genius Kale Salad from the Food52 Genius Recipes Cookbook. This Salad Booster is fun, and this Kale Market Salad (xo Ragazza!) is such a fave. Also! Don’t miss Bryant Terry’s Amazing Green Rice.

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Whole Bean Vanilla Cookies

Snappy, small, fragrant, vanilla wafer cookies made with a whole vanilla pod. The entire thing!

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I was pulling the sad remnant of a vanilla bean from a bag of sugar the other day, and it got me thinking about using whole vanilla beans. The entire pod. I’m sure this isn’t a unique concept, but for whatever reason, it’s not something I’d ever considered before. I started thinking it through a bit, and landed on the idea of pureeing a whole pod in a food processor to use in something. Perhaps adding some sugar to bulk it out the vanilla bean a bit. After a bit of experimenting, I landed on these little cookies. I love them!
Whole Vanilla Bean Cookies

These cookies are super simple to make – snappy, small, and fragrant, with a sloppy kiss of vanilla, and a right hook of salt to balance everything out. Any tiny pieces of vanilla bean that survived the processor are a bit like having vanilla-kissed flecks of raisins cut into the dough.

Whole Vanilla Bean CookiesWhole Vanilla Bean Cookies

I made the cookies with a blend of rye and all-purpose flours, but I suspect you could make them using either all-purpose flour, or whole wheat pastry flour without any trouble. And, as far as the vanilla bean goes, the key is starting with a good pod, one that is pliable and from a reputable source. I tested these with Nielson-Massey beans because I know many of you have access, and they seem to be widely distributed.

Whole Vanilla Bean Cookies
I love sharing these as part of a cookie plate, or cookie gift box alongside other favorite cookies. You can have a look at all the past cookie recipes, or jump right into these favorite shortbread, sables, snickerdoodles, puddle cookies and the like!
Whole Vanilla Bean Cookies
Have you all come across other whole vanilla ideas/recipes? – I’ve held off googling.

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