Recipes to make during a snowstorm - The Boston Globe (2024)

1. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

2. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Pour the mixture into the dish.

3. Slice the ends off the bread and reserve for another use. Cut six 1½-inch slices of bread and arrange in a single layer on the sugar mixture, squeezing them slightly so they fit snuggly in the dish.

4. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, Grand Marnier, and salt until well blended. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

5. Remove the plastic wrap from the baking dish. Let the dish sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

6. Set the oven at 350 degrees.

7. Bake the dish for 30 to 40 minutes or until puffed and golden. Adapted from Connie Rosa

Recipe for shakshuka

Serves 4

The North African dish shakshuka made its way to southern Europe and the Middle East (it’s especially popular in Israel). It is essentially a highly seasoned tomato sauce in which you cook eggs. After simmering the sauce, make depressions with the back of a spoon, then poach the eggs right in the mixture. When you serve it, the yolks should be runny and spill into the sauce. Some shakshuka recipes use lots of onions and hot and sweet peppers. This version is simpler; it cooks in 10 minutes with several spices. For heat, add crushed red peppers or something with more intriguing heat, such as maras or Aleppo peppers.

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, halved

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper or maras or Aleppo peppers

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground coriander

1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes, crushed in a bowl

½ cup water

Salt and black pepper, to taste

4 eggs, each cracked into a separate cup

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1. In a large heavy skillet, heat the olive oil with the garlic. When it is hot, add the red pepper, paprika, allspice, cumin, and coriander. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

2. Tip in the tomatoes and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture stops spluttering. Add the water, salt, and black pepper. Bring the sauce to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. With tongs, remove the garlic from the pan.

3. Using the rounded side of a large spoon, make 4 indentations in the sauce. Tip an egg into each one. Sprinkle the egg lightly with salt and pepper.

4. Cover the skillet and cook the eggs for 6 to 8 minutes or until the whites are opaque and just firm (the yolks should still be runny).

5. Spoon sauce and an egg onto each of 4 shallow bowls. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with crusty bread.

Sheryl Julian

Recipe for alphabet soup

Serves 6

Though essential to the dish, alphabet noodles for alphabet soup can be a challenge to find. If you can’t find them at your local grocer, Vitacost.com offers a couple of options, both organic and conventional. Otherwise, substitute any other fun shape like farm animals. They may need another minute or two to cook.

1. In a soup pot over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the onion, carrot, celery, thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Lower heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring often.

2. Add the tomatoes and vegetable stock or water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the zucchini, peas, corn, beans, and pasta. Return to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes or until pasta is tender but still has some bite.

3. Taste for seasoning, add more salt and pepper, if you like, and ladle into bowls. Karoline Boehm Goodnick

Recipe for chicken-rice soup

Serves 4 with leftovers

1 cooked chicken thigh, skin and bones removed

1/2 cooked breast, skin and bones removed

1 cup chicken cooking juices

1 cup cooked rice

6 pieces carrot, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup onion pieces, coarsely chopped

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup water

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (for sprinkling)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1. Coarsely chop the chicken thigh and breast meat. In a soup pot, combine the chicken, cooking juices, rice, carrots, onions, stock, and water.

2. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes or until the mixture is hot. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper.

3. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper and parsley.

Recipe for Turkish red lentil soup

Serves 6

Lentil soup, made with the bright pink legumes, is on many menus in Turkey. Sometimes it’s a thin broth, sometimes thick, often a little hot, and very aromatic. The soup can be served with a swirl of dried mint sauteed in butter or topped with Turkish red peppers (which are smokier and more intense than crushed red pepper). It’s a vegetarian bowl, quite nutritious, that begins with dried chickpeas, whose texture adds a pleasing crunch to the pureed soup. Turkish cooks use rice or bulgur to thicken the mixture, and mint they dry because it grows wild. Here the soup is thickened with long-grain white rice and garnished with fresh mint and more red peppers (called Maras or Urfa peppers at Formaggio Kitchen, 617-354-4750).

1/2 cup chickpeas, soaked overnight

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 jalapeno or other hot pepper, seeded and chopped

Salt, to taste

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon Turkish red peppers or crushed red pepper, or to taste

2 cups dried red lentils

1/4 cup long-grain white rice

2 1/2 quarts water

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint (for garnish)

Extra Turkish red peppers or crushed red pepper (for sprinkling)

1. Drain the chickpeas and set them aside.

2. In a soup pot, heat the oil. When it is hot, add the onion and celery. Cook, stirring often, for 8 minutes. Add the jalapeno and salt. Continue cooking, stirring often, for 2 minutes more.

3. Add the cumin, paprika, and red pepper. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until the spices are aromatic. Add the chickpeas, lentils, and rice. Cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or until they are coated with spices.

4. Add the water and bring to a boil. Stir in the foam on the surface of the liquid. Lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for 30 minutes or until the chickpeas are tender and the lentils have almost turned into a puree.

5. Ladle into bowls. Garnish with fresh mint and red pepper.

Sheryl Julian

Recipe for sesame-noodle salad

Serves 4

Begin with spaghetti, bell peppers, snow peas, cucumbers, radishes, then toss them with a gingery peanut-butter sauce. Serve the noodles warm. Substitute any fresh seasonal vegetables (you need about 3 cups cut up).

DRESSING

1. In a bowl large enough to hold the noodles, whisk together soy sauce, rice vinegar, sriracha, lime juice, honey, and ginger.

2. Whisk in the peanut butter, mixing until smooth. Stir in the sesame oil, whisking until blended.

NOODLES AND VEGETABLES

1. In a skillet over medium heat, toast the sesame seeds for 5 minutes, stirring often, or until golden; set aside.

2. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the spaghetti, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes or until it is tender but still has some bite. Drain the pasta into a colander (to serve cold, rinse with cold water; to serve hot do not rinse).

3. Whisk the dressing again. Stir the bell peppers, snow peas, cucumber, and radishes into the dressing. Add the spaghetti and toss gently to coat it with dressing. Top with sesame seeds and garnish with cilantro or parsley.

Valerie Ryan

Recipe for Alice Medrich’s chocolate-chip cookies

Makes 3 dozen

Author Alice Medrich takes cookie making to the level of an art form. Of the many (many!) chocolate-chip cookies we have made, none touch this recipe from “Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies.” The recipe’s secret is melting the butter and letting the batter sit overnight until the butter really soaks into the dry ingredients. The results are super-crisp cookies.

2 ¼ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups chocolate chips plus 1 cup chopped walnuts or 3 cups chocolate chips

1. In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt to blend them.

2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Set it aside to cool.

3. Add the granulated and brown sugars to the butter. Stir in the eggs, one by one, followed by the vanilla.

4. Stir in the flour mixture. Stir in the chips and nuts, if using.

5. Transfer the batter to a plastic container, cover, and refrigerate for 1 day.

6. Let the dough sit out for 30 minutes to soften.

7. Set the oven at 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

8. Scoop the dough onto the baking sheets in walnut-size balls. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the sheets, or until they are firm to the touch.

9. Slide the cookies on their parchment papers onto wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Adapted from “Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies” E-Mail Share via e-mail To Add a message Your e-mail

Recipe for fudgy brownies

Makes 24

Exceptionally moist, these brownies take only a few minutes to mix in a saucepan. My mother, Doris, always kept the ingredients on hand and cut them right in the pan. I line the pan with foil, refrigerate the cool brownies, lift out the cake, and cut the bars, so they’re even with clean edges.

Butter (for the pan)

Flour (for dusting)

1 stick plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut up

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups flour

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Set the oven at 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch-square baking pan and dust the pan with flour, tapping out the excess.

2. In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate.

3. With a wooden spoon, beat the sugar into the chocolate mixture, mixing it well.

4. In a bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla lightly. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture a little at a time, beating well after each addition. The mixture will go from grainy to glossy.

5. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

6. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Bake the brownies for 30 to 35 minutes or until the edges are set and the middle is just firm when pressed with a fingertip. Set on a wire rack to cool.

7. Make 3 cuts in one direction, 5 in the other, to form 24 bars. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Sheryl Julian

Recipe for roast chicken on angel hair with sauteed cherry tomatoes

Serves 6

Cook the thin strands of pasta fully before transferring them to a baking dish. Then split a chicken (or buy it already split), set the halves on the pasta, and roast them together. The chicken juices baste the angel hair and the whole dish tastes exceptionally good.

1. Set the oven at 400 degrees. Oil a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

2. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the angel hair or capellini, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes or until the pasta is tender but still has some bite. (If the pasta is in nests, pull them apart with tongs.) Drain into a colander but do not rinse. Return to the pan.

3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil until hot. Add the cherry tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until the tomatoes collapse. Stir the cherry tomatoes into the pasta and toss well. Transfer to the baking dish.

4. Remove the giblets from the chicken. Set it breast side down on a cutting board. With kitchen shears, remove the backbone. Open the chicken like a paperback so the breastbone pops up. Pull out the breastbone. Cut the chicken in half between the breasts. Set the chicken skin side up on the pasta. Rub with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5. Roast the chicken for 40 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 170 degrees. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes.

6. Use the shears to carve the chicken into 2 wings with a little breast meat attached to them, 2 breast pieces, 2 thighs, and 2 legs. Cut the pasta into big squares (kitchen shears work well here) and serve with the chicken. Sprinkle with oregano.

Sheryl Julian

Recipe for chuck roast with root vegetables

Serves 8

The meat and a roasting pan of vegetables cook side-by-side in a low oven for three hours. The results make a glorified beef stew.

CHUCK

1 chuck roast (5 pounds)

Olive oil (for sprinkling)

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup whole canned tomatoes, crushed in a bowl

3 cups water

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1. Set the oven at 325 degrees.

2. Remove the netting from the meat, if necessary. If the meat starts to fall into two or three pieces, cut along the natural lines to separate the pieces. Sprinkle the meat all over with oil, salt, and pepper.

3. In a flameproof casserole large enough to hold the meat comfortably, heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Set the meat in the pan and brown it for 3 minutes without disturbing it. Turn and brown the other sides for 3 minutes. Remove from the pan.

4. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the water and thyme sprigs. Return the meat to the pan, let the liquid come to a boil, and cover. Transfer to the oven and cook the meat for 3 hours, turning every hour, or until it falls back into the pot when picked up with a fork.

VEGETABLES

2 sweet potatoes, cut into thick slices

3 carrots, cut into 2-inch lengths

1 large red onion, cut into wedges

1 rutabaga or 2 turnips, cut into ½-inch pieces

8 small Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into wedges

1 pint Brussels sprouts (about 1 pound), halved

Olive oil (for sprinkling)

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup water

¼ cup chopped fresh thyme

1. In a roasting pan, arrange the sweet potatoes, carrots, onion, rutabaga or turnips, potatoes, and Brussels sprouts, making several layers if necessary. Sprinkle with oil, salt, and pepper. Pour in the water at the sides and cover with foil.

2. Transfer to the oven and roast beside the meat for 2 hours, turning the vegetables several times. Remove the foil and continue roasting for 1 hour or until all the vegetables are tender. Arrange the meat on each of 8 plates, set vegetables around the sides, and sprinkle with thyme.

 Sheryl Julian

Recipe for Sheryl Julian’s favorite apple cake

If guests are coming, if I’m going somewhere and need to bring dessert, if I just feel like baking, this is the cake I make in the fall. It comes from Julie Riven, with whom I wrote the Globe magazine food column for many years, and then a cookbook. Her mother made it.

What is special about this cake is its remarkably moist texture, from oil and orange juice. When you layer the batter with four apples (Julie and I both use Cortlands), you wonder if there’s enough batter to hold the apples together. But there is. The cake tastes delicious, it’s easy to put together, it keeps well, and it’s high in the pan. Head to the kitchen.

Julie’s mother’s apple cake

Makes 1 large cake

Butter (for the pan)

Flour (for the pan)

1 cup canola oil

4 eggs

1/4 cup orange juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups flour

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 baking apples (Cortland, Baldwin, Mutsu, Northern Spy, Opalescent, Rhode Island Greening, Rome Beauty, Spigold), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon mixed with 5 tablespoons granulated sugar

Confectioners’ sugar (for sprinkling)

1. Set the oven at 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch tube pan, line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit it, and butter the paper. Dust the pan with flour, tapping out the excess.

2. In an electric mixer, combine the oil, eggs, orange juice, and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

3. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat just until smooth again, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

4. Spoon one-third of the batter into the pan (barely a layer). Smooth the batter with a metal palette knife. Gently press half the apples into the batter (OK to overlap). Sprinkle with half the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Add one-third more batter, the remaining apples, and all but 2 tablespoons of the remaining cinnamon-sugar. Cover with batter, smooth the top (it may not cover the apples; that’s OK), and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar.

5. Bake the cake for 60 to 70 minutes or until the top is firm and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

6. With a small knife, cut around the inside and outside edges of the cake to release it from the pan. Turn the cake out onto a plate. Set another plate on top and invert again so the cake is right-side up. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

Sheryl Julian. Adapted from “The Way We Cook”