Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Here’s a multipurpose dish that is perfect for spring, but can also highlight other seasons. It comes from Dan Kluger at Loring Place in Greenwich Village. He made it in winter, studded with squash and mushrooms. For spring, he scattered pickled ramps, favas and spring onions on top. But he said that other seasonal vegetables like artichokes, peas, morel mushrooms and asparagus could be used. As summer rolls in, there will be a different cast of characters to consider, like zucchini, cherry tomatoes and peppers. The dish works as a first course for four or a lunch dish for two, and could even replace salad and cheeses at a more elaborate dinner. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Spring for me means discarding dark sauces and turning toward ingredients that are light and green. Here I’m inspired by the French blanquette, a stew, usually veal, in a creamy white sauce. I replaced the veal with plump sea scallops and brightened the whole thing with verdant, seasonal asparagus. Traditionally a blanquette is thickened with egg yolks and has pearl onions and often button mushrooms in the mix. The onion is in my version, but minced. I also omitted the mushrooms and used new potatoes that, unlike the mushrooms, help thicken a sauce made without the egg yolks. The result is a dish that’s fancy enough for guests yet easy enough for a weeknight.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

The food of Provence usually evokes summer, with lovely vegetables, salads, seafood and a whiff of lavender. But there’s a wintry side to it as well. When a fierce mistral wind blows, it’s time to crank out beef stews and roasted meats. This braised beef dish, a pot roast, keeps a Provençal flavor profile, with eggplant, garlic, fennel, rosemary, orange, black olives and tomatoes. It’s prepared to allow the eggplant to maintain its character and not disintegrate. I like to braise a nice piece of tri-tip sirloin, but this recipe will suit any cut of beef you prefer for braising. Serve the dish with plain broad egg noodles dressed with a splash of good olive oil.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Slow-braising to infuse meats with deep flavor and produce warming, stew-like plates of food is a cooking method of choice when the weather brings a chill. This chicken dish is the product of what I call the usual three-step affair (brown chicken, add other ingredients and some liquid, cover and slowly simmer). But I gave it a bit of heat, unpacking sake, ginger, garlic and the spicy Korean condiment gochujang, plus well-mannered slivers of poblano chilis into the pan. You can now find gochujang in supermarkets or online; you won’t use the entire jar for this dish so exploit it for other occasions. It keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator. The chicken will welcome a pillow of steamed rice alongside.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Hearty and aromatic, this braised lamb dish, adapted from my mother, Annette Gertner, takes inspiration from the Middle East by way of Eastern Europe. It simmers mostly unattended and even benefits from being made earlier in the day — or even a day or two in advance — and reheated. The four shanks yield four copious portions. (The recipe will serve six if every guest does not insist on having a bone.) Orzo alongside will sop up the sauce. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

In this recipe, adapted from my mother, Annette Gertner, an orange, pith, skin and all, provides a bittersweet counterpoint for tangy onion to season and dress a whole, broken-down chicken that’s browned on one side, then baked. Worcestershire sauce binds the flavors with a good amount of umami, while some bits of orange and onion paving the chicken skin caramelize in the oven and enrich the pan sauce. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Versatility is what you get with this dish, which borrows its flavors from the Italian staple saltimbocca, a combination of veal, prosciutto and sage. Here, the dark meat of chicken takes the place of veal, and instead of meat slices topped with the ham and herbs, there are plump bundles with the sage inside. Boneless chicken thighs make for easier slicing. Leaving the skin on to brown, provides more flavor, especially with some of the sage tucked underneath. Fingerling potatoes simmer as the chicken braises, and fresh peas contribute a touch of spring for a one-pot meal, not instant but hardly demanding. A final, judicious splash of balsamic vinegar intensifies the sauce.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

I turn to this recipe -- adapted from the French chef Madeleine Kamman, who died in the summer of 2018 — when cool weather is on the horizon. Perhaps it’s the dried fruit or chicken braised in a sauce (instead of being striped on the grill) that appeals to the season. But it’s an easy winner for those first dinners when fall appears. Though plumped raisins are called for, other dried fruit, like diced figs or quartered prunes work well, too.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

This wintry adaptation of a Negroni gets a deeper character and color from an amaro that’s heavier than the typical bright Campari, and the dusky richness of amontillado sherry. The burnt thyme adds a woodsy aroma, but can be an optional touch. At a winter pop-up in the Williamsburg restaurant Sunday in Brooklyn, where the drink is being served, it is called Ugly Sweater Weather. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

In Madhur Jaffrey's book "From Curries to Kebabs: Recipes From the Indian Spice Trail" (Clarkson Potter, 2003), which explores the dispersion of Indian food worldwide, there is a recipe from Durban, South Africa, for chicken roasted whole with a forcefully seasoned ginger and chili paste. The chicken is skinned before seasoning and cooking, not a demanding job but one that requires care. The fragrant heat of the chicken, which stayed moist thanks to its foil cocoon, even seemed to tease some spicy flavors from the Marcel Lapierre Morgon Beaujolais I poured with dinner. The fruitiness of the wine helped tame the heat. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

These savory bite-size biscuits are the perfect way to whet the appetite before a big meal. Adapted from “Potluck: Food and Drinks to Share With Friends and Family,” from the staff of Food & Wine magazine, the biscuits are inspired by elote, the Mexican street snack of roasted corn slathered in cheese and spices. These drop biscuits may be made in advance and frozen. Just bring them to room temperature before reheating. Desire a dip alongside? Stir a shot of lime juice and a handful of minced cilantro into some sour cream. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

For decades, pigs in a blanket have been a staple on the cocktail-party circuit. The little sausages are the easy part. It’s the pastry which, at its finest, should approximate buttery, flaky French puff pastry or pâte feuilletée. Suppose you could make decently flaky puff pastry in minutes? Christian Leue, the manager of La Boîte, a spice emporium in New York, has developed just such a marvel. And it works.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Feta cheese gives a briny edge to this quick pasta dish, with fresh zucchini, tomatoes, herbs and lobster. Add the lobster off-heat at the end to guard against overcooking; it will warm just enough as it is gently tossed, putting all the ingredients on speaking terms. If you are entertaining guests and do not prefer last-minute preparations, don’t hesitate to serve the pasta at room temperature, glossed with an extra glug or two of good olive oil.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

President Obama’s first state dinner at the White House, just before Thanksgiving in November 2009, honored Manmohan Singh, then the prime minister of India, and his wife, Gursharan Kaur. The chef for the dinner was Marcus Samuelsson, who decided to incorporate some Indian touches into the menu. Both naan and cornbread were served, and the dessert for each of the 400 guests was a pear Tatin and a pumpkin pie tartlet. “I flavored what I consider a very American pumpkin pie with a staple of Indian cuisine: garam masala,” Mr. Samuelsson wrote in his new cookbook, “Marcus Off Duty: The Recipes I Cook At Home,” where he gives the recipe, but as a large tart, not an individual tartlet. It adds a worldly touch to an American tradition, ideally suited to Washington. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Here is a recipe for grilled lamb inspired by Northern China. It’s treated to a five-spice and soy sauce rub, and served, in a nod to Peking duck, with cucumbers, hoisin sauce and pancakes. The pancakes are not the typically thin crepes served for wrapping slices of Peking duck. Instead they are classic scallion pancakes, a dim sum item usually eaten alone. Here they’re spread with hoisin sauce and topped with slices of lamb and cucumber. Alternatively, you could serve the pancakes like tortillas, to wrap around the lamb, taco-style. Either way, it’s party food.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Porgy is a fish that takes beautifully to grilling whole, filled with aromatic ingredients. Here, Ayesha Nurdjaja, the chef of Shuka in New York City, stuffs the fish with lemon and herbs. When lightly charred, the skin of the fish becomes crispy and delicious. One way to guarantee that your fish will lift easily off the grill is to have clean, well-oiled grates, and if you're willing to sacrifice a couple of extra bunches of scallions, lay them on the grill, then put the fish on top. The scallions will burn away, but the fish will release. Fennel fronds work the same way. Ms. Nurdjaja tops the fish with a lightly-dressed arugula salad — but it’s just as delicious on its own. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

This Basque classic from Marti Buckley's cookbook “Basque Country: A Culinary Journey Through a Food Lover's Paradise,” requires a bit of quick stove work once the clams start to open. You must be sure there is a nice amount of liquid in the bottom of the pan, enough to swirl around so the flour coating on the fish and the olive oil can thicken and emulsify the sauce. And though it's called salsa verde, it's not a dense herbal purée as in Italian cooking but a fresh, rather sheer parsley-based mixture. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Unlike ham and cheese, a sandwich that’s ubiquitous across the globe, jambon beurre (ham butter) is strictly French. Though it’s a seemingly sparse construction — simply baguette, cooked ham and butter — the ingredients for this interpretation from L’Ami Pierre in New York require careful selection. High-quality baguettes are now sold in many bakeries. High-butterfat butter enhances the sandwich, providing more fat than 80 percent supermarket standard, and the ham, preferably silky jambon de Paris, a cooked ham sliced, in the finer shops, from a bone-in joint, can make it or break it. French-style or similar cooked ham is available in many areas; to avoid are boneless, often waterlogged deli hams. Like most sandwiches, this one is designed as a treat for one, but, cut into smaller sections and served on a platter, it can enhance a buffet, even at holiday time.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

This vibrant, ruby-red cocktail — devised for Valentine’s Day by Bien Trucha, a group of Mexican restaurants in the suburbs of Chicago — is a superb opener for an intimate dinner. But there’s no need to limit the drink to one annual event. Serve it at Mother’s Day; it’s actually mild enough for brunch. It also suits an anniversary party, a summertime celebration and — prepared in a generous quantity to fill a punch bowl — one of December’s festive occasions. It’s easily made. The drink was inspired by the classic Kir Royale (Champagne and cassis) though a variation that suggests a margarita is another option: Replace the strawberries with a couple of blood orange segments and use a triple-sec liqueur instead of the cassis. Garnish it with a blood orange segment. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Hold the steak. This vegetarian take on steak au poivre, from Manhattan’s Café Chelsea, boasts the same generous application of crushed black pepper, mellowed with cream, stock and a vibrant splash of Cognac, but calls for slabs of maitake mushroom instead of beef. To strut its meaty swagger, the dish is listed on Café Chelsea’s menu among the grilled choices (a grill pan or skillet works just as well) rather than being relegated to the vegetable section. The restaurant opts for large slices of maitake, but the recipe works with several smaller pieces as well. Though quick to assemble, it’s not easy to scale up, so think intimate dinner or Valentine’s Day. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

A mixture of rye whiskey and amaro, with the addition of bitters, sets this simply made cocktail on the road to a manhattan. But then there are detours: the chocolate liqueur to add a mellow accent, and the cardamom for a hint of spice. I also tried substituting coffee liqueur for the chocolate, with great success. It is from the 18th Room in New York, where it is called Before Night Falls. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Soup is an easy first course for a seasonal gathering, especially when it can be prepared — even frozen — in advance. This one calls for Kabocha squash, a variety that’s not too sweet, and is dense and rich, though delicata, honeynut, the ubiquitous butternut or an everyday orange pumpkin all work well. Seasoned primarily with miso, this calls for only a pinch of cinnamon to hint at the inevitable pumpkin spice. And instead of presenting this vegan soup as a plated first course in china or pottery bowls or even in hollowed-out mini-pumpkins, you might consider spooning it into small cups or glasses for guests to sip as an hors d’oeuvre before dinner.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Just as a little saffron, garlic and paprika can conjure the flavors of Spain, so too will preserved lemons, cumin, mint and olives evoke Morocco. This salad and the accompanying couscous can be doubled or tripled to anchor a generous buffet. Both can be assembled a couple of hours in advance and set aside on a kitchen counter. Serve them at room temperature.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

The lusty foods and intense wines of southern Italy provide inspiration to spare for cooks and connoisseurs. San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, succulent olives, tender pastas and fragrant olive oils, alone or combined, spell sheer enjoyment. The roots of red-sauce Italian, ever popular in the United States, are in the south — in Campania and Naples (its capital city) as well as in Puglia and Basilicata. This recipe is a riff on the traditional pasta alla puttanesca, with tomato, capers, olives and garlic, but without the anchovies. The recipe goes bigger on the fish front, with chunks of seared swordfish to bolster the mixture with meaty, briny notes.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

The lure of this pastrami recipe from La Boîte, a spice emporium in Hell’s Kitchen, is that it is a project that does not require a smoker. The essential ingredients are smoked salt and Prague powder (the curing salt sodium nitrite). Both are sold online. It will take nearly a week to make, but the meat is mostly unattended. You could start it on Monday and have it ready for Sunday dinner. The pastrami — reheated and served with warm sauerkraut, or sliced on rye with mustard and sauerkraut — makes for superb cold-weather feasting. Keep it in mind as you plan for the Super Bowl or other occasions for feeding a crowd. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Though quite straightforward, this recipe for Norwegian apple cake from Nevada Berg's cookbook “North Wild Kitchen” did raise a question. A whole tablespoon of cinnamon? Really? But it was not at all excessive, giving the cake autumnal fragrance and flavor along with a nicely burnished surface. What this recipe also offers is great flexibility. Though it calls for an 8-inch springform, it also worked in a 9-inch and a 10-inch, the latter providing a little less cake in proportion to topping (though no change in cooking time). Larger pans require more fruit. And on that score, in place of apples the recipe works well with fresh figs and peaches. Small purple plums, pears, apricots and even bananas are some other options to consider. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Orecchiette pasta, the “little ears” that are typical of the Apulia region in Italy’s heel, is frequently prepared with sausage and broccoli rabe. For this recipe, I’ve swapped the broccoli rabe for a rich fennel component, which adds a distinctive flavor profile to the pasta dish. The preparation goes fairly quickly. And as an alternative to tossing the ingredients together before serving, it can be placed in an ovenproof casserole and baked, shingled generously with shards of pecorino on top. Baking at 350 degrees will take about 20 minutes, if the ingredients are hot.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

This pecan pie ice cream is built on a base of French vanilla, with toasted pecans, cloaked in maple syrup, swirled in. Making the vanilla custard for this French-style ice cream is a delicate operation, like producing hollandaise, because of the fragile nature of eggs when they are heated. Perform this part of the recipe when you can give it your full, undivided attention. If preparing this custard in a saucepan over direct heat makes you nervous about overcooking and curdling the eggs, you can make it in a double boiler, but it will take at least 20 minutes longer to get the custard to thicken.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

The chef Kyle Connaughton’s recipe for pickled mackerel is straight out of the Japanese playbook. It’s simple and foolproof to prepare, and the time it takes is mostly unattended. He serves it plain or over rice that’s been dressed with some cucumber and toasted sesame seeds. I also tried seasoning the rice with a couple of spoonfuls of the leftover vinegar marinade plus grated ginger, black sesame seeds, minced scallions and diced avocado, and Mr. Connaughton seconded that idea, as well as the notion of serving the pickled fish Scandinavian-style, with sour cream, sweet onions and boiled potatoes. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Dane Sayles, the chef of East Hampton Point in New York, believes porgies can take strong flavorings, so he adds spicy pickled peppers and their pickling liquid to his herb marinade. He also whizzes in some tahini, which smooths the emulsified mixture. At his restaurant, he blanches the herbs (drops them in boiling water for 10 seconds, then plunges them into ice water before draining) to help fix their color. It's something you can do as well and should remember the next time you make pesto. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Milan. The city’s name represents a recipe. You know it: a flattened, crisply breaded surfboard of veal or chicken that’s often big enough to cover the plate. Sometimes fish is called on. Or pork. Here, the technique is applied to large mushrooms, which are also flattened and then treated to the step-by-step of a dusting of flour to dry the surface, then an egg wash to grab the final coating of crumbs. (The same technique will also produce a schnitzel.) Marissa Lo, the executive chef at Boat House in Tiverton, R.I., was inspired to try the technique with big portobello caps after visiting Italy. Serve them dressed with a tangle of salad greens, or top with tomato sauce and melted cheese like a Parm. However you serve your Milanese, consider a platter of them for a holiday party. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Here’s a grandmother’s recipe related to gnocchi but from a grandmother who was not Italian. In this recipe from my mother, Annette Gertner, a potato-based dough is formed into small noodle shapes, which are tossed with bread crumbs and onions, Austrian-style. Another way to serve the noodles is to gently fold them with warm sour cream and chives. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

The giant white hominy used to make pozole are a blank canvas. The hominy — soaked, then simmered using a quick-boil shortcut that skips the need for overnight soaking — welcome chiles and a good dose of cumin. This pozole includes prepared duck confit instead of the more usual pork or chicken. Some diced fresh pineapple in the thick stew balances the spicy heat. A small glass of mezcal is a fine partner, especially as a finishing touch. Save a little of the drink for when you and guests are almost finished eating, to pour into the bowl for the last soupy spoonfuls. It’s what the French do in Gascony with their red wine when they enjoy a soup called garbure.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

This autumnal sorbet can be made vegan-friendly by substituting agave syrup for the honey. If you would rather not use canned pumpkin, try roasting honeynut squashes, 40 minutes at 400 degrees, then scraping out the insides, which become a smooth purée under the heat; two squashes will give you enough purée for this recipe.The sorbet is excellent served with slivers of candied ginger on top or with pieces of pumpkin seed brittle. And it’s surprisingly amenable to tracings of chilled dark chocolate sauce.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

This recipe — adapted from “The New Spanish: Bites, Feasts and Drinks” by Jonah Miller and Nate Adler, the owners of Huertas in the East Village in New York — offers the cook a simple primer on paella. The method is a template best made in a paella pan and, as a bonus, it will free the cook from the notion that paella must be some kind of production number involving a budget-busting and time-consuming load of chicken, pork, seafood, vegetables and the like. This version features mushrooms and not much else. But its largely unadorned canvas will accept embellishments. Some tomato purée in the broth perhaps? Certainly. Seared sea scallops, shrimp, some sausage, pieces of duck confit, chickpeas, grilled peppers, eggplant chunks or baby artichokes? Those, too, but definitely not all at once. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

This recipe incorporates the components of a bouillabaisse into a risotto. The broth used to gradually soften the rice is seasoned with saffron, fennel and garlic, as it would be for the Marseillaise fish stew. The garlic mayonnaise, aioli, adds a finishing touch of sleek richness. As for the specifics of the seafood, I’ve used mussels, scallops, monkfish and shrimp, the last added at the very end to avoid overcooking. In place of monkfish you might consider halibut, tilefish or Alaskan black cod; clams could replace the mussels, and chunks of lobster could also be added. But salmon does not belong in this crowd.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

The ease and deliciousness of this recipe, from the chef Nancy Silverton's cookbook "Mozza at Home," deserves to be emphasized. Though you need several hours of refrigeration to allow the chicken skin to dry out, which makes it crisp, you can be flexible about it; do what’s convenient. No matter what, just be sure to pat the skin dry with paper towels. You may also find the final run under the broiler unnecessary. Use your judgment. And also consider swirling in a good splash of white wine or chicken stock to the juices in the baking dish before spooning them on the chicken. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

The open-face Alsatian tarte flambée can be as versatile as a quiche. Most often it’s given classic treatment, with bacon and onions on a pastry-lined bed of crème fraîche and fromage blanc. But why stick to tradition? You can make it with mushrooms, omit the bacon and dot it with caviar, add smoked salmon, pave it with zucchini slices, and explore other cheeses, including Taleggio and chèvre. Here’s an assertive version that keeps the bacon but opts for Roquefort cheese, leeks and walnuts. And instead of pizza dough, which is a typical underpinning, for a more expedient result, you can make it with pie pastry.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

The combination of dark rum, amaro, brown sugar syrup and bitters hails from Saltine restaurant in Nashville, where it’s called Old Barbados. But as you savor it, the cocktail dispels any notion of a sunlit Caribbean beach. A snowy slope is more like it: Though iced in the making, the drink delivers a generous and lingering sense of warmth. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Salmon cooked en papillote, which means wrapped in a packet of parchment (or foil), is a dramatic way to procure perfectly cooked salmon, but it isn’t difficult. Fold a fillet into a cut piece of parchment, and then layer it with seasonings or perhaps vegetables or citrus fruit. Then simply bake the packets until done. The steam created by the parchment produces reliably moist salmon, and opening the individual packets at the table makes for a fun way to start dinner.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Mujadara, an Israeli and Middle Eastern mixture of seasoned rice and lentils upholsters a plate of seared fish fillet, brightening it with a generous swath of piquillo pepper puree. Mujadara is often served on its own, topped with a tangle of crisply fried onions, perhaps with yogurt on the side. But here, the earthy combination of grain and bean, with the bittersweet addition of the Spanish peppers, brings the fish into focus. You could serve the mujadara and pepper sauce without the fish, but in that case, fried onions are a must. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Without much prompting, Maria Luca Caudullo, whose in-laws founded the Bronte pistachio company Antonino Caudullo, will reel off any number of pistachio recipes. Filet of beef with a pistachio crust, “olives” made with crushed pistachios and sugar syrup, panettone with pistachio paste, and also for Christmas, a simple pistachio cake. “That one I only make for Christmas,” she said. Her instructions were simple and clear enough, though the baking temperature of around 120 degrees Celsius, or about 260 degrees Fahrenheit, raised some doubts. Baked at 275 degrees, the cake takes longer than the 25 minutes she suggested, but the results are excellent. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

The basic recipe for these quickly broiled shrimp is elastic, easily halved or scaled up. And the spice choices can vary. Here I have opted for ras el hanout, a complex North African blend that delivers modest peppery heat along with pungent elements of cumin, fenugreek and coriander, as well as the warm astringency of allspice and cloves. Harissa, a North African hot sauce, seasons the dip. Serve it as an appetizer or pair it with a grain like rice or farro, or a buttery tumble of fluffy couscous for a more substantial meal.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

This recipe for spicy peanut noodles is adapted from Ken Hom, the chef and cookbook author best known for his BBC television show "Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery." It is incredibly easy to put together on a weeknight, yet loaded with complex flavors and textures. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

This cider-based cocktail from Union Square Cafe in New York has seasonal allure. It’s lip-smacking and attractive. They make vats of it in the restaurant and keep it chilled, but the recipe is easily to scaled down to reproduce at home. Come spring you might replace the Demerara syrup with maple syrup. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Wine-based cocktails require particular attention to balance, so neither the wine nor the spirits overwhelm the flavors. In this seasonal drink from Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse in New York (where it is called Mull It Over), a pair of unlikely bedfellows, cabernet sauvignon wine and bourbon, are in total harmony, united by the bitter and sweet accents of amaro and cassis. Sip it by the fire. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Here’s a summery take on grilled swordfish, dressed with the fixings for that ever-popular, all-American sandwich, the BLT. No, it's not a slice of grilled swordfish in a sandwich, though that might not be a bad idea in some other context. This dish is dinner-party fare, fresh off the grill. Bacon, arugula and tomatoes in a lemony dressing, bolstered with bacon fat, top and sauce the fish. As an added bonus, I’ve brushed some of the bacon fat on the fish before grilling. The BLT mixture can be assembled a couple of hours in advance, so the grilling is the only last-minute task. The finished dish has a bright, beautiful presentation that suits the season.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

This hearty, umami-rich pasta dish is easily assembled in less than an hour. For the best texture, use your hands and not the food processor. Chopping the mushrooms and crushing the tomatoes by hand ensures some uniformity. The sauce can be prepared in advance, since you will summon the powers of the cooking water from the tagliatelle. Use more, if needed, to moisten the mixture before serving.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Among the breakfast options at SingleThread is an English menu, with toad-in-the-hole as its centerpiece. Mr. Connaughton calls it an homage to Heston Blumenthal — the innovative English chef and owner of The Fat Duck — for whom he worked for several years. For the eggs, Mr. Connaughton uses sous-vide techniques: vacuum-sealing the eggs, processing them in a water bath and using a siphon canister. Lacking such equipment in your kitchen, you can still approximate the result by gently and softly scrambling the egg mixture. And if you prefer, even a well-trimmed poached egg can be centered on the toast and cheese. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Wintry weather and holiday get-togethers require celebratory food to share. Try venison instead of the more common roasts. A rub of cumin and pepper gives these chops warmth, while bacon adds a whiff of smoke and some fat with which to baste the lean meat. This recipe avoids the usual tart-fruit component, so the spices have less competition. Instead, seared shallots go alongside. For venison, the rack is the easiest cut to prepare. and in a hot oven it is quickly done and cut into chops. The meat is hearty and succulent, with the merest hint of gaminess. Be sure to cook it only to medium rare or it will toughen. Since most venison that’s available (unless you know a hunter) is ranch-raised in America or New Zealand and carries a hefty price tag, you do not want disappointment.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Here is a punch to mix with the more flavorful American gins, from a recipe provided to The Times by the drinks historian David Wondrich. His cocktails are light and summery, and a refreshing change from the usual gin and tonic. This recipe makes 20 servings. Florence Fabricant

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

A bottle of workmanlike Scotch or other whiskey can be as useful in the kitchen as it is on the bar, contributing alcohol and flavor to a range of recipes. A splash of it can sharpen a pan sauce for steak or pork, it’s excellent flambé material, and it’s especially compatible with dried fruit. I have soaked dried currants in whiskey to add to a simple chocolate cake. For this recipe, which takes its cue from the Blood and Sand cocktail made with orange juice and Scotch, I used the spirit to bolster a warm bread pudding laced with orange, both grated zest and candied peel, and finished with a marmalade and whiskey glaze. Supermarkets and fancy food shops, as well as online sources, sell candied orange peel. But absent that ingredient you can substitute slivered dried Turkish apricots.

Florence Fabricant · NYT Cooking

Assertively flavorful, lush-textured wild Pacific salmon — notably king, but also sockeye — are seasonal treasures. Unlike farmed Atlantic salmon, which is of a different genus entirely and available year-round, Pacific salmon is a late spring through summer catch. Its richness makes a fairly modest portion satisfying. In this recipe I paired it with fennel, pistachios and lemon. I started the fish fillet in a very hot oven (not quite volcanic, but about as hot as a home oven can get) then immediately cut the temperature down and let the salmon cook for another 15 to 20 minutes. It’s a fail-safe technique that guarantees against overcooking.