Charlotte Druckman

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

Although one may assume banana peels are the star of the show, they’re minor players in this flavor-packed production, adapted from “Cook, Eat, Repeat” by Nigella Lawson (Vintage Digital, 2020). It all hinges on the performance of a concentrated paste made with shallots, ginger, garlic and a red chile of your choice. This mixture forms the base of an intensely aromatic sauce that would make anything taste good. Feel free to swap out the banana skins for their surprising doppelgänger, eggplant, and the cauliflower for broccoli, potato or parsnip. Prep makes up the bulk of the work in this recipe; the curry itself comes together in under 30 minutes. Charlotte Druckman

Charlotte Druckman · Kitchen Remix

Sadly, for many home cooks, outdoor grilling and the charred burgers it enables are an impossible dream. But I had a thought: could you simulate that smoky, blackened experience with scorch-skinned eggplant? Anyone who has prepared baba ghanoush, the Levantine dip made from that vegetable, knows how to singe its purple skin over a burner (or under a broiler). I took my flame darkened aubergine and mixed it into my ground beef. Then I buried cooling, salty feta in each patty. Derived from spicy Southeast Asian sambals, parsnip relish is an upgrade from ketchup; it can jazz up any burger, hot dog, or deli sandwich, and accompany meat or fish that has been grilled — or pan-seared or roasted. Because who needs a grill anyway?

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

Going out on New Year’s Eve has always been, according to my parents, for amateurs. Their long-standing alternative: stay home and eat well. The ritual starts with caviar and Champagne. Then Dad might prepare steak tartare and Mom, a chocolate soufflé. Good stuff. Now, all grown up (and then some), I realize they’re on to something. A low-key, intimate gathering starring good food is my preferred way to ring in the new. But in these lean times — and in my significantly smaller kitchen — putting out a succulent spread and entertaining the troops chez moi calls for some creativity. This frittata can be cut in half and served as a meal for two with a bitter chicory salad, or sliced into strips and put into a salad of its own.

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

Marsala and chicken don’t always have to perform the same scaloppine routine, where you sauté the pounded breast and deglaze it with the wine to make a sauce, perhaps adding some mushrooms and cream. You’ll get so much more flavor if you use chicken thighs and let them marinate in the fortified wine with some Dijon and shallots before cooking. Transfer the poultry with mushrooms, carrots and more shallots to a sheet pan, roast them and dinner is done. This Marsala marinade is generous and versatile: It’s veal, pork and lamb-friendly. Set some aside before it touches the meat and you can even turn it into a salad-friendly vinaigrette.

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

Going out on New Year’s Eve has always been, according to my parents, for amateurs. Their long-standing alternative: stay home and eat well. The ritual starts with caviar and Champagne. Then Dad might prepare steak tartare and Mom, a chocolate soufflé. Good stuff. Now, all grown up (and then some), I realize they’re on to something. A low-key, intimate gathering starring good food is my preferred way to ring in the new. But in these lean times — and in my significantly smaller kitchen — putting out a succulent spread and entertaining the troops chez moi calls for some creativity. Charlotte Druckman

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

In 1954, the food writer Elizabeth David introduced her fellow Brits to carote al Marsala via her book “Italian Food.” She warned readers that Marsala and carrots may sound like “an unsuitable combination,” but lists the dish as one of her favorite vegetable recipes. Simmering the carrot in sweet wine until the liquid reduces to the point of becoming a glaze creates a delightful candying effect. The approach works equally well for parsnips and apples, which also have a natural sweetness, and any number of other root vegetables, like sunchokes or salsify.

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

What makes these cookies truly “perfect” isn’t anything radical; it’s simply an attention to detail. The pastry chef Ravneet Gill was meticulous in developing her recipe, and all of her instructions exist for a reason. When she tells you to chill your dough overnight, don’t think you can skip over that. (If you do, your cookies will spread.) When she instructs you to roll the dough into balls before transferring them to the fridge to rest, do as she says, and you’ll get a nice plump, domed cookie instead of a sad flat one. Don’t go swapping in milk chocolate for dark, and chop the chocolate into large chunks for those dramatic, dense puddles of goo. One allowance: If you don’t have Maldon salt, another flaky salt or even kosher salt will do. Charlotte Druckman

Charlotte Druckman · Stir, Sizzle, Bake: Recipes for your Cast Iron Skillet

New Year’s Eve is a holiday I have little patience for and barely celebrate. I have two methods of coping: either leaving the country for someplace that isn’t teeming with tourists and Best Night Ever! cavorters, or staying home in my pajamas, drinking champagne, and eating something outrageously luxurious while watching old movies. A few years ago I was going with Option 2 and hadn’t figured out what my lavish culinary indulgence would be. Then I read something Amanda Hesser wrote about her mother’s Danish, and I became dead set on perfecting my own. There was no kneading required, and I just had to proof the dough overnight in the fridge. Filling and twisting it was just as painless. It was so good, I didn’t bother to let it cool and wait for the stupid ball to drop. I stood in my kitchen, ignoring everything else, as I stuck my fork in a slice, repeatedly, before cutting a second, larger piece. Later, when I got the idea of using pistachio paste in the filling, I knew I was going t

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

Joe Trivelli, the head chef of the River Café in London, has a recipe for an apple cake in his 2018 cookbook, “The Modern Italian Cook.” It’s simple to prepare but complex in flavor, because its batter includes vin santo and brown butter. Both the fruit and fortified wine are ingredients associated with Northern Italy. In Sicily, Marsala would be the spirit of choice; it has more depth than its counterpart thanks to a subtle savory quality, and is often used for macerating strawberries. It’s a perfect pairing, improved upon when baked into this cake, especially when berries are in season. Charlotte Druckman

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

If you’re not sure what green-podded cardamom tastes like, there’s no better way to find out than by tasting a Swedish kardemummabulle, a sweet bun perfumed with the southern Indian spice. The best place to try it would be at Fabrique, a Stockholm bakery that has opened a location in New York. Here, the knotted pastry is at its buttery finest, imbued with the piney warmth of the spice. The second-best place to try it would be at home, in your own kitchen, where, with a few adjustments, you can replicate the original. Yours will use less potent forms of cardamom — the store-bought ground version and the whole pods, instead of the fresh, coarsely ground seeds painstakingly removed from their shells — and may look slightly less put-together than those shaped by the professionals. And, unlike cinnamon rolls, these cardamom buns won’t rise as tall or be as fluffy — but they will taste so good that no one will care. Charlotte Druckman

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

It was said that the recipient of the very first batch of these brownies polished them off, alone, in one sitting. There is no proof of this. What we do know is that they are vegan, deeply dark and fudgy. The recipe, which is based on one in Amy Chaplin's cookbook, “At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen,” uses everyday ingredients to reach that fudginess: olive oil (a proven amplifier of chocolate’s complexity) and dates (to round out the bitterness of the cocoa powder, and to act as a binder). But tahini and halvah are the two surprise players here, taking the recipe in a rich direction. The tahini disappears into the brownies, making them shockingly moist, while the halvah lends something familiar and unexpected. Regular almonds are fine; Marconas are better. You could replace the spelt flour with all-purpose for a less savory, more traditional effect. Charlotte Druckman

Charlotte Druckman · NYT Cooking

There are a lot of flavors beyond banana hanging out in this loaf: coconut, chocolate, tahini and almond extract. They get along so well that you end up with something that tastes notably better than almost any other banana bread you’ve had before. It’s cocoa-rich, nutty and not too sweet. Using the whole fruit — both banana flesh and peel — punches up the banana flavor, but doesn’t overshadow the other notes. Nadiya Hussain’s recipe offers numerous substitutions; you could play up nutty notes by opting for almond butter and almond milk, or swap in olive oil in place of coconut oil. The recipe inspires infinite permutations. Charlotte Druckman