My Word with Douglas E. Welch

Based on a Middle Eastern mujaddara, a homey mix of spiced simmered lentils and rice, this easy, meatless dish is rich with allspice, cinnamon, and sweet browned leeks. The handful of baby spinach stirred in toward the end turns it into a one-pot meal, and adds a bit of welcome color, too. If you don’t have leeks, use an onion or two instead.

Based on a Middle Eastern mujaddara, a homey mix of spiced simmered lentils and rice, this easy, meatless dish is rich with allspice, cinnamon, and sweet browned leeks. The handful of baby spinach stirred in toward the end turns it into a one-pot meal, and adds a bit of welcome color, too. If you don’t have leeks, use an onion or two instead.

Sure, I miss my family and friends. But when social distancing is over, the first people I’m visiting are the employees at my local New York City bagel shop, whom I’ve been missing oh so dearly since the coronavirus crisis began. (But seriously — I haven’t had a proper bacon, egg and cheese in over a month.)

Yes, I know I could order a pre-packed bag and have them delivered from the grocery store, but there’s something about a hot and fluffy bagel straight out of the oven that you just can’t compete with.

This recipe is from Vivek Surti of Tailor in Nashville, No. 7 on our Hot Ten list for 2019. His spiked fruit tea is intentionally not too boozy, but you can also leave the bourbon out. “When I was growing up here,” the Nashville native says, “restaurants had three drinks: water, sweet tea, and fruit tea. Our welcome cocktail is an homage to the latter, as well as to punch’s Indian heritage. (Punch comes from the Hindi word paanch, which means ‘five’ since originally there were only five ingredients.) I love fruit tea and wanted to bring it back—with bourbon.”

One-Pot Chicken Garlic Parmesan Pasta

One of our ”Recipes In Rotation” here at the house. Very useful during isolation.

Recipe

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If the hardest decision at your holiday table is choosing between desserts — be it a slice of pumpkin pie, a scoop of seasonal fruit crumble, or even a simple sugar cookie — these pumpkin pie bars are a sweet solution to your Thanksgiving troubles. Made with a sweet cookie crust, a spiced pumpkin filling, and a buttery oat crumble, these pumpkin pie bars will satisfy all your cravings — and they couldn’t be easier to make.

This is one of our “Recipes in Rotation” that we make about once a month.

This is a great seasoning that I think holds up to nearly any Mexican fast-food out there. We use it for ground turkey, but I have found you can use it with tofu, textured plant-based meat replacements and, combined with 2 cans of black beans and topped with a bit of cheese, a great bean dip, too.

Adjust the amount of red pepper flakes and cayenne to suit your taste, add in real chilis to stoke the fire further. All in all, this very flexible and a great staple item to have on hand so you can whip it up as necessary. It only takes 30 minutes or so and can be combined with any number of foods.

INGREDIENTS YOU’LL NEED

1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
4 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
pinch cayenne pepper

2 tbls olive oil

1 lb ground turkey
1 cup water

DIRECTION

Heat olive oil in large skillet

Add ground turkey and brown

While turkey is browning, combine all seasoning ingredients in small bowl.

Once turkey is browned, sprinkle seasoning mix over turkey and cook it with the turkey for a minute or so.

Add water and reduce heat to low simmer.

Simmer until meat and sauce is desired consistency. About 10 minutes.

As we stay home, wait out this crisis, and bake our hearts out, sourdough is surging. No yeast needed, sourdough lets anyone turn flour, water, and time into absolutely spectacular bread. If you’ve thought about trying sourdough yourself, now is the time. Today I and the rest of the Kitchn team are kicking off Sourdough for Beginners, the perfect starting place for a baking adventure. Are you in?