New Recipes of Shorter Days

It's so good to have the longer days coming back again! Happy Spring to all in this hemisphere.

Here are the new-to-me recipes that I've tried over the course of the winter. Soup and Christmas cookies seem to be a noticeable theme. Of the recipes below, the one I tried to recreate from memory a few months later was Ali Slagle warm dinner salad of broccoli with cheddar and dates. (For a substantial and delicious vegetarian lunch or dinner salad, I'm also a huge fan of Erin French's Fried Potato and Warm Lentil Salad.) And I can see myself making the Pork and Sauerkraut with Barley every few years from here on out; it was delicious and very, very easy in the slow cooker, and made for tasty and long-lasting leftovers.

I'm looking forward to discovering and experiencing the spring and summer food cultures of the Netherlands. I learned today from colleagues that the city of Utrecht is surrounded by fruit farms, where you can buy or pick delicious strawberries, so that will be fun to discover as the season turns!

November

• Simple black bean chili, from Smitten Kitchen Keepers by Deb Perlman
• Pasta and Lentil Soup from 12 Months of Monastery Soups by Brother Victor-Antoine D'Avila-Latourrette
• Spicy, Saucy Sichuan mushroom chow men, from Stir Crazy by Ching-He Huang
• Dutch Pea Soup from Cooking from Quilt Country by Marcia Adams
• Risotto with Spinach, Raisins, and Pine Nuts from World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey

December

• Murghi ka keema (ground turkey with green beans), Madhur Jaffrey’s quick and easy Indian cooking
• Haselnuß Kipferl, Advent by Anja Dunk
• Technicolor Cookies, Samantha Seneviratne, New York Times
• Neapolitan Cookies, Sue Li, New York Times
• Ideal sweet potatoes with buttered nuts, I dream of dinner by Ali Slage
• Broccoli bits with cheddar and dates, from I dream of dinner by Ali Slagle

January

• Banana oat cakes from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham
• Paprikasoep verspakket Albert Hein 
• Pav Bhaji from Masala by Malika Basu
• Spiced vegetable soup from Persiana by Sabrina Ghayour 

February

• Ginger Scallion Hokkien Noodles from the Woks of Life
• Chicken Chili from Smitten Kitchen
• Methodist Macaroni and Cheese, from Heartland by Marcia Adams  
• Dumplings from Good and Cheap by Leanne Brown
  

March

• Estonian Pork and Sauerkraut with Barley from Heartland by Marcia Adams
  
• Fried Potato and Warm Lentil Salad from The Lost Kitchen by Erin French