Recipes

Have I raved about In the Small Kitchen enough yet? I’ve always been a fan of Big Girls, Small Kitchen, but I’m loving their cookbook. All of the recipes are simple, require relatively little space (Cara and Phoebe cooked out of tiny NY kitchens, after all!) and are absolutely delicious. I tried this Sexy-Ugly Onion Tart a couple weeks ago and even Simone ate some of it. Amazing. Next time, though, I will add some sauteeed mushrooms for extra bulk. I went ahead and included them in the recipe below.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 onions, halved and sliced into thin half moons
1/2 lb cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, plus a little extra for garnish)
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup whole-milk ricotta
1 egg yolk
Pie dough for 1 pie crust

Directions:
In a large cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven, melt the butter over low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes, until caramelized. The onions should be deep brown and sweet. Watch to make sure they don’t burn. When they are almost done, add the mushrooms and saute until just soft. Add the fresh thyme and the salt, and let cool. Whisk the ricotta and the egg yolk together in a small bowl and set aside.

Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll out your die dough until it is large enough to cover a 9-inch fluted tart pan. (I don’t have a tart pan, so I used a pie dish). Roll up the dough on your rolling pin and slowly unroll on top of the tart. Use your fingers to press the dough into the tart and a paring knife to trim off any excess. Preheat the oven to 400°.

Use a spatula to spread the ricotta mixture evenly across the surface of the crust. Arrange the onions and mushrooms on top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the ricotta filling is firm and the crust is golden. Let the tart cool in the pan and garnish it with thyme leaves. Will serve 4 generously as a main dish, or 8 as a side.

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I’m really skeptical of Moroccan-inspired dishes. I’ve tried quite a few and they always taste like the Boone’s Farm of ethnic food, if you know what I mean. But when I saw a photo of this dish while flipping through In the Small Kitchen, I stared at it for about five minutes before jotting it down on that week’s menu. It just looked so delicious! And it was…it really, really was. I have a feeling I’m going to be making this constantly.

Chicken and Sweet Potato Tagine
slightly adapted from In the Small Kitchen

Note: I suck at photography. This dish looks 100x better in person (and in good lighting). Also, the sweet potato chunks in this particular bowl were extra huge for some reason.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, halved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 – 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tbsp salt
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes, with juices
1/2 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (I left this out)
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/8 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/8 cup slivered almonds, toasted (optional)

Directions:
Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Coat a large pot or Dutch oven with a thin layer of olive oil and brown the chicken in batches, making sure not to crowd the pot. Don’t worry if the chicken sticks to the bottom a bit. Remove the browned chicken from the pot and set it aside on a cutting board.

Add the onions to the pot, reducing the heat to medium-low, and saute until translucent. Make sure to scrape up any remaining chicken drippings. Stir in the garlic, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cayenne, and salt. Cook until the spices are fully-incorporated, about 2 minutes. Roughly chop the chicken into 1-inch pieces before adding back to the pot along with the tomatoes and chickpeas (if using) Stir to combine. Pour in enough stock to submerge the contents and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low and cook, uncovered, for at least 2 hours—the longer the better.

During the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the sweet potatoes (make sure they’re submerged in the liquid) and cook until tender. Add raisins, cilantro, and lemon juice and simmer for 10 minutes. Spoon into bowls and garnish with a little cilantro and almonds before serving. This will easily serve 5 or 6, especially if you serve bread alongside, and it reheats incredibly well. In fact, it tastes even better on the second day.

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I made my first cheese soufflé recently, tinkering with a Deborah Madison recipe, and it was astoundingly delicious. It tasted like the creamiest, richest scrambled eggs…only different somehow. Despite the various steps involved in making a soufflé, it wasn’t difficult to prepare. You should serve this immediately for the best presentation (i.e. before it collapses), but it will reheat just fine a day or two later. It just won’t be quite as pretty.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups milk (2% or whole)
Aromatics: 4 large slices onion, 1 bay leaf, 1 thyme sprig, 2 crushed cloves garlic
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
4 eggs, separated, plus 2 extra egg whites
5-7 oz cheese–Deborah Madison suggests goat cheese, crumbled; I used aged white cheddar, shredded

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a dish for the souffle. I used a 2 1/2-quart round Corningware dish. Slowly heat the milk with the aromatics and 1/2 tsp salt in a saucepan. Turn off the heat when it’s near boiling and set aside to steep while you separate the eggs.

Melt the butter in a 2-quart saucepan, then whisk in the flour. Cook over low heat for a minute, then pour in the heated milk through a strainer. Whisk quickly. It should thicken immediately. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and stir a little of the hot base into the egg yolks. Whisk them back into the sauce and stir in the cheese. Taste for salt and season with pepper.

Whip the egg whites until they’re nearly stiff, then fold them into the base and transfer the whole to the prepared dish. Bake in the center of the oven until puffed and golden but just a little wobbly when you shake the dish, about 25 minutes. Serve immediately, including both the crust from the sides and the “sauce” from the center. Serve by itself (it’s very filling!), or alongside wine-braised lentils. Serves 4 generously.

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