What to Cook

Everyone’s Favorite Celebration Cake

It’s a holiday cake, a baby shower cake, a wedding cake, and a just-because cake.

Caramelized Honey with Figs and Ice Cream

Caramelized honey is like taking regular honey up to eleven. It’s Honey, Part 2. It’s “Honey, Now with 90 Percent More Honey.”

Honey-Yogurt Pound Cake with Raspberries

When traveling, the type of dessert must be thoroughly considered, and I can tell you that this cake was born to travel.

Cocoa Banana Bread

I wouldn’t be able to get away with saying “There’s banana in it, so it’s basically breakfast!” because no, this is not breakfast.

Chocolate-Tahini Tart with Crunchy Salt

This tart, while decidedly more refined than anything that comes out of a shiny orange wrapper, satisfies me in a similar fashion.

Frozen Blackberries and Labne with Honey

Semifreddo-like in nature, this tangy frozen yogurt of sorts has the creaminess of ice cream and, like picking up a pint of Baskin-Robbins, requires no equipment.

Pasta e Ceci Salad

Olives and parsley are great here, but in the spirit of this sort of fridge-clean-out, do-less-with-more, accidentally fabulous recipe, I kept them optional.

Sorbet in Grapefruit Cups

I was so wildly impressed with this dessert that it truly rocked my world when I started to hear from other members of the family that “Grandma wasn’t a great cook.” Not a great cook? Hello! Have you even had those orange cups?

Bacon-Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Caraway’d Cabbage and Apples

While wildly versatile, and I shouldn’t pick favorites, cabbage when roasted in lots of garlicky pork fat until lightly charred around the edges might be my favorite way to eat it. Don’t tell kimchi.

Hanger Steak with Dandelion, Arugula, and Grana Padano

This salad has spicy, bitter, sturdy leaves that won’t wilt like some mixed greens out of a plastic clamshell.

Lamb Stew with Fennel, Preserved Lemon, and Crispy Fried Bread

Dollops of sour cream and sprinkles of herbs are great, but never underestimate the power of salty preserved lemons and spicy, crispy bread.

Pork and Red Chile Stew with Tomatillos

While this may not be a true posole you can, and should, still garnish it like one, piling your bowl high with shredded cabbage, coins of thinly sliced radish, and tons and tons of fresh lime.