Family Dinner with JP

Just in time for Thanksgiving, I present a delightful side dish, seasonal and non-traditional. Straight from the pages of Bon Appetit (webpages, whatever), as suggested by Justin, these crusty carrots present a ton of kick and a real heartiness lacking in your mundane side salad or "really, brussel sprouts AGAIN?" Aside from the harissa paste, which can be easily located in your hummus aisle, nearly everything else in this recipe is likely already in your cabinet! The tricks to this recipe: do not be afraid to let the carrots get a dark crust, and learn to embrace the heat. What may at first glance appear to be burnt parts are in fact a deliberate charring of the smokey spices in this dish, creating the caramelized crust that gives the carrots their bite. And dive in to the harissa yogurt! While the harissa paste certainly kicks the spice level up on its own, the balance of the yogurt and citrus provides a wonderful taste experience, peaking and cooling down your mouth...

Given that two of the most popular recipes I've posted on the blog are the pickles and the fried chicken recipes, in hindsight this post seems almost inevitable. But no, yet again I turn to the pages of Bon Appetit for inspiration and recipe.  This pickle-brined fried chicken is a signature dish at Rose's Luxury, recently named the best new restaurant in the United States by Bon Appetit (woooo go DC!), and who am I to disagree? Pickles? Fried chicken? Yes please! So I made this once, and my friend Jess made it once as well. We compared some notes on the process, and in the end, I am adapting the recipe just slightly. Here's a statement I never thought I would make: go with chicken breast instead of thighs. I think this is an issue of expectation - when I bit into the amazing fried chicken, I wanted it to be like a chicken tender - juicy white meat. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like sipping a diet coke that turns out to be an iced tea. But I think I like my b...

At the suggestion of my friend Justin, I subscribed to Bon Appetit for some inspiration. It's been years since I've subscribed to any cooking magazines, my last being Gourmet magazine which ended as a collection of aspirational recipes for the rich home cook, and advertisements disguised as articles (a disgusting practice I still abhor on the internet and in print). But Bon Appetit has been an incredible inspiration thus far, and the recipes are all absolutely home cook friendly (and wallet friendly). This one is ripped directly from the pages of their newest issue (though I upped the quantities of garlic and anchovy significantly). At the gentle ribbing of Anne (previously "Sporty Anne" or "The Sportress"), I decided to try something "more vegetarian." Fine fine, anchovies are not vegetarian, and I'd even recommend substituting in some tomato paste instead of anchovy if you're really that concerned/dedicated. But you'd depr...