The Best Things That I Cooked in 2023
Featuring: Crispy Light-As-Air Pancakes, The Beefiest Beef Ribs, and My New Go-To Banana Bread.
Hey everyone,
One of my favorite things to do at the end of the year is to go back through all of my pictures — most of which, shockingly, are pictures of food — and decide: “What were the best things that I cooked and ate this year?” It’s as much for me as it is for you: a sort of reexamination of where I was and what I was doing and how that influenced what I was cooking up in the kitchen.
This year offered up some big shifts, especially as my home kitchen relocated its headquarters from L.A. to Brooklyn in August. Do I cook differently on the East Coast than I did on the West Coast? Too soon to say, but I do think I’m less market-driven in New York than I was in L.A. (it’s also a lot colder here, so the idea of going to the farmer’s market in 37 degree weather is less appealing).
But that doesn’t mean that I don’t cook well here. On the contrary, I think cold weather makes me want to cook heartier, cozier fare. And we’re not even into January and February yet… I foresee stews and braises and soups galore.
Before I wax too philosophical about all of this food that I made, let’s get to it: here are the top ten best dishes that I made over these past twelve months. They’re dishes that I will absolutely, 100% be making again and may have already made again. They were that good.
10. Nancy Silverton’s Farro Salad
The word “farro” doesn’t exactly elicit moans of ecstasy when talking about dinner, but somehow this recipe from Nancy Silverton’s Mozza at Home elevates farro to the status of drool-worthy. From the toasting of the grains in the oven to the way she specifically tells you how to cut the vegetables (cucumbers on the extreme bias) to the bright and herby lemon oregano dressing, I would glad eat this salad for lunch or dinner any day of the week. (As it was, I served it up to a bunch of friends along with fish soon after we arrived in NY.) Here’s the recipe:
9. Alison Roman’s Matzo Ball Soup
This wasn’t in any of my newsletters, but I made Alison Roman’s matzo ball soup this year after watching her smash actual matzos with a rolling pin in a freezer bag to make her own matzo meal in one of her videos. That was revelatory: instead of that dusty, cobwebby stuff that you get out of a box, not only does the crispy matzo yield a better, less dated matzo meal, it adds incredible texture to the finished product. And then her approach to broth and dill (she loves dill) makes for sublime results. Best matzo ball soup I’ve ever (and will probably ever) make.
8. Chocolate Cherry Poppyseed Cookies
As someone who has said “all chocolate chip cookie recipes are basically the same,” this recipe made me eat my words. Based on a cookie from Mokonuts in Paris, food icon Dorie Greenspan adapted these cookies and there’s an adventure in every step. From the poppyseeds that go into them (poppyseeds in a chocolate chip cookie!?) to the rye flour that you use to make them, you half expect this cookie to taste like sandwich bread but instead it tastes complex and nutty and tart with the addition of dried cherries. If you haven’t made them yet, you simply have to: consider it an assignment.
Get the recipe: Chocolate Cherry Poppyseed Cookies.
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