For the stew:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
3 celery stalks, thinly sliced crosswise (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 medium carrots, cut into 1/2 inch-thick slices (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 whole canned plum tomatoes, sliced into 1/2 inch-thick slices, plus 2 tablespoons liquid
4 cloves garlic, smashed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 bone-in, skin-on split chicken breasts, cut in half crosswise (about 1 pound total)
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 12 ounces total)
1 quart chicken broth
3 cups water
1 cup long-grain white rice
10 to 12 stems fresh cilantro with leaves
2 sprigs fresh mint
3 medium red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch-thick pieces crosswise (about 1 cup)
For the Assembly
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
2 limes, cut into wedges
1 ripe avocado, cut into1/4 inch cubes
Pickled jalapeño chiles, to taste

This one-pot meal is easy to assemble and more nurturing than a can of chicken noodle soup. Satisfying in its simplicity, and perfect for when you’re feeling run down.

With Latin American Cuisine, we explore the wide world of food in South and Central America. Check back each week for recipes from Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Nicaragua, Peru, and beyond.
The crispier, creamier cousin to french fried potatoes, yuca frita is a side dish and snack food found all over Latin America. In Cuba, it’s served with a garlicky mojo sauce (or if you’re at a Cuban restaurant in New York, more likely a cilantro sauce, originating from Victor’s Cafe). In Colombia, you’ll find them with a loose guacamole-like ají de aguacate, or in the snack aisle next to the potato chips. Head over to Peru, and it’s a creamy cheese and chili sauce.

You can take the cheat-y route and make fried yuca (also known as cassava) out of a frozen bag, but unlike french fries, frozen yuca fries are invariably terrible, with a dry, stringy texture. There’s also no point, considering how simple it is to make fried yuca out of fresh yuca—heck, it’s even easier than making french fries.

The first step is par-boiling. Just like with potatoes, par-cooking yuca accomplishes two goals. First, is washes off excess starch which can burn, turning the yuca chips an unappealing dark brown and giving them a bitter flavor. Secondly—and more importantly!—it begins to break down the tough cell structure of the root, which is even stronger than that of a potato. Without par-cooking, a yuca root would be burnt before the interior ever softened.

Par-cooking also causes the surfaces and edges of the yuca to fray, increasing surface area and maximizing crunch factor.

Rocoto Relleno (Stuffed Spicy Peppers)
Red aji rocoto chilies are stuffed with a cooked mix of ground beef, onions, garlic, olives, raisins, herbs, and spices, then topped with queso fresco and baked in an egg-and-milk sauce. Fair warning: despite its scarlet good looks, this dish is not the stuffed bell pepper you’re used to—the rocoto is a little larger than a plum with a bright, fruity, tropical berry essence and almost twice the heat of an aji amarillo (or in gringo terms, about ten times hotter than an average jalapeño). So that first bite will wake you up. But the chili’s initial burn is quickly tempered by the sweet and savory filling inside, and the melted queso fresco and eggy cream sauce in which it all cooks.

The rocoto chili originated in the southern region of Arequipa, and while it’s now ubiquitous throughout the country, it’s still hard to find beyond Peru’s borders, which makes rocoto relleno a dish that homesick Peruvians pine for when abroad.

When you subsequently grind those chickpeas, form them into balls, and dunk them in hot oil, the combination of intense heat from the frying oil and the internal moisture already present in the soaked beans helps the falafel cook through in record time. It only takes about four minutes (which is, coincidentally, just the amount of time you need to get those exteriors crisp).
Because the soaked and ground chickpeas still have plenty of uncooked starch in them, they bind together quite well even without the aid of flour. Still, they can be a little bit crumbly. The trick is to grind them, then let the ground mixture rest for about 15 minutes in order for the excess starch to seep out of it, making it easier to form coherent balls.

After browning the first side, I flip them over and brown them on the second.
As soon as they come out of the fryer, I sprinkle them with salt. (It clings much better to hot foods than foods that have cooled even a little.)

So how do the chickpeas cook if you don’t boil them? you might be thinking. I was thinking that the first several times I made falafel with this method. The trick is to remember that cooking beans is a two-step process. One step is adding water (hydration), while the second step is adding heat (actual cooking). To get tender, cooked chickpeas, you need to complete both steps. But nobody ever said they have to be done at the same time.

Just as I’ve found that pasta can be hydrated and cooked in two distinct steps, so can beans. I weighed batches of chickpeas that I’d soaked in water overnight against those that I’d soaked and then cooked in order to gauge how much additional water gets taken up during the boiling phase. I discovered that by the time the chickpeas have soaked in water overnight, they’ve actually absorbed pretty much all of the liquid they’re ever going to absorb.

Taskin also has a flattop devoted to gozleme, a tissue-thin flatbread stuffed with fillings like cheese, greens, or meat, then folded over on itself to form a neat, floppy pocket. Go for one filled with spinach and cheese and you’ll be rewarded with greaseless, feather-light bread, barely wilted fresh greens, and lightly salty cheese. You’ll wonder why it’s not on every New York street corner. Just down the street from Taskin you’ll find Toros, a mini-chain of three north Jersey Turkish restaurants. This location, which identifies as the Clifton branch (not to be confused with the Paterson branch nearby) is a dark, velvet-drawn room that recalls some Russian oligarch’s country home. Befitting of the grand setting is a menu that covers the full range of salads, mezze, and grilled Turkish meat. AK also has a butcher counter where you’ll find homemade sujuk, a pepperoni-like beef or lamb sausage perked up with chili and garlic. While imported sujuk is relatively common in Middle Eastern markets, AK’s is better—less fatty and harsh-tasting with a snappy casing and fresh meaty flavor. Slice it up and fry it to serve with eggs, or better yet, use it in place of pepperoni on your next pizza. You’ll get great grease cups.

As a die-hard New Yorker I hate to admit it, but sometimes you gotta go to Jersey.

What does the Garden State have that the Big Apple lacks? For starters, a wealth of space and comparatively affordable housing, two attributes that have helped cities like Edison, Fort Lee, and Newark become home to some of the tri-state area’s largest ethnic communities. And where large populations of immigrants go, good food follows—in some cases better than its equivalent offerings in New York.

Take Paterson, a silk factory city that fell into post-industrial decline but is now enjoying a second life thanks to its new middle class. The new blood is eclectic—Paterson is home to Hispanic, Arab, Filipino, Asian, and Turkish populations—and as a result, its food scene is impressively diverse. From Manhattan, getting there takes all of half an hour by car, or an hour on NJ Transit.

It was the promise of great Turkish cooking that that sent SE designer Tracie and me on a field trip to Paterson. While New York has some great Turkish food if you know where to look, most of it leaves some room for improvement. Could Jersey do us one better?

South Paterson’s Turkish sector is far more condensed than New York’s, with a tight cluster of restaurants, kebab houses, bakeries, and groceries. Short diversions will take you to late-night diners, WPA-era outdoor markets, and Hispanic stores selling treasures like dirt-cheap key limes and Peruvian pepper paste.

In short: come for an afternoon and you’ll find more food than you can handle. Looking for an introduction to the city’s Turkish scene? Here’s an afternoon itinerary to get you started. Paterson is full of markets to stock up on Middle Eastern provisions, but AK Market’s selection is especially impressive. There’s a full compliment of yogurts and cheeses, including hard-to-find nabulsi, a salty semi-soft cheese flavored with nigella seeds, and Istanbuli, a cream-cheese like spread flavored with grassy green chili. Among the dry goods you’ll find excellent hazelnuts, especially fresh and aromatic, alongside all manner of other nuts, legumes, grains, and spices available in bulk at low prices.

Begin at Taskin Bakery, which supplies bread both to local restaurants and many of New York’s Middle Eastern markets. Turkish cuisine has a bread culture just as rich as the French, and Taskin’s wide selection does it proud. On the shelves you’ll find flaky croissant-like pastries, syrupy phyllo sweets, briny olive breads, and best of all, simit, crackly-chewy doughnut-shaped breads blitzed with sesame seeds. Fresh from the oven, Taskin’s simit are just as good as what you’ll find in Istanbul, where they’re relished for breakfast much like bagels are in New York. The best time to hit Toros is at lunch, when they offer a three-course lunch special of a soup or salad, your choice of mezze, and a grilled main. Coordinate with your table and you can hack together a shareable feast, all for just $12 a person. Toros does a mean lentil soup, excellent eggplant dishes, and well-seasoned lamb kebabs.

1 Make the fajita spice mix: In a small bowl combine kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and chili powder.

2 Make the vegetable foil pack: Fold a large piece of foil in half so you have a double layer. Add the sliced peppers and onions. Season the vegetables with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon fajita seasoning.

Fold the sides of the foil up and crimp it tightly on top to make a packet.

3 Season the steak: Season the steak liberally with the seasoning mix (about 3/4 teaspoon per side).

4 Preheat your grill to 450°F for high heat grilling.

5 Grill the packet and the steak: Once the grill is hot, transfer the veggie packet and the steak to the grill. Grill over steak over high, direct heat. After 4 minutes, flip the steak and grill for 5 to 7 additional minutes.

This will finish cooking the steak to about a medium to medium-rare temperature and soften the veggies. Remove both the foil packet and the steak from the grill and let cool for a few minutes.

6 Make the Dad Add Lime Sour Cream (optional): In a small bowl, combine sour cream, zest, juice from 1 lime, cumin, and salt. Serve alongside the fajitas.

7 Slice the steak: Slice the steak thinly against the grain.

8 Serve: You can add the steak to the veggies and serve the fajitas right out of the foil packet alongside a stack of flour tortillas. The foil should be strong enough, but if yours seems unstable, you can also transfer the ingredients to a serving platter.

In order to keep the immune system strong, we need to pay attention to what we eat, and red meat is one of the foods that should be consumed. Bonfilet of Turkey’s most important meat producers and Istanbul Gastronomy Advisor of the President, Dr. Okan University Department of Gastronomy İlkay Gök lists the 9 benefits of red meat, which has protein, iron, zinc, selenium and vitamin B12.

Red meat, which is consumed sometimes to store high energy and sometimes to reach healthy minerals, also plays an important role in the fight against coronavirus. Our immune system must remain stronger than ever to protect against different diseases as the weather gets colder and especially because of the Coronavirus epidemic. In order to keep the immune system strong, we need to pay attention to what we eat, and red meat is one of the foods that should be consumed. Bonfilet of Turkey’s most important meat producers and Istanbul Gastronomy Advisor of the President, Dr. Okan University Department of Gastronomy İlkay Gök lists 9 benefits of red meat, which has protein, iron, zinc, selenium and vitamin B12.
Stating that meat has become the main center of the diets of those who want to lose weight in addition to its health benefits, the expert said, “Those who want to increase the amount of muscle also benefit from meat-oriented diets. In addition, meat is a very important source of protein for growing children. It supports the immune system and has an important role in healing wounds, fractures, and body damage. We do not need to consume kilos for meat to be beneficial. Consuming about 100-150 grams of lean or low-fat meat both meets our daily protein needs and provides a lot of additional support. The right amount and properly cooked low-fat meat is actually a health potion. ” is in the statements.

Combine pork, beef, eggs, panko, salt, pepper, and nutmeg in a large bowl. When the onions are slightly cooled, add to the mix then use your hands to mix everything throughly.
Shape into 1 inch meatballs, being sure to tightly roll them around so they keep their round shape. Place meatballs on a plate or tray.
Over medium heat, melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter in the same pan that you cooked the onions in. When hot, add meatballs to the pan, cooking in batches without overcrowding. Immediately shake the pan as you add a batch of meatballs to ensure the balls roll around and maintain their meatball shape.
Fry, shaking the pan every so often, until meatballs are golden brown and cooked through. Remove the meatballs from the pan as they cook.
When all the meatballs are cooked, make the sauce: Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan and melt over medium heat. Sprinkle on the flour, whisk and cook for 1-2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the beef stock and cream and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce starts to thicken. Taste and season with salt, pepper, and soy sauce if using.

You can use either boneless or bone-in, but definitely get skin on turkey breast. The skin will keep the breast from drying out and will self baste the meat while it slow cooks. Plus, the golden brown turkey skin you get after broiling is gorgeous.
Which crock pot to use?
Since we are a little family of two, we have the casserole crock, which holds 2.5 quarts. It’s so cute and perfectly-sized for a turkey breast roast!

Can I use an instant pot?
Yes! You can just use the slow cooker low mode and follow this recipe exactly the same, but you can even pressure cook and it’ll taste just as good!

To make this turkey in the Instant Pot, place the aromatics in the bottom of the insert and place the turkey on top. The turkey should be raised a little, if it isn’t, add the Instant Pot rack to lift it up. Add 1/2 cup no sodium chicken stock and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes per pound of turkey. Quick release when done and broil in a high oven for crispy skin, if desired.

Real deal Swedish meatballs, just like in Sweden.

A couple of years ago Mike and went to Sweden and the number one item on my Swedish bucket list was eating real Swedish meatballs. We went to a little place called Bakfickan, tucked into a corner of the Royal Swedish Opera House in Stockholm.
The meatballs were UNREAL. I swear, they were and still currently are one of my all time favorite food memories. They were so good we went back the very next day. Super juicy and bursting with meaty flavor, served up with the creamiest mashed potatoes, a rich creamy gravy, lightly picked cucumbers, and freshly crushed lingonberries. Every bite was a revelation. If you like, you can read more about our trip to Sweden here.

What are Swedish meatballs?
Swedish meatballs are, you guessed it, meatballs, from Sweden. They’re called köttbullar, which means meat buns, literally the cutest name ever. Swedish meatballs tend to be on the smaller side and are made with a mix of beef and pork, simply seasoned with salt and pepper and a touch of nutmeg.

An 18-piece CorningWare baking set designed to last long so you can enjoy casseroles, stuffed peppers, and homemade bread for years to come.
A handy candy thermometer since 2021 is the year you attempt tempered chocolate, homemade caramel, and deep frying donuts, and you need to get them to the *perfect* temperature.This thing saved my life when it came to making fudge and caramel! Reasonably priced and cleanup is easy.I had forgotten how great cooking in CorningWare was. I enjoy using it because it bakes evenly and cleans up well.A set of five stainless-steel mixing bowls with matching airtight lids so you can save your extra batter instead of having to deal with three dozen cupcakes staring at you, begging to be eaten in one sitting.They are perfect! There are five sizes, so you don’t have to worry about using one bowl that’s too big or too small. And having lids makes storing things easy.

How to make crock pot turkey breast
Compound butter. This is a fancy way of saying a flavored butter. Massage the butter into the skin and dot it all over the turkey breast.
Aromatics. Make a bed of arromatics (shallots, ginger, garlic) that will add extra flavor to the turkey and gravy.
Slow cook. Cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.

Finish in the oven. Give the turkey breast a brief blast in the oven to crisp up the skin. This is totally optional.

Make gravy. Use the drippings in the crock pot to make an insanely flavorful gravy.

Ingredients
You’ll need a turkey breast roast and some umami forward ingredients: butter, soy sauce, garlic powder, fresh garlic, ginger powder, fresh ginger, shallots, and chicken stock. A combination of fresh and powered ginger and garlic gives a double whammy – the powder is rubbed with soy sauce directly onto the turkey and the fresh is used to season the stock for the gravy.

The creamy sauce makes these meatballs next level, but did you know that apparently (according to the internet anyway) Swedish people traditionally did not eat their meatballs with meatball sauce!??! Now, thanks to Ikea, everyone thinks Swedish meatballs come with a creamy brown sauce and to be honest, even the meatballs we had in Sweden did. The sauce is almost the best part?!

Swedish meatball sauce is super simple, a butter and flour roux with beef stock and cream, finished off with a tiny bit of soy sauce for color and a touch of umami. I got the soy sauce trick from all the Swedish youtube cooking shows we watched. It’s a sauce game changer.
Ingredients
Onions – the finer you dice your onions, the more uniform and pretty your meatballs will be. If you have a food processor, feel free to pop them in and give them a whirl.
Eggs – eggs are the binder that help keep the meatballs together.
Panko – I like using panko as the breadcrumbs because panko is larger and flakier than regular breadcrumbs. Meatballs made with panko are lighter than meatballs made with regular breadcrumbs.
Nutmeg – there’s just a tiny hint of nutmeg in these guys. They give the meatballs an authentic Swedish flavor with just a background hint of warmth.

If you can only find sad pork chops at the store, you can still make juicy pork chops, just don’t overcook them. Prep them the same way, then cook at 375°F for 8-9 mins, flipping halfway.
What should I serve with air fryer pork chops?
rice: pork chops and rice is one of my all time favorite combos and the green sauce with rice is life

smooth and creamy mashed potatoes: who doesn’t love potatoes and pork?

mac and cheese: those creamy cheezy noodles go so well with pork!

kale with burrata: leafy greens braised in tomato sauce with some rich burrata might be the best paring ever

If you’re wondering which air-fryer we have, it’s this one. I don’t know if it’s the best on the market because it’s the only one we’ve used, but it works great. It’s quiet and easy to clean and really big (which is good because you can put a lot of food in it and bad because it takes up a lot of room in our place).

What kind of grill for Korean BBQ?
The most important thing you’ll need for Korean BBQ is a grill or hot plate. A korean BBQ grill is specifically designed to let the fat safely run off without flaring up so that you can cook indoors, and also not let any thinly sliced or tiny pieces of meat fall through. They sell a bunch of different ones online and they also sell them at Asian grocery stores. Besides the grill, you need a heat source.
Charcoal – best tasting but you can’t use charcoal indoors or on balconies and it’s the biggest pain to get charcoal lit, let it cool down after, and dispose of properly. If you have a backyard and want to take things to the next level, you should give it a try though!
Induction – induction is nice because it’s safe and easy to clean, but it doesn’t get as hot as Korean BBQ should get, and you have to use induction specific metal that can be hard to find in Korean BBQ grill pan shapes. We have an induction cooktop but we don’t use it because the next option is the best.

2-4 tbsp butter
1/2 medium onion finely diced, about 1/2 cup
1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground beef
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup panko
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Cream Sauce
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup beef stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp soy sauce
salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large non-stick frying pan and sauté the onions. When the onions are soft and translucent, move the pan off the heat and allow the onions to cool.

What to serve with Swedish meatballs?
Swedish meatball plates usually come with creamy brown sauce, mashed potatoes, lightly pickled cucumbers, and lingonberry sauce.

I hope you try this recipe. It’s truly one of my favorites. And if you do, please do like the Swedish do and get a little bit of everything in one bite: a meatball, a bit of mash, some gravy, cucumber, and lingonberry. It’ll be like that moment in Ratatouille when Remy gets the fireworks from combining flavors.

Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes forever,
xoxo steph

PS – If you want to read more about my love for Swedish meatballs, please visit this post!

In much of Vietnam, the correct way to cook any meat is grilled over hot coals, or these days, gas. I completely agree with this: if you can be bothered to turn on the bbq, you should do so. If you have a tabletop grill, these also produce excellent results (and is how we eat it when we have dinner with my parents on their deck).

But, I’ve also tried frying it literally every way: in cast iron, in stainless steel, in nonstick, and in a wok, and I can confidently say some of the easiest and best results come surprisingly from nonstick. The charring you see in these photos come from a nonstick–except the one below, which is cast iron.
Mortar and Pestle
If you have the equipment and willingness, a mortar and pestle goes a long way towards authenticity, both to the Vietnamese-ness of this recipe and to the countryside-ness of it too. Chopping doesn’t release the flavors and juices the way a good crushing in a mortar and pestle does. It’s completely optional, and you can just chop away, but to me, the mortar and pestle makes all the difference.

From beginning to end this whole meatball dish only takes an hour or so to make. The meatballs are made small, Moroccan style, so it only takes 8 minutes to braise them in the tomato sauce. Because they don’t have any egg or breadcrumbs in them, this is a great dish if you (or any friends or family you are eating with) are on keto or gluten free. But, because they don’t have any egg or breadcrumbs, you do need to take care not to overcook the meatballs, unless you like chewy meatballs (which I actually do).

It looks like a huge list of ingredients because I’ve broken them up into two parts, but the meatballs and the tomato sauce uses the exact same ingredients so you can prep for both parts at once as well as get the most out of any spices you need to buy.
These meatballs were so much fun to make and even more fun to eat. We paired them with israeli couscous and falafels for a pan-mediterranean feast. They were so good I’m planning on putting them into heavy rotation for our weeknight dinners.
If you like these flavors, try making Fattoush Salad, Roasted Red Pepper Dip, or Harissa Salmon too!

2 pork chops center cut, 1.5-2 inches thick
1 tsp fresh rosemary chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds crushed and divided
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes optional
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley loosely packed
2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan authentic Parmigiano-Reggiano preferred
1/2 tsp coriander seeds crushed
2 cloves garlic
1/2 lemon zested and juiced
Special Equipment
air fryer

Instructions
Let the pork chops temper in a cool spot in your kitchen for 15-20 minutes. Preheat the air fryer for 5 minutes at 400°F. Make a rub: in a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper with the chopped rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes, if using.
Pat the pork chops dry with a paper towel. then rub them generously with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil. Coat them with the rub.
Place the chop in the air fryer at 400°F and cook for 12 minutes, flipping halfway, or until the internal temperature reaches 145°F.
While the chops are cooking, make the salsa verde: combining the remaining oil, parsley, Parmigiano, coriander seeds, remaining fennel seeds, garlic, and lemon zest and juice in a blender and pulse until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Cheese Buldak: Chicken is not as popular at KBBQ, but they do have it, usually prepared cheese buldak style: chicken thighs marinated in a spicy gochujang fiery sauce. The thighs are grilled then, smothered in melty mozzarella cheese. I love this dish! It’s usually brought to the table in it’s own little skillet, already cooked.
Chicken Bulgogi: If you do want to grill chicken at the table, it’s usually thighs marinated in bulgogi sauce.
Pork
Samgyeopsal/Pork Belly: Samgyeopsal is probably the most popular pork item because pork belly. It comes either marinated or plain and can be thick cut or thin.
Hanjungsal/Pork Jowl: This might be my favorite cut of pork ever. Pork jowl is chewy, juicy, and perfectly marbled. It doesn’t flare up on the grill up as much as pork belly because the fat is more marbled throughout the meat. If you see it at the store, buy some, you won’t regret it! I recommend keeping hanjungsal unmarinated/plain.