What’s Cooking This Weekend? — Weekend of January 10-11, 2014

Happy weekend! Is it simply freezing where you are? (It is where I am.) It’s also a birthday weekend in my family so I’m pondering chocolate cake and other treats. What about you? Tell us what’s cooking in your kitchen this weekend! And don’t miss these winter warmers from the past week:

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Recipe: Fridge-Clearing Lentil Soup — Weeknight Dinner Recipes from The Kitchn

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The fridge-clearing soup is a staple at my house. In fact, fridge-clearing in general is a good way to characterize my cooking style. But there is something about a sack of lentils that brings out the best of vegetables that have seen better days.

After three straight weeks of intense eating and carrying on in honor of the holidays, a soup that requires no shopping for ingredients is just what I need. Clean, simple cooking. Join me.

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Recipe: Sweet Potato Soup with Miso and Ginger — Weeknight Dinner Recipes from The Kitchn

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Creamy sweet potatoes, spicy ginger, and sweet and salty miso all meet in this easy, delicious soup that my family has been enjoying the last few days. When I first served it, my husband had a hard time pinning down the flavors — we both thought it tasted fruity, although I knew there was no apple or orange in the recipe. It’s thick, creamy, bright, and an excellent use for leftover sweet potatoes. A yogurt drizzle adds a tangy touch and more warming spice.

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butterscotch pudding

old school butterscotch pudding

One of my worst cooking traits is that when I get frustrated with a recipe, it can take me years to get back to it. I mean, I’m theoretically too old to be having tantrums, kitchen or other, but there’s no other way to describe this behavior where I get frustrated, throw my jangly measuring spoons in the sink and huff off to gaze at jeans I could probably fit half a thigh into, which is how I mope.* Sure, you could just say that I need a little space, a break, it’s-not-you-it’s-me from the recipe so I can gain some perspective, and consider other approaches but six years? That is how long it’s been since I last attempted to share a recipe for old-school, dead-simple butterscotch pudding from scratch which refused to set. A six-year tantrum. (Fine, I snuck some pudding pops in there, but it’s so cold today, I cannot even look at them.)

for classic butterscotch pudding

There’s a reason butterscotch pudding is a classic, and no, and I don’t mean custard or pastry cream with 6 egg yolks and over a quarter-pound of butter. I don’t mean mousse, with all of those egg yolks, twice the butter and also egg whites and heavy cream. I don’t mean budinos, flan or any of the other luxurious jiggly desserts we order in restaurants. I mean, butterscotch pudding, the kind a grandmother would make with just milk and a little thickener, like the kind that comes in a box but will never, ever taste as good as this.

a little butterbriefly cook your brown sugar caramelbring to a gentle simmerthickened

… Read the rest of butterscotch pudding on smittenkitchen.com


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