Honest Cooking and Travel

Chocolate chip cookies are where small decisions compound, which is why we have an opinion about every one of them. The ratio of brown sugar to white sugar determines whether you get chew or crisp. Pulling the sheet at 9 to 11 minutes, while the centers still look puffed and underdone, is the difference between soft-centered and hard cookies once they cool. And creaming the b...

Polenta is one of the most underrated bases in home cooking. While mashed potatoes get all the attention, a bowl of properly made creamy polenta, cooked slowly with milk, butter, and Parmesan, has a silky texture and a subtle corn flavor that works with nearly anything you put on top of it. Pile on a heap of roasted seasonal vegetables, drizzle with balsamic glaze. You have a...

We make this when it is cold out and wine feels like too much. Simmer pears in apple cider with cardamom, ginger and cinnamon for thirty minutes and you land somewhere between a mulled wine and a hot cocktail, with no wine in it at all. The pears soften into the liquid, the spices steep, and the whole kitchen smells like autumn.

Add rum at the end, two parts cider to o...

A standard margarita is reliable and a little characterless. This one is our favorite correction to that. Blanco tequila, fresh lime juice, and a smoky simple syrup. The Morgue-a-Rita leans savory and bold, and it goes surprisingly well with spicy food. It was designed with Halloween in mind, but smoke, citrus and heat go together well past October.

The smoky simple sy...

This one has had a permanent spot in our weeknight rotation for about a year. Thin chicken cutlets seared until golden, then finished in a creamy sauce with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, Parmesan, and fresh spinach. It needs about twenty minutes, uses one skillet, and tastes like something you would order at a restaurant. When you need a reliable dinner that impresses without r...