Ragù bianco simmered in a traditional Italian “white” sauce has many variations, but most use more than one kind of ground meat. This version combines ground pork trimmings and ground pork liver. (Blue Kitchen)

Linguine with Ragu Bianco and nose-to-tail tales

By Terry Boyd, Blue Kitchen / 01.02.13

I’ve been having offal thoughts lately. They started with a piece I recently wrote for The Christian Science Monitor weekly magazine on nose-to-tail eating. The current trend of using the entire animal – and indeed, the phrase nose to tail itself – began with publication of Fergus Henderson’s seminal cookbook, "The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating." As chefs are increasingly embracing the idea of cooking and serving “odd cuts,” the CSM editors wondered if diners and home cooks were taking to those odd cuts. The short answer is yes.

When I got the assignment, I immediately thought of Rob Levitt, owner of Chicago’s first whole animal, locavore butcher shop, The Butcher & Larder. We met Rob when he was chef at Mado, one of the city’s first whole animal, locavore restaurants. Rob and his staff butchered, cooked and served pretty much every part of every animal delivered to the kitchen. 

Besides serving up odd bits – pan seared beef hearts and pig head stew – Rob turned internal organs and trimmings into charcuterie, terrines and silky pâtés. Fat was rendered into lard for cooking, and bones became stock for sauces and soups.

In older, more practical, less squeamish times, using every bit of the animal was just what was done. Food was often hard to come by, especially meat, and you didn’t waste it. Today, chefs, butchers and a growing number of home cooks are returning to cooking everything, partly to honor the animals. It makes good environmental sense, too. More than two-thirds of all agricultural land is devoted to growing feed for livestock; the more we use of the animal, the better the use of our resources. As a bonus, diners and home cooks are discovering that these odd bits are full of flavor and cheaper.

When Marion and I visited Rob at his butcher shop to discuss the nose-to-tail trend, he reminded us of a dish he often served at Mado, ragù bianco. This traditional Italian “white” sauce (white only in the sense that it doesn’t have tomatoes in it and therefore isn’t a red sauce) has many variations, but most use more than one kind of ground meat. Rob’s version combined ground pork trimmings – the various leftover muscle parts that don’t neatly divide into chops or ribs or hams and such – and ground pork liver. Before we left The Butcher & Larder, we acquired a half pound each of ground pork and ground pork liver to make our own ragù bianco.

Liver lends the dish a nice gamey complexity that the ground pork alone wouldn’t deliver. Fresh fennel, wine, and cream help tame the overall liver flavor. Carrots are often an ingredient in this ragù; I substituted mushrooms cooked in brandy to add an earthier note. Also, I substituted linguine for the more traditional penne pasta. Feel free to ignore this switch.

Linguine with Ragù Bianco
Serves 4

1/2 pound sliced mushrooms (I used crimini)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

olive oil

1/4 cup brandy (cheap stuff will do just fine) [editor's note: substitute with 1/4 cup fruit syrup]

1/2 pound ground pork

1/2 pound ground pork liver (see Kitchen Notes for substitutes)

Salt

1 fennel bulb, diced, about 1-1/2 to 2 cups (see Kitchen Notes)

2 shallots, chopped (or 1 medium onion)

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dry)

2 tablespoons chopped fennel fronds

1 cup Chicken stock (or low-sodium broth)

1 cup dry white wine [editor's note: substitute cooking wine or broth]

1/4 cup cream or half & half

1 pound linguine

Heat a large nonstick skillet or sauté pan over medium flame. Add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil and swirl together. Add mushrooms and sauté, turning occasionally, until they brown nicely and give up their moisture and it cooks off, about 5 minutes. Drizzle in a little more olive oil, if needed – mushrooms are sponges. Remove pan from flame and pour in brandy [or fruit syrup]. Return to flame and cook, stirring, until brandy just about evaporates. Transfer mushrooms to a bowl and set aside.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in pan and add ground pork and ground pork liver. Season lightly with salt and cook, stirring with wooden spoon to combine. Use the spoon to break up the meat as it cooks. The meat will smell very liver-forward at this point, but don’t be alarmed; just use your stove vent and keep your pickier eaters out of the kitchen.

When meat is cooked through, push it to the sides of the pan and add the diced fennel and shallots. Cook, stirring, until shallots begin to soften, 4 to 5 minutes. Create another hole in the middle of the pan and add the garlic. Cook until fragrant, 45 seconds or so, and add 1 cup of chicken stock. Add wine [or more stock] and stir to combine. Sprinkle thyme and fennel fronds over mixture, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 1 hour. Stir occasionally, adding more stock a little at a time if sauce becomes too dry (I added stock three different times, but use a light hand).

Meanwhile, start a pot of water for the pasta. When sauce has been cooking for an hour, cook the pasta according to package directions. Remove sauce from heat and stir in cream and the last tablespoon of butter. Taste and adjust seasonings. When pasta is just al dente, drain quickly and toss about half of it with sauce. Add more pasta and toss to combine. If you don’t add all the cooked pasta, that’s okay, but you probably will.

Using tongs, divide pasta among 4 shallow pasta bowls. Spoon remaining sauce in the pan over the bowls of pasta and serve immediately.

Kitchen Notes

Not a liver lover? I’m not either, in the straight up “here’s your liver and onions” sense. I love pâtés and braunschsweiger, though. If that’s your take on liver, you’ll like this dish as is. The wine and, at the end, the cream and butter all combine to tame the liver’s characteristic flavor while still letting it shape the dish. Some recipes use a smaller amount of liver in relation to the other meat or meats. Others dispense with liver altogether, combining different mixes of pork, beef and chicken. At least one recipe includes venison in the mix, providing some of the gaminess I enjoy in this version.

How to prepare fennel bulbs. I’ve been cooking with fennel bulbs a lot lately, so I skipped how to wrestle with one in this recipe. If you’d like a detailed description, you’ll find it in my Caramelized Fennel with Fettuccine and Goat Cheese recipe.

Simmer black-eyed peas with country ham, onions, tomatoes, chilis, and seasoning before baking beneath a crusty cornbread topping. (The Runaway Spoon)

Black-eyed pea and cornbread skillet

By Perre Coleman Magness, The Runaway Spoon / 12.31.12

No self-respecting Southerner, I boldly say, would let New Year’s Day pass without at least one bite of black-eyed peas. They are supposed to bring good fortune for the New Year, and everyone can use a little bit of that. Hoppin’ John is traditional in many quarters, but peas slowly cooked with a piece of pork are the norm for many. I like to vary my black-eyed pea intake, from my classic recipe to a big bowl of Good Luck Gumbo. But no matter how you eat them, cornbread is the traditional accompaniment to black-eyes. So here’s a recipe that kills two birds with one stone, and is tasty to boot.

This recipe is very simple, though it has a couple of steps. It’s easily done while watching the football game, which I understand is a popular New Year’s Day activity, or while resting on the sofa after some late-night revelry. Season this to your own tastes, lots of spicy Creole seasoning or just a touch, tomatoes with green chile or without. I find country ham “biscuit slices” readily at most markets in vacuum packages, but whole slices are just fine. Chopped “seasoning pieces” are great for seasoning, but don’t make great eating, so avoid them. For some prosperity to go with your New Year optimism, serve these with greens, like Foldin’ Money Cabbage.

Black-eyed Pea and Cornbread Skillet

Serves 4

For the Black-eyed Peas

4 ounces center cut country ham biscuit slices

4 cups of water

Half of a small yellow onion

2 garlic cloves

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon Creole seasoning (I like Tony Chachere’s)

12 ounces frozen black-eyed peas

3 green onions, white and light green part only, finely chopped

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon flour

1 (14.5-ounce can) diced tomatoes with green chile (or plain diced tomatoes), drained

Salt to taste

For the Cornbread:

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups buttermilk

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

For the Black-eyed Peas:

Cut the country ham into small cubes and put it in a saucepan with the halved onion, garlic and bay leaves. Pour over 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, skim off any scum that rises, lower the heat to medium low and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Add the black-eyed peas and 1/2 teaspoon of the creole seasoning.  Simmer for 1 hour, or until the peas are tender.

Drain the peas, reserving the cooking liquid. Discard the onion, garlic and bay leaves. Rinse out the bean pot and return it to the heat. Melt the butter in the pot, then add the chopped green onions and cook until soft and translucent, but do not brown. Sprinkle in the flour and stir until smooth and pale. Stir in 1 cup of the cooking liquid and cook until the sauce is thickened and reduced slightly, about 8 minutes.  Season with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning (or to taste). When the sauce has thickened, add the peas and ham and stir to coat. Stir in the drained tomatoes and cook until the sauce has reduced a bit more and just coats the peas, about 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed.

Brush a 10-inch cast iron skillet with oil.  Scrape the cooked peas into the skillet and smooth the top.  Set aside while you make the cornbread.

For the Cornbread:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Stir the cornmeal, baking soda and salt together in a bowl using a fork. In a large measuring jug, measure the buttermilk, then add the egg and melted butter and beat until combined. Pour the buttermilk into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Spread the cornbread batter over the top of the peas in the skillet. Carefully transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the cornbread is puffed, golden, and set.

Serve immediately.

Related post on The Runaway Spoon: Black-eyed peas for luck

Endives make a beautiful and neat vehicle for appetizers. Try filling them with grapefruit and avocado slices; smoked salmon atop sour cream; herbed goat cheese; or a sweet beet and apple slaw. (Beyond The Peel)

Easy appetizer: stuffed endives (+ video)

By France Morissette and Joshua Sprague, Beyond The Peel / 12.31.12

Today's Beyond the Peel post is the last in our series of quick, easy and healthy holiday appetizers. I hope that over the course of the past month you have gotten some good ideas on how to make your holiday entertaining not only a little healthier but also a little easier. For some holiday appy ideas, check out our appetizer videos on www.beyondthepeel.net.

Out of all the ideas we’ve shared, I find stuffed endives to be the easiest and most flexible. You can fill endives with just about anything. If you’re at a loss for ideas, I’ll share four of my favorites with you in this video (posted below) that not only take minutes to assemble, but will have your grain free or gluten free guests happy to not be surrounded by crackers, crostinis, and baguette!

Following are links to the appetizers highlighted in the video and a list of all the other fabulous appetizers posts we did leading up until today:

Beet and Apple Slaw  (used as a filling for the endives)

 9 Healthy Whole Food Appetizers For The Holidays

Sour Cream Dill Dip and a Fun Entertaining Idea

Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates

Holiday Popcorn Recipe (or anytime, snack time recipe!)

Beet and Pear Slaw

4 cups of grated beets

1 firm pear, cored and diced

1 green onion, finely sliced

In a large bowl, add the grated beets, diced pear and sliced onion. Add the vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Apple Cider Vinaigrette

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 teaspoons raw honey

Combine the above ingredients until honey is well blended through out. Add the dressing to the salad and toss to coat well.

Handmade butternut squash gnocchi seasoned with sweet Italian sausage, sage, and goat cheese. (We Are Never Full)

Butternut squash gnocchi with sausage and sage

By Jonny and Amy Seponara-Sills, We Are Never Full / 12.28.12

We have a confession to make. After eight enjoyable but increasingly long years in Brooklyn we jumped ship over the summer to the suburbs. We didn’t deliberately hide it, we just didn’t make a big deal of it on our blog. Okay, so there is definitely some weird foodie cachet to living in a big city known for its culinary diversity that we may have been slightly concerned about losing by moving to the “food desert” of the suburbs, if for nothing else than invites to foodie parties we never attended and offerings of freebie samples we rarely covered. And, given that a good proportion of our content focuses on some of the incredible diversity of the New York dining scene, it’s only reasonable for us to have been a little apprehensive about finding that elsewhere.  

The saying goes that “there is no zealot like the former addict”, and while we can freely admit that we once subscribed to the belief that Brooklyn is one of the greatest places for food in the country and that, by comparison, there was very little of gastronomic interest in that strange netherworld of highways and sub-divisions between the farm and the city, we now believe this to have been the result of Stockholm syndrome. A peculiar phenomenon of prisoners in long term captivity under which they not only begin to sympathize with their captors but often seek to convince themselves that they deserve nothing better than their current lot, for us, the mantra of “this place is awesome!”, became inverted into the question “if this place is so awesome, why aren’t we happier here?”

It took us a couple of years of drudgery, but since resolving that city life wasn’t feasible in the long term, we found ourselves accidentally stumbling across enough great Mexican grocers and terrific Indian supermarkets in the most unlikely of strip-malls to know that the terrifying tales of sneering urban hipsters, aghast at the prospect of people being forced to shop in supermarkets and suffer the ignominy of having to, gasp!, drive there and back, neither phased us anymore nor accurately portrayed suburban reality.

It’s tempting to say that for all our snobbery about unfettered access to the newest and hippest restaurants and the freshest and most diverse markets, like most city folk, even those who consider themselves into food, in the latter two years we, principally due to the rigors of carting an unwilling child around, rarely left our neighborhood in search of new victuals. Prior to that, perhaps because we always knew that we weren’t going to be staying in New York forever, we did our very best to absorb as much of it as we could – enjoying some wonderful and fascinating meals over the years – but when the advantages of Brooklyn life became inaccessible, the disadvantages of it became impossible to ignore.

Interestingly, and to throw out another old chestnut, a change really is as good as a rest, because while there is certainly rather less diversity on one’s doorstep in suburbia, recent trips to a local Persian restaurant, Carl Venezia’s pork store and a pub serving real cask conditioned, hand-pulled ales have renewed our ardor for seeking out the good stuff. And while we still have only limited time to explore our new area’s gastronomic offerings, in all honesty, outings of that variety are far more enjoyable in the company of a toddler than schlepping out to Jackson Heights, Queens, on the subway for Colombian or Egyptian food, even if they don’t have quite the same exotic ring.

Above all, we can say that we are deliriously happy with our new status as home owners. We would never have imagined we could buy anything half as beautiful or historic, and given the absurd real estate prices, it’s a stone-cold certainty that we never would have afforded even half as much in Brooklyn. Now that we’re settling in to our new home and new environment, and our son has got used to fresh air, and is becoming less agoraphobic at the sight of open spaces featuring tall trees, we’re starting to get back to some sort of cooking schedule in our new kitchen.

We haven’t yet managed to find the time to pass an entire weekend making sausage or even make any mince pies for Christmas, and perhaps compared to some of our earlier exploits, this recipe may seem tame, but some handmade butternut squash gnocchi made mid-week offered a reassuring return to the old groove that we’re excited to be back in. Beyond that, the fascinating challenge of planning, redeveloping and paying for the kitchen we have yearned for the majority of our adult lives looms on the horizon. It’ll take us a while, but the enormous advantage of owning rather then renting is that any investment we make will be solely for our benefit, constituting a paradigm shift from a combined forty years of feathering the nests of neglectful and rapacious landlords since we last inhabited a place we called home.

Butternut Squash Ricotta Gnocchi with Sweet Sausage and Sage (serves 2-4)

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash 

1 large floury potato, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks

1 x 16-ounce tub whole milk ricotta

1-2 large eggs

1+ cups plain flour

1-2 teaspoons kosher salt

2-4 links sweet Italian sausage

1/2 glass dry white wine (optional)

6-10 sage leaves

1/2 stick (4 tablespoons)

unsalted butter

freshly ground black pepper

crumbled goat cheese (we had one flavored with honey, but any regular soft goat cheese will be fine)

Recipe:

 1 large butternut squash, cut into 2 inch cubes and roasted at 350 degrees F. until very soft and toasty looking, about 25 minutes.

When cool, scrape squash flesh off skin into a bowl and reserve.In plenty of boiling water, boil the potato chunks and cook until soft and mashable.

Remove potato from water, and allow to cool enough for handling. Then using the large side of a box grater, grate potato onto a sheet pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and allow to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, place grated potato, squash flesh, 1 egg, 1/2 tub of ricotta and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Combine into a wet mixture and begin adding flour. Depending on the squash, the potato and the amount of liquid in your ricotta, you’ll need more or less flour to bring it together into a dough that resembles cookie dough in texture – soft but holding together and not wet.

Then on a well floured cutting board, cut dough into chunks and roll each chunk into a long sausage about the width of your thickest finger. Cut inch long gnocchi from the dough sausage and transfer to a floured cookie sheet, sprinkling gnocchi with flour. Continue until all dough is used up.

Allow them to set up for 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, empty your Italian sausage out of its casing into a separate bowl and combine with the white wine. Mash it all together with your fingers until sausage starts to be less sticky.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the unsalted butter and add sausage. Cook, prodding carefully with a spatula to separate sausage to resemble ground/minced beef, until nicely browned and crispy on the outside, and has rendered plenty of delicious fat.

With a slotted spoon, remove crumbled sausage to a plate and add one more tablespoon of butter to the pan and allow to brown gently. Add sage leaves and cook until softened and aromatic.

In a large pot, bring plenty of salted water to the boil, and cook your gnocchi until they all float to the surface, 1-4 minutes depending on how many you cook at once.

Return the sausage to the saucepan with butter and sage, and add one ladle of gnocchi water. Increase heat on saucepan and with a slotted spoon, transfer gnocchi into saucepan.Toss in the final two tablespoons of butter. Coat gnocchi well with sauce and when satisfied, kill heat, and season robustly with black pepper.

Serve immediately sprinkled liberally with crumbled goat cheese.

Mashed sweet potatoes with a smokey flavor from chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and just a hint of heat. (Blue Kitchen)

Chipotle mashed sweet potatoes

By Terry Boyd, Blue Kitchen / 12.25.12

I know what you’re thinking. Sweet potatoes? Isn’t Thanksgiving over? But how can you not love a good-for-you root vegetable that actually gets healthier when you add fat to it? According to Whole Foods, “Recent research has shown that a minimum of 3-5 grams of fat per meal significantly increases our uptake of beta-carotene from sweet potatoes.”

Sweet potatoes aren’t just kinda healthy – they top the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Best 10 Foods list. The Center calls them a “nutritional All-Star – one of the best vegetables you can eat.”

They’re also delicious, versatile and easy to work with. Here at Blue Kitchen, we cook with them a lot. We’ve used them in everything from sweet/savory Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Shallots to Sweet Potato and Pork Pierogi made with wonton wrappers, Sweet Potato Sage Pasta with Chicken and an absolute given at our Thanksgiving table, Marion’s Sweet Potato Vichyssoise. These weeknight-quick, smoky mashed sweet potatoes are destined to become part of the regular rotation here, I think. 

The smoke comes from canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapeño peppers; adobo sauce is a marinade popular throughout Latin America, usually made with chile peppers, garlic, tomatoes, vinegar and a variety of herbs and spices. The chipotle pepper brings the smoke, and the adobo sauce adds a nice tang. Both pack heat, but not a lot.

For this recipe, I used one chopped up pepper and a teaspoon of the adobo sauce with two medium sweet potatoes, about one pound. The resulting taste is nicely smoky, but not overpoweringly so, and the heat sneaks up on you without taking over. This would make a perfect side for grilled or pan seared pork chops. They would also be great with steaks or even roast chicken. I served them with tilapia fillets, cooked as I do them for Tilapia Fish Tacos, but served whole.

Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Serves 2

2 medium sweet potatoes, about 1 pound

salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced

1 canned chipotle pepper, plus 1 teaspoon adobo sauce from can (see Kitchen Notes)

1 scallion, green parts only, sliced (see Kitchen Notes)

Peel and cube the sweet potatoes. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold, salted water by an inch or so. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to simmer. Cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, finely chop the chipotle pepper.

Drain sweet potatoes, add butter and mash with a hand masher. Add chipotle pepper and adobo sauce and mash to combine completely. Can be made ahead up to this point and left covered on the stove while you finish other dishes. Reheat gently before serving. Transfer to a serving dish or divide between two dinner plates. Garnish with sliced scallions and serve immediately.

Kitchen Notes

One pepper? But I bought a whole can! I know. This is typical of most recipes that call for chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. The thing is, a little of their smokiness goes a long way. Readers over at Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn have a number of suggestions for storing leftover peppers for later use. One blends them with the adobo sauce in a food processor, then freezes the mixture. About a tablespoon equals one pepper, so you just slice off what you need.

Don’t skip the scallion. In researching chipotle mashed potatoes to make this recipe, I found (as Marion did when she was researching shortbread cookie recipes) that there were really only a few variations. One thing I didn’t see anywhere, though, was the addition of sliced scallions as a garnish. I consider this my major contribution to the oeuvre. As Marion long ago discovered with her sweet potato vichyssoise, the green oniony bite of the scallion tops balance the sweetness of the sweet potatoes, pulling them back into side dish territory from dessertland. The also add a pleasant crunch. Chives will also work, but I wouldn’t use chopped onion – that would be overpowering.

The deep ginger and molasses flavor sings of Christmas and the tart, sweet cranberries add to the festive flavor. Smooth the warm muffins with a bit of egg nog butter. (The Runaway Spoon)

Gingerbread and cranberry muffins

By Perre Coleman Magness, The Runaway Spoon / 12.24.12

Everyone is up earlier than any other day of the year to see what’s under the tree. Wrapping paper ripping, bows flying, boxes everywhere. And somewhere in there, folks get hungry. Just a nibble before the big celebration. Something special, but simple. There’s just too much going on to whip up a gourmet feast. And the cookies Santa left behind just won’t do.

I’ve been making versions of this type of muffin for years, and decided it was finally time to work out a Christmas version. Because these are the perfect treat for a crazy, busy morning. Make the batter a day or two ahead, then simply scoop them out in the morning and bake. The deep ginger and molasses flavor sings of Christmas and the tart, sweet cranberries add to the festive flavor. I love the added hit of candied ginger, but feel free to leave them out or substitute raisins or nuts.

These muffins are delicious straight up, spread with a little plain butter or some cranberry jam if you happen to have any around. But add this nutmeg-y butter with the flavor of eggnog to add to the holiday spirit. Make it ahead, too, even a double batch for toast or waffles.

Merry Morning Muffins with Eggnog Butter (Overnight Gingerbread and Cranberry Muffins)

Makes 12 muffins

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup molasses

2 eggs

1-3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon warm water

1 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup crystallized ginger pieces

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy using an electric mixer.  Beat in the molasses, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until combined.

Sift the flour and spices together and beat into the batter, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until the batter is just mixed. Dissolve the baking soda in the warm water in a small dish, then mix into the batter.  Stir in the cranberries and ginger until they are distributed throughout.

At this point, the batter can be refrigerated for up to two days, tightly covered.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 12 muffin cups and divide the batter among them equally.  Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for a few minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack to cool.

For the Butter:

Makes 1/2 cup

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla and nutmeg until combined and smooth.  Scoop into a small bowl, cover and refrigerate until firm.

The butter can be made up to a week ahead.

Related post on The Runaway Spoon: Oatmeal Get Up and Go Muffins

Prime rib roast seasoned with a rub of peppercorns, rosemary, thyme, salt, and garlic will complete your holiday table as a beautiful centerpiece. (Courtesy of Maria's Homemade)

Prime rib roast

By Stir It Up! Editor, Kendra Nordin / 12.23.12

Prime rib roast is a special meal, and what better occasion to make this fine dish than Christmas Eve or Christmas dinner?

This recipe comes to Stir It Up! from Maria Zoitas, the creator of Maria’s Homemade, a line of prepared food sold exclusively at Westside Market NYC.

Merry Christmas, however you choose to set at your table, and best wishes for safe and warm holiday.

Prime rib roast
Serves 10 to 12
 
1 Whole frenched rib bone in (10-12 lbs.)

2 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup tricolor peppercorns

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary

1/2 cup salt

1/2 cup minced garlic

4 cups of water

1. Preheat oven at 400 degrees F.

2. Place peppercorns in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
 
 3. In a small bowl add thyme, rosemary, salt, crushed mixed peppers, minced garlic, and olive oil. This mixture will be used for seasoning.
 
 4. Using your clean hands, smother the rib with the seasoning; make sure the bottom and sides are also covered with the seasoning.
 
 5. Place the seasoned rib into a large roasting pan, add the water.
 
 6. Put the roasting pan into the preheated oven and roast for about 3 hours, or until the roast has reached an internal temperature of 120 degrees F.

Through the United Nations World Food Programme and UNICEF, FEED gifts help provide school lunches to children around the world. (Blue Kitchen/FEED)

Food-related gifts that give back

By Terry Boyd, Blue Kitchen / 12.22.12

The idea behind FEED is simple: fight hunger and malnutrition around the world by providing free lunches at school. Through the United Nations World Food Programme and UNICEF, FEED does just that – and more. School feeding is one of the most effective solutions to stopping hunger and helping children break out of the poverty cycle they were born into. When boys and girls are given a free, nutritious meal in school, research has shown that attendance and performance greatly increase.

To raise funds, FEED sells a wide array of stylish gifts, from tote bags to toys, apparel, accessories and more. And each gift tells you exactly how many meals you’ll be providing and where. You’ll find great gift ideas for everyone on your list at the FEED website.

Cheery Le Creuset stoneware Mini Cocottes are perfect for making and serving individual servings of mac and cheese or other sides or desserts. And for every set purchased, Le Creuset will donate $20 to Share Our Strength and its No Kid Hungry campaign. Share Our Strength began in 1984 with a mission to fight hunger around the world. In 2004, it turned its focus on ending childhood hunger in America. You can order these Mini Cocottes at the Le Creuset website. (Thanks to Lydia over at The Perfect Pantry for turning me on to this one.)

You don’t always have to get something to give something. Your favorite charities are always in need – and the need is particularly great as economies around the world struggle. So be generous with the organizations of your choice, from local food pantries, to homeless shelters, animal rescue centers and even the valiant Salvation Army bell ringers braving the elements on street corners.

One of our favorites is the Greater Chicago Food Depository, a nonprofit that distributes donated food to pantries, soup kitchens and shelters throughout the area. They also offer training programs that help men and women find jobs in the food industry to break the cycle of poverty. Another is Heifer International, a global nonprofit that fights hunger by supplying training and animal gifts to families to help them become self-reliant. You can give heifers, as the name implies, but their list has expanded to 30 types of animals it now provides – from goats, geese and guinea pigs to bees, silkworms and water buffalo. So give to the charity of your choice. When you do, you will get something in return – a really good feeling inside.

Sweet, with a hint of salty finish, these sweet tea pecans are a unique rendition of the classic treat. Make multiple batches to have around during the busy season. (The Runaway Spoon)

Sweet tea pecans

By Perre Coleman Magness, The Runaway Spoon / 12.21.12

I don’t know that I have ever attended a holiday party where there wasn’t a pretty little bowl full of seasoned nuts. Sometimes a silver or cut crystal bowl, sometimes shaped like Santa or a Christmas tree, usually on the bar or an end table. And there are always people hovering around, picking up one or two nuts, but eyeing the bowl like they want to plunge their hand in and scoop up every last one.

A lovely bag of flavored nuts makes a wonderful gift, and they are handy to have around during the busy holidays. And this little nibble combines the best of the South, abundant pecans and our favorite refreshment.  Sweet, with a hint of salty finish, these nuts are a unique rendition of the classic treat. Make multiple batches to have around during the busy season – they will last in an airtight container for a week or freeze beautifully.

Sweet Tea Pecans

Makes 12 ounces

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

3 black tea bags

12 ounces pecan halves

Kosher salt

Stir the sugar and water together in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil, reduce the temperature to medium and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from the heat, drop in the teabags and leave to steep for 10 minutes.  Remove the teabags and stir in the pecans.  Leave to soak for 45 minutes, stirring several times.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with non-stick foil or parchment paper.  Drain the pecans through a strainer, then spread in a single layer on the baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake the pecans for 13 – 15 minutes, until golden brown. Watch carefully, nuts burn easily.

Cool the nuts on the baking sheet.

The nuts will keep in an airtight container for a week, or can be frozen.