what's cooking

Sorry, folks. I have not yet fully come out of dinner party hibernation. I blame my horrible spring allergies. The flowering trees are so pretty but being hit over the head with pollen does not inspire socializing. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been at my stove, sniffling, cooking, and wondering whether it is smart to mix wine and Allegra. Living dangerously!

In the meantime, here are a few recipes that have worked their way into our weeknight rotation:

My friend Casey Barber develops fantastic recipes for me at iVillage, including these terrific white bean and avocado enchiladas. A few tweaks: I replace the white beans with pintos, and swap out the parsley for cilantro. I also add a nice dose of lime juice to the sauce to perk it up. But even if you don’t make those substitutions, the recipe is a tasty and filling (vegetarian!) main dish.

I attended a Tupperware event with chef Marco Canora (it made more sense than it sounds) last week and he made us a simple pasta with some sautéed cherry tomatoes topped with a lemon peel-parsley gremolata. I devoured the tiny sample of pasta and immediately wanted more, it was so good. So I replicated the dish (scroll to the bottom of the link for the recipe) at home and it was just as tasty – maybe even better because I added a big spoonful of ricotta on top.

I love a big salad and I've been doing a riff on this spring panzanella with roasted potatoes instead of bread and good oil-packed tuna. And some fried capers. And extra lettuce. So...basically this salad isn't anything like the original. It looks very good, though!

Two recipes I’d love to try:

Anything Gabrielle Hamilton makes sounds incredible, even this humble celery salad, made from ingredients from her sad New York city supermarket. (New Yorkers will relate to this article.)

Can you be haunted by pudding? Well, a certain butterscotch budino has been rattling around in my mind ever since I sampled it at the James Beard Awards a few years ago. Silky, rich, amazing. This version, made with caramel, looks like a delicious twist and I love the idea of serving it in mini Mason jars.