Feast of the Fishes, Part II

Spicy Tuna Tartare on Cucumber Rounds

This really could not be an easier, or more impressive hors d'oeuvre. The most finicking part--cutting the raw tuna into small dice--is made exponentially simpler when you put the tuna in the freezer until it is firm but not totally frozen. It is SO much easier to cut this way. Some spicy, finely diced jalapeño, sweet red bell pepper, salty soy sauce, the nutty crunch of toasted sesame seeds all anchored by cool, crispy cucumber. A single bite of perfection.

Recipe:

8 ounces sushi grade tuna
1/2 medium red bell pepper
1/2 jalapeño pepper
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 English cucumber

1. Pop tuna into the freezer until it is firm, short of being frozen stiff (20 minutes or so should be plenty.) Slice into small dice-as small as you can go without turning it into hamburger meat. Place in a small bowl.

2. Dice red pepper and jalapeño into the same sized dice as the tuna and add them to the bowl. Add sesame seeds and soy sauce and toss gently but efficiently so that everything is well mixed.

3. Slice cucumber into rounds (a mandoline or even a cheap slicer is excellent for this) thinly, but not too thinly. 1/8 inch thick is perfect.

4. Top each round with a small spoonful of tuna.

Makes about 48 hors d'oeuvres

Lobster Pot Pies

This is a delicious twist on the comfort food classic. Plump bits of lobster claw and knuckle meat add the perfect touch of luxury for a special evening. It is also a wonderful meal to do ahead. The pot pies can be assembled and then refrigerated for up to a day before adding the puff pastry crust and cooking. Also, there are many aspects of this recipe than can be purchased ready-made. On Christmas Eve, I am definitely going to let someone else handle the lobster shelling, pearl onion peeling, and puff pastry rolling--I have gifts to wrap!

Recipe:

1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk fresh, green celery, chopped
2 carrots (or 8 baby carrots), neatly chopped
6 ounces small button mushrooms, halved or quartered
2 ounces smoky, thick cut bacon, diced
1/4 cup all purpose flour
7 ounces lobster meat (the Cozy Harbor brand, in the frozen fish section, is very good quality)
1/2 cup dry white wine
8 ounces clam juice
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon tomato paste
6 sprigs fresh thyme, stems removed (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
16 frozen pearl onions
salt and pepper to taste
1 package (2 sheets) frozen puff pastry dough, thawed

egg wash (egg yolk whisked with water and salt)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack in the middle of the oven.

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook bacon until it begins to render its fat. Add carrots, onion and celery and reduce heat, cooking until mirepoix (the fancy name for the combination of carrot, celery and onion) begins to soften. Add button mushrooms and continue to cook until they are golden and vegetables are beginning to brown lightly.

2. Sift flour over the vegetables and stir briskly to coat everything--it will look a bit grimy, but never fear. Add wine to deglaze the pot, scraping up all the lovely browned bits. Add clam juice, heavy cream, whole milk, thyme and tomato paste, stirring well. Cook until the liquid has thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and add lobster and pearl onions. The base may be cooled and refrigerated at this point, covered, for 24 hours.

3. Gently roll out puff pastry--do not press too hard, you will flatten out all those lovely pastry layers! Trace the outline of your serving bowls (I like to use my café au lait bowls, they hold about 12 ounces), adding 1/4 inch to outline--puff pastry shrinks as it cooks. There will be enough to cut four tops and plenty left over to cut decorations.

4. Spoon lobster base into bowls--this recipe makes 4 12-ounce portions,  and gently drape with puff pastry tops. Brush each with egg wash and cook in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, until puff pastry is well-raised and nicely browned. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes before serving. Remind your guests that the bowls are HOT!

Feast of the Seven Fishes, Part 1

Christmas Eve is about friends, family, festivities, and...fish. At least in my house. We have always followed the Italian custom of serving fish and shellfish on Christmas Eve, even though we are not, in fact, Italian. But a great idea is a great idea, and it is a wonderful family tradition I am happy to honor in my own home. But the seven (7!!) courses of fish that is part of a traditional Italian Festa dei sette pesci (Feast of the Seven Fishes) is a bit much for this mama, house cleaner, tree-decker, present wrapper and cookie baker. I have paired down my aspirations to three courses, with salad and dessert, of course. (No fish in the dessert please.)

This year, I am making:

• Spicy Tuna Tartare on Cucumber Rounds
• Smoked Salmon and Potato Galette
• Individual Lobster Pot Pies
• Bibb lettuces with marinated anchovies
• Flourless Chocolate Cake

All of these recipes can be made in advance (from a few hours to a few days) and are perfect for a cozy meal for 4 or a few more, or doubled (even tripled) to feed a crowd. There are lots of opportunities for short-cuts--pizza dough and puff pastry from the grocery store, pre-cooked and shelled lobster meat from the fish counter, even frozen, peeled pearl onions, to make Christmas Eve dinner prep even easier on the chef. (There are other things to do on Christmas Eve, after all!)

Today's post is all about the fabulously easy, versatile, delicious smoked salmon and potato galette. It can be assembled in less than ten minutes, and after another ten to twenty minutes in a hot oven, it's ready to go, but it's even better at room temperature. It is excellent as a simple supper, a luxe luncheon main course, or the star of a brunch for two or twenty.

Smoked Salmon and Potato Galette

Recipe:

1 ball of pizza dough, about 20 ounces (store bought or homemade)
2 ounces créme fraiche (1 ounce softened cream cheese mixed with 1/4 cup heavy cream works too)
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 large russet potato, peeled
1 medium red onion
6 ounces smoked salmon
fresh dill
olive oil
juice from 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees with racks in the top third and the bottom third of the oven.

1. Lightly grease a large baking sheet with a drizzle of olive oil or cooking spray. You can also use a pizza stone and parchment paper if you have one. Stretch pizza dough out until it is evenly thin. I like thin, crispy crust, but if you like a crust with more heft and chewiness, stretch accordingly. Lay it out on your baking sheet (or pizza peel with parchment paper.) In a small bowl whisk together créme fraiche (or cream cheese and cream) and dijon mustard until smooth and gently spread onto the prepared crust.

2. Using a mandoline (I love my cheap, Walmart slicer) or a sharp knife, slice red onion into transparently thin slices and spread over the créme fraiche. Be lavish, but keep it evenly spread across the crust so that it cooks fully.

3. Now slice the potato into thin rounds--as thin as you can go without hurting yourself--1/8 inch thick is fine. Spread across the thinly sliced onion. You can overlap the slices slightly in a scale-like pattern if you are feeling especially clever (an ode to the theme of the evening) but a spiral pattern looks quite nice as well. If you have more of a rectangular shape to your gallette, uniform rows of slices look smart as well. Season with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and a few healthy grinds of fresh black pepper, and pop it into the top third of the hot oven.

4. When the potatoes are nicely cooked (prod with a fork, there should be no resistance when pierced) after about 10 minutes, shift it to the bottom rack and continue to cook another 5-10 minutes or so, until the crust is nice and firm and golden on the bottom and bubbly and brown on the top. Remove it from the oven and slide it onto a cooling rack.

5. Arrange smoked salmon slices on top. Sometimes I like to go for a rustic, haphazard look with big, generous pieces of smoked salmon scattered across the surface of the galette, and other times gentle folds of silky thin salmon neatly placed look nicer. Do what looks good to you. Gently squeeze the juice from half a lemon over the top, add another grind or two of pepper and salt to taste, and a scattering of fresh chopped dill.


This recipe can feed 4, 6, or even 8 people as a first course, and many more when sliced into small, bite sized rectangles and passed as an hors d'oeuvre*. For more than 6 or 8 people, make two separate galettes. Simply double the ingredient amounts.

*If you are serving this recipe as an hors d'oeuvre, dress it up a little: place the salmon in a nice, even layer over the galette and then slice with a very sharp knife (or pizza cutter.) Garnish each serving with a sprinkling of fresh, chopped dill and a tiny spoonful of caviar if you have it. Sophisticated and festive.

Next Post: Spicy Tuna Tartare and Individual Lobster Pot Pies

Chocolate Dipped Orange Shortbread Cookies

Nothing is better than chocolate. Or cookies. Sadly, I am one of those perverse people who does not like chocolate cookies, under any circumstances. But cookies dipped in dark, dark chocolate? Heaven.




Recipe:

1/2 cup sugar
2 sticks of butter, cubed
2 teaspoons dried Valencia orange zest*
pinch salt
2 cups flour

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. In the bowl of a food processor, blitz sugar for a few moments to make the texture a bit finer. Add butter, and zip it on and off in quick bursts until the butter and sugar are creamed together.

2. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt, the orange zest and the flour. Zip again just until the dough begins to form a crumbly ball. Turn it out onto some waxed paper, wrap and chill in the fridge for 15-30 minutes. It should be firm but pliable.

3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface (or roule pat mat) until it is approximately 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or simply make triangles with a knife (called "petticoat tails") or use a ruler to cut nice, even rectangles. 

4. Transfer gently to a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in the middle rack of the oven for 10-12 minutes, until edges are pale golden. Shortbread gets overdone very, very quickly, so set a timer and keep an eagle eye on them. Let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool completely.

5. While cookies are cooling, melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Stir gently until the chunks are melted completely and the chocolate is smooth and silky. 

6. When the cookies are cool, dip them into the hot, melted chocolate and return them to the cooling rack to rest until the chocolate has set. Conversely, dip a small spoon into the chocolate and drizzle chocolate over the cookie. I prefer this method--it makes a prettier cookie, the chocolate is more evenly distributed across the surface, and your melted chocolate stays smooth and crumb free. 

Depending on the size of your cookie cutter, this recipe makes about 2 dozen larger or 3 dozen smaller cookies. 

*If you can't find dried orange zest (McCormick makes a very good one, and it is available almost everywhere) feel free to use fresh orange zest, but up the quantity to 1 TABLESPOON.

Candied Citrus

I was recently called upon to bake something for B's kindergarten class: St. Lucia buns. They are really a small, yeast leavened cake, the sweet, eggy dough tinted a bright, sunny yellow with saffron and flavored with slivered almonds, pale golden sultanas, and juicy bites of candied citrus. The feast of St. Lucia commemorates an early Christian martyr who is associated with bringing light to the dark (metaphorically and literally) days of mid-December. So, a yummy little cake filled with bright, sunny colors is a perfect way to celebrate the day.
One problem: I could not find any decent candied citrus. I refuse to use that nasty, artificially colored and flavored stuff sold in plastic tubs, whose ingredient list begins with high fructose corn syrup. The farm store, a haven of heavenly, hard-to-find ingredients (with correspondingly high, high prices) had not ordered any this year. It was too late to source any from the internet, or even drive to town for some of the evil, artificial variety. What to do?
I raided my fruit bowl for clementines and lemons and made my own. It really is so easy, and the results are so delicious. Once you try it, you will never buy another tub of day-glo franken-fruit again.

Recipe:

2 medium clementines
1 lemon
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus approximately 1/2 cup for sifting
1 1/2 water

1. Peel the clementines and the lemon, trying to leave as much of the pith (the bitter white stuff) behind. You may have to score the rind of the lemon in order to peel it successfully. Reserve the fruit for another use.

2. Finely chop the peel into small cubes. The size will vary depending on the final baked good and personal preference. I like little bitty dice, but larger dice are just fine.

3. Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Immerse peel in the water until it returns to a boil. Once it has, remove the peel and drain, rinsing in cold, cold water. Repeat this procedure once or twice more.

4. Rinse pot and fill with sugar and water and stir until combined. Over medium heat, bring sugar syrup to a boil and add peel. Simmer over low heat for 45 minutes. (Keep the heat low! You do not want boiling sugar to become cemented to your stovetop!)

5. Drain the peel in a fine mesh sieve and let dry a little bit.  Cover the bottom of a small bowl (one with a lid!) with a fine layer of sugar. Add peel, and add the rest of the 1/2 cup of sugar. Pop on the lid and shake until each little piece is covered with sugar and no longer sticky.

6. Spread in a single layer on a clean towel and let dry--about an hour.

This is delicious right away, but will keep well in a tightly sealed container for a month or so.

Kid Carbonara

Dinner with children. The very phrase sends adults (both parents and casual bystanders) to the nearest bottle of wine. So often it is a grim affair, with weary parents staring down weeping children. (And losing the battle of wills. Every time.)
I am a hearty advocate of eating as many meals as you can with your children. By eating, I mean sitting at the table, alert to napkin placement, silverware usage, and surreptitious morsels parceled off to the family dog. It is nice to also consume food with your children (thereby demonstrating the proper placement of fork, knife, napkin, and food) but by dinnertime, I think we are all too taxed to give the time and attention both to our dinners and to our (small) children. So, lovingly and attentively, feed small people early, put them to bed, and then have a lovely, relaxing, 6-and-over-only meal. It's like vacation, with dishes. (Sadly.)
But a great deal of dinnertime misery comes from what is on the plate. Many parents virtuously try to introduce new foods (i.e. suspicious vegetables) to their children. But after a long day of play or school, kids are just not receptive to the subtle allure of kohlrabi. Trust me. Try, as much as possible, to introduce new tastes at lunchtime, when palates are fresher, and tempers are less frayed. That said, parsnip might not fly at lunchtime either. (At least for the first few dozen tries. Persist.) Go with familiar-ish things at dinner, perhaps with a little twist to add a bit more nutrition to the plate. Note: I am NOT advocating "sneaky food"--sweet potatoes lost in brownie batter, broccoli ground into pear compote. Your children will not hide healthy food on their plates at campus dining halls. Help them develop a taste for good food in its own incarnation. It is a wonderful gift.
So, what to give them? Omelettes are excellent sources of protein and a wonderful way to incorporate spinach, peppers, onions, broccoli and morsels of sausage or bacon (and really great cheese). Savory crepes are also wonderful (and really, truly easy. More on these in a later post.) I really like to give the kids soup, of the friendly variety like veggie soup with stars, avgolemono (lemon chicken soup with orzo) but many kids find soup too difficult to maneuver, and perhaps too obviously vegetable.
There is always the old standby: PASTA. Make it yummy, and add enough protein to keep little ones growing, and some broccoli to keep eyes bright and palates interested. Enter Kid Carbonara:

Recipe:

2 ounces pancetta, cut into kid sized cubes
1 egg
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup finely, finely grated parmesan (I use a microplane grater)
2-3 ounces pasta (I use thin spaghetti because it is the favorite of the smalls)
1 cup fresh broccoli, cut into small florets ("little trees")
a few grinds of pepper (invest in white pepper if you have a kid who won't eat "those black flecks")

1. In a small saucepan over medium high heat, cook pancetta until it is crispy and nicely browned. If your kids like their bacon crispy crispy, go for it. If they like it a bit pinker, stop there. Remember to make this something they like! Drain on a paper towel.

2. While the pancetta is cooking, bring a medium pot of SALTED water to a boil to cook the pasta. There is no added salt to this recipe, so all the salty is coming from the pancetta, cheese, and the salted water the pasta cooks in, so don't forget it! Cook the pasta until it is just al dente, about three minutes before you think it is ready. Add the broccoli, put the lid on and turn the heat off. Set a timer for 2 minutes! (I tend to forget it, always, so must set an alarm.)

3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg, cream, milk, and 1/2 cup of the cheese.

4. When the timer goes off, check the pasta and the broccoli. They should be almost cooked. Drain and toss back in the warm pot. Add egg/cream mixture and pancetta and stir everything together over low heat just until the liquid starts to bubble. (This lets the pasta absorb some of the flavors and cooks the egg, in case you are worried about feeding raw eggs to your kids.)

5. Divide pasta into 2 little kid size portions, and spoon remaining cheese over the top.

Sugar and Spice

Comfort food, for me, is intensely spicy. The sweet heat of a jalepeno hot sauce brings life (and love) to a simple taco pescada, and the searing, complexly layered panoply of spices in each bite of a well-made thai curry brings me tears of joy.

No surprise, then, that I tend to opt for spicy in my desserts as well. Between a densely chewy, raisin-laced spice bar and a boring, milk chocolate brownie, give me the spice bar every time. Actually, give me 6.  I adore the spine-tingling acidity of a great lemon meringue pie, and would step over a stroke victim to take the lemon shortbread out of the oven. But for comfort, give me spice.

Hence this Spicy Gingerbread. A version of it appeared in my book (Apple Bottom Gingerbread) and it has appeared at my Christmastimes forever. So, what better way to soothe the stresses of the holiday season than a dessert with (quite) a kick?

Recipe:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon dried valencia orange peel*
pinch fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
2 Tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 large egg
1 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup applesauce
3/4 cup hot water

buttered (or sprayed) 9 inch loaf pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together. Add fresh ginger and stir briefly.
2. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add egg, molasses and applesauce. Mix until well combined. The batter will be quite stiff.
3. Last, add very hot water slowly, and stir just until combined in a nice, smooth batter. Do not over-mix, it will make your gingerbread tough.
4. Pour into prepared loaf pan, and bake in the middle of preheated oven for approximately 45-50 minutes, until a wooden skewer comes out with crumbs but no batter.

Let cool on a rack for five minutes. Gently turn out of pan and let cool before slicing.

This is so delicious right away, with a great wallop of creme fraiche or a dab of softly whipped cream, but it is even better if you can manage to leave it alone for a day or two, tightly wrapped, to let the spicy flavors bloom.

*Valencia Orange Peel is now fairly common. McCormack makes one that seems to be in every grocery store spice rack, and I have even seen it gracing the shelves at Walmart (dear god.) It adds a wonderful hit of fresh, vibrant, (slightly) bitter orange. But if you haven't got it, don't worry, you can make it without.

Winter Herb Vinaigrette

There is nothing more luscious than a plate of fresh, tenderly green lettuces gently dressed in a fresh herb vinaigrette. The sun sets lazily and the long summer evening stretches out in front of me as I toy with having just one more glass of chilled rosé.

Except that right now, snow is swirling outside my window, and the last lettuces from the garden (and tomatoes and squash) were eaten months ago.

I still yearn for my greens, however, and refuse to consider giving up my salad addiction. (I need a greenhouse!) But the seasons should always be heeded, and so my sunny summer salads--heirloom tomatoes with basil and fresh chevre; julienned baby zucchini dressed in lemon and fresh thyme flowers; soft butter lettuce topped simply with shards of parmesan--yield to slightly heartier fare.

Now is the time for frisée, with its firm, archly bitter, ghostly stalks and curly, celadon leaves cradling a still warm, perfectly poached egg, garnished with smoky, thickly carved hunks of crunchtious bacon (the perfect blend of crunchy and unctious); or a melange of richly purple radicchio and pale chartreuse endive, married happily to a full bodied roquefort and some meaty little walnuts. Or (perhaps my favorite) dried figs, darkly sweet and sticky, dressed in paper thin slices of crisped prosciutto and nestled among dark green, acidic arugula and topped with a slice of bubbly browned robiola cheese on crostini.

Delicious, all, and enough to hold me over until the very early spring appearance of mache (the most delicate, delicious green ever. More about that delight in early February or March). But what to dress these salads in? My indispensable fresh herb vinaigrette would be as out of place on these salads as a tomato.


While each of these salads also has a very specific dressing that is the ideal accompaniment to each recipe, I need a good, everyday dressing that I can use in any salad situation. Enter the Winter Herb Vinaigrette: tangy, peppery, robust hits of shallot and garlic, with a nice herbal backbone that won't get lost amid the more assertive flavors of winter greens. I adore Herbs de Provence, a truly magical combination of aromatic and flavorful dried rosemary, fennel, savory, thyme and sometimes marjoram and/or basil, along with others, depending on personal preference. It can easily be mixed at home or purchased as a spice mix. I really like the one sold by Penzy's Spices. Find it here:

Recipe:

Makes about 2 cups of dressing, which is really a vast amount. (unless you eat salads every day, like me.)

I usually make this in a pint jar and just shake it up before I use it, but feel free to emulsify it with a blender. The dijon will ensure that it stays creamy.

1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup SEASONED rice wine vinegar*
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
10-12 grinds of course fresh black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Herbs de Provence
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small shallot, minced

Add ingredients to a jar with a tightly fitting lid. Shake very well until combined. Drizzle over anything and everything.

* The seasoned rice wine vinegar eliminates the need to add any further salt or (heaven forbid) sugar to this recipe. I like it because it is not too acidic and so plays nicely with all possible salad ingredients. A very safe vinegar for all seasons (and seasonings!)

Curried Pumpkin Gougéres

A little something different for that perennial fall favorite ingredient, pumpkin. The Thai red curry paste adds a nice kick of heat, and really brings out the natural sweetness and bright orange color of the pumpkin. While not a true gougére, as the dense dough needs a bit of help from baking powder to reach the airy, highly risen proportions that are a hallmark of the classic, these make a spicy, delicious pairing for any fall cocktail party.


Recipe:

1 stick butter
100 ml water
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 Tablespoon Thai red curry paste
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
6 ounces cheddar, shredded (about 2 cups)
3 eggs
red curry powder or toasted sesame seeds for dusting, if desired

baking sheets
parchment paper


Preheat oven to 375 degrees with racks in the top third of the oven.

Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat bring butter and water to a boil. As soon as the mixture boils, add the pumpkin and curry paste and whisk until smooth.

2. Add flour, baking powder, and salt all at once and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together in a smooth ball. Cook, stirring until the mixture is smooth and a bit dry. Remove from heat.

3. Add shredded cheddar and stir until cheese is melted and well combined.

4.  Add eggs, one at a time, stirring briskly after each addition until well combined (since the dough is very warm, you must stir with speed to prevent the egg from cooking before it can be incorporated.) Depending on how much the mixture has cooked and even the humidity of the day, you may need fewer eggs (or even 1 more!) The final dough should be very soft, but still quite cohesive.

5. Using two teaspoons, scoop rounded mounds of dough onto parchment paper, spacing them about 1inch apart. You may make larger puffs, using two tablespoons, and spacing them slightly farther apart. Work fairly quickly, and try to get all the dough on the sheet pans and ready to go before it cools.

6. Using a pastry brush or your fingers, dip in warm water and smooth the top of each blob of dough. Dust with red curry powder, if desired. Toasted sesame seeds are also a delicious addition, and add a little seasonal touch as a Halloween hors d'oeuvre.

7. Bake in the top third of preheated oven (switching baking sheets half way through baking) for about 15-20 minutes, longer for larger puffs.

8. Gougéres are cooked when they are well risen and lightly browned. Let cool a bit on cooling racks.

Serve warm with a glass chilled dry cider or a dry petit chablis.

Sunday Biscuits

Everyone should have kitchen traditions, and most of us do. Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas cookies, Easter lamb. These are all wonderful and make for delicious and festive meals. But the things that I remember most from my childhood are not the foods that sanctified our holiday table, but the smell of coconut cake fresh from my grandmother's oven every Friday afternoon, the creamy saltiness of mozzarella on homemade pizza Saturday night, the sweet, vanilla-scented glaze on my Sunday morning donut-a cherished treat for good behavior in church.

Now that I am a grown-up with a family of my own, I have my own small traditions. Strawberry picking and jam making, pizza night, high tea. One of our favorites is our Sunday morning biscuit making. It is lovely to make these with my small children: measuring out the ingredients with small, careful hands, watching their thoughtful choice of cutter from our cookie cutter collection, sneaking nibbles of the dough, pressing our faces to the oven window to watch the biscuits magically rise. But eating them together is the best of all.

 Recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1/2 cup fresh, cold buttermilk

 Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

 For a food processor:

 1. In the bowl of your processor add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blitz quickly to combine.
 2. Add chilled butter and blitz in little bursts (on-off, on-off, on-off) until mixture is evenly combined and resembles small peas.
 3. Turn the processor on and add buttermilk through the funnel JUST until the mixture begins to come together. Do Not Over Mix! The mixture should just be coming together, not completely combined in one mass. You will pat it into shape when you cut the dough.
 4. Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and pat it gently into a disc about 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough with your favorite biscuit cutter (or a floured drinking glass) and place biscuits on a baking sheet or in a large, heavy cast-iron skillet.
 5. Bake about 12 minutes in the middle of hot oven. Biscuits are done when they are risen, crusty and gorgeously golden-brown. Remove to a wire rack and let cool slightly.
6. Split and spread with butter and honey, preserves, grainy mustard and ham, or eat them plain.

 By hand:

 Follow the above instructions, but use frozen butter. Use a grater and grate the butter through the medium holes into the dry ingredients. Mix lightly with a wooden spoon. Add buttermilk and mix lightly just until the mixture is combined. The butter will not be completely incorporated, don't worry, it will melt and make delicious little freckles on your biscuits.

Depending on the size of your cutter, this recipe makes about 12-15 biscuits.