Dina Cheney
Slow-Cooked Ratatouille Over Goat Cheese Polenta
Parmigiano-Reggiano adds salty, nutty richness to this ratatouille, which rivals the best oven versions. To speed preparation, feel free to skip the first step of salting and rinsing the eggplant and zucchini (this process draws off any bitter juices). Instead, just remove any particularly seedy and brown parts of the eggplant, or use smaller Japanese eggplants (which also do not need to be peeled). For pizzazz, add chickpeas and pitted, chopped oil-cured black olives. To make this dish vegan, swap in olive oil for the butter and skip the cheese (adding olives will make up for cheese's saltiness). When reheating the polenta, add liquid (such as chicken stock or milk), then adjust the seasoning if necessary with more salt, pepper, and butter.
Pulled Chicken with Cherry-Chile Barbecue Sauce
This fresh seasonal sauce—so good you'll be glad to have leftovers—features less sugar than traditional barbecue sauces. Serve the moist, flavorful chicken on warmed burger buns. Wear rubber gloves when mincing the jalapeño so you don't burn your hands. When prepping the fresh cherries, wear a dark shirt, use a good cherry pitter, and work over two bowls: one for the pits and stems and the other for the usable flesh. Feel into the center of each cherry after pitting and de-stemming to make sure that no pit remains.
Lemony Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler
Prep time:About 45 minutes
Slow cooker time:About 4 hours
Oven time:20 to 25 minutes (can occur during the slow-cooking process)
Finishing time:About 20 minutes With this juicy, flavorful dessert (slightly spicy from the peppercorns), you get the best of all worlds: the fruit cooks slowly and develops complex flavors in the slow cooker, the lemony drop biscuits turn golden in the oven, and the juices reduce on the stovetop into a thick sauce that blankets the fruit. I loved this recipe so much that I "tested" it six times! As for my children, they coined it "rhubarb dessert" and now crave rhubarb as a result. This cobbler is especially good with vanilla ice cream.
For ease, zest the lemons before squeezing them for the juice. You can make the biscuits in advance, though the dessert is most delicious when the biscuits are served warm from the oven. Purchase the reddest rhubarb you can to yield a dessert with the most vivid color. Make sure to use the amount of fruit called for—it might seem like a large quantity, but the strawberries and rhubarb cook down a lot. If you'd like to serve the dessert family style, pour it into a 9- x 12-inch baking dish.
Slow cooker time:About 4 hours
Oven time:20 to 25 minutes (can occur during the slow-cooking process)
Finishing time:About 20 minutes With this juicy, flavorful dessert (slightly spicy from the peppercorns), you get the best of all worlds: the fruit cooks slowly and develops complex flavors in the slow cooker, the lemony drop biscuits turn golden in the oven, and the juices reduce on the stovetop into a thick sauce that blankets the fruit. I loved this recipe so much that I "tested" it six times! As for my children, they coined it "rhubarb dessert" and now crave rhubarb as a result. This cobbler is especially good with vanilla ice cream.
For ease, zest the lemons before squeezing them for the juice. You can make the biscuits in advance, though the dessert is most delicious when the biscuits are served warm from the oven. Purchase the reddest rhubarb you can to yield a dessert with the most vivid color. Make sure to use the amount of fruit called for—it might seem like a large quantity, but the strawberries and rhubarb cook down a lot. If you'd like to serve the dessert family style, pour it into a 9- x 12-inch baking dish.