Bookery Bests: Bites
- Mandy Crow
- 4 minutes ago
- 3 min read
I try a lot of recipes. Here are a few of my recent favorites.
I’m one of those weird people who likes to read cookbooks like a novel. Sometimes, right before I go to sleep, I scroll through the NYT cooking app, looking for must-try recipes.
For me, cooking is a way of life, a creative outlet and a fun, relaxing way to end a hard work day. So, I cook a lot — and here are a few of the recipes I’m making on repeat these days.
One-Pot Chicken and Rice with Carmelized Lemons
I think chicken and rice is a wonderful comfort dish, but let’s face it: sometimes it can be a little bland and boring. This recipe is anything BUT boring. Developed by Dan Pelosi for the NYT, this one-pot chicken and rice recipe features all the expected ingredients — rice, chicken, broth — and a few unexpected ones, like Castelvetrano olives and carmelized lemons. Yep, you read that correctly, carmelized lemons.
After briefly cooking bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs in a skillet, you remove them and carmelize the lemon slices in the drippings. These are then removed and you start building the rice portion of the dish, which includes shallots, olives, rice, broth and various seasonings. Then, the chicken breasts are nestled in to the rice mixture and topped with the lemons and everything goes into the oven for all the flavors to come together. I had my doubts about this one, but it’s delicious!
Banana Crumb Muffin
I’ve instituted what I’ve nicknamed “Slow Saturday Mornings” at my house. In reality, Saturday is the one day of the week I don’t have to be anywhere or doing something at a certain time. So those few hours are sacred. I like to make a yummy breakfast, usually something I wouldn’t have time to make on a weekday and then enjoy a leisurely breakfast with no rush to get the dishes cleared and my schedule started.
I tried out this recipe on one of those Saturday mornings, mostly because I always have bananas that need to be used before they go bad. Making muffins from scratch can seem daunting, but this recipe was really easy and came together quickly. And it’s just a good recipe. The muffins are light and not too dense, with a sweet cinnamony crumb topping.
Instant Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
I ran across this recipe years ago, I think on a recommendation from a friend. The first time I made it, I followed the recipe religiously, but since it became a staple in my cooking rotation, I “freelance” it a little bit. These days, I usually use a lean ground beef and saute it up in my Instant Pot using the saute function. If the meat is lean enough, you won’t have a lot of excess fat to drain off. Then, I use my favorite jarred marinara sauce, add the dry spaghetti and some water (I just refill the marinara jar and pour it in). A quick stir, lock on the lid and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. You need to let the spaghetti sit for about 10 (maybe a smidge more) minutes after releasing the pressure so the sauce can cool down and thicken a bit. Don’t ask me how I know this — I may or may not have burned my tongue a few times. Serve topped with parmesan cheese. It’s easy, and it gets dinner on the table in a little more than 30 minutes. What’s not to like?
Want to know more about these Bookery Best Bites? Listen to our recent Bookery Bests episode of the podcast!
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